23 November 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Message:

By Mr Kort Goodman - Principal

Dear Parents, Students and Friends,

How quickly all the days, weeks and months of the 2018 school year have gone. As we prepare to close the school for 2018 and head off into the Christmas season and the summer holidays, there is much we can reflect back upon and give thanks for - our successes and how much we have learned (academic, social, physical, cultural and in faith), and how we have supported, cared for and challenged each other to be the best we can be.

Thank you to all - students, staff, parents and family and parish - for your support this year. We can most certainly take pride in who we are as a community.

We will miss the students and families who are moving on from Assumption College at the end of 2018 and we wish them all the best for their futures. Thank you for the gifts of yourselves. We pray that you will be thrivers, not just survivors, that you will act out of optimism, not pessimism, that as you journey you will all contribute to making this world a little more hospitable and a little less hostile, and that you will be sustained always by people who care for you, challenge you and love you.

As this is our last newsletter for the school year, I would like to on behalf of the Assumption College community wish you all a happy, safe and holy Christmas break.

A Christmas Reflection

Christmas began in the heart of God. It is complete only when it reaches my heart.

Lord Jesus, send Your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for this Christmas.
We, who have so much to do, seek quiet spaces to hear Your voice each day.
We, who are anxious over many things, look forward to Your coming among us.
We, who are blessed in so many ways, long for the complete joy of Your kingdom.
We, whose hearts are heavy, seek the joy of Your presence.
We are Your people. We say to You, Come Lord Jesus’.
Amen

Presentation Night

Congratulations to all of the students who received awards at our Presentation Night last Wednesday evening. The evening was a great celebration of the year that has been. Events like this do not just happen and again it is a testament to the amazing efforts of our staff and students. A massive thank you to the staff, but in particular, Mrs Brodrick, Mrs Bacon, Mrs Newley, Mr Bernardi & Mrs Le Sueur for their tireless work in preparing the videos, powerpoints, programs and awards for the evening. Thank you to Mr Drew Schultz, Mr Matt Kirby and Miss Aoife Timms for their work in preparing the performers. Finally, I would like to congratulate and thank our Assumption College School Leaders for 2018 and 2019 for their efforts in hosting the evening.

Have a lovely week

Kort

Term 4 – 2018 Date Claimers

Pastoral Care News:

By Mr Craig Frattini, Deputy Principal

Parenting Ideas Insights

Developing a Resilience Mindset

By Michael Grose

If you want your child or young person to be resilient enough to cope with the hardships that come his or her way, and in doing so build strengths for the future, consider fostering your own resilience first. Parents are in the best position to influence their children’s resilience. Children watch our reactions to adverse events and view first hand how we look after – or neglect – our own mental health and wellbeing.

The mindset approach works well with resilience. Take the sustainable approach of looking after your mental health, becoming conscious of the messages you send yourself and developing coping skills that allow you to respond rather than react to adverse events. These simple ideas will help:

Watch your self-talk

The little voice inside your head can have a catastrophic impact when you allow it to. It can talk you into the blues, lower your confidence and build mountainous problems out of molehills. Once you’re aware of its impact, you can switch it off or change its negative chatter to something more positive and realistic. It takes practice but it’s worth it. When you have a resilience mindset you’ll start to check that chatter in your head.

Park the bad stuff

Ever had an argument with a family member at breakfast only to find it messed up your whole day? A common trait with resilient people is that they can compartmentalise their lives so that difficult experiences in one domain won’t interfere with their effectiveness elsewhere. When you have a resilience mindset you’ll consciously park the negative stuff while you get on with the rest of the day, only revisiting it on your own terms.

Stay flexible in your thinking

People who lack resilience pepper their language with absolute, imperative statements such as ‘I must always be on time,’ ‘They never do anything to help,’ or ‘They should always use good manners’. This shows inflexible, unrealistic thinking that leads to stress and anxiousness. When you have a resilience mindset you’ll use more moderate language reflecting a flexible approach to life. The above statements become ‘I’ll always try to be on time but sometimes it’s impossible,’ ‘They are sometimes helpful but they can be forgetful,’ and ‘I’d like it if they were well-mannered but sometimes they aren’t’.

Make sleep a priority

We are only beginning to make solid links between sleep and resilience. Mothers of newborns know how debilitating sleep deprivation can be. They can’t function effectively and depression is close at hand. Many people spend much of their lives experiencing some form of sleep deprivation, compensating by taking regular caffeine hits, self-medicating with alcohol and using other ineffective remedies. When you develop a resilience mindset, you make sleep a high priority, taking the necessary lifestyle steps to make sleep easy to attain.

Create a pressure valve

In a society that views busyness as a status symbol, it’s tempting to keep working until you drop, neglecting to enjoy some downtime that releases the pressures of work. When you have a resilience mindset you value down-time and relaxation and understand the positive impact these have on your mental health and the wellbeing of people around you.

