St Saviour's College Newsletter Term 4 Week 2

Principal

Final Exams

The last two years have seen many firsts in the way we teach and assess senior curriculum in Queensland. Over recent weeks, our Year 12 and Year 11 students have sat their Mock and Unit 2 examinations respectively. Teachers have been working solidly with all our senior students to ensure that our young women are prepared to enter into these experiences, both prepared and confident to achieve their best. I would encourage all our students, to use these coming weeks well. While it may seem overwhelming, in reality, the remainder of the term only represents a small part of the greater portion of our lives. So, particularly for our Year 12 students, while your efforts now require intense diligence and determination, this period of time will be short lived.

I would like to congratulate those Year 12 students who took up the opportunity to participate in the diocesan External Exam Preparation Period (EEPP) that took place here at the College in the second week of the spring holidays. It was a wonderful opportunity for these young people to participate in this preparation phase with young people from across the diocese. Special thanks to Ms Jen Smeed, Deputy Principal, who gave up a great portion of that week break to coordinate the experience, and to Mr Cameron Love, who served as an expert Mentor in Physics. Thanks also to our Business Manager, Mrs Zoe Marks, and Principal’s Assistant, Mrs Megan Murphy, for their ever-readiness to be in the wings to support.

As was addressed in the EEPP study skills session, an important part of this time of preparation is maintaining a sense of balance and wellbeing, which requires the setting of attainable goals, as well making time to replenish. Our prayer for the girls is resonated in Isaiah 41:10, so do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 

Camps

Next week, our Year 10/11 students will be attending camp for three days at Koojarewon where they will engage in a range of outdoor activities that focus on building group dynamics and leadership skills. Our Year 9 students will engage in the Camp Kokoda near Maroon Dam. The experience involves hiking and outdoor activities targeted to build resilience, problem solving and team cohesiveness. These experiences are pivotal to the holistic education of our young women. They are included as a compulsory part of the curriculum and the College fees. Much planning goes into the preparation of these camps, and it is so highly valued, that teachers readily give up time away from their own families to supervise the girls, ensuring that they enjoy a quality experience.

Non-participation in these camps is an enormous lost opportunity for our young women as it is through these experiences that our girls get to try different experiences and challenge themselves, consequently, relationships are built and memories are made. I would encourage all parents and carers to advocate these experiences with their daughters and support the College in seeking to empower our young women to stretch beyond their comfort zone and leap into the unknown, and enjoy themselves along the way!

Many thanks to Middle Leader Student Wellbeing, Mrs Juanita Doherty, for her overseeing and organisation of the camps, and to staff who will be attending, Mr Greg Leathart, Mr Chris Grierson, Mrs Michelle Reid, Mrs Alyson Holmes, Ms Lucy Leicht and Mr Josh Waters.

We hope that an enjoyable and safe time is had by all.

Interact Great Debate

On Thursday October 8, St Saviour’s Interact students proved superior to their Rotary East counterparts, winning the prestigious Great Debate for the eighth consecutive year.  The topic for this year’s debate was: “The health impacts of COVID19 outweigh the economic impacts of isolation”, and our students successfully argued the negative case.

Congratulations to the SSC team comprising of Mollie Daly, Kate Hudson-James and Zina Alexandra Dorado. Thanks also goes to Miranda Owen who was the timekeeper for the debate.

All Schools Touch

Congratulations to our All Schools Touch team who competed at the annual carnival in Brisbane on Friday and across last weekend. It was three days of tough competition, with the girls travelling to and from Brisbane every day. They played with determination and grit, and much learning took place along the way.

Many thanks to Mrs Juanita Doherty, and Mrs Megan Schulze and Mr Chris Bartlett who co-coached. In the words of Chris Bartlett:

"For a very young and raw group of touch players, their efforts, learning and persistence was unquestionable.  I particularly note how their attitude was my stand out observation. No learning or enjoyment comes if the attitude isn’t right. I think this group of girls were a perfect example of the Mercy Girl Spirit we espouse … I am very blessed to be part of this experience. I am really looking forward to 2021!"

