Despite 2020’s best efforts to suck all the joy out of life, CCC’s Arts Department refuses to submit – with staff and students alike toiling behind the scenes to bring a little bit of colour and a lot of artistic flair to Term 3 and beyond! Our Drama department has an ongoing partnership with Queensland Theatre as part of the Scene Project. In Week Nine our Year 11s will be travelling into the Bille Brown Theatre to perform their take on “Wisdom” by David Burton for other schools and for the professional actors and directors of QT.

Our resident thespian group The Company have been hard at work on Monday afternoons all year, and we finally have a date for our much delayed production of Romeo and Juliet! For two nights only on Wednesday the 2^nd and Thursday the 3^rd of September, head to our amphitheatre space out the front of CPAC at 5pm for our twist on the star cross’d lovers, in an action packed half hour show. We’re still crossing our fingers that 2020 doesn’t let us down and torpedo your chance to see it, but musical rehearsals are getting serious – and hopefully Term 4 will unveil our school production of Footloose for your viewing pleasure! Keep your eyes peeled for more information to follow.

Finally, Visual Art students have been showing off their incredible talents – make sure to step into the CPAC foyer in Week 9 and 10 to be blown away by the Year 12s exhibition. On top of that, eight of our Year 11 and 12s have been selected to exhibit at the Logan Art Gallery as part of ‘Artwaves’ from 11^th September to 17^th October, and some have been chosen for the Creative Generation Excellence in Art regional exhibition – with the possibility of being selected for exhibition at GOMA in 2021!

Photo: Year 10 Art students on excursion – with Artist Gus Eagleton and the mural he painted, outside his studio in the “super-ordinary” project as part of the Brisbane Street Art Festival 2020

This process is in full swing as we speak. Students in Year 9 are selecting their pathways for their senior years and students in Year 10 are preparing to review their achievements this year before confirming their pathways for Year 11.

We have returned to a pre-requisite based process, in an effort to curb the number of subject changes that students in years 10 and 11 are making due to underperformance in academics. This year, with limited ability to meet with parents, students are selecting pathways rather than subjects with a heavy emphasis on required pre-requisites for career choices and evidence-based decision-making using students’ own academic results.

The College is promoting the Diploma of Business as a guaranteed pathway into a range of tertiary course for those students who are not achieving grades sufficient to pass the external exam component of ATAR. The Diploma will require a B grade in Year 10 English and will enable students to study two other General (ATAR) subjects whilst remaining ATAR ineligible with a pathway to a tertiary course.

Students seeking employment will have five Certificate 3 course from which to select and the opportunity to couple this with 5 Applied subjects. The new alternate pathway GOYA Day every Thursday for Years 11 and 12 will further support these students as they develop a portfolio to fast-track their employment options.
I encourage you to speak with your Year 9 and 10 students about their pathways, rather than specific subjects and ensure that you have sufficient information to support their choices. Please access the Pathways Book on the website HERE and contact a Guidance Officer or Deputy Principal for any further advice required.

Our College is currently reviewing our mobile phone policy which has been in place for a very long time. When the policy was last reviewed, 7 years ago, our College had very poor wi-fi connection and was in need of an overhaul of entire system to improve connectivity and download speed. That process was completed last year and we have seen a significant improvement in access to the system this year. In conjunction with that there has been a significant uptake in the BYOx platform with most students now having access to a device of some type other than a phone. Although phone cameras are still used in class and occasionally in media-style classes, most students have an alternative and the College is investigating the provision of more resources to support filming and photography in particular classes.

We are of course aware of the importance of the mobile phones to parents, in terms of communicating with their students for both safety and convenience. For this reason our review of the policy is certainly taking into account that parents value their students having access to a phone at the beginning and end of the school day.
There is no intention to hold students’ phones as an organisational practice or to assign all students a locker for their phone. It may eventuate that if students are found to be breaking the College mobile phone policy, that they may have to place they phone in a designated locker for which they are given a key. This arrangement is still pending the conclusion of the mobile phone survey of parents, teachers and students.

Mrs Angel, secondary principal, has sent information along with the survey link, so please take the time to read the PowerPoint and complete the survey. At present the prevalence of mobile phones is reducing our students’ ability to study, socialise with those around them and as one parent pointed out quite publicly, can even provoke fighting.

