This week we celebrated the feast day of Edmund Rice, the founder of the Christian Brothers order that opened St Mary’s here on our site in 1963.  Edmund Rice was a great man who always looked for ways to improve the lives of those around him through education and life skills.  We aspire to be like Edmund, to show the same character strengths as him - humanity, justice, wisdom and transcendence.   

O God, we thank you for the life of Blessed Edmund Rice. 

He opened his hearts to Christ present in those oppressed by poverty and injustice. 

May we follow his example of faith and generosity. 

Grant us the courage and compassion of Blessed Edmund as we seek to live lives of love and service. 

We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen. 

Live Jesus in our hearts….forever 

NAPLAN 2021 

Next Tuesday our students in Year 3, 5, 7 & 9 will sit their NAPLAN Online tests alongside students throughout Australia.  A letter has been emailed home to parents of students in these year levels outlining the specifics of these sessions.  The results from these tests assist us, as teachers, so we can ensure we are offering our students the best opportunities in their learning.  It is essential that all students with their own laptop bring it to school each day fully charged as the tests are online in 2021.   

YEAR 4 BIBLE BLESSING 

On Thursday, Year 4 students visited St Joseph’s Church and Fr Jim blessed their bibles.  Year 4 is the first year level in our College to use their own personal bible in class.  Fr Jim discussed with students the importance of the stories and messages in the Bible for us throughout our life journey.   

PREP MOTHER’S DAY PRAYER CELEBRATION 

The students of Prep shared afternoon tea this afternoon with their mothers and grandmothers as part of the annual Prep Mother’s Day celebration.  They then held a special prayer celebration to thank God for the blessing of our mums.  It was great to pause and spend time celebrating mothers and the wonderful gift they are in our lives.  We hope all the mothers and grandmothers of our College community have a wonderful day on Sunday. 

Cate Brennan  

Deputy Principal Religious Education

Today the Prep students celebrated their mothers with our annual Mother’s Day High Tea and Prayer Celebration. After COVID spoiled our plans last year, it was so wonderful to be able to have this event on site again. Thanks must go to the Prep teachers who prepare the students so beautifully for this celebration.

It is also exciting to see a return of camps and excursions this year. There was a real buzz around the Early Years classrooms as notes were delivered for both the Year 3 day excursion to Australia Zoo and the Year 4 overnight camp to Jondaryan Woolshed. This is the first of the overnight camps for our students, providing the foundation that will be built upon as your child moves through the College with a well planned, sequenced camps and activities program. Exciting times ahead!

Please note that our Prep enrolments for 2022 are filling very quickly. If you have a child or know of a family who is considering enrolment for Prep next year, I urge you to contact the College Office promptly to avoid disappointment. As part of our transition for incoming students, we are pleased to offer our Pre-prep Shooting Stars program from Term 3. Details are:

Shooting Stars – Beginning Term 3, Week 2, Monday 19 July

Children may attend EITHER Mondays OR Wednesdays

8:50am -11:00am

Teacher: Mrs Nikki Morrison     School Officer: Mrs Marian O’Shea

Please book a place by phoning the College office..

Note: attendance at Shooting Stars does not guarantee enrolment at the College.

Katrina Walton

Assistant Principal Middle Years

Applications are currently being taken for enrolment for all year levels in 2022. As part of this process, we are pleased to offer twilight tours of the College next week. Bookings are essential for the tours and there are plenty of options available. Please phone the College Office on 46724111 to secure a spot.

Details are:

Monday 10 May 2021 (4:00pm, 4.45pm and 5.30pm)

Thursday 13 May (4:00pm, 4.45pm and 5.30pm)

All visitors will need to sign in at the College Office on arrival.

Inter House Cross Country Results

Top Ten Junior Boys Under 12- Under 15

Top Ten Girls 

Top Ten Senior Boys Under 16- Open

Overall Points

QCIS Cross Country

The QCIS Cross Country will be held at Scots College in Warwick on Tuesday 1 June. Students who have been selected to represent the College at this event will be notified next week.