Staff Farewells

Sadly, we farewell two members of staff who will soon leave our community. Ms Kylie Brodrick joined our community at the start of 2020, and during her time here, she has impacted enormously, particularly in relation to marketing and event planning. Kylie will be well missed for her efficiency, amiability, and professionalism. We wish Kylie and her fiancé, Dale, all the very best as they embark on new and exciting journeys together.

Our College Deputy Principal, Ms Jen Smeed, will finish up at the end of the school year. Jen has worked tirelessly over the past three years leading our College in teaching and learning. Jen has successfully directed our staff through many pivotal educational changes that we have had to brave at diocesan, state and national levels, particularly in relation to the introduction of the new Queensland Certificate of Education senior schooling system that commenced last year. While we will have time to formally acknowledge her contribution to the College later in the term, I take this opportunity to invite you to join with me as a community in thanking Jen for the enormous contributions she has made, not only in teaching and learning performance improvement, but also her strong, dynamic leadership in creating and implementing change across many domains of the College. Jen will be moving back to her hometown of Brisbane.

Blessings for the coming week.

Sharon Collins                                                                                                                                        Principal

Deputy Principal - Curriculum

Year 10 to Year 11 Rollover

This week all Year 10 students and their parents received an email and hard copy letter outlining each individual’s confirmed subjects for study in Year 11 and 12. These confirmations are based on the subject selections made by Year 10 students in Term Three. Year 10 students will commence their senior courses of study on Monday 26 October (week four). Students will receive a new timetable at the end of week three which reflects their selections. If you have any questions about the subjects selected or the senior course of study please do not hesitate to contact me at jen.smeed@twb.catholic.edu.au

Year 11 Mock Exam Block and Year 12 Rollover

The Year 11 mock exam block is currently underway. These mock exams are used as preparation for the external assessment students will sit in Year 12. Thanks to the senior teachers who have been preparing students for these important mock assessment items.

In week four, Year 11 students will begin their Unit Three studies. This signifies the beginning of summative assessment for these students. The QCAA (Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority) states that students should not change subjects across Unit Three and Four, therefore, if your daughter is considering any subjects changes please direct her to see me ASAP.

Year 12 External Exam Block

The External Assessment block for Year 12 students runs from Monday 26^th October to Tuesday 17^th November. All Year 12 students and their parents should now have received an updated copy of this exam block which includes the location of each of the exams. Exams will occur in the Cathedral Centre, McAuley Boarding House or in Mary Rose block. Please encourage your daughter to ensure she is clear on the date, times, and locations of all her exams prior to the External Assessment block commencing.

The correspondence to all Year 12 families also includes the permission note which allows students to leave the campus after completing exams. This permission note needs to be returned to Student Services by Friday 23 October 2020.

We wish all of the Year 12 students good luck in their final school examinations.

Non-submission of Drafts

The submission of assessment drafts is an important part of providing students with targeted feedback. The draft submission also provides evidence of work completed which can be marked if no final task is submitted. At St Saviour’s our Drafting Policy uses the Academic Support system to work with students who fail to submit a draft by the due date.

If a student does not submit a draft on the due date, they will then be enrolled in Academic Support which runs in the library at first break on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The classroom teacher makes parents aware via phone call or email that the student has been requested to attend one of these sessions. The Academic Support time is used for reflection on why the draft was not submitted on time, the reasons around this and how we can improve this in the future. Some additional time for students to work on their draft documents can then be used if the student brings the required materials to the session.

Your support in completing this process through follow up conversations is appreciated. If you have any questions around our Academic Support system, please do not hesitate to contact one of our College Curriculum Leaders or myself.

