Term 3 | Week 23 | 7 August 2019

‘Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it: but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it’ Matthew 16:24-15

From The Principal

Thank you to all the parents, students and teachers who were involved in the parent and teacher meeting, held last week. A large number of parents took advantage of the opportunity to meet and discuss the learning and development of their children with class and specialist teachers. It was a great exercise in collaborations and partnership, centred on promoting the learning opportunities of the students. Thank you to the staff for being so generous with their time, many staying back past the scheduled finish times to see additional parents or have extended conversation about student progress. It is a fresh semester and I encourage all families to speak with their children to help them establish some learning goals for the second half of the year.

Planning is well underway for the 2020 College year and this week there were many new faces visiting the College as part of the Kindergarten Experience Day. Experience days are a very important part of the Transition Program which is designed to support both students and families as they work through the process of establishing themselves positively in a new learning environment. Students get to know the teaching staff, familiarise themselves with new routines and most importantly, make new friends. A huge thank you to our Kindy teaching team Mrs Christine Smith and Mrs Jody Baker for all their preparation and organisation of the day.

Again, thank you to all our families that have hosted our international visitors this term. Our visitors from Kasukabe High School, Longyou Kema Senior High and Tachibana Elementary School have all been so grateful for the welcome and hospitality provided by our community. Thank you to all the families who have graciously opened their homes to the visiting students. The program involves students undertaking English lessons, attending mainstream classes and exploring the local region. Our students have also enjoyed the opportunity to make new friends.

Once again I have some incredible student achievements to share with you. Congratulations to Year 10 student Hayley Oakes who was crowned Australian Champion in the under 17 Women’s’ mountain biking championships over the weekend. Congratulations also goes to Year 10 student Lachlan Walker who competed for NSW at the National School Swimming Championships last week and earnt Bronze in the 100 Backstroke. And finally, congratulations to Year 6 student Kalani Franklin who was selected in the Under 13 NSW Hockey Team and will travel to Tasmania in October for the National Championships.

Mr Robert Tobias
Principal

International Visitors

Kalani Franklin, Lachlan Walker, Hayley Oakes

Off the Deputy's Desk

We had a wonderful Primary Assembly on Tuesday morning with our Year 3 classes presenting a plethora of information regarding the importance of NAIDOC week for all Australians. We were privileged to have a group of students from Ballina Public School perform some traditional dances from the original inhabitants of our region, the Bundjalung people. This was great to see in action and I thank Ms Baker for liaising with Ballina Public School to arrange this visit.

Last Friday we farewelled our visitors from Kasukabe and there was much good will and some sadness from our students and their friends from Kasukabe. The visit was a great success and builds wonderful links between the 2 schools and most importantly, develops intercultural understanding. Thank you to Mrs Bergan for the work that she does in organising and overseeing International visits.

Our Year 12 students have commenced their HSC Trial Examinations and at this point they have been very purposeful in their approach. We wish them every success in this important testing regime that provides the final piece of assessment data for their report cards as well as preparing them for the upcoming rigours of the HSC Examinations in October.

The students of Year 10 are currently undertaking the subject selection process to choose their pattern of study for Year 11. They have received much useful information from Mrs Boyd, Curriculum Leaders and their subject teachers and are being very ably guided by Mrs Evans in this process. I encourage students and parents to engage actively in this process and to contact the College if they need any further assistance.

The Year 3 students have been working on developing their coding skills and are having races with Spheros that they have programmed. Unfortunately I wasn’t at school to be involved in this event but from all accounts there was some very high level learning and a large amount of engagement and enjoyment in this activity.

Finally, after 3 washouts it looks like we have fine weather predicted for the Secondary Athletics Carnival to be held at Byron Bay on Wednesday 7 August. I wish all 4 houses all the best and hope that it will be a hard fought day of good natured competition. May the best house win!

Mr Darren Parks
Deputy Principal

Term 3 Week 4

Monday 12 August