We look forward to your feedback which will be given due consideration with that provided by staff and students. It is our intention to have a revised policy in place for Term 4, 2020.

On Friday of Week 7, Year 8 APEX attended their annual university excursion. 8A and 8C students attended two half day workshops. Rockets 101 – run by QUT Science, Technology and Engineering faculties allowed Students to investigate the relationships between force, mass, thrust, speed and different fuel combinations in order to launch the highest rocket. Students also had the opportunity to explore The Cube – one of the world’s largest interactive digital display systems. The Physics Observatory was a virtual feast and allowed students to run tests on falling objects and a pendulum under different gravity conditions. The second half of the day explored the Liveability of Brisbane City. This workshop – led by executive principal Lisa Starmer – had students exploring the city’s botanic gardens to identify how green spaces are used and are integral to the design of sustainable cities.

We are taking our 2021 Prep enrolments NOW!  See our website for enrolment forms or email admin on admin@calamvalecc.eq.edu.au and we can contact you with more information.

2020 was a year that saw both the Hospitality & Tourism Industries go on hold and for the first time ever, many businesses closed their doors. It was an uncertain time for everyone and both industries evolved quickly in order so they could re-open. Nothing is the same, but through it all the industries have started to grow again. The inaugural Queensland Tourism Industry Council’s Salute to Excellence also had to move with the times. Up until this year, nominees had to write a 3000 word application and then had to attend a Skills Day where they were put to the test in their chosen category, up against their peers. This year was different. The nomination process started being the same however; it then changed overnight into a purely online format.

Calamvale had four Year 12 students take on the challenge to enter this year, two for Cookery and two for Food & Beverage. These four girls all had to film their skills test and then edit it down to just five-minute clips, which was not an easy task. The Cookery entrants had to prepare and present a two course meal whilst the Food & Beverage entrants had to set a restaurant for a three course meal which they then had to serve, including wine service. The next step involved them participating in, group challenges with peers from all over the state, and interviews with personnel in 5 star establishments – all via zoom. It was a real challenge this year, as it also tested their technological skills.

Through it, all they stood by each other and supported one another, which was fantastic as ultimately they were competing up against each other. The girls even opted to participate in the online day at school during the June-July holidays so they could be there for each other. We could not have been more proud of these girls and their perseverance to become finalist in this year’s QTIC Salute to Excellence.

The Awards Ceremony like so many others this year was also online. The four finalists, their teachers/trainers and members of the school administration team all came together to celebrate their accomplishments over afternoon tea in the room their journeys began in just three years ago, their Hospitality classroom. We were so proud to see all of the students acknowledged as finalists and received work experience with The Star Hotel Group: Hannah Getawan & Ella-Louise Merrigan for Food & Beverage along with Julia Alon & Makayla James for Cookery. We were left speechless however when Ella was also announced as the State Winner for Food & Beverage being awarded a scholarship to complete a Diploma in Hospitality Management with TAFE Queensland next year.

The Hospitality team are extremely proud of all the girls and their accomplishments; they all have futures ahead of them in the Hospitality industry and now is the perfect time to enter it, as new doors are beginning to open every day.

The Year 12 students have almost finalised their Certificates so our Year 10 & 11 students have to take on new roles and responsibilities in 3 Trees Café. In order to support their development, they have been busy learning new skills.

Year 10 Hospitality & Kitchen Operations

In order to ensure our Year 10s meet the legal requirements of being Hospitality employees, they attended an all-day incursion led by Training Direct Australia to gain their Responsible Service of Alcohol certification. This day also marked the completion of their first competency in their chosen certificate course so their studies are now well underway and many of them have already worked their firstshift in our fully licensed venue, 3 Trees Café. The Year 10s have also been busy catering various functions at school and have proved they can work effectively as a team. We are very pleased to welcome them to our 3 Trees Team and feel we have many buddying Chefs and Baristas in our classes.

Year 11 Hospitality

The Year 11s have had to step up over the last few weeks and take on new roles in 3 Trees Café to ensure it can continue to operate smoothly once the Year 12s leave the team. The have spent the last term, working closely with the 12s that have been coaching them during their shifts. The Year 11 Hospitality class is now focusing on their studies on becoming Baristas. The students have realised this is a challenging role to take on, as there are so many different types of coffee to learn. We are exploring these both in class and during shifts from 7am each day, as each students work towards being able to produce 30 different coffees independently in order to meet the competency requirements.