ICAS

Well done to the students who, this week, are competing in Maths and English ICAS competition. The ICAS tests, run by the University of New South Wales, are designed to recognise academic excellence as students are assessed on their ability to apply classroom learning to new contexts using higher order thinking and problem-solving skills. Thank you to Mr Cameron Love, Curriculum Leader: Maths and Science and Mrs Wendy Collins, Curriculum Leader: English, Humanities and Arts, for their work in organising this valuable opportunity for our students.

Tutoring

Tutoring for all students from Year 7-12 is held on Thursday afternoons from 3:15-4:30pm in the library. Everyone is welcome to attend.

If you have further questions about any of the information above, please do not hesitate to contact me at the College or at Jennifer.Smeed@twb.catholic.edu.au

Jennifer Smeed                                                                                                                                          Deputy Principal

Assistant Principal - Mission and Student Wellbeing

Faith and Mission           

This fortnight’s prayer is about seeing ourselves through God’s eyes or seeing life from God’s point of view. God gives us a new clarity when we open our heart to Him. We begin to see life a whole lot better. We see ourselves. We see our problems. We see our past, our present, our future. Everything gets a little clearer the closer you get to God. Matthew 6:22 states that “Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light.” Matthew is talking about spiritual insight. He’s talking about looking at spirituality in a new way. St Paul calls it seeing with the eyes of your heart. In Ephesians, Paul prays “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.”

Heavenly Father help us to work in partnership; to see ourselves, our students and our colleagues through Your eyes.

Look for the light and the positives in each of us and give us the strength and compassion to do the same for all of us in our community.

Encourage us to strive for excellence and empower our students to stretch themselves to become resilient, lifelong learners.

Be the guiding light, providing a soft place to fall, always with the open arms of Your grace.

We make this prayer through Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Upcoming Camps Years 9 - 11

Over the last fortnight, the College has been busy planning for upcoming events and camps for staff and students. Our Year 9s are heading out to Camp Kokoda, which is on the southern shore of the Maroon Dam. Camp goals are:

• Develop confidence to do what you thought impossible – step out of your comfort zone
• Give/take support in a team environment as you work through these challenges together
• Take a break from technology – and have fun!

Students have to:

• Put up their own shelters/tents
• Take turns to prepare meals for everyone
• Collect their own firewood
• Pack their own backpacks
• Wash their own dishes

Students must carry everything with them, so they need to be careful what they bring. Happy adventures!

Our Year 10 and 11 students are heading off to Camp Koojarewon at Highfields, across 16 acres of bushland. Students negotiate leadership responsibilities, brainstorm, problem solve and have a fun but challenging couple of days. Their strengths are called upon and students are put to the test physically and emotionally, as individuals and in teams. Staff at the camp make it their vision to see young people and their families ‘Alive in Christ; Passionate in Service’. The experienced team love the opportunities that camping, coaching and training ministries offer to make young people smile and to support them as they develop as people.

From Our Prayer Room

Our mini-Mass services continue this term in the Prayer Room for years 8-10 with Father Hal. Fr Hal celebrated the Eucharist with our College community, adapting to these COVID times:

• 27 October - Year 8 student Mass
• 3 November - Year 9 student Mass
• 10 November - Year 10 student Mass

Youth Ministry

Our students continue to work closely this month with Tony’s Community Kitchen. Our monthly dinner preparation, as part of our Semester 2 You Can Do It! Program for improving wellbeing and resilience building, is working like a well-oiled machine. This term we continue to provide 40 meals for Tony’s Community Kitchen. Our girls like to write positive affirmations on the lids of the hot food containers to show compassion, love and concern for those most vulnerable in our community. It’s initiatives like this that makes St Saviour’s College distinctive; being a school that embeds service-learning into our everyday curriculum is something we are proud of and have worked hard to include in our culture and our conversations.

