Mr David Finch

19th August 2016

Principal: Mr David Finch

Assistant Principal - Mission:

Mr Paul MacCallum

Deputy Principal -

Curriculum/Admin:

Mr Ian Margetts

Business Manager:

Mr David Osborne

Head of Residential:

Mrs Tina Schefe &

Mr Dave Schefe

Office Manager:

Mrs Sue Wegert

Friday the 12th August 2016

The Transition Team, Andrea and Traylea would like

to thank the wonderful families, students and staff

who contributed to our special day. There were so

many highlights that it is hard to name individual

people, please accept our overwhelming

gratitude for all your efforts.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words . We hope

you enjoy our NAIDOC Day photographic time line.

Mount St Bernard College was invited to attend Herberton State School’s NAIDOC celebrations

on Thursday 11th August. MSB were represented by two of our dance groups ,Elcho Island

Aboriginal Dancers—Deborah Gulurrwuy, Janelle Dhurrkay, Vanessa Dhurrkay and our Torres

Strait Island dancers - Margaret Waia, Georgiana Whap, Thelma ‘Balu’ Bani, Danuta Tomsana

and Ella Toby.

The dancers shared the stage with Atherton Primary and Atherton High School’s Torres Strait

Islander Dance Groups.

A group of MSB students came along to support our dancers in celebrating Herberton’s

NAIDOC. These students were School Captains Maree Higginson and Era King, Boarding

Captains/ILT Nathan Dowling and Thelma ‘Balu’ Bani and our Indigenous Leaders of Tomorrow

Daniel Mairu, Eileen Stenner and Keane Ryan. A big thank you to Lex Taylor for his excellent

photography.

Deputy Principal—Curriculum & Admin

NAPLAN Results

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and

Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual assessment for

students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. It has been an everyday part of the school calendar since 2008.

NAPLAN tests the sorts of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life, such as

reading, writing, spelling and numeracy.

NAPLAN is made up of tests in the four areas (or ‘domains’) of:

• reading

• writing

• language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation)

• numeracy.

The tests were undertaken in May this Year and the

results are included in the mail out for Year 7 and 9.

Please review these results and if you have any

questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Teaching staff will be working with the results in the

coming weeks to better support student learning.

Year 12 Pathways

Students are being interviewed to discuss their current

progress as well as study and career pathways after Year 12.

Students interested in studying at University or Tafe next

year have been encourage to explore the QTAC website

(visit http://www.qtac.edu.au) to search for courses of

interest.

Students who then wish to apply through QTAC will meet

next week to start the process. Students will be guided

through this process. Please see the key dates listed to

the side.

Assessment & Exam Block Term 3

Many senior students will undertake exams this term as part of

their assessment. Senior day students will not be required to attend school on these days if they do not have exams and

travel for boarders will be requested soon after their last exam. All junior classes will continue with their lesson times to

enable students to complete all of their assessment. An Exam Block Schedule will be published soon.

Ian Margetts

Assistant Principal—Mission

A Day in Court - Olivia Abernethy Year 12

On 26 July we attended the Opening of the Law Year church service at St. Monica’s Cathedral followed by a delicious morning tea at the Bishop’s house.

The Honourable Justice, Jim Henry, judges, magistrates, solicitors, barristers, associates, legal personnel, police officers … and Tyler Bradley and I gathered to pray for and acknowledge the hard work, dedication, integrity and professionalism of all who work in law. St Mary’s Catholic College student choir added to the occasion with beautiful singing. In closing the service, Bishop James reminded those present;

“Do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

Later, Tyler and I attended the District Court. Cases involved possession of weapons, issue of a warrant, receiving and extortion, common assault, grievous bodily harm, breached domestic violence orders and defamation.

His Honour Judge Morzone QC DCJ kindly invited us to afternoon tea in his chambers. Surrounded by shelves groaning with ancient law books and ensconced in leather arm chairs, with tea in china cups, we discussed the civil case of defamation, sentencing, the complexity of decision making, changes in the judicial process, the work of solicitors and barristers and much more.

Our sincere thanks to His Honour Judge Morzone (QC), Associate Carly Forsyth and Shane for their time, hospitality and assistance. Through these wonderful legal officers, we gained valuable insight into the judicial process at work.

