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Be Strong be resolute We start each term with the reading that be-gins with “Be strong. be reso-lute”. At a recent Headmasters As-sembly, we dis-cussed what it actually means to

be resolute and also resilient. Whilst we as adults have a lot going on in our lives, our young people are also bombarded with situations that they need to deal with. Whilst each gener-ation of teens have had their trials and tribulations, it seems that through the rise of social media and other forms of communication, our students are constantly under pres-sure. We talked about how to be resili-ent, that is, to cope with what hap-pens in life and how to deal with things in ways that make you stronger.

Chapel services, Ash Wednesday and Lent On Wednesday 14 February, we held our Ash Wednesday services, begin-ning the 40 days of Lent. Staff and students received the sign of the cross on their foreheads and we dis-cussed the importance of Lent as a season of repentance and self-reflection.

Students A variety of activities have now started with students travelling in all direc-tions. Early morning bus trips to the pool for swimming squad training will wind up as we have the Charters Tow-ers Secondary Swimming Carnival at the town pool on Friday 23 February.

Leo Club have had their first meeting and it’s full steam ahead for the cast, crew and staff in-volved in The Wiz.

The first round of sport and Char-ters Towers selections was im-pacted by the extreme heat but we catch up missed matches over the course of time.

Representative sporting trials have also commenced.

Congratulations to the following students who have been selected in the NQ Swimming team: Kay-den Fogarty and Toby Fitchett (Secondary) and Anna Milton, Shakira Fogarty and Shelden West (Primary). Staff news We welcome Michelle Furber to the school in her role as Admin-istration officer. When you ring the front office, your first point of call is likely to be Glenda or Michelle.

Contents Headmaster’s Report

Academic Dean Page 2

Academic Achievement List Page 3

Headmaster’s List Page 4

Humanities Page 4

Dean of School Page 5

Dean of Students Page 5

Term Dates 2019 Page 6

School Chaplain Page 7

School Prayers Page 7

Sports News Page 8

Junior School Page 10

Head of Boarding Page 12

Feetham Dormitory Page 13

Ramsay Dormitory Page 13

Page Dormitory Page 13

Alban Dormitory Page 14

Becket Dormitory Page 14

Chad Dormitory Page 15

Duke of Edinburgh Page 15

P & F Fete Page 15

P & F News Page 16

P & F AGM Page 16

Welcome Isabella Johnson Page 16

Scholarship Applications Page 16

Headmaster

ISSUE NO 2/2018 23 FEBRUARY 2018

Feetham House Captain Ben Wilkinson, Swimming Patron Mr Jim Rebgetz and Becket

House Captain, Angela Jones with the Inter-House Swimming Shields

Congratulations to Matthew and Natasha Johnson on the arrival of their daughter Isabella Grace. A little earlier than expected, but all are doing well.

Improving Literacy Once again, we are really focusing on improving reading across the school. In order to encourage more secondary students to read, we have established a secondary Book Club and hosted a secondary Book Fair. Secondary students will need a book in tutor group as we are setting aside some time each morning for reading.

Last newsletter I mentioned some work that has been done in the Mattingley Centre (library) to cre-ate more appealing reading spac-es. Some of our new furniture has arrived and it looks great.

We look forward to working with families to improve students’ liter-acy. As we are reminded by edu-cator, John Hattie, literacy soon becomes the currency for other learning.

PAGE 2 ISSUE NO 2/2018 23 FEBRUARY 2018

Academic Dean Ian Dietrich In our ‘academic world’ it has been quite difficult to get into a routine and the next few weeks are crucial for academic success. We are now in assessment ‘drafting season’. As I referred to in my previous news-letter piece and during addresses at Headmaster’s Assembly, stu-dents who have put the hard work in from the start of the school year are now able to meet deadlines for assessment drafts without too much stress. There are, however, a number of senior school students who did not heed the call and are now racing to finish drafts and final copies before starting a push to-ward the end of term exam block. Exam Block The dates of this term’s exam block have been in the school cal-endar since the start of the year. Tuesday 20 March to Monday 26 March. The block begins in the sec-ond last week of the term to allow time for the Inter-House Cross Country to take place on Tuesday in the last week, prior to Travel Day on Thursday 29 March. The finalised schedule for this Ex-am Block will be published soon. It will include all assessment items to be completed in this period – ex-ams and assignment style pieces. Please note that students are NOT able to sit exams early to suit indi-vidual travel arrangements. Exam security will be maintained. If you have any questions regarding the schedule, please ask your son/daughter to see me first. Leave During School Days Recently, I have noted quite a number of occasions where stu-dents have missed valuable school time this term for “personal leave” during the school day. This in-cludes day and residential stu-dents. On too many occasions a

