By Mr Simon Fleming - Principal

In the previous Newsletter I mentioned the positivity that came with ANZAC and the Year 12 Formal ceremonies. Over the last fortnight we have had two community events: The Mother’s Day evening and the College Open Day. Both were very well organised, and it was great to see so many people in attendance. Our students and teachers really stood up and did us proud.

In staffing news, I am pleased to announce that Mrs Natalie Smith has been appointed Acting Deputy Principal beginning in semester two. Natalie will replace Anna Hardy who will be on maternity leave for 12 months. Natalie is currently vice Principal of The Women’s College in Sydney University. In her role she attends to the academic care, pastoral care and well-being of the student body and provides leadership for staff and students. Natalie has also been dean of studies at Brisbane Girls Grammar School and Pastoral Care Coordinator at Grace Lutheran College. Natalie was described as an excellent teacher who is dependable and has an ethic of hard work. We welcome Natalie to the Assumption Community.

In other staffing news we have been able to procure the services of Ms Sandy Brown to the English Department. Sandy has extensive experience having written and delivered English programs from 7-12 over the last 13 years. She will be a great addition to the staff, and our students will benefit from her knowledge and skills in the classroom. Sandy will start on the 24^th May and take classes in Years 9-12.

Miss Belinda Payne has decided to take leave from teaching at the end of the term. We are fortunate to have an excellent replacement in Mr Malcolm Durre. Mr Durre has been with us this term replacing Miss Richardson who has been completing her commitments with university. Mr Durre has extensive experience in Science and in particular Biology. Mr Durre will take on the senior biology classes as well as junior science.

Mr Justin Sneath has resigned to return to Brisbane. The college will be advertising for an experienced teacher of Mathematics. In the meantime, we are investigating the best options for his classes.

A significant goal that we have as a school is to gain student voice around their learning. We are also investing in the development of teacher coaches. These coaches will work on the development of teacher skills and pedagogical approaches to ensure that out teaching and learning continues to improve. Data from students will inform us as to how students see the learning. Our Curriculum Leaders and Year level leaders also play a significant role in providing support for all teaching staff. Next week Mrs Collins will be profiling staff and their practice to also have coaching conversations. The Leadership team regularly completes learning walks around the school and making visits to classrooms.

On Tuesday Mr Paul Herbert from the office provided valuable professional development for staff around the essential skills for classroom management model. Consistency across classes and the development of strong teacher student relationships founded on mutual respect and a focus on learning were key themes presented.  

Last week I attended the Leadership forum in Stanthorpe that had as its theme ‘Being Distinctively Catholic’. One of our goals is formation and our challenge to students is to present the best version of themselves as they can each day. We are a school of faith in which we allow our students the opportunity to experience and share the fruits of the Gospel. Excellence and equity form part of our culture and need to be reflected in our operations as a school. We allow students to make sense of their own experiences and we accompany young people as they construct their own personal identity.

This week we were able to hold the AGM for the P&F for ACW. Mrs Sophia McLucas has accepted the role of Chairperson, Mr Geoff Pitstock is Vice Chair, Mrs Melinda Gale is Secretary and Mrs Michelle Spence is the Treasurer. We had a guest speaker in Mrs Bernadette Kay who addressed the gathering on alternative P&F models that have been adopted throughout Queensland. We will be investigating these models to see what will best suit our context moving forward. Parent engagement with the school will be the dominant theme of any new initiative. Any parent wishing to learn more about engagement and the models presented can pick up an information pack from the front office.

Kind Regards,

Simon

If you wish to submit a newsletter article, please email to acwarwick@twb.catholic.edu.au by Monday 24th May. Please note that all articles are subject to Principals permission.   

By Mrs Anna Hardy, Deputy Principal

Five areas of social and emotional learning

Facts obtained from the Be You website – beyou.edu.au

Social emotional learning (SEL) involves developing the ability to understand and manage our emotions, establish positive relationships, develop empathy for others, set and achieve goals and feel good about ourselves.

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is about developing the ability to care for others, make responsible decisions, establish positive relationships, and handle challenging situations. These skills are essential for developing resilience and the personal attributes that promote wellness, prevent illness and support recovery.

The model defines five social and emotional skill areas essential for the development of good mental health. Each of these skill areas includes a number of specific elements. Intentional teaching of the competencies is also crucial to implementing effective SEL, as are opportunities for children and young people to practise and generalise them.

Teaching SEL works best when the focus is on helping children and young people learn skills from each domain so that they gradually and progressively build their skills and knowledge throughout early learning and school. It’s an ongoing process across all year levels.  Our pastoral program hinges on Social Emotional Learning through ’Program Achieve.’

Self-awareness

This is the ability to recognise and understand your own emotions, thoughts and values, and understand how they affect your behaviour. It’s about understanding and assessing your personal strengths, and understanding that abilities and intelligence can be developed and improved. The main skills include:

• identifying emotions
• self-perception
• understanding strengths
• self-confidence
• self-efficacy.

Self-management

This is the ability to manage and regulate your emotions and behaviour, including managing stress, controlling impulses and keeping yourself motivated. The main skills include:

• impulse control
• stress management
• self-discipline
• self-motivation
• goal-setting
• organisational skills.

Social awareness

This is the ability to understand and empathise with people from a range of diverse backgrounds, and to understand social and ethical norms of behaviour. The main skills include:

• perspective-taking
• empathy
• appreciating diversity
• respect for others.

Relationship skills

These involve the ability to develop and maintain healthy and positive relationships with others. They include the ability to communicate clearly, listen, cooperate, resist peer pressure and negotiate conflict. The main skills include:

• communication
• social engagement
• relationship building
• teamwork.

