In this issue

Ready to come on a journey to a whole new world? We’re going to make your wishes come true!

Calamvale Community College is proud to present their senior school musical for 2022 – Aladdin Jnr!

We have been working tirelessly to bring this musical to life – and we can’t wait for you to see the culmination of this hard work is a week of performances in CPAC from the 4^th to the 8^th of October. Check out the poster for all the details or scan the QR code to be taken straight to the booking website. Oh and did we mention that tickets are FREE?

With a record cast and crew of 170 students involved, we are once again employing the “dual cast” system which we trialled with our production of Matilda in 2021. While the ensemble and some roles will remain the same for all six shows, we have cast two people in some of the main roles – and as such have “two” casts (A “Riff Raff” cast and a “Street Rat” cast) – so when booking, make sure to check who is in each cast to make sure you see your students, friends or family have their moment in the spotlight – or even better, come twice and see both casts!

Looking forward to seeing you all at the show!

Taoyuan Teacher and Delegate Visit:

The College hosted 25 delegates in Education from the Taoyuan District, Taiwan. The delegates participated in CLIL workshops, classroom observations and presentations on EALD and school management.

Japan Teacher visit

Miyako Murayma from the Udea Someyaoka High School, Nagano, Japan visited the College and spent time with Mr Dean Simmonds and instrumental music students who had been participating in online music collaborations in 2022

In 2023, the College expects that professional visits and study tours will increase, particularly one-day visits from international schools, such as tame Meguro from Japan.

Another great example of our Junior Secondary students taking action is Mrs Collin’s Community Project class who designed and made Father’s Day cards for the P&C to sell at the annual Father’s Day stall.

Congratulations to these Year 7 students who saw their Community Project come to fruition on Thursday. They planned and delivered a whole year level assembly presentation, also inviting Dr Emily Boshammer from Parkinson Veterinary Surgery (and special guest Boston) to raise awareness of the issue of animal cruelty and how we can all positively contribute to the health and wellbeing of animals.

Each year we continue to build on the success of our Student-Led Conferences. On Thursday 8 September we welcomed families from Prep to Year 6 into the Junior School for this event.

Student-Led Conferences form an important part of our Primary Years Programme (PYP) and the reporting of student learning across all learning areas. Student-Led Conferences involve the students having agency in their learning and taking responsibility for leading the conference with their parent/s, and in doing so, are responsible for sharing their learning and progress with their parent/s.

What is the purpose of Student-Led Conferences?

Student-Led conferences are designed to:

• Empower students to take increased responsibility for their learning
• Give parents a glimpse of what actually happens in their child’s classroom
• Allow parents to discuss learning with their child.
• Assist students in reflecting on their learning and communicate learning goals.

What happens at a Student-Led Conference?

• The child leads their parents in a number of planned learning experiences across learning areas at various stations in the classroom. The learning activities at these stations are chosen by the class. These stations include opportunities to be guided through student workbooks, Personal Learning Plan (PLP) goals and familiar activities.
• There are more than 5 families in the classroom at any one time.
• The role of the teacher’s is to prepare students to feel confident is sharing their learning well as being on-hand to facilitate the process.

What is the role of parents in Student-Led Conferences?

• Engage in the activities under the guidance of your well-prepared child.
• Ask the child questions about their learning.
• Encourage the child during the conference and provide positive feedback.
• Assist the child in reflecting on their learning and setting goals for future learning.
• Reflect on how you can support the achievement of their learning goals at home.

These conferences were a thoroughly rewarding experience for students and parents and we thank all families who took advantage of this opportunity.

On Thursday September 1, our Prep fathers were invited to attend a special BBQ to celebrate Father’s Day. The Prep fathers joined Mr Butterworth and Mr Butler where they enjoyed a BBQ lunch before heading over to spend time completing different activities with their child in the Possum playground area. Each father was given a book to share with their child at the conclusion of the BBQ. It was so lovely to see the Prep children and their fathers enjoy reading and listening to their special book before participating in a range of activities. It was a great afternoon had by all!

The Junior School Musical took place over the weekend. Students from year 3. 4, 5 and 6 have been practicing from term one to perform Disney’s The Jungle Book. With choreography from year 10 students Lily Joseph and Xara Knight, the junior school cast acted, danced and sang their way through the jungle for four massive shows over Friday 9th and Saturday 10th September . A big thank you to the teachers and students who participated and worked hard behind the scenes to create a magical performance.