request was not made with suffi-cient time for adjustments to be made to assist with educational outcomes. On several occasions the ‘request’ was sent at the last minute, to the wrong person and was couched as more of an ‘information statement of fact’. On some occasions the school was not even approached or informed prior to the student signing out and de-parting. As a school with a large number of students in a variety of prearranged activities, our teach-ing staff already make sure that academic planning accommodates these events/opportunities. When families decide to add to the total amount of absences from class-room learning for non-essential events/opportunities this does im-pact upon learning outcomes. I do understand there are always indi-vidual circumstances that warrant individual attention. Appropriate requests for leave including school lesson time, made with enough notice, will more than likely be able to be accommodated. Secondary School Book Fair Wow! What a success! Big thanks to Miss Jess Walker for organising and conducting our first Secondary School Book Fair for a number of years. The financial success means that we will be able to plan for a big ‘2-4-1 Book Fair’ at the end of the year. In the meantime, Book Club editions will be distributed as they arrive at school and we will plan for another Book Fair in Week 3 Term 2. However, the aim was not for financial success – we wanted more students to get into reading! It is great to know that there are now more students on campus with reading texts in their hands ready for that relaxing, re-freshing and casual reading expe-rience. Academic Awards Congratulations to our students, currently in Years 8 to 12, who re-ceived academic awards during Headmaster’s Assembly in Week 3. Students awarded “Headmaster’s

Award” for academic effort and “Academic Award” for strong re-sults in Semester 2 2017 are listed in this edition of our newsletter. Congratulations! Queensland Core Skills Test (QCST) Workshop On 19 February our Year 12 stu-dents working toward receiving an Overall Position (OP), completed a QCST Workshop with Mr Matthew Rigby from Go Grammar Consult-ing. Our students found this to be a very valuable time. Mr Rigby was able to share his extensive knowledge, understanding and ex-periences relating to the testing in a unique, informative and enter-taining way. Mr Rigby was able to squeeze a large amount into the full day of activities. We look for-ward to his return in May for a re-fresher course.


This workshop is part of our school’s QCS Test preparation pro-gram. We will also be calling upon the experience of teachers on our staff during the program. Mr Flem-ing, Mrs Fleming, Miss Marley, Ms Whitby, Mrs Moore and I will be guiding our students through a se-ries of practice activities focusing on literacy, numeracy and visual literacy. I will be focussing on making sure that our students are ‘test ready’. Nothing about the pro-cess or administration of the real test in September will be a sur-prise to our students. As well as individual items and paper practic-es, we will be conducting a full two day practice in Week 7 Term 2. Conducting our practice tests at this time in the term allows time for our staff to analyse the areas we need to work on in Term 3 be-fore the real test.

New Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE) System As a part of the re-design of sen-ior syllabus documents in Queens-land, a full set of ‘Cognitive Verbs’ were identified and used in a con-sistent way throughout all of the documents. Our secondary teach-ers are currently ‘backward-mapping’ the use of these identi-fied cognitive verbs in our junior secondary classes. Identifying where we use these concepts in classrooms in Years 7 to 10, and making sure we use them consist-ently, will help our students to ar-rive in Year 11 & 12 classrooms with a clear understanding of what is actually being asked for in assessment tasks. This is just the first step toward the development and implementa-tion of a senior school-wide teach-ing and learning framework at All Souls St Gabriels School. As I end this piece I realise that there is so much we can do to help improve academic standards. As a team (student, staff and home), working together, we can rise, meet and go beyond the aca-demic challenges before us.

Academic Achievement List Semester II, 2017—Awarded Semester I, 2018

Students in Years 7—10 who receive an Academic Achievement Certificate have received an A in the majority of their academic core subjects (only A's & B's allowed), and no achievement level of less than a C

in non core subjects (only one C allowed). Students in Years 11 & 12 who receive an Academic Achievement Certificate have received

an achievement of either an A or B in all of their academic subjects, and no achievement level of less than a B.

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 Layla Davies Tom Gordon Camryn Guldbransen Amber Aspinall Erin Bidewell Caitlyn Elliott Sarah Milton Sarah Suhr Thea McMahon Georgia Eastaughffe Elle McFadyen Kacey Musk Kasey O'Donoghue Hannah Fraser Charles Newnham Grace Newnham Rachel Hall Annika Peace Harrison Kempster Ella-Beth Stretton Breanne Peace Olivia Titley Zak Smale Amelia Wearing

HEADMASTER’S LIST Semester II, 2017—Awarded Semester I, 2018

The following students have been successful in gaining a place on the Headmaster’s List. The criteria were that the successful students in Semester One, 2017 must receive Effort Ratings of 1 in at least half of their subjects and no Effort Rating of more than a 2.