Rugby League

Darling Downs Rugby League Competition Round 1 Results

Under 13

St Mary’s College Toowoomba defeated OLSCC 20- 6

Under 15

Dalby SHS defeated OLSCC 54-14

Under 18

OLSCC defeated Dalby SHS 52-12

Under 18 OLSCC vs Dalby SHS at 6pm (this result means the Berwick / McCullough Shield will be won by OLSCC this year after winning both games in the series so far. Game 3 will be held later this term or early in Term 3.)  

Round 2 vs Highfields SSC was a washout

Round 3 Wednesday 12 May Brothers Rugby League Grounds Toowoomba

Students will travel via the College Coach

Under 13 vs St Joseph’s College Toowoomba at 4pm

Under 15 vs St Joseph’s College Toowoomba at 5pm

Under 18 vs St Joseph’s College Toowoomba at 5pm

 Round 4 Wednesday 19 May

Under 13 vs Harristown SHS at 5pm in Dalby

Under 15 vs Wilsonton SHS at 5pm at Brothers Toowoomba

Under 18 vs Wilsonton SHS at 6pm at Brothers Toowoomba

Bunya District Soccer

Congratulations to Joshua Barwick, William Barwick and Finn Brennan who have been selected in the Bunya District Soccer Team to attend the Darling Downs Trials.

Bunya District Touch Football

Congratulations to the following students who represented Bunya District at the Darling Downs Touch Football Trials this week.

Boys – Joshua Barwick, William Barwick

Girls – Emmysen Crothers, Miley Wilkins, Lana O’Callaghan, Mia Smith

Netball

Congratulations to Sophie Taylor who has been selected in the Darling Downs Under 11 Netball Team to attend the State Championships later this year.

Darling Downs Cluster 3 Trials

Congratulations to the following students selected in Darling Downs Teams following Trials in Toowoomba this week.

Under 12 Touch Football

Emmysen Crothers

Under 15 Rugby Union

Lyucian King Togia

Water Polo

From 29 April to 2 May, Toby Harms, Bailey Martin and Clancy Biggar, representatives of Our Lady of the Southern Cross College, went away to the Sunshine Coast for the 13-19 years Qld State Schools Water Polo. They played in the Darling Downs team. On their first day they came up against tournament favourites Metropolitan North and Metropolitan West. These two games showed great improvement from a team who had never played together before. Their third game was against South Coast and the boys kept with them but just not coming up with the points. It took to day 2 for the DD team to collect a win against Capricornia. The wins and losses within their pool matches across 3 days saw the boys playing off for the Gold Medal for the Plate against Metropolitan East on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, they were beaten 10 to 3, but played hard and well on the day. Congratulations on the tournament playing in a team sport that is quickly growing in popularity.

Tim Lincoln

Middle Leader Sport

It was exciting to have all students from Prep to Year 12 run their Cross-Country race last Friday. Here's some of the beautiful images from the day.

The Culture Team presents …

Fun Talent Building Activities!

Senior Choir for students in Years 7 – 10 begins this week and will run on Thursdays for the rest of the year. Interested students to meet at the music room, beginning of first lunch every Thursday – bring your food!

Drama Club for students in Years 7 – 12 begins next week and will run on Mondays for the rest of the year. Interested students to meet at Room White 2 beginning of first lunch every Monday – bring your food!

Senior Visual Art students in Years 9 – 12 are attending an excursion to Brisbane this Friday to visit Australian Catholic University Gallery and QGOMA– stay tuned for our report in the next newsletter.