When you have a resilience mindset you have a greater understanding of what resilience is about and you’re in a better position to develop a lasting sense of resilience in your kids. Developing resilience in kids is like jumping off a pier with some friends on a cold winter’s day. In both instances you need to go first.

Michael Grose

Michael Grose, founder of Parenting Ideas, is one of Australia’s leading parenting educators. He’s the author of 10 books for parents including Thriving! and the best-selling Why First Borns Rule the World and Last Borns Want to Change It, and his latest release Spoonfed Generation: How to raise independent children.

APRE News:

By Mrs Kate Cullen, APRE

Congratulations

Congratulations goes to our graduating students who we farewelled last week. We wish you all the best in your future endeavours and would love to hear from you as your lives progress.

Christmas Appeal

Congratulations and a big thankyou to all who contributed to the SVDP Christmas Appeal hampers for this year. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

We will be handing these over to Saint Vincent De Paul this week so they can distribute these to the local families we have been able to support.

And thanks again to all the other contributions made to charities across the year.

Junior Religion

• Year 7 is wrapping up their unit focusing on the Christian Ethics of concern for the common good reflecting on if it matters what you do when no-one is looking, focusing on environmental stewardship
• Year 8 have been exploring a challenging Church history unit examining the events of the reformation and asking if the Church had turned to the darkside and considering the ongoing impact of the reformation on access to the bible and changes within Christianity.
• Year 9 have learnt about the journey of Mary and Mohammad around refugees and asylum seekers within Australia in a Compass episode to answer the question: How do we respond to evil?
• Year 10 students have been broadening the religions they studied into Buddhism and learning about the nature and significance of religion through an examination of the dimension of religion used to help study religion. They are preparing for their final extended response exam where they will use two religions to answer the question: What makes your [the believers] God THE God?

Henri Nouwen Reflection:

sourced from https://henrinouwen.org/

Ministry and the Spiritual Life

All Jesus' words and actions emerge from his intimate relationships with his Father. "Do you not believe," Jesus says, "that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? What I say to you I do not speak of my own accord: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his works. You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe it on the evidence of these works" (John 14:10-11).

Just as all Jesus' words and actions emerge from his communion with his Father, so all our words and actions must emerge from our communion with Jesus. "In all truth I tell you," he says, "whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, and will perform even greater works. ... Whatever you ask for in my name I will do" (John 14:12-13). It is this profound truth that reveals the relationship between the spiritual life and the life of ministry.

Curriculum News:

By Mrs Anna Hardy, Assistant Principal—Curriculum

Year 12

Year 12 exams are now completed. Congratulations to the Year 12's for finishing their final school assessment block! Key information and upcoming important dates for Year 12 students include:

• A reminder to Year 12 students to ensure they have accessed their Learner Account through the Student Connect website on the link below. Students will need their LUI numbers and password to login and access their OPs from 9 am on Saturday 15th December. Students will be able to access their results more quickly if they have previously activated their learning account.
• SAI’s for all Authority subjects are now published in the breezeway for Year 12’s to view.

Year 12 QCS Test Results

QCS results have been released to all Year 12 OP eligible students. Congratulations to all of the students. 77% of students received a C grade or better on the test.

Year 11

The Year 11 Exam block runs from Monday 26th November to Friday 30th November. Exam timetables were recently distributed to students and included an accompanying letter which outlined the protocol for study leave and exam blocks. Please discuss these with your child so that they are aware of expectations. A reminder that if all assessment is not submitted prior to the commencement of exam block, the exam block privileges will be revoked and students will need to remain at school until the required work is complete.

End of Semester Assessment Block

Congratulations to all students in years 7-11 on completing their exams and assignments for both the semester and the entire school year. It is important that all students are attending school up until the 30th November. There will be assessment occurring all this week.

Assessment Reminders

A reminder to all students and parents that assessment must be submitted on the draft or due date. If the assessment has not been submitted you will be notified by the teacher either by a text message or a phone call. If the student cannot make it to school the assessment must be brought into the College Office or alternatively emailed to the teacher (at teacher’s discretion). If the student is ill or unwell a medical certificate is required (senior students), and a note from home (junior students). Students can then organise extensions when they return to school.

Semester Two Reports

Please make sure the college office has your current mailing address as reports will be sent home during the first week of the holidays.

Year 9 Art People and Place Murals

Year 9 students were challenged for their final making assignment in art this year to design a mural to be displayed at the college. They were given a design brief which included details of the history of the college, vision and mission statements, motto, crest, history of buildings and house names etc. They had to choose from a list of options (or pitch their own idea) which included the school motto, building names, subject areas and find a location suitable for their artwork to be installed. Hopefully, as this newsletter reaches you they are now all put up in place around the college with the aim for these to stay in place for at least the next 12 months. I am very proud of the students' efforts and the colour they have added to the school grounds.

Student Pathway News:

By Mrs Alison Porter, Program Leader Student Pathways

Apprenticeship, Traineeship and Job Vacancies

Currently we are aware of several opportunities available to students for 2019. Information regarding these has been on the school notices and emailed to students. Please see the list of local opportunities below. Students interested in these positions should see me as soon as possible.