A BADGE TO BE GIVEN – AWARDED WHEN A STUDENT HAS BEEN ON THE HEADMASTER’S LIST 4 TIMES


News from the Humanities

Denis Riddle - Head of Humanities

Fun in the Depression Year 10 HASS students are studying the major world event of the 1930s, the Great Depression. Who better to speak about this calamitous economic disas-ter than someone who experienced it first-hand, our very own Brother Robin?

Brother Robin spoke about being the only student in his street attending one of the few public secondary schools in Melbourne. He answered questions about food, clothing and survival in an age when one third of the workforce was with-out employment.

To cap it off, students ate some of the staple foods of the time – bread and dripping and then bread and treacle. Surprisingly, they liked the food! “Please sir, may I have some more?” was the cry.

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11

Meg Bailey Montana Battle Emily Brind Liesl Mei Chautard-Jensen Sophie Coffison Layla Davies Mia Dickson Caitlyn Elliott Ned Elliott Owen Elliott Fred Flute Sally Frohloff Baia Gaidan Corey Guldbransen Holly Johnson Georgie Jonsson Emma Loxton Elle McFadyen Charles Newnham Annika Peace Jackson Peagham Charlie Pemble Kathryne Squair Luke Stevens Jade Stoll Ella-Beth Stretton Olivia Titley Amelia Wearing Kaci Whelan Chloe Wolfenden

Savannah Arnold Heather Brassington Nikkaya Cameron Paige Candy Kaisie Corrigan Ethan Cowan Danielle Curley April Dixon Jasmine Elliott Kayla Frost Piper Godfrey Rily Goodwin Tom Gordon Hayley Grant Tio Hensley Alana Kelly Claire Kempster Matthew Luxton Jimmy McDowall Matthew McKellar Sarah Milton Kacey Musk Grace Newnham Abbey North Ruby Polsen Amber Smale Alan Tamaduk Heidi Whelan Rylee Whelan

Savanna Beale Clinton Bridges Casey Campbell Anastacia Chappell Jarrod Clark Sarah Clark Gemma Dance-Bethel Holly Deans Zoe Donaldson John Durack Joshua Fraser Dakota Gough Camryn Guldbransen Luka Hall Reese Herring Kate Jonsson Kuage Koglkia Tom Marshall Michael Meteyard Indy Schaefer Sarah Suhr Brooke Tindall Harry Titley David Walsh Kurtis West

Amber Aspinall Grace Bailey Chekoda Bethel Angela Chevathun Jakarhlee Clow Vivienne Elliott Casey Flanagan Jorden Ford Adam Hensley Charlee Keleher Paulianna Kuman Thomas Lawrie April McLean Thea McMahon Ainsley Murphy Kasey O’Donoghue Sean Smith Gemma Stevenson Tara Yung

Erin Bidewell Riley Candy Aaron Core Georgia Eastaughffe Harrison Finger Hannah Fraser Darby Godfrey Zoe Godfrey Rachel Hall Katie Jarmey Angela Jones Harrison Kempster Deklan Knuth Robert Lawrence Kaitlyn Lawrie Larissa Mafrici Josephine McKellar Tom Morris Matthew Muston Breanne Peace Kimberly Philip Toby Rankine Chantelle Reynolds Connor Rose Zak Smale Lissabelle Smith Tearna Wilson

Luka Hall, Indy Schaefer, Bro Robin, Harry Titley and Brandon Finger

Dean of School Karen Storey Weather I cannot remember the last time we had this much rain in February. This, in combination with the ex-treme heat last week has meant that some events in our school calendar have unfortunately had to be cancelled or postponed. In-formation regarding the reschedul-ing of events will be communicat-ed with students via the daily bul-letin (morning notices) and lunch notices and where possible these will also be advertised on Face-book. I apologise for any incon-venience this has caused, and thank everyone for their patience and understanding as we try to fit all of the rescheduled events into our existing calendar. Photo Day Our first School photo day will be held on Wednesday 7th March. As I mentioned in the last edition, all secondary students will be re-quired to wear formal uniform for our photographs. Students in Years 10 - 12 will require blazers for their photographs (both the class group photo and the individ-ual portrait) and students in Years 7 - 9 should wear their blazers for their individual portraits if they own one. Senior girls will require court shoes for their photographs. If you have not yet placed a photo order you will need to do this online. Please see the School’s Fa-cebook page for instructions on how to do this. Senior School Formal The most anticipated event on the social calendar for our Year 11 and 12 students is still some time away, I am already beginning to hear ‘I got my dress’, ‘I booked…..to do my hair/make-up’, ‘I am getting photos taken at ….by…’ on a regular basis. The combined schools formal will be


held on Friday 27th July at the Ar-thur Titley Centre. Senior students are reminded that leave for hair and other appointments is not con-sidered a QCAA approved reason for absence. Thus, your under-standing and co-operation in mak-ing these appointments after lunch so as not to miss vital morning classes is expected and appreciat-ed.