Term 4 - Living Crib

This term, we continue our partnership work with St Vincent de Paul and Manna House with the launch of our Living Crib, Christmas Appeal. This includes a donation campaign to purchase vouchers, so these community support organisations can provide much-needed help leading up to Christmas time for the families who depend upon them during difficult times. Staff and students are collecting monies weekly in their Homeclass groups until the end of term. At our first Friday assembly back at school, we had three guest speakers join us to address the community and students explained why St Saviour’s College is once again committing to this worthwhile project. Some families cannot afford to celebrate at Christmas time. This is the type of Christmas that we all take for granted - presents piled up under a sparkly Christmas tree, a stocking full of lollies and toys, a table groaning under the weight of delicious food. The cash donations mean we can buy gift cards and vouchers to help make this Christmas time a time of celebration and joy in some families’ lives. At the end of term, we will present the gift cards to Manna House and SVP representatives as part of our Christmas Liturgy on the last school day of the year. Students are also writing Christmas wishes inside the envelopes to impart Mercy Girl positivity, during what can be a difficult time for many.

WHEN:  Friday, 16 October

WHERE: St Saviour's College and Online to connect with other schools' Youth Ministry Collegiate teams

PRICE:  $10 per student - pay at the door!

TIME:  6pm - 9pm

To raise awareness and much needed funds for St Vincent de Paul (Youth Camps) and Tony’s Community Kitchen, St Saviour’s College Youth Ministry team are hosting an All Schools Trivia night with a side of lip sync!

This Trivia Night is a long time coming and shows unwavering support for two of our outreach partners, Tony’s Community Kitchen and St Vincent De Paul. Next Fri the 16 October, we will be starting the Trivia at 6pm. Trivia teams will receive COVID-safe snack boxes and there will be softdrinks for sale. We are partnering with students from other schools, online, which is very exciting for the Youth Ministry girls. Doors open at 5.45pm, for a 6pm start and the night will finish at 9pm. Please email Mrs Hagemann, Mr Baines or a member of the Youth Ministry team if you have any questions.

Funday Friday!

This first Friday back started off with a BANG! as staff and students joined in for a Scavenger Hunt around the College. House groups competed against the 'Staff' team, who proved no match for Xavier House who ended with a near perfect score!

“Recognising and fostering the dignity of every person …”  Catherine McAuley, circa 1830

St Saviour’s College staff and students, I am so proud to stand beside you on our collective life journey. For every day, I give thanks – God bless.

Heather Hagemann                                                                                                                                Assistant Principal - Mission and Student Wellbeing

Library

How Does a Teacher Librarian Help Your Student – Part 3

Curriculum Support

• Physical resources
• Curated website collections
• Suggestions – texts
• Research skills and support
• And so forth … endless opportunities

Borrowing in the Library and Online:

1. You may still reserve a book online through our library catalogue OR
2. You may come in and borrow a book you have found on the catalogue.

Dates for Book Week!

Due to the transpiring events across the globe – our CBCA Book Week has been relocated to October for this year.

THEME: Curious Creatures, Wild Minds

Visit the library and try one of our activities available – we have colouring-ins, number puzzles, word puzzles, plus many different ones – come on in and try your hand at any or all of them.

New Books

Manga is back in the library! There are many new books for you to peruse.

Other new books – look for them on the catalogue. Come in and check them out!

Want to See How a Teacher Librarian and Library Can Support Your Child’s Well-being?

Read the article below that outlines the various connections a TL and Library in your child’s school can create and the ways your child can benefit.

“A School Library is Like the Bat Cave: it's a safe fortress in a chaotic world, a source of knowledge and the lair of a superhero.” By Tom Angleberger

Andrea King                                                                                                                                              Teacher Librarian

McAuley Boarding House

The heart says: Love your tribe

The mind says: Protect your tribe

The soul says: Peace only comes when you include all people in your tribe

As someone who has many interactions with many different people daily; there are always those whom I feel a natural connection with and those who potentially I do not. But regardless, compassion and inclusivity are always the indication of kindness. If we choose to be kind, then peace can begin to resonate within our lives.