Next week I will be spending 3 days in Brisbane at a Restorative Practices workshop. MSBC is looking to explore

further the use of restorative practices in the context of a whole school approach to student well-being. The

philosophy and practice of restorative justice in schools is to promote resilience in both the one who is harmed and

the one who causes harm. It is about helping young people become more aware of the impact of their behaviour on

others through personal accountability and being open to learning from conflict situations.

The three days in Brisbane, also being attended by Mrs Rossiter, follows an initial introductory day attended by college staff at the

beginning of this term. The intention is that consistent use of a restorative approach will change attitudes and represent a philosophical

shift in thinking about students and unacceptable behaviours from the use of punishment to the management of situations using a

restorative approach. An important component of this approach is the focus on restoring relationships after harm has been done. The

Principles of Restorative Practice include:

Foster awareness in the student - of how others have been affected.

Avoid scolding or lecturing - avoiding further defensiveness and escalatory behaviour.

Involve the student actively - not just accepting any punishment but encouraging the student to speak, face and listen to those affected and decide on how to repair the harm.

Separate the deed from the doer - we can recognise the student’s worth while disapproving of their wrongdoing.

I look forward to keeping you updated on this significant journey for the college.

God bless, Paul MacCallum.

Positive Behaviour Support Fortnightly Focus -

“Taking Responsibility”

When you are caught out doing something inappropriate … What is your first reaction? Do you … … look around for someone else to blame? … try to come up with an excuse? Or do you own the behaviour and take responsibility for doing it? Why do people do this? What are they thinking? Does it really help? Quite often the person they are talking to already knows what has happened and who is responsible. Deflecting, the responsibility in another direction doesn’t fool anyone for long. Why is it helpful to own your behaviour and take responsibility for what has happened? When you own the behaviour, you start to take control of yourself and the situation. … You get respect from others for being “big enough” to admit mistakes. … You learn from the situation and grow as a person. … You develop respect for yourself. Just remember you always have a choice. It is not always easy. Sometimes it takes great courage to make the right choices. However, you will feel better when you do.

Don’t forget we are only a phone call away. If you

have any issues or concerns you wish to discuss

please don’t hesitate to call or email a member of the

Pastoral Care Team:

Jenny Rossiter - Whole School - jrossiter@msb.qld.edu.au

Trudy Bakker - Years 10 - 12 - tbakker@msb.qld.edu.au

Ben Smith - Years 7 - 9 - bsmith@msb.qld.edu.au

Paul MacCallum - Head of Pastoral Care - pmacallum@msb.qld.edu.au

HOMEWORK CLUB

After school homework club is being continued for Term 3, operating from 3:15pm to 4:15pm. The club occurs in the library (room L2) where no devices for the purpose of games, music or social networking will be permitted. Students in attendance are to be in school uniform.

The homework club is planned to run over the following periods:

Term 3: Week 2 (20 July) until Week 9 (7 September)

Term 4: Week 2 (12 October) until Week 6 ( 9 November)

Day students are to have a dated written note with guardian name and phone contact details. Students who attend the homework club may also go to afternoon tea provided in the Dining Room, from 3:00pm to 3:15pm.

Ben Smith

Middle Leader -Mathematics

bsmith@msb.qld.edu.au

Maths and the Mind

Term 3 is now half way completed. The field of Mathematics has been buzzing with activities. On Tuesday, 16 August, a group of Year 10 students completed the ICAS Mathematics examination. This is a country wide competition. It is great being able to receive acknowledgement from an external company about your efforts (as a student). When the results come back, there shall be an opportunity to see where each student’s strengths and challenges may lay. The certificate is strongly recommended for students to include for any resume or scholarship application.

The QAMT Year 7/8 Maths quiz regional round was held at Atherton State High School’s library. A big warm congratulations needs to be given to the efforts of MSB’s one Year 8 student, Hamish Burnett, and two Year 7 students, Bianca Price and Stacey Edwards. MSB came equal fourth. This means the school just missed out on representing the greater region of Cairns, Tablelands and down to Tully. With two Year 7 students appreciating the event and how it is run, it may mean a greater confidence boost for 2017.