Dean of Students Richard Fogarty The school pastoral team has been hard at work identifying areas where we can make a difference in the lives of ASSG students. A cou-ple of notable developments have been around how the school acknowledges the efforts of its stu-dents. Merit referral As a school we have looked to im-plement a merit referral policy as a way of acknowledging and sup-porting the positive things that our students do in the ASSG communi-ty. The system is not based on a merit/demerit system, but rather simply a means of celebrating the positive things at our school. Stu-dents are already making valuable contributions, hopefully the merit referral system will afford the school the opportunity to celebrate these achievements. Pastoral Intranet page This week has seen the launch of the ASSG pastoral intranet page. The page is accessible through the school intranet page. The aim is to bring together the areas of Coun-sellor, Chaplain, Careers into one central hub. We hope to regularly update the page with upcoming

events, tips for students and fami-lies and a range of other material that may prove valuable as stu-dents navigate their way through school. As we head into week five I thought I would take the oppor-tunity to remind students and fam-ilies of some of the basic school rules. ASSG does not permit students in Year 7, 8, 9, 10 or 11 to have a cellular device at school. On occa-sion students may require a cellu-lar device however, this must be negotiated with the Year Level Co-ordinator or Dean of Students pri-or to the device being at school. Year 12 students are permitted to have a phone at school which may be used appropriately during morning tea and lunchtime. The phone may not be used during les-sons. Any student in Year 7-11 who is found in possession of a phone during the school day will have the electronic device confis-cated and handed into Student Services. The return of the phone will be negotiated by The Dean of Students. Any Year 12 student who is found in possession of a cell phone during lessons will have the device confiscated and the same process undertaken. All Souls St Gabriels School has a strict policy regarding the right for all students to learn in a support-ive environment with minimal dis-ruption. ASSG prides itself on cre-ating an environment for students and staff that is conducive to learning. Students are expected to conduct themselves in class with respect, integrity, confidence and resilience. The pastoral team looks forward to unveiling further initiatives as it supports the students of ASSG.

School Chaplain Bro Nathan-James Ash Wednesday Service Ash Wednesday marks the begin-ning of the Season of Lent. Stu-dents from Junior and Senior School participated in the Ash Wednesday service. The service reminds us of our mortality, that in the end as we have come from dust (recalling God’s creation of Adam from the dust of the ground) we return to dust (returning to the ground at burial). Birth and death are the levelling fields of all humanity. We are born, we die. Poor or rich, slave or free, powerless or powerful. What counts is lives we live in between. In the service we are reminded that God calls humanity to live peacefully and in harmony, doing what is just and right. We are es-pecially reminded to recall the mo-ments when we have not lived as God has called us and treated oth-ers unkindly or wrongly. We are then reminded to seek forgiveness and recommit to treating others with love and respect as God loves and respects us.


Don’t give up anything for Lent Depending on the circles you mix in you might be asked what are you giving up for Lent. Lent is traditionally a time of fasting and self-denial. You may hear people say I’m giving up chocolate, or I’m going to give up eating out. My responses are usually what you are going to do for Lent. Giv-ing up things is good, especially when we give up things that may not be best for our health or with our relationships with others. However, my point is, why not see Lent as an opportunity to take something on that may be beneficial to others. In Life Skills we recently talked about a boy, who at age 6, learned that there are people in the world who do not have access to clean water,

that they have to walk several miles just to get dirty water. Ryan Hreljac set out initially to raise $70 to help build a well in Uganda. His determination, effort and support lead to the establishment of the Ryan’s Well Foundation which to date has funded and built 700 wells and over 900 toilet facilities impacting the lives of over 745 000 people in Africa. Ryan could have given up chocolate for Lent but what would the outcome have been. Instead, at the age of 6 he set in motion a ripple effect that changed many lives. Ryan went on to study International Develop-ment and Political Science. Ryan travels the world speaking about water issues and “the importance of making a difference no matter whom you are or how old you are.” So my advice, don’t give up any-thing for Lent – take something on, make a difference.

In our thoughts & prayers; We pray for the repose of the

soul of Harrison Randall

(ASSG 2006 – 2010, Page House Captain) who recently

passed away after battling

Leukemia. May those who mourn his loss find comfort in

their support of each other and

memories of a fine young man. We pray that in the season of

Lent we might take time to re-

flect on our lives, to seek for-giveness when we have done

wrong, to grant forgiveness

when we have been wronged. We pray for our year 6 stu-

dents as they discern their call

to leadership within the Junior School. May they seek to serve

others as Christ served the

least among us.