Year 11 Kitchen Operations

Just like their Hospitality counterparts, the Year 11 Kitchen Operations students have had to step on as they take on the role of running the kitchen during our Friday cafes. The students have embraced this challenge and have been working side by side with their Chef Trainers to produce a regular weekly menu. The students have been learning how to prepare a variety of soups over the winter months and each week have sold out their steak sandwiches. Throughout this journey, the students have also been working on refining their knife skills during class time.The Hospitality Teaching Team is looking forward to watching the Year 10 & 11 students as they continue to blossom in their new found roles in 3 Trees Café as they continue to work towards attaining their Certificate II in Kitchen Operations and Certificate II/III in Hospitality.

In collaboration with a landscape architect from Nature Play Queensland, a beautifully designed space is coming to life in the Junior School. This Nature Play area will allow students the freedom to engage in imaginative play in a clean and natural environment. Without the restraints of structured, overly designed playground equipment, students will create their own fun in a dry river creek with water pump, a spacious sand pit, climbing mound, balance logs and sandstone blocks for casual seating under the shade of a row of trees. The excitement is building as students watch Mr Bear piece together this natural wonderland!

The Keera students had a wonderful time at the Junior School House Celebration in Week 4.  The students climbed, crawled, raced each other and their teachers and had a wonderful time.  The added demands to meet current Covid-19 restrictions meant extra organisation and supervision around hygiene before and after each session, but then the smiles of delight on the students’ faces meant that this was all worthwhile.

During National Science Week 2020, the Science Department ran Trivia Questions daily at breaks, based on a variety of different topics, one being the “The Science of Love”. Students who partook in the trivia, enjoyed the different and amusing questions that were posed and loved learning about Science outside the classroom. There were many who had a newly founded interest in Science and discovered a knack for trivia too. Year 11 Science Ambassador’s also had various activities during the breaks. For the taster day Year 5s also observed a few chemical reactions and created “rainbow in a beaker”. They applied knowledge on density to create different coloured layers. Great resilience and group work demonstrated where students were not afraid to make mistakes and start over from the beginning. “Science is all about finding out and it is ok to make mistakes” said by a wise year 5

Heart dissection by year 9 students

For Wear it Purple Day (28th August), students and teachers alike united to celebrate diversity and our generation of change-makers! At Calamvale, we know our students achieve when they feel safe and respected. Visible inclusion is a great way for us to support all students, and we accept our gender diverse students for the creative and committed learners they are. The students showed great enthusiasm and support for their peers, and sported wristbands from the Wear It Purple organisation, with any proceeds directed to Open Doors Youth Service. Calamvale is dedicated to creating change-makers with a global awareness and empathy towards others.

This term, 34 Yr 10 students in the IB readiness program kick started their skillset by completing a Certificate III in Laboratory Skills. This is a nationally-recognised qualification that was facilitated by an external Registered Training Organisation. Our students were required to complete 13 elearning modules for their theory components and then spent a week in the science labs completing practical, experimental scientific sampling. They tested samples of water, looked at workplace health and safety, mixing of chemicals, prepared microscopic samples, recorded and presented data and looked at environmentally friendly practices. This provides a skillset that makes them immediately employable, plus it provides a high baseline level of knowledge when they are required to design and facilitate their own Science assessment experiments in Yr 11 and 12. An additional bonus is that this provides 8 QCE points into their learner accounts and provides an entry level into University – all before they’ve started Year 11.

The group was commended for their commitment, team work and humour.

In Week 4, Year 5 celebrated the end of their Unit of Inquiry about How The World Works. They researched scientists and inventors and created experiments to demonstrate the scientific principles associated with light and matter. They presented their portfolios to other students, teachers and the leadership team, including Mrs Welch and Mrs Starmer! The children were excellent communicators, sharing their knowledge and answering probing questions about what they had learnt. Feedback from the Year 5 children revealed that, while a little daunting, they loved sharing their learning in this way.

Mock Exams for both Year 11 and 12 have run during Weeks 6,8 & 9. These are important opportunities for students to practise retrieving knowledge and applying skills in examination conditions that will mimic External Exams taking place for Year 12 in Weeks 4-7 in Term 4. Additionally, the examinations provide excellent information for teachers in the development of targeted teaching and learning leading into the real thing to ensure students are in the position to perform at their best.

