Sydney/Canberra Cultural Tour

On Sunday 19 August, some of our Year 6 students departed Brisbane for chilly Sydney and Canberra on the 2018 Cultural Tour.

This year’s tour was the biggest one we have had for some years, with 100 students attending. During the six-day trip, students enjoyed visiting Parliament House and the Electoral Education Centre, both of which complemented their current unit of inquiry. Our Year 6 students also visited Questacon, the Australian War Memorial, and National Museum of Australia.

One of the absolute highlights of the tour (besides playing in the snow!) was the opportunity to visit Government House and meet His Excellency General the Honorable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd), Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia. His Excellency took the time to talk about his important role and responsibilities to our country, as well as answer a range of questions from our students. We also got a sneak peek of His Excellency sitting for an artist who was working

on a portrait of him.

There are many people who need to be thanked who made this year’s trip one of the best yet. Thank you to our wonderful staff who accompanied our students on the trip – Deb Kelly, Tamika Bertoli, Rachel Penn, Alana Takawe, Lyn Lee, and Mark Smith.

We also need to thank the Federal Government who recognise the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion, the Australian Government contributed $60 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

Office, Finance & Uniform Shop

Office Hours Finance Room Uniform Shop

view ARTICLE

Office, Finance & Uniform Shop

Office Hours

Monday8.00am - 4.00pm
Tuesday8.00am - 3.30pm
Wednesday8.00am - 4.00pm
Thursday8.00am - 4.00pm
Friday8.00am - 3.30pm

Finance Room

Monday8.00am - 12.00pm
Tuesday8.00am - 12.00pm
Wednesday8.00am - 12.00pm
Thursday8.00am - 12.00pm
Friday8.00am - 12.00pm

Uniform Shop

Monday8.00am - 12.00pm
TuesdayCLOSED
Wednesday8.00am - 12.00pm
Thursday2:00pm - 5.00pm
Friday8.00am - 12.00pm

Bullying. No Way.

Bullying is an issue in the greater community that affects many young people. No school is immune to bullying, as it is inherently a relational …

College Update
view ARTICLE

Bullying. No Way.

Bullying is an issue in the greater community that affects many young people. No school is immune to bullying, as it is inherently a relational issue between students. At Calamvale Community College, we are firmly committed to providing a positive learning environment for all students. We understand that bullying occurs in all schools, and have in place a number of processes to address incidents of bullying when they occur.

To start, however, it is very important to define bullying so it can be addressed appropriately. A shared understanding of bullying is the starting point for effectively prevention and restorative practice. The College adopts the Australian Schools standard definition:

“Bullying is an ongoing misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that causes physical and/or psychological harm. It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power over one or more persons. Bullying can happen in person or online, and it can be obvious (overt) or hidden (covert).

Bullying of any form or for any reason can have long-term effects on those involved, including bystanders.

Single incidents and conflict or fights between equals, whether in person or online, are not defined as bullying.”

This definition makes a clear distinction between a single incident or conflict, and on-going bullying. This element causes the most confusion – a student who experiences a single incident of mean or inappropriate behaviour is not being bullied. As much as these single incidents are not acceptable, they are not bullying and cannot be treated as bullying. These incidents may be just as serious, but they require different responses. Bullying is a complex relational problem between students and as such, it requires a response by the College that is tailored to the specifics of the interaction.

If you require more information on bullying, the College recommends the “Bullying. No Way.” website: https://bullyingnoway.gov.au/

Additionally, an outline of our response to bullying is contained within the College’s Responsible Behaviour Plan for students on our website.

Kaohsiung Girls visit Calamvale

In mid-August, the College welcomed 13 students from Kaohsiung Girls Senior High School (KGHS) in Taiwan on their 2018 Study Tour. Calamvale Community College signed …

International News
view ARTICLE

Kaohsiung Girls visit Calamvale

In mid-August, the College welcomed 13 students from Kaohsiung Girls Senior High School (KGHS) in Taiwan on their 2018 Study Tour. Calamvale Community College signed a Sister School Agreement in August 2015 – since then, Kaohsiung students have made four trips to the College, and we have made reciprocal journeys twice, with the third planned for 2019. Our respective schools principals have also maintained a positive relationship, with Executive Principal Lisa Starmer visiting Kaohsiung as an invited guest for their senior graduation ceremony in 2017.