School Prayers

Sport News Natasha Johnson Secondary Sports Co-ordinator Inter-House Swimming The annual Inter-House Carnival was completed in spectacular fashion at the town pool on the on Monday 5th February. A sum-mary of the results appears below: Age Champions

Records Set

House Championships


Place Boys Houses Girls Houses Combined Championship

1st

Feetham

426 points

Becket

428 points

Becket & Feetham

854 points

2nd

Page

288 points

Chad

334 points

Chad & Page

622 points

3rd

Ramsay

Points

Alban

207 points

Alban & Ramsay

436 points

Inter-House Swimming Age Champions Back: Josephine McKellar, Toby Fitchett,

Harry Titley, Kayden Fogarty and Lachy Lathwell Front: Luka Hall, Sarah Milton, Jed Marshall, Kathryne Squair, Cam Trevor, Karen Squair

and Tiarra Fogarty

Age Group Runner-Up Champion

Open Boys Slayd Hall Toby Fitchett

Open Girls Angela Jones Josephine McKellar

16yrs Boys Patrick Washington Harry Titley

16yrs Girls Amber Aspinall Luka Hall

15yrs Boys Joshua Fraser Kayden Fogarty

15yrs Girls Grace Newnham Sarah Milton

14yrs Boys Matthew Luxton Lachy Lathwell

14yrs Girls Olivia Titley Kathryne Squair

13yrs Boys Owen Elliott Jed Marshall

13yrs Girls Mia Dickson Tiarra Fogarty

12yrs Boys Ryan Grant Cam Trevor

12yrs Girls Alexandra Holt Karen Squair

Event Previous record New record New record

holder

14 year Girls 100m

Freestyle

Sarah Milton (2017)

1.08.00 min

1.07.60 min

Kathryne Squair

15 years Boys 100m

Freestyle

Toby Fitchett (2016)

1.04.35 min

1.03.28 min

Kayden Fogarty

12 years Girls 50m

Freestyle

Luka Hall (2014)

35.04 sec

34.40 sec

Karen Squair

14 years Girls 50m

Freestyle

Sarah Milton (2017)

30. 33 sec

28.75 sec

Kathryne Squair

15 years Boys 50m

Freestyle

D Blakey (1997)

27.66 sec

26.58 sec

Kayden Fogarty

14 years Girls

50m Backstroke

Kate Dunn (1979)

36.60 sec

34.75 sec

Kathryne Squair

15 years Boys

50m Backstroke

Toby Fitchett (2016)

35.65 sec

34. 12 sec

Kayden Fogarty

14 years Girls 50m

Butterfly

Emily Cook (2011)

34.56 sec

32.03 sec

Kathryne Squair

We wish all of our swimmers the best of luck in preparation for the Inter-School Carnival to be hosted by Black-heath and Thornburgh College on Thursday and Friday, 15 and 16 February. Thank you to Brian Rodriquez (Town Pool management) who is currently working hard to prepare our competitors for this carnival. Inter-School Sport The Inter-School Boys Cricket and Girls Tennis seasons are just around the corner and the School is a buzz with various trials happening. Good luck to all teams for the season. Results will be presented in coming editions of the Phoenix Rising.


Junior School

Tina Akers Head of Junior School Our School is an exciting place to be, with many activities occurring on a daily basis. The classes have well and truly established their routines and procedures and the children have settled into their learning. All staff are working dili-gently and it is wonderful to re-ceive the positive feedback from our students, parents, guardians and the wider School community.

Junior School Student Leadership Student leadership is an experi-ence, which is highly valued by our School community. As leaders in the Junior School, the Year 6 stu-dents will be given many opportu-nities to demonstrate their leader-ship and work together at various School and community events. There is a defined School process for the election and selection of the 2018 Captains Vice-Captains, House Captains, Prefects and Stu-dent Council Student Representa-tives. It is a big learning experi-ence for all our students, as they explore the range of emotions that go along with nominating, prepar-ing speeches, accepting results and supporting their peers.


Recently our Year 6 students trav-elled to Magnetic Island to partic-ipate in a number of activities de-signed to develop their under-standing of what it means to work together as a team to achieve a common goal. The day provided the students with the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to model the School values and demonstrate a high level of communication and social skills. Throughout the day the students enjoyed a variety of tasks that required them to co-operate with their peers, show commitment to a task, display empathy and un-derstanding of others while cele-brating personal achievements and group success.

Despite the inclement weather at the start of the day, the Year 6 stu-dents had a fantastic time and are to be congratulated on their ma-turity and responsible attitude demonstrated throughout the day. Thanks Mrs Toohey, Mr Turner and the staff at Apex Camps for organ-ising this great experience. Thanks also to Brother Nathan and the crew on the Sealink Ferry. This year, Year 6 will present their Leadership Speeches to the stu-dents over two Junior School As-semblies (Friday 2 March and Thursday 8 March). Installation of the Junior School Captains, Pre-fects and the Year 4 and Year 5 Student Representatives, will take place on Friday 16 March.

