Almost the end of term and apologies for the delays in releasing this newsletter.  Thank you very much for the support that you have given the College over the most recent period of restrictions and mask wearing.  Our students have successfully negotiated four weeks of exams, and two dramatic performances in the secondary school and we have been able to welcome parents into the College for Book Week and student-led conferencing in the Junior School.

There are a number of issues which are currently concerning parents, which I would like to address here.  Firstly, no student will receive a vaccination at Calamvale Community College without both parent knowledge and permission.  As with any other vaccination, schools require permission for a student to receive a ‘jab’ and Covid-19 is no different.  Those of you who have received a Covid vaccination would be aware of the list of health questions that must be answered prior to receiving the injection.  Only parents have this knowledge and without it, no vaccination can safely proceed.  We will, as always, communicate very clearly in multiple languages if there is any change, but we have no indication of such a decision at this stage.

Vaping has become the new ‘fad’ amongst our young people and this one comes with some serious health concerns.  Just as smoking is illegal, these nicotine-based vapours are illegal for anyone under 18 and have considerable restraints around general sales.  We have suspended students as young as Grade 4 for bringing and sharing ‘vapes’.  Carrying the responsibility for your students’ health whilst they are at school, we have reacted very strongly to ‘vapes’ being brought to school and then shared with others.   I have attached the vaping awareness-raising information, that we have previously sent out, to this newsletter. Our penalties will remain strong and we encourage you to make sure that your children do not have access to these devices and hence do not bring them to school.

Next week is Multi-Cultural Week and we look forward to this wonderful celebration of who we are at Calamvale; it sadly fell victim to Covid last year.  So, we are back, better than ever in 2021 with a wonderful theme and logo as the focus of the celebrations. The event is presented by our Year 12 International Baccalaureate students with support from Mr Davis and Mrs Ellis; many thanks to the whole team for the event. This year’s theme is The Beauty of Diversity with an Olympics flavour. We are looking forward to next Tuesday when our students will experience the culture and food of our community and hopefully the perspective of others’ in the world.

(Student logo artwork credit – Astrid Messerschmidt, Yr. 10)

Today was the Year 12 presentation of ‘Love Bites’ which is an officially sanctioned program that addresses issues around consent, domestic violence, responsibility and rights.  We had 14 presenters from community agencies and the police cutting across cultures and experiences.  Our students were both interested and respectful and we hope that there are conversations emerging from this at home.

We hope to send a pictorial newsletter home next week, that reflects some highlights of the term and focuses on Multicultural Festival.