Calamvale is an Independent Public School with a designated catchment for enrolment, providing a valuable education to all students within our community. We are not a selective entry school that chooses which students attend, we are a diverse and proud College that is inclusive of all students representing a broad range of values, cultures and languages. It is our intention to meet the needs of all of our students and we strive to achieve that goal each and every day.

The last few weeks have been difficult for our College and our community. Our 2400+ students have a reputation for being capable, confident, respectful and achievers. This is something we have worked hard on over the last few years, under my leadership, by investing in professional development of staff and student development programs and guidance. I care deeply about our students, staff and our entire community of parents, carers and friends. For the last six years, our College has prioritised the shaping of character, the building of resilience, the learning of courage. These goals are repeatedly modelled and embedded into our school culture and supported by a dedicated team.

It is rarely possible to have binary responses to student behaviour. Adolescents (Year 4-12) require support, understanding, consequences and opportunities to redress their behaviour and have an opportunity to grow.

What does Calamvale currently do?

Every student has access to teacher leader, in addition to their classroom teachers, to whom they may go with any welfare issues or concerns that they may have, including complaints about bullying. In Junior School there are seven people available as Heads of Program (4) and Deputy Principals (3). In Secondary School there are sixteen House Leaders (most of whom are Heads of Program) and three Deputy Principals who will speak with any student who has a concern. All of these people are in regular communication with parents and records of these contacts are retained for future reference.

SUMMIT is a program staffed by a Guidance Councillor Mrs Cath Sander, Head of Program Mrs Alison Jordan and a Youth Support Coordinator Mrs Kelly Hebert, who provide behavioural modification programs, counselling and one-on-one support for students who present with challenging behaviours at school. This service is solely funded by Calamvale Community College and runs from a designated classroom within the school, with staff regularly attending class with students, providing non-penalty withdrawal, liaising with teachers and supporting individual students daily.

Guidance and Support Services: CCC employs four Guidance Officers, two above our allocation of staffing to support our students:
Ms Nerieda Andersen
Mrs Sarah Stubican
Mr Adam Williams (Mrs Julie Dodt on leave)
Mrs Cath Sander (SUMMIT)

CCC also has available to students:
Indigenous Liaison Officer Mr David Swanson
Chaplain Steve Parker
Teacher Aides Student Support: Mrs Xian Haidley and Mrs Sue Bremner
Community Nurse: Ms Alayna Patterson
School to Work Transitions Officer: Mrs Dee Dobbyn

All of these staff are provided to support students and are directly accessible to students and most to parents as well. In addition to these people and resources, we have had a “Wellbeing Program” in place at CCC for five years based on a philosophy of Positive Education which has been taught to all students Prep to 12 in classroom contexts. However reflection and review are important aspects of a growth mindset and so we are currently undertaking a review. The College already had a Mobile Phone Review in place and this will be concluded this term with outcomes to be implemented next term.

What More Will Calamvale Do:

Adopt the STYMIE program enabling autonomous reporting of incidents of bullying or self-harm through a downloadable App which will provide another avenue of support for students. This program will be launched on Tuesday 15 September and be operational for Term 4.

R U OK? Day will see the launch of a Health and Wellbeing page on our website which will include a public interface for student support information that is currently internally available to students on OneNote, as well as mental health checks and links to community agencies that can assist a student in need.

Review the SUMMIT program to ensure that the most needy students are included in the program and that parents are more strongly committed to the program with a partnership of share responsibility

Review the ‘Positive Education’ program based on the Geelong Grammar model and discuss the benefits of the ‘Positive Behaviour for Learning’ program that is currently a feature of schools local to Calamvale, but just outside of our immediate vicinity. We will report to P&C with the outcomes of this investigation.

Our students have achieved some wonderful outcomes in the last six years and they continue to embrace challenges and our College continues to support them in achieving their full potential. We are grateful to so many of our parents who have supported the College and their students through this time and have continued to focus on high achievement and application to the upcoming assessment period. Over the last four weeks we have had APEX excursions, Literature Festivals, Year 5 Exhibition, House Cup celebrations, the launch of the Calamvale Wolves Sporting Program and a dramatic performance of ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Next week, our students Years 6-12 will enjoy a specially commissioned play “The Last Days of Bedlam SHS” and construction will continue on NaturePlay for the Prep to Year 5 students.

