In this issue

We pay my respects to the Yuggera, Turrabul and Yugambeh people on whose land we celebrate tonight, Acknowledge their elders and past and present as we as any first nations people present here tonight.

Good evening invited guests, parents, families and our award recipients this evening,

This year’s celebrations are special, as 2022 marks the twentieth anniversary of our College, established in 2002 when Calamvale State School was moved from the Calamvale Special School site to the current site and a secondary school to year 9 was added with additional cohorts over the next three years. A great deal of thought and planning went into the foundation of Calamvale Community College, including into its name. We remain the only state college in Queensland that has community in its title rather than the word state and that is indicative of who we are as a school – we are the heart of our community and our community is our reason for being. Our Foundation Motto, ‘Building on Success’ has remained at the core of our College as we aspire to be Curious, Creative and Clever.

Calamvale Community College has always been a place of innovation, sometimes that was in the face of great challenge and other times it has been to great advantage. In the first ten years, there were PODs in the Junior School, three year levels in a class must have been a challenge. CCC also implemented New Basics in the Middle School, for which our College received a Showcase Award in 2013. Our Senior Secondary School used to begin at 7.45am and finish at 1pm in those early days with composite classes across the timetable to support a broad variety of classes with a comparatively small population. During this decade, there was little interaction between students in the three sub-schools and at the time, this was best practice. In those early years, there developed a keen interest from our community in the International Baccalaureate program being run in the Queensland Academies. Our community increasingly saw itself reflected in such an educational program and valued the rigour, language, diversity and global competence it delivered.
Over the most recent ten years, our College has grown and developed into an inclusive community that has grasped its diversity and used it to create a learning place where all of our students can see them selves reflected. The adoption of the International Baccalaureate program (IB), Primary Years (PYP), in years Prep to 6 and the Diploma in Years 11 and 12 has provided opportunities for our students to grow as global citizens with five languages being taught and students ever-focused on curiosity and open-mindedness. The introduction of the Middle Years program (MYP) in 2023 will complete our College as the first P-12 International Baccalaureate World School state college in Australia.
Being an IB World School brings with it an expectation that our students will acquire the attributes of the Learner profile, that they will take action and have an impact on their world; they will find their voice. Having transitioned through a realignment of our courses Prep through to Year 12 we have settled on several key levers that provide our students with Voice, Choice and Ownership. In Senior Secondary our students use the evidence of their results to inform their career pathways, selecting: university destinations through the IB Diploma and Queensland Curriculum ATAR courses, with a ranking option provided by a Diploma in Business; Certification pathways access seven different certificate courses and Work Readiness and Traineeship programs partner with our local businesses and industries.

Our Junior Secondary students’ academic success populate our APEX academic excellence program directly from Year 6 leaving few spaces for enrolments out of catchment. Upcoming athletes aspire to join the Wolves 32 program, preparing themselves with coaches and exacting training for a tilt at the Brisbane Olympics in 2032. In year 8, our Honours program has delivered every student the opportunity to engage in subjects most passionately enjoyed and to extend their learning experiences beyond the day-to-day curriculum. Students in Year 9 have been our first participants in the IB Community Project requiring students to consider the Sustainable Development Goals expressed by UNESCO and underpinning global competence by taking action based on their learning.

Across the College the opportunities for students to develop their potential are now boundless with diverse Arts programs including The Company delivering two performances this year as well as the annual Musical, this year Aladdin in secondary and what a spectacular show that was and Jungle Book in Junior School as our youngest students enjoy the fun of the theatre presenting a heart-warming rendition. Whilst the sports-minded, the Wolves program has taken competition to the next level this year with a number of very successful participations in state level competitions. We’ll celebrate those achievements with the Sports and Culture awards on Nov 24.
In Junior School, after six years of PYP our Year 6 students’ results are better than ever and their self-confidence and understanding has grown impressively. They have learned to be collaborative thinkers, able to share opinions and use their inquiry process to extend their curiosity, to find out, sort out and go further. The International Baccalaureate program develops the learner profile as a priority, it encourages the thinker and the carer, developing open-minds and academic risk-takers. Nowhere is this more evident than in our Immersion classes in Prep to Year 2. These students consistently outperform their cohorts at CCC and beyond, as they develop the unique skills of bilingualism, some of them this year, acquiring a third language. Our youngest learners across the Junior Years have become principled in perspective, balanced in their thoughts and reflective of their actions. We use our major events to grow these skills – Book Week, Easter Hat Parade, Under 8s Day, gala days and our many cultural celebrations. All of these co-curricular activities are opportunities for our learners across the College. This comes to fruition as our Year 6 communicators present their learning in their culminating exhibition; a highlight of our IB year, I’m sure you will agree.

As you might expect our enrolment at CCC has continued to climb, reaching almost 2500 this year and we were delighted to have a new building with a focus on Digital Technology and the Arts, making more room available for all of our classes across the year levels. Minister to your delight I’m sure, there will be Prep to 12 students access the new building and will try their hand at new subjects including robotics, coding and dance. The building brought with it a much-needed redevelopment of some outdoor space. There have been significant facilities upgrades across the College, including a lot of roofs after that rain event at the beginning of the year. We finish 2023 with refurbished outdoor volleyball and futsal courts, increased car parking, new science and technology facilities, $65 000 of outdoor fitness equipment, fresh painting, downpipes and guttering, new carpets in many classrooms, secondary school lunchtime seating and big plans for 2023.

As always, our Student Leadership has been impactful leading across Prep to 12, working collaboratively to deliver our students voice to the administration as well as hosting major student events. Our whole College has benefitted from the work that these teams have accomplished.
I would like to close by thanking everyone who is part of our College community: our wonderful students, our dedicated teaching staff and leadership, our administration and support staff, grounds, technology and cleaners. This team, together with our P&C led by president Mrs Yvette Dempsey and our College Council led by Chair Mr Mike Butler, our CCCA business community, our elected representatives and our aspirational parents who want the very best for our students. We comprise a wonderful community providing a value-rich, strong and supportive foundation upon which to grow the next generation. Thank you for a very successful 2022 and congratulations on your students’ success here tonight.

Good evening everyone,
Courage, Perseverance, Resilience. That little fellow was most certainly a risk-taker!

Being an IB World School, the thread that weaves it’s way from Prep through to Year 12 are the Learner Profile attributes. The learner profile attributes are the pathway to developing international-mindedness within our school community. They are is a set of ten-character traits that equip students with multi-faceted skills for personal success now and in the future.
Through the IB PYP programme we aim to develop students who develop the trait of being a risk taker, one of our 10 Learner Profile attributes. Our role as educators is to guide students to explore new ideas, encouraging them to build their confidence, so that they step outside of their comfort zone and become courageous in their choices and actions. Being a risk taker in learning, and in life is about having a growth mindset- having a goal, and to focus on what is achievable if you persevere.
Risk-taking means challenging yourself to do difficult or new things. It’s admitting that you just might fail, but you try anyway and you are resilient and you work harder and persevere on order to succeed. Just like in our movie clip tonight.

Risk taking goes further than just in the academic arena. If we want to develop well- rounded students, we need to nurture a wide range of skills beyond the classroom, because by giving students multiple opportunities it will encourage them to find their passion, learn something new or be successful in something that they never thought they could do.
So tonight, I would also like to congratulate all of those students who were risk takers in the Junior School this year, beyond the classroom. Some of you will also be sitting here, receiving an award tonight.

•  The 12 students in Year 6 who trained for nearly 6 months, to walk 30kms in the Sunshine Coast Kokoda Challenge- this was a first for our JS kids
•  The 45 Upper Junior Students who participated in the Jungle Kids Musical
•  The 76 students in Year 1 and Year 2 who joined up for the lunchtime Lego challenge throughout the year
•  The 65 students in UJ who participated in the Coding and Robotics Club
•  The 45 students in Year 1 and 2 who challenged themselves by joining the Robotics Club
•  The 67 students in Year 6 who went to Canberra, many for the first time in a plane and the first time in the snow and skiing
•  The 22 students who are members of the Year 3-6 choir
•  The 110 Junior School students from Yr 3-6 who participated in Instrumental Music this year
•  The 270 students in Year 5 and 6 who signed up to represent our school in Gala Day sport in 2022.
•  The 105 participants from Year 3-6 in the Young Engineers and the Girls in STEM program
•  The 30 CCC students who joined 1700 primary and high school students from across QLD for CGen this year
•  The 119 Year 5 students who went to camp this year, their first time on school camp.
•  The 28 primary students who have participated in Chess Club and chess competitions this year, one of these competing was a prep student.
•  The 40 students from Upper Junior who have just signed up to an after school dance troupe in our new Secondary AR block
• The 50 Year 6 students who are currently trialling to be selected in Wolves sport for 2023

That is a total of 1084 participants in additional programs offered at our College this year, with nearly all of these programs being facilitated by our own Calamvale staff. 1084 students who stepped outside the comfort of their classroom, the security of their own class teacher, in order to dip their toes in the water of the unfamiliar , to try something new, to be courageous, and to be a risktaker. We congratulate them all and I would also like to thank our staff for seeing the value and importance in providing these opportunities for our students.
And tonight, we honour and celebrate the 230 students from Prep to Year 6 who will be receiving an award. These students have shown many of the 10 Learner Profile attributes throughout the year and their achievement tonight is reward for being risk takers in their learning and for the hard work, resilience and perseverance they have shown. Congratulations and well done to each and every one of you.

Celebrating twenty years we recognised the contribution of so many of our teachers who have led the way delivering workshops, conference presentations and exhibitions to further our profession. 52 staff received certificates and the loud acknowledgement and applause of their peers.

This year, our twenty-first year, we were delighted to showcase three of our staff from a field of more than 30 were acknowledged in three categories:

• Early Career                       Tabita Braganza
• Mid-Career                         Michelle Page
• Experienced Career          Emma Stott

Congratulations to our whole team, a very professional crew and special cheers to these three staff.

Each of our awardees received a $1200 professional learning voucher sponsored by the Calamvale Community College P&C and presented by College Council Chari, Mike Butler and P&C Executive Karen Richmond.