This year, the Kaohsiung girls were treated to a back-to-back itinerary full of new experiences and adventures. They participated in an insightful and immersive Indigenous culture excursion to the Ngutuna-Lai Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Studies Centre in Inala. Our Taiwanese guests witnessed boomerang throwing, as well as Indigenous song, dance and storytelling. The also visited Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary to see our native animals up close, followed by a trip to the beach and Mount Tambourine. The girls also arrived just in time for the Ekka – they were very excited to experience such an iconic Queensland event.

There were many on-campus events of mutual benefit to our students. The Kaohsiung girls visited a Year 9 APEX Mandarin class and gave an insightful and interactive presentation about the culture, scenery and food of Taiwan, the Kaohsiung province and its unique delights, and the vibrancy of KGHS.

Cherry, the KGHS Tour captain, expressed her excitement at seeing so many multicultural faces at the College. “We thought that there would be a large White population, but upon reaching, we saw so many more races and nationalities, which was amazing. Many of the [College’s] teachers are from different countries as well.”

She hopes to explore Australia and take advantage of our invaluable resources. “In Taiwan, there aren’t that many books written in English, so I’d like to visit a bookstore here in Brisbane. I would like to visit Australia again as a tourist, and be immersed in the English language.”

The girls said their farewells and departed on Monday. The College hopes to extend its productive relationship with KGHS by working collaboratively through the “Global Collaborative Classrooms” project. In the near future, we hope to hold live-stream music performances, invite submissions to our upcoming online art gallery, and hold English and Chinese language enrichment classes.

 

 

Our Instrumental Music Program

The College’s Instrumental Music Program is grooving to the rhythm of 2018 with style and finesse. Four of our ensembles participated in the Fanfare Bands …

Instrumental Program
view ARTICLE

Our Instrumental Music Program

The College’s Instrumental Music Program is grooving to the rhythm of 2018 with style and finesse.

Four of our ensembles participated in the Fanfare Bands Competition, an interschool contest organised by Education Queensland which offers our students the opportunity to learn from expert adjudication and to pursue musical excellence alongside their peers. Our Senior Band and Orchestra were awarded Bronze, while our Jazz Band and String Ensemble Corelli both won Silver.

Our first semester has also been marked by successful showcases, public performances, and invaluable workshops with regional and international guests.

Earlier in the year, our students engaged in a wide variety of enriching activities. Our Beginner Band and Beginner Strings groups had their Immersion Programs in February. The Jazz Music Institute, a Brisbane-based specialist jazz school, visited the College on an Incursion workshop. In March, Calamvale Community College held the inaugural Collaboration Concert with the Queensland Korean Youth Orchestra (QKO) at the on-campus Calamvale Performing Arts Centre. Established in 2016, QKO has continually expanded to become the most dynamic and diversified orchestra in Queensland. This concert provided the College’s music students with the opportunity to interact with and perform alongside like-minded young musicians. Audiences listened to performances by our String Quartet, the Queensland Korean Youth Orchestra’s Strings and Woodwind Brass Percussion, as well as collaborative performances that showcased the combined talents of these young performers.

Our students have also participated in a variety of activities and performances outside of the College. In March, Instrumental Music students from across the College visited the Conservatorium of Music at Southbank and attended a lecture presented by the Deputy Director. Our Taiko group began the year with an international focus – they performed at our Multicultural Festival, welcomed and farewelled our visiting Japanese schools, and showcased their skills at the Kisaragi-Sai Japanese Festival at Roma Street Parklands.

At the end of Semester One, the College’s Instrumental Music Program successfully hosted their first all-ensembles showcase for 2018 – Music@6. Close to 200 students performed on the evening across eight ensembles, including the Mallets Duo, Junior Band, Senior Band, Stage Band and Taiko Drummers, as well as three string groups – Crochets, Corelli, and Crescendo. It is always a privilege to perform for familiar faces, and our students embraced the opportunity to demonstrate their musical talents and collaborative skills. All ensembles performed on the evening to a full house with a very enthusiastic and supportive audience.