Requirements for Student Drivers
We are aware that some of our Senior Students are now eligible to drive to school. Through driver education, community awareness and a clear understanding of road safety, it is our aim to ensure everyone in our community stays safe on our roads.
If your student is driving and/or intending to drive to school or is travelling with another student driver, we require that you read and action the following documents:

– Requirements of Student Drivers policy statement.
– Parent/Caregiver Permission and Student Agreement Form.
– Provide a photocopy of (1) the student’s driver’s license and, (2) car registration details

Once read, signed and photocopied, this documentation needs to be returned to Student Services.
The Requirements of the Student Drivers policy outlines the College’s expectations for student drivers. Of note is the requirement for additional passengers to have expressed permission to travel with the driver, and the need for a parking permit to be issued by the College to be able to access the on-site parking area. The requirements are intended to ensure the safety and welfare of all members of our college community.
We thank you for your co-operation in ensuring that student drivers sign the attached form and return it to Student Services to receive their parking permit as soon as possible.
Should you wish to discuss the arrangements of your student driving to school or carrying passengers, please do not hesitate to contact Mel Ellis, Deputy Principal at melli202@eq.edu.au.

Senior School Student Driver Requirements_Permission Forms 2022v1.1

Over the years Calamvale has consistently had outstanding art exhibitions for the college community; has participated in group exhibitions with other schools as part of Artwaves and Creative Generation exhibitions; and had featured exhibitions in Logan Art Gallery – but this year was the first year that senior art students, enrolled in the IBDP, had their own exclusive exhibition out in the community: at the Sunnybank Multicultural Gallery.

The exhibition received enthusiastic praise from not only parents, teachers and gallery staff; but also from members of the broader community who left heartfelt feedback in the gallery visitors book and also went out of their way to contact the college to let us know how impressed they were with the students work. The public was so impressed with the work that there have been inquiries into purchasing the works from the students.

The partnership with the Sunnybank Multicultural Gallery, Sunnybank Shopping Centre and ‘Experience Sunnybank’, is fitting given our students diverse backgrounds, and the “global mindedness” focus of the International Baccalaureate Diploma program. The visual art course in particular requires students to consider the function and purpose of artworks within the cultural context of which they were created. With assessment components particularly structured to force students to research and investigate art works and art history from multiple cultural contexts.

The privilege of participating in the Multicultural Gallery exhibition program was given to us by World Arts and Multi-Culture Inc. who, in the past, have blessed the College with amazing opportunities such as international artists coming and working with our students in a variety of media over the years. This new gallery provides the opportunity to easily access, locally, rich artistic and cultural heritage from cultures represented in our community, which reinforces to students the legitimacy and richness of their individual cultural backgrounds, and helps them to find how they fit within these contexts.

The student artworks, which were on display for a month, showcased a broad range of artistic practices. The course that the students are undertaking is inquiry based – with students investigating not only personal themes, but also diverse traditions of art practice – and is focused on developing the students into individual art practitioner: into artists – not just students of art. As many contemporary artists do, the students have begun to blend and transgress media boundaries – incorporating traditional and established artistic techniques such as Chiaroscuro; impasto; screen-printing and eco-dying with Australian native flora and iron mordants – but also using recycled media, burning, videography, digital drawing and audience interaction. As you can imagine, an art teacher cannot be an expert on so many varied artistic approaches – so the exhibition is a testament to the inquiring nature of the students – learning techniques and processes themselves as part of an authentic artistic process.

The students chose the theme “Progress” because they are in this time of transition: moving from childhood into adulthood; progressing from an identity formed by their family and cultural heritage, to discovering their own identity and position within multiple cultures and contexts; and all too soon for the year 12s: progressing from secondary school to tertiary and beyond… finding their place within the broader world.

The students may still be works in progress… but they proved in this exhibition, that they are artists in their own right.

Student Work Selected for 30 YEAR ANNIVERSARY District Art Exhibition

After curating our own Calamvale Community College Art Exhibition at the Sunnybank Multicultural gallery last month, this month we are excited to have a huge range of student artworks selected for “Artwaves” Exhibition. The Logan Art Gallery re-opens from renovations with the celebration of 30 years of this regional Art exhibition, which showcases artworks from nearly 30 secondary schools in the district.