CCC’s award winning Containers for Change recycling program is back! After a COVID19 interruption our community again has the opportunity to support the environment and our kids by donating eligible containers. Every container is 10c that goes directly to supporting our students. Each month during school terms collection days are held between 7:00-9:00am at Junior School drop off. Our next collection date is Tuesday 15^th September. We have recycled over 150, 000 containers so far and need your help. Bring your orange Envirobank bags or containers (lids off) and make a difference to the planet and our school. How many can you donate?

Also a BIG

to our P&C volunteers for their organisation around the Fathers’ Day Stall today. There were some very excited students at the drop off zone on Thursday afternoon.

Wednesday 19^th August and Thursday 20^th August

This year’s Secondary Literature Festival explored the theme of “Curious Creatures, Wild Minds”, and our students definitely harnessed their imaginations throughout the day of Writing Workshops. Lead by our passionate and creative English teachers, the students attended four different workshops exploring four unique ways to create narratives.

Miss Lucardie asked students to use personal objects and plasticine to shape abstract settings to create unique descriptions.  Miss Enoch explored oral traditions and storytelling, getting students to manipulate messages and tone in their creation stories.  Mrs Schloss put herself and students in roles as part of a process drama to better understand character.  Mrs Bailey utilised virtual reality to challenge students to build amazing narrative worlds.

The students were extremely focused when writing their unique creative responses, which they have edited with the help of teacher mentors.  These responses are ready for publication in our upcoming annual Student Anthology, to be released in Term Four.  We all look forward to seeing the results of such inspiring work.

In Week 10, the P&C has organised something special – to help break up the pressures of the final week of term and bring a little entertainment and excitement back into 2020. We are lucky enough to have Backbone Youth Arts coming in to perform in CPAC throughout the week, with their production of “The Final Days of Bedlam” by award winning playwright David Burton.

It’s the final few days of school…EVER. Audiences are thrust into a fictional version of today where school is no longer compulsory, in fact school for most young people will no longer exist. A group of students at Bedlam High contemplate what this means for them and what they want next. Do they even want to go to school? Should they start their own school? What do they want to learn? What will the world be like without school? The only thing that’s certain is these last few days are complete bedlam. The Final Days of Bedlam is a play written for young people to ponder the role of the classroom, their power and politics, and what learning means.

Recently we launched the new look sport where students trialled and were selected for the Calamvale Wolves Senior and Junior Varsity teams. The four core sports of our sport program focus on Basketball, Netball, Touch Football and Volleyball. Recently we celebrated the success of our Senior Varsity Volleyball team who competed at the Queensland Schools Cup Volleyball competition. We look forward to tracking and celebrating further success of our sports stars in the future.

Upcoming Events include the following:

VQ Intermediate Cup Boys and Girls (9/10 combined)

All-Hallows Touch Football Tournament (13, 15, Open Girls)
All-Hallows Netball Tournament (13, 15, Open Girls)

CBSQ Open Basketball Tournament Boys (Open)

CBSQ Junior Secondary Basketball Tournament Boys and Girls (15’s)

CBSQ Open Basketball vs. Woodridge SHS Lead In match

CCCVolleyballvs. B.C.C Volleyball Boys and Girls (CCC 11 Boys vs. BCC 11 Boys, CCC 10 Boys vs. BCC 10 Boys, CCC 8 Boys vs. BCC 8 Boys, CCC 9 Girls vs. BCC 8 Girls)

Basketball Celebration

With new ‘new era’ of sport well under way we are already seeing individual success stories emerging. A number of Basketball squad athletes have successfully trialled for and been selected to represent the 13- 15 years Southern Scorpions at the Metropolitan West trials.

We are very proud our athletes and their commitment to their development.Congratulations; Franczesca Balbarais, Reatha Morrell, Pania-Maria Haereiti, Thalia Janson, Jordan Anthony, Zeke Byrne, Tyrese Letalu, J Ventura, Taine Haereiti, Jafe Ogabang and Raymond Malanum

The Year 12 Certificate II/III in Hospitality & Certificate II in Kitchen Operations students don’t have long to go with their studies, so the teaching team decided to let them experience running the café all on their own.
The Year 12s worked together to design the recipes and menus which included doing all of the ordering and considering the costing involved plus the roster and role allocations. They then worked together to offer a Breakfast Menu to Calamvale’s staff and students on Thursday mornings throughout the term. The teaching team were always on standby but were able to enjoy breakfast themselves as the 12s had everything under control.