This term, our Junior Brass and French Horn students participated in Brass Master Classes. Our Taiko group performed brilliantly at the Japanese Immersion Day, hosted by Seville Road State School. On Saturday August 25, guest conductor Toni Bonetti will instruct and work collaboratively with our students in a combined Band and Strings workshop. Through August and September, another guest conductor – Josh Hatcher – will run rehearsals for Senior Band and State Band and assist them with their preparations. On September 15, the Taiko Group is performing for esteemed guests at the World Multi-Cultural Dinner at Sun-Pac. This term our Senior Band, Stage Band and Taiko groups will all perform at College assemblies.

The College’s Instrumental Music Program is showing no signs of slowing down – our Term 4 calendar is booked out with variety of performances such as the Music Fest Bands Competition, Art Waves Festival, College Arts Night, Whole College Awards Night and of course an all-ensembles performance at our End of Year Instrumental Music Awards Night. To top off the year, the College will welcome Japanese Percussionist – Fumiko Yamazaki – for a week in October. She will collaborate with a number of our Percussion Students for two workshop days, followed by a Concert in CPAC.

The College continues to provide students invaluable opportunities to develop new skills collaboratively and independently, to hone their musical proficiencies each lesson, and to celebrate their musical talents with confidence on stage. To further prepare our talented musicians for local and international opportunities, the College will offer Music as a part of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in 2019.

Calamvale Scholars reign victorious

In a truly astounding triumph, Calamvale Community College has emerged as the only school in Queensland to be recognised as a Champion Team in the …

World Scholars Cup
view ARTICLE

Calamvale Scholars reign victorious

In a truly astounding triumph, Calamvale Community College has emerged as the only school in Queensland to be recognised as a Champion Team in the Junior Division of the World Scholar’s Cup, defeating more than 290 teams from across the globe.

In mid-August, our talented teams travelled to Melbourne to compete in the Cup’s Global Round against more than 1,500 scholars from 27 countries, including Indonesia, China, Singapore, India, and Zimbabwe. Both our Senior and Junior students walked away with several gold and silver medals for writing and the Scholar’s Challenge.

Back in April, Calamvale tentatively entered into the World Scholar’s Cup, and walked away with multiple accolades. In the 2018 Brisbane Round, Calamvale’s Junior Division team was crowned the Overall Champion, awarded first place in the Scholar’s Bowl, and took home bronze for both Challenge and Writing events.

The Cup’s theme for 2018 – An Entangled World – resonates across the intertwined and inseparable subject areas of History, Arts and Music, Science, Social Studies, and Literature. This interdisciplinary entanglement is by no means superficial; competitors must commit to significant study and preparation beyond the comfort of the classroom.

They must delve into complex, real-life issues such as the ethics of cryptocurrency and black market trade, the history of conspiracy, and the veracity of flashbulb memory. Competitors also participate in collaborative events including scavenger hunts, keynote speeches, panel discussions, and a talent show.

Literature Challenge Subject winner – Sofia Juria – said, “I was very excited to debate with my teammates and demonstrate the skills we’ve learned in past training sessions. Outside of the academic events, I couldn’t wait to present in the talent show and explore the city, not to mention adopt another alpaca!”

Tavpreet Kaur, another member of winning Scholar’s Bowl team, reflected on her excitement for the Cup’s Global Round. “This was an amazing opportunity to represent the school in a different city for debating and trivia. We presented in the Talent Show as the TIM TAM TEAM and participated in the Scholar’s Fair and the Scholar’s Ball. The biggest highlight was definitely adopting another, bigger alpaca!”

Despite our students’ palpable excitement for the Cup’s mascot alpacas and entertaining event highlights, this competition is no walk in the park. The World Scholar’s Cup requires entrants to consider, apply, and extrapolate their knowledge in unexpected and confronting ways.