Key to Success As parents and educators, we share the responsibility for your child’s success. The involvement of parents within our School community re-mains a key aspect to the successes we will celebrate throughout the year.

Last week parents and guardians were invited to meet with their child’s teacher to talk about class routines, procedures and the curric-ulum. I would like to thank the teachers who led these sessions and the many parents/guardians who took the time to attend the meet-ings.

Our goal for all our students in the Junior School is for them to enjoy school, relate well with others and develop the necessary knowledge, skills and understandings across all areas of the curriculum.

The Junior School Staff are looking forward to the year ahead with re-newed energy, to make our School a place where students have the op-portunity to be the best they can be, have the confidence to face chal-lenges positively and respect them-selves, others and their environ-ment.

Working together, we will continue to build upon the excellent reputa-tion that All Souls holds within the wider community.



Head of Boarding Head of Boarding

Darren GuldbransenDarren Guldbransen

As we started week 4 of this term I was going over all the sporting trials, trainings and different events we have already done this term but I also had a look at what we have got coming up and it is certainly a packed schedule for many of our kids. That is before they even look at their academic work and assessment program. Managing workloads and commitments. The school sporting calendar has numerous carnivals, events, train-ings and games and then when we add in things like Cattle Club, mu-sical practices as well as club sport trainings and games, it can get to the stage where many of our kids have multiple things on each day, often starting before school. Don’t get me wrong I am a big fan of keeping kids active because idle kids will always find some mischief to get up to and that does not al-ways go well. Most of our older boarders are pretty good at man-aging their work loads and their busy schedules but for our young-er ones who just want to be in-volved in everything and don’t

want to miss out on anything they are going to need a bit of help along the way, especially the ones playing club sport on weekends. We encourage all our new board-ers to get involved and stay busy because that is the best way to get through their homesickness but as the term progresses and the kids have worked their way through it, it is just as important to find time to just chill out and relax. We find most of the behavioural issues we deal with are the minor conflict between kids happens when the kids are run down and tired and things that would nor-mally be fun and a joke grind on them and become an issue. Our boarding staff will be doing their best to monitor workloads and try and make sure kids don’t crash and burn but if you feel your child is doing it tough or starting to get run down please don’t hesi-tate to call or email. Even better if you are contemplating a visit to school to see your child or possibly taking them home for a weekend, the next couple of weeks is an ide-al time to do it. That’s it for now.

Head of Boarding Darren Guldbransen Head of Boarding Mobile: 0415 903 479 Email: [email protected]

Boys’ Boarding Feetham House Jake Diery Senior Resident Mobile: 0419 471 433 Email: [email protected] Page House Davin Marshall Senior Resident Mobile: 0409 071 433 Email: [email protected] Ramsay House Rhett Butler Senior Resident Mobile: 0400 751 433 Email: [email protected]

Girls’ Boarding Alban House Vanessa Herring Senior Resident Mobile: 0419 771 433 Email: [email protected] Becket House Jenny Cantle Senior Resident Mobile: 0407 142 493 Email: [email protected] Chad House Yvonne Schaefer Senior Resident Mobile: 0439 764 638 Email: [email protected]

Dormitory News Dormitory News

Feetham Dormitory

Jake Diery Senior Resident

Lots of our boys have been really busy over the last few weeks so our focus while they are here in the dorm is, Rest and Recharge. Our mornings have been fast paced with Running, Swimming and Tennis training all going on. While the afternoons have had Cricket, Football, Cattle Club as well as Homework Club, so this program is keeping most of the boys out of the dorm in the after-noon. It has been ridiculously hot as well so some resting time in the air conditioning seems to be high on the boys list of things to do.

We have had our Inter-House Swimming Carnival and ‘The Feeth-am boys smashed it’ winning the overall boys competition. I have been told it’s the biggest winning margin since 1995. It was great to see the new blokes like Ryan Grant getting in and having a go. Ryan was Runner-up in his age group. It was also great to see Kayden Fogarty doing his thing in the wa-ter, and again breaking records. The boy’s say he must have gills and fins as he makes it look so easy. Well done to all those boys who jumped in and had a go.

Our Year 7 students all returned from camp safe and sound and with plenty of stories to tell. I have reminded them all its time to get stuck into their school work as they don’t want to get behind.

It is usually about this time of term that homesickness can kick in or even get a little worse, we have been talking about it with the Year 6, 7 and 8 kids and the things they can do to cope with it but if you pick up on anything or your son says something or even if he just seems a little off please give me a call or drop me an email.

Finally, just a reminder if your son is going out on leave, please just send me an email saying who he is going with and when he will leave and come back.