Maths and the Mind… In Term 2 there was a maths article about brain gym. These brain exercises help reduce the risk of aging of the brain. Strengthening the mind can be done in several ways. On the TV documentary show Catalyst, there are pieces that talk about how easy it is to do activities that can work the “fitness” of the brain. An app being sampled is called “Brain Wars”. People are able to challenge others from around the globe in 30 different (math based) mini-games. The data given back gives you feedback on how speed, memory, accuracy, judgement, calculation, observation compare to each other.

Year 8C Math— Mr Hando

For Term 3 students in 8C math have been studying ratios and rates. To facilitate mathematical thinking involving proportion we have made smoothies and analysed gear ratios on a mountain bike. Students have also started every lesson with a math quiz to practise and revise basic mathematical skills and knowledge. As a class we are looking forward to starting a new unit on Measurement in Week 6 :)

Kind regards

Ben Smith - Middle Leader Mathematics bsmith@msb.qld.edu.au

Gymnastics

Year 9 Sport and Recreation have started gymnastics lessons at the Atherton

Gymnastics Club. Students are learning to do cartwheels and handstands, as well

as skills on the balance beam, uneven bars, parallel bars and trampoline.

Tommy has shown great strength on the rope climbing. Lala and Sisilia have

shown great all round skills. The students have enjoyed learning new skills and

look forward to more work on the in ground trampoline.

Upcoming Events - 2016

Mon 22 - Fri 26 Aug Year 11 Expedition

Sat 27 - Sun 28 Aug Boarders Free Weekend

Tues 30 Aug - Wed 31 Aug QCS Tests

Thurs Sept 1 Study Zone commences

Sat 10 - Sun 11 Sept Inaugural Tri-Schools Cup

Tues 13 - Thurs 15 Sept Senior Block Exams

Thurs 15 Sept Term 3 ends at 3pm

Some thoughts on the Gospel for Sunday 15 August. Have you ever sat with family where there is a lot of noise and activity with children running everywhere and Uncle Bob and Cousin Mary having the usual disagreement over politics, and thought to yourself “now this is peaceful”. May be? May not? But if you did, you have experienced one of the at least eight meanings of the Hebrew word “Shalom” meaning peace. The Middle-Eastern concept of peace “never means well-ordered silence, stillness, everything in its orderly place.”(Pilch) That is a Western concept.

In Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 12:49-53) we hear Jesus, the prince of peace saying “Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” That seems a contradiction. In our times we can name people who saw that peace entailed having a sense of freedom. Ghandi, Mandela, Martin Luther King Jnr. Their stories showed that not everyone wants others to be free, to be at peace. Jesus knew this was the reality of the world. He knew that those who took his words to heart would meet conflict and opposi-tion.

The peace Jesus offers is a deep peace within the noise and chaos of the world.

As part of our ongoing commitment to continuously improving the school, we believe it is critical to seek each parent and guardian’s opinion on a range of issues relating to Mount St Bernard College. Your feedback is very important to us as we continue to build a successful school and strengthen our reputation as an ‘educator of choice’.

As such, we have engaged the professional services of MYP Corporation Pty Ltd to undertake a strictly private and confidential School Results Survey on our behalf. The survey should take approximately 10 - 15 minutes and will need to be completed online between 29th August and 12th September 2016. There are no right or wrong answers and we ask that you respond honestly to each statement.

Please note that this survey will be confidential. No member of the leadership team at Mount St Bernard College will have access to your individual responses. We will be provided with a summary of collated results only.

MYP Corp will undertake the following process to ensure anonymity:

1. Parents and guardians will be emailed individual survey logins.

2. Results will be collated externally.

3. A summary of collated results will be provided to the school leadership team.

On the survey start date, survey instructions and a personalised login link will be emailed to all parents. You will continue to receive friendly reminders during the survey period until you have submitted the survey.

If you do not receive your survey instructions on the survey start date, please check your spam and junk email folders before contacting Mount St Bernard College.

While we strongly encourage you to participate, the survey is not compulsory. If you decide that you do not want to complete the survey, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ in the instruction or reminder email.

Thank you for your assistance in helping to shape the future direction of Mount St Bernard College.

Kind regards

David Finch - Principal

Fri 16 Sept Boarders Travel Home

MSB Office Closes @ 4pm

Fri 16 Sept - Tues 4 Oct School Holidays

Mon 3 Oct Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday Qld

Tues 4 Oct Boarders Travel to School

MSB Office Re-Opens

Wed 5 Oct All Classes commence Term 4