In the Scholar’s Bowl, for example, competitors must solve analytical and multimedia challenges under extreme time pressure, keep up with questions of increasing difficulty, and persevere against opponents shouting out incorrect answers.

In the Collaborative Writing event, competitors must consider the strengths and weakness of their fellow teammates as they each choose a different persuasive essay prompt from a selection of six statements. The Cup also complicates multiple-choice questions in The Scholar’s Challenge by raising the stakes – competitors can select more than one option as correct, but the more answers, the lower the question’s weighting.

The College’s organising teacher, Ruth Smith, has dedicated countless hours to preparing her students for this Global Round in Melbourne. “The teams have been preparing outside school time, researching in the subject areas as well as preparing to use their knowledge across all of the subjects in the Scholar’s Challenges. This has taken great dedication from our students, and will place them in excellent standing for the competition.”

Despite such manifestly mind-numbing challenges, the College has firmly entered into this global thought arena with multiple trophies and personal commendations from the organisers. Our students continue to excel on regional, national, and international stages – be it sporting victories and hospitality medals here in Brisbane, to global gambits in Melbourne and robot challenges in Tokyo.

For now, our superb teams have set their sights on global success – let’s hope that their inaugural entry into the World Scholar’s Cup continues to yield unprecedented triumphs.

 

 

 

QASSP Educators’ Workshop at Calamvale

to participate in professional development blended workshops linked to the Design and Digital Curriculum. These educators are affiliated with the College through the Queensland Association …

QASSP @ Calamvale
view ARTICLE

QASSP Educators’ Workshop at Calamvale

to participate in professional development blended workshops linked to the Design and Digital Curriculum.

These educators are affiliated with the College through the Queensland Association of State School Principals (QASSP), which boasts 1300 members and advocates for the best possible education for 315,000 primary school students across Queensland.

Calamvale Community College has been hosting educators from the QASSP Acacia Branch for five years. This year, our College Secondary staff – Ms Mel Ellis, Ms Marie Moo, Ms Elke Schneider, Mr Zac Cheng, and Mr Eamon Hickey – facilitated these hands-on and engaging workshops.

Visiting primary school educators experienced first-hand what the College offers in terms of STEAM curriculum and facilities. Over the course of the afternoon, participants rotated through a variety of in-depth sessions which focused on boosting their problem solving capabilities, refining their specialised mathematics and scientific knowledge, and recognising transciplinary curriculum links in the classroom.

The educators explored the functionality of MakeyMakey by using conductive materials to create an input device. A Virtual Reality tour allowed them to hear, see, and understand how a specialised teaching space can be repurposed in innovative ways. Our staff imparted practical knowledge about and increased competency in Scratch, and the educators created a short animation.

In the Sumo Robo Challenge, the QASSP educators worked in teams to design and build competitive robots. This workshop activity required participants to apply block, drag, and drop coding to program their robots to seek and destroy all opponents. All teams worked collaboratively to adhere to competition size and weight rules, and applied their problem solving skills to re-program and re-build as necessary.

The teams also met Pepper – a humanoid robot created by Softbank Robots in Japan – and explored her programming features and her utility as an educational tool.

Overall, these workshops provided an invaluable opportunity for all QASSP educators to build productive relationships, share knowledge, and strengthen interschool communication through a professional network. Following the 1.5-hour workshops at CPAC, school teams enjoyed a sumptuous dinner at the College’s 3Trees Restaurant. This was the largest event on the restaurant’s calendar, and their service and menu did not disappoint.

The success of this annual event rests with our exceptional Secondary staff members, our talented hospitality team and students, as well as our outstanding venues and event facilities. Our local QASSP educators are sure to keep coming back for more each year.

International guests and friends welcomed to Calamvale

The College welcomed 25 educators from Saudi Arabia for a preliminary professional development visit on 19 July. This visit – the first of its kind …

International News
view ARTICLE

International guests and friends welcomed to Calamvale

The College welcomed 25 educators from Saudi Arabia for a preliminary professional development visit on 19 July. This visit – the first of its kind in Queensland – precedes and anticipates a 10-week programme in Term 4, during which these visiting teachers will gain practicum experience at the College.