Page Dormitory

Davin Marshall Senior Resident

We are already into week four and the term is flying by. The air condi-tioning is proving to be awesome in the extremely hot and humid con-ditions we are experiencing. The boarders and staff alike appreciate the huge improvement in living conditions and the boys are waking up more refreshed and rested com-pared to previous years.

We have welcomed another new boarder into our Page boarding community from Duaun Island in the Torres Strait. His name is David Gaidan and he is a welcome addi-tion to Page House. David has made a good start here and he has a cheerful and fun outlook on life. All of our new boarders have fitted into boarding easily and we are looking forward to a great year.

Our seniors have made an impres-sive start and are setting high standards in our dormitory. I know they are committed to making this year enjoyable for everyone in our dormitory, but also making sure we are commitment to our sport and house activities. They are helping drive a new reward system we are trialling to encourage the boys to keep their bays and lockers tidy. It involves chocolates so it was a bit of a no brainer.

We have made a great start to the year here in Page and I couldn’t be happier where we are for this time in the term but if you have any concerns about anything going on with your son/s please don’t hesi-tate to contact me.

Ramsay Dormitory

Rhett Butler Senior Resident

With 3 weeks already done and dusted, we are definitely flying along at the moment. Our boys have had plenty to keep them busy with morning and afternoon train-ing sessions for a number of sports as well as all their academic work. Our Year 7's thoroughly en-joyed their time away at camp and have come back with many new friends, while our older boys had the chance to meet kids from the other schools and strut their stuff at the All Schools Valentines dance held at the PCYC last weekend.

Ramsay came in third at our Inter-House Swimming Carnival, but I was very proud of the determina-tion they showed, and the pride they had in their House. Lachy Lathwell put in an outstanding ef-fort to win Age Champion for his age group while Zach Vass, Hayden Smith, Kane Whiting, Brandon Fin-ger, Harrison Finger, Corey Stanger and Kodi Boalar all made our ASSG Inter-School Team.

Ramsay house has quite a positive vibe going at the moment and our seniors helping with the everyday running of the dorm and setting a good example is having a big part in achieving that. They will contin-ue to take on further responsibili-ties as the year progresses and they become even more comforta-ble in their roles.

The hot weather has kept us inside more than normal recently, so our boys have been giving the board games and cards a good work out. This has given myself and the boys a chance to bond and get to know each other better and I have really enjoyed hanging out and listening to their stories.

Just a quick reminder, if your son is going on leave, please send me an email stating who he is going with and when he will be leaving/returning. All boys must be signed back in at the end of leave.

Alban

Dormitory Vanessa Herring Senior Resident It’s been a great start to the year, and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know everyone better. We’ve been running a ‘pursuit for positive change’ challenge in our dorm for kindness and cleanliness. It partners with the ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ week. It goes without saying that our girls have risen to the challenge. Although clean bays have been encouraged with the promise of incentive prizes! Our Netball teams have hit the ground running and we’re pleased to report that we’ve qualified for both 1st and 2nd’s Netball through-out year levels. Cross Country training has started and the girls have kicked it up a gear by joining Chad on their weekly “Towers Hill” run. Thanks to Shorty for getting behind this fitness regime and or-ganising it! Alban’s new girls have blended seamlessly into boarding life. They’ve found their niche and are relaxing into all routines. A busy boarder is a happy boarder, and they’ve definitely been busy with weekend events such as: the Val-entine’s Dinner and Dance, indoor Basketball and Cricket, Swimming and movies. As expected, home-sickness is still a familiar feeling however; it is soon forgotten with so much support from new-found ‘sisters’. I’d like to introduce you to Alison Barnicoat. Many of you already know Alison, but for those who don’t, Alison is the main Alban re-lief supervisor when I’m off duty. Alison is mum to Cam and Hugh (weekly boarders in Page House) and Lacey (Year 6). Alison is a beautiful soul and a wonderful ad-


dition to our team. She has so much to offer our girls who’ve tak-en to her affectionately. So, on that note, I’d like to officially wel-come Alison to the Alban ‘family’! As always, please call if you have any queries and I’ll do my best to help.