Glistening Deepwater

Middle Leader Culture

The Optiminds Critical and Creative thinking club began this week, meeting in room Blue 6. We will continue to meet on Wednesday afternoons, from 3:15-4:00pm, through until Week 9, 16 June. Students who wish to join in can email Mrs Walton to put their name down at  Katrina.Walton@twb.catholic.edu.au

Registrations remain open for the Optiminds Challenge in Term 3. Whilst it is desirable to participate in the Creative Thinking Club in Term 2, it is not a mandated requirement for participation in the Optiminds Challenge in Term 3, however those who are able to build their skills over Term 2 will find the process more engaging and effective. Please fill in a separate form for each child who wishes to participate. Team selections will be finalised mid Term 2. Click here to register:

OPTIMINDS EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FORM

On Wednesday, the Rice students celebrated their icon Blessed Edmund Rice. The Prep to Year 4 students enjoyed green jelly cups while the Year 5 to Year 12 students had a jelly eating competition. The students had to eat the jelly without using any eating equipment! Congratulations to Aidan Powell in Year 12 who was the winner of the competition in a matter of seconds! To finish off the Rice Day celebrations, the students enjoyed a combined year level sack race. It was so heartening to see the older students interacting with the younger children…after all that is what makes a Prep to Year 12 College different!

The University of Queensland's Rural Clinical School in Toowoomba recently accepted two students from our College to attend one day of work experience in the medical field. Charlotte Wood and Anna Lilburne travelled to Toowoomba on Wednesday along with students from schools in Roma, Chinchilla, Warwick and Toowoomba. Here is a report on their day.

"Yesterday we attended the UQ 'a day in medicine' program where we participated in many group and individual activities. We learned about suturing and even got to have a go on a pig's trotter. We participated in other activities doing CPR, plastering and learning about the airways. We really enjoyed speaking to current students at UQ and learning about their pathway in the field of medicine. We had an amazing day and it was certainly an experience to remember."

Anna and Charlotte (pictured below with Kellie Curtis)

To find out more about the Rural Clinical School, head to their website

Toowoomba - Rural Clinical School - University of Queensland (uq.edu.au)

Year 11 student Tayla Woodward has recently completed her sign up as she commences a Certificate III in Business Administration with Pestworx. Tayla is pictured here with Melissa Alexander from Pestworx and we thank her for providing Tayla with the opportunity to gain her certificate as a school based trainee.

Book Fair is on again in the College Library before and after school from Thursday, 13 May through until Wednesday, 19 May. Now's a great time for the kids to count out their pocket money and get some great new books to read.

The following information has been provided to us by Diane Burton, Road Safety Officer from the Department of Transport and Main Roads. Diane has been informed by Crossing Supervisors and has also observed some unsafe practices around school crossings in our area. Please take the time to read below.

The beginning and end of the school day are busy times for pedestrians and vehicles outside schools. Parking signs are planned with your child's safety in mind.

It is helpful for everyone if you park safely, even if you need to walk further to the school gate. This is a good time to model positive road safety behaviour and physical activity for your child.

Slow down near any crossings around the school. At a supervised crossing, follow the directions of the school crossing supervisor. Crossing supervisors manage traffic to help primary school children use the crossings on roads near and outside of schools.

Drop your child off and pick them up on the school side of the road. Calling out to them from across the road is dangerous – they may run to you without checking for traffic. This will help keep all children as safe as possible during the busiest times of the school day.

Use should always:

• park legally
• avoid dangerous manoeuvres such as U-turns and three-point turns
• give way to pedestrians, particularly when entering or exiting driveways
• avoid using the school car park or driveway
• no parking in the school bus bay
• make sure your child uses the Safety Door (rear kerb-side door) to get in and out of the car.

 Dangerous driving behaviour around schools puts children at risk.

Model safe and considerate behaviour for your child – they will learn from you.

It is with regret, that the upcoming talent show organised by the OLSCC Culture Club - Our Lady's Got Talent - has been cancelled.  We hope this does not cause inconvenience to any excited and hopeful participants. We ask that anyone who was keen to show off their talent or hobby, practice honing your skills and we sincerely hope that this event can be brought to you at another time in the future. Thank you for understanding and if you have any questions, please contact Jo Cuskelly. jocuskellyartwork@gmail.com

From the Uniform Shop

Please be advised that fleecy jackets in size 4 and 6 have arrived and are available for purchase now.