The students embraced this opportunity and actively sought feedback in order to improve each week. The most popular items were their Waffles & Frappes that changed each week in order to meet customer’s requests.

The Year 12 Café Takeover was a huge success – the students worked exceptionally well together and were a strong team that are definitely ready to take their next steps out in industry!

IB and Hospitality have joined forces once again to participate in the Cancer Council’s Biggest Morning Tea. This year was certainly a challenge as we had to work together to overcome a few COVID obstacles so we decided to do a cupcake drive instead a stall.

We still managed to sell 130 cupcakes and with donations, raised $204.50 for the Cancer Council.

Shout out to Latisha Hicks-Greenaway who took on the Student Coordinator role this year – she organised the advertising, customer ordering process, cupcake decorating and delivery of the cupcakes to students across the Secondary school. She did a fantastic job to make sure the event ran smoothly.

Special mention to the Year 10 Hospitality & Kitchen Operations students who baked all the cupcakes, along with the Year 10 & 11 IB students that helped on the day. Our Biggest Morning Tea was a huge success thanks to everyone’s willingness to jump in and be part of the team.

After successfully applying to participate in the Junior School Literature Festival, 42 very excited Year 4, 5 and 6 students arrived for two jam-packed days. There was a buzz in the air. The festival kicked off with five workshops, designed by Calamvale teachers, to provide provocations and inspiration for writing.
The Virtual Reality session, run by Secondary School teacher, Mrs Bailey, transported students into another world where they experienced the sights, sounds and wonders of a magical, mythical new world. ‘This is the best day of school ever, and it’s still only 9:30!’ exclaimed one of our Year 6 boys.

Mrs McLaren explored a Narelle Oliver picture book and modelled a range of drama techniques, to support students to visualise the story and make inferences. Students worked collaboratively to create soundscape to represent an event in the story. Groups worked with Mrs Allen and Mrs Welch to hone their skills in using the five senses and  developed the ‘Show not Tell Strategy’ to enhance their writing.
The second day was intense, a day full of crafting, writing, revising, redrafting and editing. It  required students to take on feedback, demonstrate a growth mindset and persist to produce their best work yet. It was fabulous to watch so many like-minded students share their thoughts, experiences and passion for creativity.

Look out for their published work in our Junior School Anthology early next term!

It has been a fabulous term 3. With COVID plans in place we have been able to create, deliver and connect with our students, teachers and our wider community. Many thanks to our English teaching team for delivering a sensational Literature Festival and to our Science teachers for a scintillating week of Science during last weeks ‘National Science Week’. This week I was thrilled to attend the first performance of Romeo and Juliet performed by our committed students. This talented group of artists have been working hard all year to prepare, and have battled against COVID restrictions to be able to perform. The Arts are alive and well at Calamvale and our talented students never cease to amaze me. All of these events allowed students to immerse themselves in their passion and revel in their favourite subjects.
Last week our current Academic Program of Excellence (APEX) students mentored the incoming 2021 cohort through an afternoon of challenge and bonding. It was delightful to see the leadership and enthusiasm displayed by all.

We were pleased to be able to connect with our parents and caregivers at Student Led Conferencing in Week 6. Thank you to those families who came along to hear your student’s reflections on their learning journey so far and their actions for the future. Also during week 6, our Year 11 students had their first experience with Mock Exams. We would like to congratulate them on the maturity they displayed with the autonomy that is granted during an exam block.

Finally, I was elated to attend the Year 12 Formal in week 5. The students presented themselves beautifully and immersed themselves in the evening. I am certain the night steeled their reserve to dig deep and finish their high school education strongly. Currently our year 12 students are in their final Mock exam period. In Week 10, they will return to us, ready to reflect on their exam results and put study plans in place in readiness for their official External Exam block which will begin in Week 4 of Term 4. It has been a pleasure to work with this year 12 cohort and I look forward to celebrating their success at the end of their journey at their graduation on Friday 20 November.