Left to right: Wynita Deem, Carley Shephard,

Nakisha Willshire, Charlette Deem

Becket

Dormitory

Jenny Cantle Senior Resident We are already into week four of our nine-week term, and dormito-ry life is definitely in full swing. Some of our girls have very little spare time at the moment with trainings and their academic com-mitments. The Inter-House swimming carni-val was held early in February, with Becket bringing home the trophy once again. Congratula-tions to all the girls who swam, and of course to all the passionate supporters. A big thank you to our House Captain, Angela Jones who did a great job leading up to the event as well as on the night, and has been getting our swimmers Crystal and Ella-Beth along with herself off to swimming training three mornings a week in prepara-

tion for the upcoming Inter-School carnival. We have also been busy with Ten-nis and Netball trials this fortnight with many of our girls making teams. Unfortunately, a heat wave over the last week has put a stop to some of the afternoon sports (thank goodness for the beautiful air-conditioning in the dorms). Looking forward we have our Inter-School Cross Country coming up in a few weeks. Being one of the hardest of sports, our girls will start training one or two mornings a week once swimming is com-plete just so it is not too much of a shock to their systems. Whilst it has been a busy sporting term so far we are fast approach-ing the business part. The girls need to make sure they are man-aging their time so they don’t fall behind with their academic work, please encourage them to work hard on their assignments and ask for help if they need it. We regu-larly remind them here and it is helpful if they are getting the same message from home. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns.

Becket Mobile 0407 142 493

Becket Landline 07 4787 7528

Email [email protected]

Chad Dormitory Yvonne Schaefer It has been a flurry of trials and trainings early in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evenings with different sports. Most of the netball teams have trialled ready to start Club Netball this week. The heat and rain have hampered some of the trials so they have been postponed to this week. Inter-School Tennis has started this week, and Swimming training is continuing in preparation for the Inter-School Swimming carni-val on Friday. Freya Stewart, Georgia Eastaugffe, Zoe Godfrey, Casey Campbell, Vivienne Elliott, Hailea Wallace, Dakota Gough and Briarley Fitchett have all been training hard in preparation. There is also lots going on with assessments and assignments be-ing sent through. Homework club is always available in the after-noons and there is lots of support from teachers who are more than happy to help. With this busyness, sometimes the tiredness starts creeping in along with the pro-crastination. Please let us know if you are hearing that your girl is struggling. There is a lot that we can do to help as long as we know. Just a reminder for leave, if you are needing your child to miss school time during their leave, you are required to contact our Head of Boarding, Darren Guldbransen. Email address is: [email protected]

or Flo King: [email protected]


News from the Duke’s Award

Denis Riddle Award Leader Information for parents of Year 9 students Due dates Please note the following dates for this year’s Duke of Edinburgh’s Inter-national Award. Year 9 Bronze Wednesday 28 February Deadline for Year 9 enrolment in Bronze Saturday 17 March Mandatory Bronze expedition training day in Townsville Thursday 26 – Sunday 29 July Bronze expeditions in Tully Gold and Silver Friday 1 – Sunday 3 June Trial bike ride Wednesday 8 – Sunday 12 August Test bike ride Gold candidates should be finished by the end of September if they want to have official confirmation of their award by the end of the school year and acknowledgement at the School Awards Day on 16 November. Please note that there is no North Queensland award ceremony this year. The State Award Office is no longer hosting northern awards. Problems with ORB Unfortunately, students are reporting some problems with the new version of the ORB (online record book). Like so many new technologies that promise a lot and then fail to deliver, the general user just has to “soldier on”. Persistence is the key and it is a vital D of E quality as well. Well done to those candidates who keep on keeping on.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


P & F News

Annette Hall P & F Secretary

Wish List During our first meeting of the year, P & F revisited the Wish List and added more of its items to our spending spree. As of this edition of The Phoenix Rising, P & F has committed significant funding toward additional marquees; an Athletics equipment storage container/shed; trailers for transporting sporting equipment; twenty new hurdles; 3D printers and other equipment for the Technology department; a portable, battery-operated PA system for the Junior School; and a contribution to be made to the school Musical 'The Wiz'.

BTC Cyber Safety Information Session with Susan McLean The Blackheath and Thornburgh P & F recently hosted a cyber safety in-formation session and our All Souls St Gabriels School community was in-vited to attend. Our ASSG P & F Association appreciates such invitations and the opportunity for our P & Fs to work together, especially for the care and safety of all students in our own and wider community.

Annual General Meeting The Annual General Meeting of the All Souls St Gabriels School P & F As-sociation Inc will take place on Monday, 05 March, at 5:30pm in the All Souls Library. Our next General Meeting will immediately follow the AGM's closing. At the AGM, all Executive positions - President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer - will become vacant. As 2018 is a Fete year, P & F will also be looking for people interested in taking on the Fete Co-ordinator role or in joining the Fete Committee.

Many hands make light work so please consider taking on one of these positions or joining our P & F Association. If you would like to know more about these roles or the P & F in general, please contact the Secretary Annette Hall via 4746 8634 or [email protected], or contact Jon Teichmann on 4787 1433.

Congratulations to Matt and

Tash Johnson on the arrival

of their little princess

Isabella Grace

Johnson Isabella just couldn't wait to

join our Souls Family..

and arrived 6 weeks early

on Valentines Day .

headmaster - home | all souls st gabriels school · volved in the wiz. the first round of sport and...

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