During this one-day visit, the Saudi Arabian teachers were warmly introduced to our professional and teaching staff, our robust International Programmes, and the multicultural aspects that enliven our College.

These teachers – all in-service English teachers from various secondary schools across Saudi Arabia – were interested in observing English, Humanities, and Drama classes and meeting our secondary students.

This professional development programme in Term 4 will allow the Saudi Arabian teachers to gain exposure to the Queensland English curriculum, and understand how we conduct lessons, teach content, and assess achievement in English and ESL programmes at the College. The teachers will provide in-class support as teacher aids and gain practicum experience with our multicultural student base.

The teachers will also attend professional learning sessions on select educational topics, develop their teaching skills, and establish learning improvement plans during the course of their visit.

The College hopes that this professional programme will enrich the cultural knowledge, awareness, and sensitivity of both our school community and the visiting teachers. We look forward to developing this professional relationship further during the upcoming term.

This term also commenced with two simultaneous – but very different – Study Tours from China.

On 30 July, we welcomed five students from our Sister School in China – Jiangsu Nantong High School. The students took part in English language lessons, class integration sessions, and were treated to an Australian wildlife show at the College. Our warm and hospitable host families allowed these visiting students to appreciate the Australian lifestyle and take part in leisure activities. The students also travelled to the Gold Coast and Sydney as a part of this tour.

This annual visit from our Jiangsu Sister School was complemented by the inaugural visit of Mingzhu School students to the College. On 30 July, we also welcomed 11 students from Mingzhu School in Changchun, China for the first time on a one-week study tour. The students completed English lessons at the College, and attended class integration sessions alongside a buddy student.

 

Taipei Youth Folk Sports Group 2018

In August, the College graciously welcomed the Taipei Youth Folk Sports Group for an enchanting performance that demonstrated to our Year 3 students the beauty …

International News
view ARTICLE

Taipei Youth Folk Sports Group 2018

In August, the College graciously welcomed the Taipei Youth Folk Sports Group for an enchanting performance that demonstrated to our Year 3 students the beauty of cultural exchange, inheritance, and expression.

This youth troupe – established as a Taiwanese government initiative in 1987 – consists of 30 students aged between 11 and 14 from schools across Taipei City. These young performers have trained for two years in order to represent the richness of Taiwanese culture with their specialised skills, physical agility and creative flair. 

Although Taipei Youth Folk Sports Group tours five continents across the globe, our students were incredibly fortunate because Calamvale was the only school chosen to host a performance in Queensland. The College maintains productive relationships with the sponsoring organisations, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office of Brisbane and the Hakka Association of Queensland.

 

Held at CPAC, this year’s folk art performance was characterised by a contemporary sporting flavour. The troupe showcased the performative elements of gymnastics, badminton, and soccer alongside storytelling and modern dance. For example, diabolo spinning featured within a beautifully orchestrated dance; the audience was left in awe as the performers manipulated multiple diabolos simultaneously with amazing changes in speed, direction and movement. The performers also took rope skipping to a new level by weaving a touching story with whirs, waves, and loops. A shuttlecock kicking display also demonstrated the stylistic precision and graceful agility of the young performers. The group also encouraged its young audience with a motivational dance performance about persevering against adversity and building resilience across all sporting endeavours.

The Taipei Youth Folk Sports Group also exposed our students to some of the festive and artistic practices that underpin Taiwanese culture. For example, the Group performed a harvest dance with bamboo sticks, traditionally performed by the aboriginal Taiwanese Amis Tribe in anticipation of an abundant harvesting season. The performers also illustrated cultural significance of the Dragon Boat Festival – one of the largest celebrations in Taiwan – by wearing scented sachets, enacting dragon boat races, and eating sticky rice dumplings. These cultural performance were complemented by traditional folk music and vibrant clothing.

Throughout this performance, our students learnt about the value of preserving our diverse cultures, participating wholeheartedly in sports, and refining our unique talents.