St Saviour's College Newsletter 2023 - Term 1 Week 8

Principal

Being Open to the Stories of Others

On Friday, the Church (and indeed the western world) celebrated St Patrick’s Day. Saint Patrick is best known for bringing Catholicism to Ireland but there are facts that we do not know about Saintt Patrick, while we may assume them.

• Saint Patrick didn’t wear green. His colour was “Saint Patrick’s blue.” The colour green became associated with St Patrick’s Day after it was linked to the Irish independence movement in the late 18th century.
• Despite his Irish notoriety, Saint Patrick was British. He was born to Roman parents in Scotland Wales in the late fourth century.
• Saint Patrick is credited for driving the snakes out of Ireland, but according to the fossil record, Ireland has never been home to snakes as it was too cold to host reptiles during the Ice Age. The surrounding seas have kept snakes out since.

(Taken from: https://worldstrides.com/blog/2017/03/9-interesting-st-patricks-day-facts/)

Not everything we assume about people is accurate. What is at the heart of each person is their story. To truly know a person is to know their story.

Often, I sit through conversations with young people who may be grappling with the relationships in their lives, be it with family members or peers. During these instances, it is always most comfortable to sit in the limits of our own perception, reflecting solely on our own story. While it stretches us, we grow when we listen to a story of another.

Michelle Obama famously said, “If we can open up a little bit more to each other and share our stories, our real stories, that’s what breaks down barriers. But in order to do that, you have to believe that your story has value. Be vulnerable. Dare to be vulnerable.”

This lent, we cast our minds to the stories of the most vulnerable who form part of the 2023 Project Compassion Campaign. Laxmi’s story, Tereesa’s story, Pricilla’s story, and Thu’s story are worthy of the reading. May our own hearts be transformed as we learn of these stories, and through this transformation may we consider playing our part in bettering the lives of all people and communities who are assisted by Caritas. Feel free to donate here.

NAPLAN

This week and last week, our Year 7 and 9 students have been engaging in their NAPLAN testing. I thank our Year 7-9 Learning Leader, Ms Leah Dempster and all staff who have assisted in preparing and testing our girls.

Open Day

Last Friday, we hosted our annual Open Day. It was wonderful to welcome so many families and prospective Mercy Girls through the doors and share the story of St Saviour’s College. I thank sincerely all members of the community who were involved in the organisation of the day and thank most sincerely all the staff who worked hard in preparing displays and exciting learning experiences for our visitors. We have much to be proud of here at the College.

Catholic School Parents Queensland Survey

The Catholic School Parents Association have been asked by the Australian Government to prepare a submission for the current inquiry into disruption in Australian school classrooms. In order to inform their submission CSPA has asked that we share the short survey with you.

Blessings for the coming weeks.

Sharon Collins
Principal

Acting Assistant Principal - Mission and Student Wellbeing

New Family Gathering

Thank you to all our wonderful families that attended the New Family Gathering last Tuesday. We welcomed all our Year 7 and new student families, as well as our Year 8 families who did not get the opportunity to engage last year due to Covid restrictions. 

The aim of the evening was to build strong connections and partnerships between families and College staff, in particular the Homeclass teacher. The students were also able to showcase their learning through performances of dance and the College song. It is hoped that with the lighting of each individual candle, students are ready to commence their journey at the College and write their own story. 

‘Loving God, we gather tonight to ask your blessings upon the journey ahead. We pray for our students, staff and families that they might be strong and wise as they guide these young people. Grant us your help in building a community here at St Saviour’s College based on the values of compassion, justice, excellence and hospitality. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.’

Students took great pride in showcasing their morning routines with their families. Students encouraged their families to participate in their morning welcome circle and were given a tour of their ‘lockers’. As Deputy Principal, Jess Wade and myself strolled the corridors, it was evident that participation in the Positive Primer activities clearly demonstrated why they are one of the first activities students participate in during Homeclass and Junior classes. Their purpose is to flood the body with positive emotions and get the body in a regulated state to be ready to learn. The community spirit continued well into the night with sharing a dinner, laughs and some friendly competitions. 

Year 10 Retreat

On Tuesday, we welcomed Julie Inskip and her Vinnie’s Youth Team to work with our Year 10 Students. The purpose of the retreat day had the focus on how we can live out the Gospel through our service in the community and involvement in social justice issues.It was refreshing to see our future school leaders brainstorm together about how they can move past the adolescent notion of ‘all about me’ and to how we can put others needs before ours. I look forward to working with this year level and am excited to see them bring their ideas to life. 