This is something we, the boarding staff, promote within the boarding environment: kindness and compassion. We always invite kindness and compassion to nurture peace and harmony and encourage it to surround us and the girls. This is our prayer. However, sometimes it is difficult; difficult because as we walk through life, we encounter others who may not hold the same values of love, protection and peace that we do. This is sometimes the case with McAuley House.

As our tribe have returned to McAuley House throughout the first week of Term 4, it has been heart warming to witness the girls' joy and happiness as they greet each other after two weeks of absence. No TikTok video, Instagram post, or Snapchat filter can really convey the friendship, relationship and love that our girls have for one another. Their chirping chatter as they discuss their holidays, the adventures they have had, the people they have met and seen is noise that permeates throughout the corridors; all while leaving their unpacking for another time. This embodies the love and protection that we hope to provide within our walls.

It is with a smile and a full heart that we welcome all our boarders and staff to Term 4 of 2020. It has been a a 'roller coaster' year, with many twists and turns; some expected and some not. However, we have experienced the ride together and been the face of kindness, compassion, protection and love for each other, along the journey. The end of the ride is near but I think there may be a few twists and turns yet to come in the remaining 8 weeks.

We would like to welcome new staff to the boarding house - Mrs Lee Long and Mrs Emma Holm.

Mrs Lee Long has an extensive background in nursing and education administration. Her experience within the medical, administration and many years of working with adolescents will be a welcomed addition to our boarding staff team.

Mrs Emma Holm is a practicing midwife and has an additional background in accounting. She has a passion for serving others, particularly young women in need. Emma has a young family who are supporting her transition into our boarding house.

From all of us at the college we wish you a smooth transition into your new roles and know that the staff and girls will welcome you with open arms.

2020 McAuley House Shirts

In Term 1, we decided that we would like to have a Boarding House shirt. The girls decided that the best way to facilitate this fairly was to have a ‘Shirt Design’ competition. Miss Narelle was tasked the lead role, and 'Thursday technology free' was the allocated time to progress this competition. COVID interrupted the plans,;however, they were resumed in Term 3. Our two design finalists were produced by Kyomie Deemal and Brandy Collins. The votes by the staff and students were extremely close. The winning design was created by Brandy Collins. Some small design adjustments were made by the graphic designer at Trusports Toowoomba for some elements to be more prominent. The boarding girls will be able to purchase the 2020 shirts and they should be available before the end of year break. We congratulate Brandy on her winning design, Kyomie for being a close second, and to all the other girls who participated in the competition.

There are many activities happening this term. Swimming, boxing, gym activities and Youth Group all start back in week 2. Please contact the boarding house office if you would like further information regarding any of these activities.

The Year 9/10/11 students will all be heading off to camp at the beginning of week 3. This will give us some valuable time with the year 7/8/12 students. All camp forms have been signed and submitted. We hope the girls enjoy their time at camp and take this opportunity to learn and grow.

Kayley, our only year 12 student this year, will soon be embarking on her external exams, along with all the other year 12 students. We wish her all the very best with these exams and look forward to celebrating with her upon completion.

Jesse Bolton                                                                                                                                            McAuley Boarding House Manager

Interact News

Great Debate

Interact members Mollie, Miranda, Kate and Zina Alexandra were a source of College pride last week when, on October 8, they competed against Toowoomba East Rotary Club in the annual Great Debate. The topic this year was challenging - “The health costs of COVID 19 outweigh the economic impact of isolation.”

The students were the negative team and argued that a strong economy is essential to provide the healthcare required by those affected by COVID 19, therefore a declining economy adds to the health costs and is not less outweighed by the health costs.

The girls were victorious, winning the trophy for the eighth consecutive year. An added benefit this year was a challenge laid down by the SSC Interact President. This required each club to contribute $250 to a prize pool, with the winning team choosing a charity to receive the $500 total. This week the Interact Club members voted to share the prize between our current club fundraiser for Polio and St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal.