In this issue

Year 6 Classes visited Year 7 Humanities earlier this Term to celebrate their learning. Year 7 spent 8 weeks inquiring into the consequences of absolute and relative locations on human and economic development. This culminating event saw Year 7 students convince Year 6 to move to a new city to work in their company. Thank you to all students and teachers involved! There was so much energy in every room!

Dereje Gebremariam, DJ, is our Junior School Chaplain. DJ provides social and emotional support to our students both in and out of the classroom. Each morning before school, DJ can be found greeting students, starting their day with positive conversation. DJ has made strong connections with our students and they know that he is a support to them when needed. The wellbeing support DJ provides varies from assisting students to self-regulate in the classroom, teaching students how to manage conflict and enjoy their break times and even provides Breakfast Club every Tuesday morning for our students across the College.

Curious, creative and clever students in Lower Junior designed their way through a Lego challenge this term. Students were tasked with working collaboratively to design and create a vehicle that moved when force was applied. They considered the function of their vehicle and the function of each of the parts that could be used in their construction. Students were challenged to be thinkers as they designed, tested and redesigned to complete their vehicles. Ms Chen is very proud of their efforts and is looking forward to challenging a new group of Lego Masters next term. This term’s Lego Master will be announced at the first assembly next term.

RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, RESLIIENCE AND INITIATIVE!

As students demonstrate the College Values, they are recognised with “That’s Gold” tokens. As a team, students are working towards being the house with the most tokens by the end of term. Congratulations to Keera students who enjoyed celebrating their Term 1 victory with a vibrant and energetic Zumba session. Connie, an experience Zumba instructor, came to Calamvale and got the Keera hearts pumping as they jumped, bounced and grooved to high energy beats.
Congratulations to our Term 2 winners- Cobar! We can’t wait for you to have your Zumba experience.

The Hospitality Excellence Program is honoured to announce we have six Year 12 students progress to become finalists this year for the 25th anniversary of the QTIC Salute to Excellence Awards:

Cookery Finalist: Montana Pearce
Food & Beverage Finalists: Kiara Bear, Oriana Elder, Zara Hashash, Natasha Hinkley & Angel Scott

The awards recognise exceptional secondary students for their participation in, and contribution to, their food and beverage and cookery qualifications through VET in Schools (VETiS).
The students are currently preparing for the finals which includes a series of skills tests and will culminate in a panel interview, during the first week of the school holidays.
We wish everyone luck as they continue on their journey and look forward to being able to celebrate their achievements at the end of July.

Congratulations! Titration competitors of Calamvale Community College. This year we have got the opportunity to take 18 students from year 10 and 11 chemistry classes to Griffith University (Nathan Campus) for this competition. Individually some of our students did exceptionally well in this competition.    The students who went for this competition are Navya, Kaylee , Drashti, Mia, Jackie, Leanne, Thryambika, Alyssa, Manya, Tony, Tracy, Max, Tariq, Sophiea, Zoe, Heera, Bhan, Bella-Anne.

This term, CCC’s Company put on the production of Shakespeare’s, Macbeth! It was 3 thrilling nights of tension, excitement and witchcraft! Company teamed up with Hospitality Excellence to create a theatre restaurant experience that left you wanting more! The cast worked amazingly together and build solid relationships whilst also learning about planning, resourcing, directing and of course, acting! The whole cast worked extra hard to learn Iambic-pentameter of William Shakespeare’s plays and it was clear from the moment it started that the students sang in “Shakespearean”! Special mention to the ever talented, hilarious and sinister, Jaime who played a dazzling Macbeth and to the year 12s, Tia, Melina, and Alyssa; last Company show, well done! Congratulations to all cast members, it was a tremendously brilliant show!!

Cast is as follows:

Lady Macbeth – Tia, Macbeth – Jaime, Macduff – Elizabeth, Banquo – Kaiya, Witch – Lejandre, Witch – Melina, King Duncan – Isaac, Malcolm – Astrid, Ross – Alyssam, Lennox – Zoe , Murderer – Beatrix , Murderer – Ozzy, Narrator – Isabelle, Narrator – Anmol, Doctor – Rylan
Gentlewomen – Taylor, Chorus – Maya,  Chorus – Hollie,  Chorus – Manya, Chorus – Alisha

June 7 was a very special day for CCC and for three of our Yr 6 students. It was the day for the Brisbane South Region Readers Cup competition, held at Stretton College.

In this competition, which starts early in the year, students are required to read a set of books chosen by the organisers. There are several divisions of the competition – Yr 5/6, Yr 7/8, and Yr 9/10. This year we only had a Grade 5/6 team. Our competitors were Emma-Lee Blaber, Jayden Ahn, and Joseph Martin of Cassowary Green (with Mrs McDowell).

For this competition, students are not to be coached, but only guided in their reading for details in their stories. Ms Toich, our Junior School Teacher-Librarian had guided our team in Terms 1 and 2. As she was on leave for the day of the competition, Ms Cleeton our Senior School Teacher-Librarian took over and travelled with the team to Stretton College for the competition.

There were 27 schools competing on the day. It was a perfect opportunity for our team to learn about participation (without which, of course, there is no competition!), how to respectfully represent our school, the kind of questions which can be asked about the books, meet new friends and have fun!

One of the highlights of the day was meeting Pamela Rushby a prolific Australian Children’s Book Author, who has produced over 30 titles! You can see these at https://pamelarushby.com/book/

Ms Rushby lives in Brisbane and gave the Guest Speaker presentation on the day. She gave our students a bookmark each and talked about the ideas she has for her next story.

Our team was very pleased to receive, on behalf of our school, a book award for being involved with Reader’s Cup for over ten years.

Ms Cleeton and Ms Toich were proud of our team on the day for their excellent behaviour and team spirit. One of our team members was absent on the day, so we did not do as well as we would have liked, but the benefits of being there far out-weighed such losses. Each team member was awarded a Certificate of Participation the day after the competition, with Ms McDowell and the rest of the Cassowary Green class present.

Thank you to our students, Teacher-Librarians, and other schools for being part of a city-wide activity which celebrates the joy and fun of reading for pleasure.

We hope to have more teams involved in 2023!

Quite unbelievable that we are already at the completion of semester one.  Despite the lagging impacts of that unmentionable pandemic on our staff and students and considerable weather events which have impacted our facilities greatly, we have nonetheless much to celebrate this year so far.  There are quite a number of articles in this newsletter that celebrate our students’ achievements and College events.

Mothers’ Day Prep Maths High Tea was definitely a highlight for the Junior School, as were the parent tours of our Primary Years Programs as they sought to learn more about the way

our College engages our students’ curiosity and develops their learning.

Our Student Union have orchestrated some amazing P-12 events for our students as we slowly return to those whole College experiences.  The Leadership Camp in May was a highlight as students across the Junior

School, Junior Secondary and Senior worked together to build relationships and set a strategic plan for their work this year.  With only a term to go of their tenure, the Seniors returned from camp and delivered six weeks of Spirit Days P-12 (photos in the newsletter) and a Year 7/12 Swimming Carnival held in the balmy conditions of the indoor Chandler Pool enjoying 26-degree swimming conditions.  The highlight of the day was the floatation race as dragons, unicorns and other mythical animals splashing down the lanes bearing loads of cheering year 7s and 12s.  As we enter our nomination period for Year 11s to assume these roles, we look back and are very grateful for and impressed with the efforts of our senior leaders.  Our Junior Secondary and Junior School leaders will join with the newly elected seniors to continue responding to student voice.

Last night, our instrumental music students performed for only the third time this year having achieved across the board SILVER at Fanfare.  Two concerts held the audiences captivated and we revelled in the delight of our youngest strings players, through percussion, senior choir, older strings and electric strings, Senior and Junior bands and of course the wonderful solos and swing rhythm of the stage band.  Special mention has to go to Taylah Anthony who delivered on her dream of a show choir – performing with the stage band – what a night!

So many academic events have highlighted our students’ significant capability, including Basel Fayoumi’s efforts with the Medus team and Dr Ali to provide support for students who are preparing for UCAT examinations. Junior Secondary APEX students’ participation in the Da’Vinci competition and J-Elle Hillery-Shaw’s success in studying Biology at Cambridge University for the next four weeks.  Even the online participation in NAPLAN this year, was an easy and student friendly experience that supported our students demonstrating their achievements.

We do everything in our power to continue developing an inclusive and supportive culture at the College, and the introduction of VIVO points in secondary school, matching the “That’s Gold” program in Junior School is just another example.  Students’ engagement with their learning, respect for school and each other is acknowledged and rewarded with points that can be traded for prizes or participation in a ‘fun day’ in the Junior School.

Most of our staff have studied the practices of Universal Design for Learning, with the last 50 to attend professional learning in term 3.  The focus of this work is to ensure inclusion across our classrooms from verified disability to learning diversity that makes accommodation to ADHD, ADD and dyslexia to name a few challenges that some of our students encounter.  More generally staff have participated in a range of professional learnings delivered by their peers across pedagogy and learning strategies to support students’ success.

However, we are still struggling to address the issues of mobile phones in our College and the disruption to learning that they cause.  Students’ refusal to put their phones ‘off and away’ when asked, then to place their phones in a locker or provide their names is causing considerable disruption to our learning programs and students’ lunchtime engagement.  We will be emailing a revised policy to you in the next two days and we are happy for your feedback as we share the reviewed policy with staff and students as well.  In its simplest form, students in secondary school who refuse to turn off their phone and put it away will be given an option to place it in a locker or they will receive a one-day suspension.  Refusal to give their name will result in a further day’s suspension.  Student compliance with the mobile phone policy is a critical aspect of their engagement in all that College life has to offer.  We look forward to your feedback using the College email over the next two weeks admin@calamvalecc.eq.edu.au Please wait for the email to send your feedback, it will have a little more detail.

We hope that you all enjoy your holidays with the students and have a healthy and relaxing time with family.  Best wishes for safe travels if you are away over the holidays.

See you next term,

Lisa

Our development as an IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) candidate school continues to go from strength to strength at CCC! In the first 6 months of the year, our teachers and students have achieved a great deal!As part of our journey to candidacy, our teachers have undertaken their official MYP training. This took place online earlier this year and is one of the mandatory elements required for Authorization.

Our focus this term has been on enhancing our assessment practices in Junior Secondary to ensure that these reflect the standards required by the IB. Assessment in the MYP reflects the needs of students at this age, and builds on the understanding, knowledge and skills developed by the Primary Years Programme (PYP) students in Junior School. A key difference in the MYP is that students are assessed in the 8 subject groups and are learning to think like experts in these areas. This helps to set our students up for success in their Senior Secondary pathways.

Learning in the MYP culminates in tasks where students can utilise their understanding gained in their studies and share it with other students. In the MYP, the goal of learning is not to achieve a result on an exam or assignment, but to enrich the whole person, share what they have learned, and use it to take meaningful action in the wider world.
For more information about Assessment in the MYP, please keep an eye out for information about upcoming Parent Information sessions early next term – all parents are welcome! We would encourage as many parents as possible to attend to learn more about our journey towards MYP Authorization, and what this means for your child!

Here are some examples of amazing learning happening in Junior Secondary!

In Design, students learn to empathise with their users through experience. Their product brief requires them to design for a person who is vision impaired, so they learn how a person with impaired vision may experience an environment. Rapid prototyping is an important part of the design process. In this challenge, students use a variety of materials to rapidly create a prototype for a design challenge.

In Language Acquisition, students learn an additional language to support their intercultural understanding. In Chinese, students learn about the importance of tea in the Chinese culture. They also learn to write using Chinese characters and make artefacts such as windmills using this. In Spanish, students researched a country through guided inquiry, and presented their research in a mini multicultural fair! Students from other classes came to visit and learn from their peers!

In Individuals and Societies, students study a range of subjects, including Business and Economics. This semester, students designed a new product for Carmen’s fine foods for export to the Japanese market. Students had to do a Business Feasibility Report and Trade Display for their product they designed to export!

We have been focusing on learning more about the Hospitality Industry and the opportunities it can provide for us outside of the classroom this Semester.

In Term 1, we went into the City for the day to learn more about Hotels. We spent the morning at The Hotel School learning about the different career pathways available and guest empathy. We enjoyed lunch and a behind the scenes site tour of The Emporium Hotel in Southbank. It was an experience that allowed us to see a different side to the industry then what we can experience at school.

This term we had industry come to us, when Hayley from Hotel Talk came to share her expertise on writing resumes and preparing for interviews in order to start working in industry. Hayley also shared with us different jobs and careers on offer in Hotels which is invaluable as she currently works in the industry herself, training and employing the next generation of hoteliers.

Griffith Business School’s Responsible Business and Government Leaders of the Future conference.

On Wednesday 25 May, 23 students from our business courses at the College engaged in an exciting and challenging conference with students from a variety of local schools. As part of the conference, students were challenged to problem solve, develop ideas and suggest solutions to reimagine how organisations and leaders face 21st century challenges.

Our mixture of students from IB Diploma, Diploma of Business and Accounting classes joined to make teams with students from other schools where they developed logos, mission statements and finally a two minute presentation about their concept. A highlight of the day was encouraging unsuspecting university students to “vote” for their logo which was posted on Instagram. All present on the day voted for the winning team, with three of our students forming part of that team. The conference was an excellent opportunity for our students to develop 21st century skills in communication, critical thinking, teamwork and personal social skills.

Over the Past Semester, Year 9 Students working in the Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum area have been participating in a Middle Years Program (MYP) Community Project in partnership with Special Olympics Australia.
The community project provided an important opportunity for students to collaborate and pursue service learning and over two terms where students participated in a sustained project where they developed their coaching skills and ability to work with young athletes with a disability.

Over the course of Term One, students upskilled with the Special Olympics Australia ‘Coaching a Young Athlete’ Qualification, that, along with equipment and resources generously provided free to students from Special Olympics Australia allowed students to grow in their confidence and ability in becoming a coach.

The collaboration with the Calamvale Special School (CSS) has been a point of pride within our college and something that has a tradition within the HPE dept over several years. This year with approx. 250 Year 9 CCC Students and over 50 CSS Students along with the Support and Teaching Staff involved the project showed the strength of a community when it comes together to engage.

Our Year 9 students engaged in demonstrating the skills, attitudes and knowledge required to complete a project over an extended period of time. The community project of our students provided opportunity to effectively communicate in a variety of situations as students worked in coaching teams. By the end of the journey students began to appreciate the process of learning and took pride in their accomplishments and importantly for a year 9 student, demonstrate responsible action through, or as a result of their learning.
We wish to thank the support of the team at Special Olympics Australia and the positive engagement of the students and staff from the CSS, whom we always enjoy collaborating with in cultivating the understanding and empathy of our students at CCC.

Some student quotes from the experience…

“Throughout this unit, I have learnt how to adjust certain activities to allow participation for students struggling with disabilities and I also gained confidence in guiding and instructing the students.” (Ava Drury, Year 9HPE Student)
“Inclusion is important as it can build up a person’s social, communication and teamwork skills. As well as allowing the student to feel more comfortable with people around and be able to work with each other.” (Darrin Ek, Year 9HPE Student)
“From this coaching experience I gained opportunities to new knowledge, meet new people, and educate them. This taught me to not underestimate anyone, due to who they are and what disabilities they have. Being honest, I, personally have underestimated people with disabilities. After this coaching lesson I learned that many people, regardless of the disability, are actually capable of many things… In the future if I ever get an opportunity to work with disabled people, I will not hesitate. “ (Afrah Fatima, Year 9 HPE Student)

Junior School parents embodied many of the IB Learner Profiles when they attended the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (PYP) parent information session. They were inquirers, thinkers and open minded, as they learned new information about what PYP looks like at CCC. Parents inquired into the IB Mission Statement and many key elements of the PYP such as IB Learner Profiles and Key Concepts. They then visited classrooms to see inquiry-based teaching and learning in action. Many parents reflected on how different education has changed since they were in school. They appreciated the amount of agency students now have in their learning and better understood ways they can support their child in their PYP journey.

This year we have another 12 48km Kokoda Challenge Teams taking part in the Gold Coast Kokoda Challenge in the Secondary School, taking place 16-17 July. Our preparation with the extreme weather and covid complications has been somewhat disrupted, but the students and teachers are ready for the challenge, hiking through the night it what will most probably be sub-zero temperatures. Of the 48 students participating, we have:

• 13 Year 12s
• 14 Year 11s
• 13 Year 10s
• 7 Year 9s
• 1 Year 7

So far we have trained every Monday afternoon and Wednesday during Sport. Additionally, we have been on three Friday Night Hikes between 20-28km, and are participating in a gruelling excursion through the mountains of the Kokoda Challenge track at the end of the term.

This year sees our first Junior School Teams entered in the 30km Sunshine Coast event, which competed on the 18 June. Students enjoyed the experience, as did the teacher leaders. 30km is a long way for little legs! We’re sure these students will take on the 48km challenge in the near future.

A large part of the Kokoda Challenge Program that complements the training and other responsibilities is fundraising. Every year, students raise money to support the Program as well as providing funds to the Kokoda Foundation, which helps at-risk young people. This year we are on track to raise approximately $16000, with over $10000 going to the Kokoda Foundation.

Many thanks to all staff involved as team leaders and support crew – it’s a big commitment and the College thanks you for this.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our major sponsors, as well as sponsors who have kindly donated prizes for our Mega-Raffle.

Major Sponsors:

• Higgins Coatings
• Algester Sports Club
• Australian Beach Resin
• Tactile Learning Centre
• GC Plumbing\
• DG Building Concepts
• HTA Global

Raffle Sponsors

• The Cruse Family
• The Sala Family
• Brisbane Broncos
• Mella Beauty Studio
• Cream House Café
• Impressive Dumpling
• Zone Learning
• Charcoal Champ Chicken
• Auslaw Partners
• Security Screens
• Future Plus Education
• ACEC Education Group
• Kirst Hellmech Photography
• Matt Stone Racing
• Brad Jones Racing
• It’s All About You Massage
• Savvy Hair and Beauty