The Year 5 Taster day gave the Calamvale Community students the opportunity to try a high school setting. There were a range of exciting experiences on offer from students creating music using digital audio workstations, exploring chemical reactions and appreciating the colourfulness of Science. They used a range of food resources to design and create three different food parcels, explored programming to move a robot through an obstacle course, developed a prototype in a virtual world, explored artwork to reinterpret the world around them and finally they developed and built a design in response to a challenge. It was a fabulous day. The Year 5 students said:I was a communicator when I worked together with other students when doing the design challenge.I became more knowledgeable when I thought about new ideas in philosophy.I became more knowledgeable when I didn’t know how to solve the escape puzzles in the Philosophyclass when we had to figure out the codes to get out of the escape rooms.I was an inquirer when I was doing music because I was asking lots of questions about how the song sounds.I enjoyed Taster Day because it was fun and it was getting us to try things like cooking, designing, music, etc. (future choices!) We are lucky to go to CCC!

Tharah rewards day was postponed till Friday, Week 10 Term 3 – yes the last the day of the term. What a way to finish the term. It will occur in Sessions 3 and 4 and the students will experience a movie, a gladiator course,basketball inflatable and a 30 meter inflatable obstacle course.Permission notes were emailed home earlier this week and are due back by Week 10.

Formal The College was the first state school in QLD who proceeded with a formal in Term 3. It was a spectacular night and was a formal like no other for all the right reasons – there was karaoke, magicians, music, videos and glamour. There were people who worked tirelessly to ensure that the evening was memorable for all the right reasons – thank you to all of the staff that worked together to make this an event that our Year 12 students will never forget and was a true highlight of 2020.

Yr 11 Chinese Hot Pot Party organised by the Mandarin class as an authentic cultural experience. The class designed their own ingredients list and planned the event – in Chinese. This emphasises our importance on learning ‘language through culture’. The Chinese mother-tongue students joined in and explained the hot pot tradition and how it is to be enjoyed, allowing them to introduce and share their own culture to others.

In the absence of so many external cultural experiences that we normally engage in, it is great to see the students participating in a rich and authentic experience within the classroom.

Stay tuned – a newsletter written, illustrated, edited and published by students for students. A Year 11 CAS (Creativity | Activity | Service) project involving many students across multiple year levels. First edition landing soon!

Week Seven was a busy week for APEX. On Thursday, our Year 7 APEX classes went to Boondall Environmental Centre. This excursion, in place of the annual trip to UQ, allowed students to delve deeper into their Ancient Australia inquiry. Rick, our cultural educator, helped students to explore Dream Time stories, fire making techniques, boomerang throwing and the use of symbols for communication in Pre-Colonial Australia.

After lunch, students had the opportunity to explore the wetlands and develop their creative side. Students used curriculum knowledge from the Visual Art and Film and TV electives. They explored the influence of natural surroundings on art as well as applied their knowledge of the elements of photography to take some stunning photos, pictured below.

A closed Stradbroke Island didn’t deter us from holding our annual IB camp experience. Like true problem-solvers, the team re-designed it into a CCC campus incursion with overnight sleepover included.

In Week 10 Term 2 our Yr 11 IB students participated in a 3-day camp experience that will be hard to be beat in future years. The Camp focused on the IB Core and wellbeing and developing the full suite of skills including self-regulation, collaboration, taking care of self and others, as well as a focus on academic research, writing and reflection in preparation for their TOK and Extended Essays.

It began with a CAS nature and art walk through Karawatha Forest and followed with some hilarious team building activities. The Coordinators – Mrs Sihvola, Mr Davis and Mrs Thomas did an excellent job of providing diverse, challenging and rich experiences to bring the team together

• Representing the learner profile through a balloon sculpture activity
•  High-challenge, high communication, high stress escape room competition
• Exploring internationally minded issues through virtual reality
• Mute puzzle storytelling sequencing (yep as complicated as it sounds)
• Early morning, group exercise activities before breakfast
• Indigenous oral history and art experience (thanks Miss Enoch)

Our philosophy/theme for the three days was “when you have more than you need, build a bigger table, not a higher fence” and we focused on being grateful, supportive, working ‘round table’ to problem solve. Plus we literally ate around a large kitchen table.

Thanks to the catering team at school who provided the delicious food.
A truly memorable experience!