St Patrick’s Day

This year, we hosted our Open Day on St Patrick’s Day … a real connection to our Irish Heritage. Although the day celebrates the wonderful work that St Patrick of Ireland conducted throughout his life, we also reflect on Catherine McAuley and her Sisters of Mercy and their Irish connection in our 150 years of Mercy Education.  So, to end, I will leave you with the Irish Blessing:

“May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.”

Megan Schulze
Acting Assistant Principal - Mission and Student Wellbeing

Library

Welcome

It continues to be a busy time in the library – we are increasing our number of people visiting the library at break times. This is a great indicator of the role the library is playing in our school community. A place of safety and well-being to enhance the students’ socio-emotional connections with themselves and others.

We are just about finished with reorganising our fiction collection into genres and retrospectively updating the older books that did not have genres identified. This has meant a lot of work by our Library officer, Mrs Julie-Anne Flynn who still manages to find a smile for staff and students at any point of the day. We have our books in our fiction shelves all based into genres such as Mystery and Suspense, Horror, Historical Fiction, Manga + more … Come into the library and check out the new set up.

What’s Happening in the Library?

Pi Day March 14

Pi Day is celebrated on March 14 (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi Day is an annual opportunity for math enthusiasts to recite the infinite digits of Pi, talk to their friends about math and eat pie! (retrieved from: https://www.piday.org/)

Book of the Week

The Abundance of Katherines by John Green (more for our senior readers). A great addition (pun intended) to our Pi day books. A story to indulge in a love of all things math and how anything can be put into a mathematics formula.

Summary:

Right after intellectual child-prodigy Colin Singleton graduates from high school, his girlfriend (who, like the 18 young women and girls whom he claimed as girlfriends over the years, is named Katherine) breaks up with him and sends him into a total funk. His best friend, Hassan, determines that he can only be cured with a road trip. After some rather aimless driving, the two find themselves in Gutshot, TN, where locals persuade them to stay. There, Colin spends his spare time working on a mathematical theorem of love, hypothesizing that romantic relationships can be graphed and predicted. The narrative is self-consciously dorky, peppered with anagrams, trivia and foreign-language bons mots and interrupted by footnotes that explain, translate and expound upon the text in the form of asides. It is this type of mannered nerdiness that has the potential to both win over readers. As usual, Green’s primary and secondary characters are given descriptive attention and are fully and humorously realized. Enjoyable, witty, and even charming, this book also has an appendix that describes how the mathematical functions in the novel can be created and graphed. Adapted from School Library Journal.

The novel explores some of the real-world ramifications for people in rural communities whose economies rely on the market for the goods they produce. This has curriculum links to Math, Science, History, Religion and most other aspects.

Library Lego Legends Lunchtime

We have recently begun our lunchtime activity of Lego at Lunchtime in the Library on Tuesday during the first break. At the moment we are having free creation and further down the track we will look at adding in some opportunities to create around our themes in the library for some prizes.

We have some great new Lego books added to our collection, these can be used for fantastic creation ideas.

Parchment Pursuits Starts This Week!

A new addition to our lunchtime activities is Parchment Pursuits. Parchment Pursuits – anything to do with board games. These will be available to play during Wednesday lunchtime (first break). A great opportunity to have some fun with friends.

New Books in the Library!

We continue to promote our new books – they are often on display in the spinner. We have also displayed some new non-fiction titles at the ends of our shelving.

Graphic

Fiction

Senior (Years 10-12)

Non-Fiction 

Date Claimers:

May 1 – 31: Family Month of Reading

May 4: Star Wars Day.

Library Hours

Monday to Thursday: 8.00am – 4.00pm
Friday: 8.00am – 3.00pm

PLEASE NOTE: On occasion there may be unforeseen circumstances, therefore the library may be closed. Please keep looking at the library section of the newsletter for further updates.

Andrea King
Teacher Librarian

From the Careers Centre

Work Experience: Year 10 – Monday 27 March to Wednesday 29 March

As the work experience program commences at the end of Term One, it is strongly advised that you assist your daughter in securing a placement for this period as soon as possible. It is important to note, however, that the onus on finding a placement is on your daughter as we seek to provide her with opportunities to develop the communication skills needed to be successful in her post-schooling endeavours. An Expression of Interest form must be completed and returned to Mrs Cocks.

If you have any queries regarding work experience, please contact the St Saviour’s College Career Development Practitioner – Mr Chris Grierson, or the Career Support Officer – Mrs Lisa Cocks.

School-Based Apprenticeship

Congratulations to Furaha Iranzi (pictured below with Christy Gentz below) who commenced her Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care school-based traineeship at Learning Pathways Childcare Centre and Kindergarten. We are proud of you Furaha.