• Full-time butchery apprenticeship (2 positions for Year 12 school leavers)
• Full-time Retail Traineeship (Yangan)
• School-based traineeship in hospitality (would include weekend work)
• School-based traineeship in business administration (for current Year 10 students).

Certificate II in Rural Operations

Reminder that we are offering the Certificate II in Rural Operations to our current Year 10 students to study as an elective in 2019. Any students who are interested in completing this course and haven’t selected it in their 2019 subject selection should see me as soon as possible.

GenR8 Graduation

Congratulations to Stewart LeLay, Joshua Hynes and Martin Fernandez on their recent graduation from the GenR8 program. This program involved the students completing ongoing work experience with local employers whilst studying their Certificate II in Logistics & Warehousing. They were all successful in their completion of the program and certificate studies. Well done to these students!

Lastly, best wishes to all for a Merry Christmas and safe and happy holidays to all.

Library News:

By Mrs Mary-Anne Driver

2018 is nearly done and dusted here in the library. That is how we will be spending the last few weeks of this term – cleaning and dusting. Thank you to the students who have returned their books and we will be emailing a reminder list to those who still need their books leading into exams.

Every spare space is taken in lunches with students enjoying each other’s company, poker is again popular – and we usually have three different games of UNO happening at once!

As we await the arrival of the baby Jesus (lots of students have noticed he is missing from our Nativity Scene) may our ‘library family’ wish you and yours a safe and enjoyable break. We look forward to welcoming everyone back in 2019.

Business News:

By Mr Scott Clegg, Business Manager.

A few reminders as follows:

College fees are due this Friday 23rd November 2018.

Please also sign & return your Textbook Hire forms for all students attending our college in 2019.

If your student is not returning in 2019, please confirm this in writing to the Principal.

Thank you.

IT News:

By Mr Abraham Fern, ICT Support Officer

The IT Department currently has stock of a few iPad cases which are being made available at discounted rates to school families on a ‘while stocks last’ basis. They are largely for the Air 2 model (2017) but there are also some for the original Air (2015/2016). They are of various condition and some are without a backplate, however they may still be of interest to some for personal devices at home or as a replacement for a badly damaged case on an existing student device. Please see table below for model/condition/price.

Students will be getting an email informing them of their availability as well. Should they require a replacement unit on their College-provided device to ensure its ongoing protection, now would be a great opportunity to secure one at a discounted rate.

Please feel free to call me at the College with any queries or orders. Payment of any orders to be made on collection from Reception.

General Notices:

Presentation Night

Last week saw a very enjoyable presentation night. Congratulations to the students who were involved in performances on the night and to all of our award winners. A special congratulations to Mary Higgins who was awarded Dux of The College for 2018!

Year 12 Skirmish

Our Year 12 students enjoyed a skirmish fun day as part of their end of school celebrations. A great day was had by all.

Year 12 Graduation

Congratulations to our Year 12 students who graduated last week. We wish you all the very best of luck for the future!!

Enrichment Day

On Monday of this week the College held its first Enrichment Day, where invited students from years 7 and 8 were able to participate in a range of extension experiences. While many subject areas were covered, maths, literature, science, digital technology, art and music, all the sessions were focussed on Fibonacci numbers and how they can be applied to many different areas of our life. The students wrote Fibonacci poems, found the Golden Ratio in teacher’s faces, programmed robots to travel in a Fibonacci spiral and created unique artworks from graphs created in their maths session. We hope that this is the first of many themed Enrichment Days to come.

Warwick Regional Interschool Chess Tournament

We were proud to host the inaugural Warwick Regional Interschool Chess Tournament here at Assumption on Monday, November 19. This fantastic day saw 64 primary and secondary students from 5 schools compete in 8 rounds of chess. Students, parents and teachers who attended all gave us the thumbs up for providing this opportunity and we are looking forward to an even bigger event in 2019!

Results:

Secondary Competition:

1st – Matthew Higgins (ACW)
2nd – Brendan Lunn (ACW)
3rd – Hessel Brydon (ACW)

Primary Competition:

1st: Tristen Walters (Glen Aplin SS)
2nd: Emily Carnell (Glen Aplin SS)
3rd: Oscar Briggs (Allora SS)

We thank all of the students involved for their exceptional manners, behaviour and leadership on the day. You are a credit to Assumption!

St Mary’s Catholic Parish:

Sacred Heart Deuchar – Centennial Celebrations

St Mary’s Parish Christmas Party

Community News:

Zonta Club of Warwick – Orange Lady

The Zonta Club of Warwick joins with the UN Organisation to bring the attention of all, to the horrors of Domestic Violence. Sixteen days of activism begins on 25th November and businesses, churches, schools and public areas will display the Orange figures in Warwick, Allora and Killarney. Orange is the colour chosen to stand out and attract attention. You will see the “Orange Lady” arrive at Assumption Nov 28th.

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