Congratulations to the following Calamvale students who have artworks selected for this exhibition:
– Year 9 collaborative work (Mikaela Yuen, Nicole Tsai, Riya Gandhi, Rosebelle Ly, Tvisha Patel)
– Year 10 Naimah Townsend (2 artworks), Sharon Yu and Jaime Rosales
– Year 11 Yifei Ren (2 artworks) and Franczesca Balbarais
– Year 12 Holly Davies, Alyssa Saez (2 artworks), Kalynta Melina O’Brien-Ruaia (2 artworks) and Daryan McLeod

The exhibition will be on display and open to the public in Logan Art Gallery, Wembley Road, Logan Central, from 9 September to 15 October.

We have just completed the busiest time of the year for schools and the newsletter will reflect this.  Our seniors have participated in ‘mock exams’ and have marked these and received feedback which both teachers and students are responding to in the five weeks before Year 12 begin external exams in week 4 of Term 4.  Our students in Applied and Certification subjects are equally busy completing competencies and the Year 8 and 9 students are engaged in senior pathway planning.  Our school focuses very much on career pathways rather than subjects, taking note of required prerequisites.  This philosophy allows our students to use their grades as evidence for their pathway and informs their choices post-secondary school.

Many of you will be engaged in Wolves TCE competitions this week and we are reporting our CCC successes with up-to-the-minute posts on both Facebook and Instagram.  Those engaged wit the Arts within our community will have noted the beautiful exhibition, art teacher April Giblin has on display at the Sunnybank Shopping Centre.  Our Junior School students had a fabulous time in this year’s musical “Jungle Book” which we all thoroughly enjoyed.  We look forward to the secondary school presentation of ‘Aladdin’ after the holidays –Book here!

Our Prep to Year 7 students have continued with a much-needed uninterrupted period of learning this term.  We received our Naplan results for students in Years 3, 5, 7, 9 and although we do not have their individual 2020 comparative results due to Covid, there is a very pleasing lift in students achieving the top two bands in literacy and numeracy across all year levels – this is reflective of our target of 65% of students achieving A and B grades.  Some graphs will be available next term.  Our students have enjoyed the transition to online Naplan finding it more engaging and responsive.

Thank you for your responses to our parent survey on the mobile phone policy, we had seven extended responses ranging from no interest in the policy through to suggestions of consequences and parental engagement.  Next term we will run some trials with locked pouches for our students who have the most difficulty with the rule of ‘off and away’ and see if we can achieve some solid outcomes upon which to base our expectations for 2023.

Our beautifully landscaped new grounds surrounding the AR block will be open to the students from term 4.  They will have the opportunity to use the learning spaces as well as spaces to relax and enjoy conversation.  We are exploring another area inside the fence for some limited soccer and volleyball activity – that’s a holiday project in readiness for 2023.

Please access our website for 2023 Student Resource Scheme (SRS) charges and we would appreciate every effort to begin those payments in term 4, ready for 2023.  There are some increases in Junior School however these are in line with increased access to Apps.  Please note that SRS payments are the baseline parent support of school programs, senior students completing certificate courses or more bespoke programs, including IB Diploma, will have additional charges invoiced.

Student_Resource_Scheme_2023_V1

‘Share the Dignity’ is a program to provide girls at school with sanitary products in vending machines in toilets.  We have applied for one of these machines but have concerns that students will not have money or cards and free access is likely to result in inappropriate use of the equipment.  For this reason and given the very young age of many of our girls, we are investing in the washable Bonds pants, especially designed for menstruation and they will be handed out and added to students’ accounts at a minimal cost of $15-20.  These will be an option to the traditional products provided free and available at Student Services and in LCs.

Next term, we have all of our celebration evenings coming up and you would have received letters this week if your student is involved.  We have record numbers of academic success this year across Prep to Year 11 (Year 11 invites coming second week of term 4) and will be delighted to share this with you.  Similarly, the Sports and Cultural events will reflect on a very successful year; the twentieth of our College. Please note these dates in your calendar

Best wishes for an enjoyable break with your students at home, we hope you have some rest and recreation with great weather.  Stay safe and we look forward to welcoming your students back to school on Tuesday, October 4^th.