SBA Spotlight

Eliza Morcom, in Year 11, is currently completing her School Based Apprenticeship.  Here’s what Eliza had to say about her experiences.

“My SBA is with Eastwood Early Education, and I am studying a Certificate III in Early Childhood Education. Most of my study is completed in my own time for homework, but my employer also sometimes gives me study time during work.

The best thing about an SBA is that you can work and earn money while studying. It is great experience on the job that helps with learning and is also helpful for teens to earn money. I love my workplace and job and enjoy the break from school once a week.

I would describe myself as an employee as flexible, reliable, and friendly and some of my strengths are having good initiative and a passion for the job. Customer service to me is all about being friendly, being helpful and making sure the customer has the best experience.

My goal in the future is to work and go to university. I would love to continue working in childcare while continuing my study, but my ultimate goal is to work in the medical field.

Eliza Morcom

Current SBA Vacancies

6/23: Year 11 - Certificate II in Supply Chain Operations - Toowoomba Civil and Toowoomba West. Open until filled.

7/23: Year 11 - Certificate II in Retail: Reece Group - Toowoomba West. Open until filled.

Aurora: Years 10, 11 and 12 - Certificate III Business: Totally Workwear, Max and Betty, Parisiann Patisserie, Piccolo Papa

Ric and Co, Pattysmiths, Bakery Cakery, Noodle Box, Pacific Fuels, Heritage Estate Wines, Spanos Super IGA, Red Rooster,

Pack and Send, Action Indoor Sports Stadium

Aurora: Years 10, 11 and 12 - Certificate III Hospitality: Café 63, Subway, Toowoomba Thai, The Rock, 95 Mary Street

Aurora: Years 10, 11 and 12 - Certificate III Commercial Cookery: Muller Bors, Fitzy’s, Kajoku Korean Cuisine, The Rock, Rak Tahi Kitchen. Positions open until filled.

12/23: Years 10 and 11 - Certificate III in Commercial Cookery: Ozcare Glenvale. Closing date 21.03.2023.

Chris Grierson
Career Development Practitioner

'Hamilton' The Musical

On Tuesday 28 February, a group of students and teachers went to see ‘Hamilton’ the musical at QPAC. This was offered to students as part of the English/Arts and Humanities programs. The students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and said they loved being able to see a musical performed live! A big thank you to staff who attended and drove buses, in particular Mrs Adele Sretenovic for organising this fantastic event.

McAuley House Boarding

Boarding girls have had a busy couple of weeks. Along with the usual footy, basketball and volleyball training and games, there has been extra activities.

Recently, we departed early for Brisbane to spend the day at Southbank swimming, shopping, riding the electric scooters and enjoying the parklands. After a full day of fun, we stopped at Maccas for dinner on the way home. A big thank you to the supervisors for making this possible for the girls.

The morning of the swimming carnival caused much excitement in the boarding house with some of the girls dressing up and all the girls excited to wear their team colours to show support for their houses. Big congratulations to Ava Anderson for winning Age Champion and to Taya Fourmile and Kaysharn Deemal and Holly Anderson for swimming brilliantly as well.

The recent rainy weekend didn’t stop our girls from having fun with a game of rainy footy on the oval followed by water gun fun. A great way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.

A few lucky girls have had the opportunity to participate in some Equine activity. A lovely drive to Preston followed by a great time spent riding the horses and caring for them. A special place to spend some time doing what they love. Thanks Miss Amii!

We had a visit from Hendricks, the very popular Labrador, who spent some time enjoying afternoon tea and being spoilt by the girls.

We still have tickets for the easter raffle. The winner will be in chocolate heaven. Please see Amelia or Lily to purchase some tickets.

"Big Fish - School Edition" Musical

Big Fish centres on Edward Bloom, a travelling salesman who lives life to its fullest ... and then some! Edward's incredible, larger-than-life stories thrill everyone around him - most of all, his devoted wife Sandra. But their son Will, about to have a child of his own, is determined to find the truth behind his father's epic tales. Overflowing with heart, humor and spectacular stagecraft, Big Fish is an extraordinary Broadway musical.

Three shows only:

• Thursday 20th April at 7.00pm
• Friday 21st April at 7.00pm
• Saturday 22nd April at 7.00pm

Don't miss this outstanding performance by St Mary's College, St Saviour's College and St Ursula's College students! Tickets on sale now at https://www.trybooking.com/CFGYT

Sponsorship opportunities are available. If you would like to receive a copy of the sponsorship prospectus, please email Mrs Tyhla Roper at ropert@stmaryscollege.com.