Responsible decision-making

This is the ability to make informed and responsible decisions about personal behaviour and social interactions with others, based on adherence to ethical standards, safety concerns and social norms. The main skills include:

• identifying problems
• analysing situations
• solving problems
• self-evaluation
• self-reflection
• ethical responsibility

Children and young people’s SEL skills are developing all the time.

Skills may develop differently and at varying rates for different individuals. Children and young people benefit from having ongoing learning opportunities.

By Mr Michael Simpson - Assistant Principal - Curriculum 

Time to revise.

As we move through the term it is essential that students are starting go over content they have learnt in the first few weeks. The more often they revise, the greater retention rate. The graphs below show the rate of forgetting with and without repeated study throughout a term. Students need to have a plan so they can reach their potential.

The following article gives some insights into practice techniques. I encourage to read and discuss with your child.

The best learning techniques

Most people go with basic learning techniques like reading and highlighting. But what if I tell you that both are useless?

You see, your mind needs a lot more than that to retain info. According to research, here are the best learning techniques:

1. Distributed Practice

Remember in college when you used to have a big test and you’d pull all-nighters just to pass it? Well, the chances are that the next morning, you didn’t even remember half of what you studied.

But even if you did, you’ll probably forget everything by the next day.

Now, this works fine in an academic environment where your sole purpose might just be to pass an exam. But this gets tricky when you’re trying to learn a skill.

Because you can’t just cram a skill… it takes time to perfect whatever skill you want to learn, be it a sport or playing a musical instrument.

That’s where distributed practice comes into play. In this learning technique, you’re supposed to distribute your learning sessions such that a considerable amount of time passes before you start learning again.

You might be wondering:

How much time should I give before I start my next learning session?

Well, anything over a day should work well. So, if you’re learning to play the violin, you can have sessions on alternate days.

What that does is it switches your mind from focused to diffused mode of thinking. In the focused mode, you’re actively learning (ie playing the violin). But in the diffused mode, you’re waiting until the next session and thinking about what you learned in the last one, how it worked and what mistakes you were making.

2. Practice Testing

Back in college, I had a professor that everybody in class hated. And why wouldn’t they; he took 2 tests every week!

And you know what?

The whole class scored the highest in his subject. That’s the power of practice testing.

In this method, you’re intentionally putting practice sessions or studying material away and challenging yourself to recall what you’ve learned without any aid.

An interesting thing about practice testing is that you’re often going to suck at the actual test. But once you make that mistake, it’s easier to rectify and remember it.

A lot of people are scared of testing themselves because they’re afraid to have their weaknesses exposed.

But that’s the whole point of practice testing; to highlight your weak spots so you can work on them.

Additionally, practice testing allows you to shift what you learned from short-term to long-term memory.

You don’t need to have an actual test in a proper testing environment though. Depending on what you’re trying to learn, challenge yourself to try, or answer as much as you can about what you’re learning.

3. Interleaved Practice

This is one of the most interesting learning techniques for me… partly because it provides me a reason to learn two things at once.

In interleaved practice, you revise or practice something alternatively.

Let’s say you’re learning to speak French. On a particular day, you won’t practice that skill all in one go.

Instead, you’ll study a bit of French and then divert your attention towards some other skill before you get back to studying French.

Like the distributed practice method, this technique also allows you to switch between focused and diffused thinking method.

However, the interleaved learning technique offers another benefit; it makes things harder for you to remember and practice.

And we all know that the harder you make your practice sessions, the better you’ll learn.

By Mrs Carol Sharp, APRE

Masses and Liturgies

Year Level Masses

Due to flooding of the underpass, our Yr 12 mass had to be postponed at the end of last term. This mass is now due to take place on Thursday, May 20 at 9am.

Therefore our year level mass for this term include;

Year 9 – May 13 at 9am

Year 12 – May 20 at 9am

Year 8 – May 27 at 9am

Year 7 – June 10 at 9am

Parents are welcome to join us at St. Mary’s Parish Church for the celebration of the holy sacrament.

200 Years of Catholic Education in Australia

This year we celebrate 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia. On Monday, May 24, the National Solemnity for Our Lady Help of Christians – Patroness of Australia, a National Mass will be held with all students praying simultaneously. The theme for the mass is Faith in the Future. At Assumption College, a liturgy will be held commencing at 10am to ensure we will be praying at the same time as others around Australia. Parents are more than welcome to attend our liturgy, or you may like to live stream the National Mass via St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney commencing at 10.15am. A link to the live stream is available via the 200years of Catholic Education website at Celebrating 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia | Faith in the future.

Mother’s Day

A big thank you to all the Mothers and students who attended our special Mother's Day afternoon tea. The event was a huge success with flowers, champagne, chocolates and a delicious spread of food. It was lovely to see all the generations there to celebrate – we even had two families with four generations present; the Clegg family and the Krause family!

Thanks to Café Jacqui’s for their catering and the many staff who contributed to the evening.

Prayer

by Miss Denise Ryan - Chaplain

Hey everyone,

I hope we have all enjoyed the last couple of weeks, made the most of the long weekends and enjoyed spending this extra time with family and friends.

We have had a busy couple of weeks. We have finally got back into routine with our Breakfast club table and is happening again this term on Monday, Wednesday and Friday Mornings from 7:45am to 8:45am.

This gives plenty of time for students to take advantage of having a nice hot cup of milo and some food before starting their busy days.  We have had a few regular volunteers who come early to school to help set up and help younger students as the table gets busier, which has been awesome to see. This has given these students an opportunity to mingle with others who they might not have necessarily thought of talking to in the past, but having this table gives them the opportunity to step outside of their comfort zone and meet new people. 

We finally had our award ceremony for the Yo-Yo Competition last term and had a mini celebration for these students. From this we decided that this term we will be having the first ever ACW Paper Airplane Competition in the Library.  The details, rules and entry requirements are currently being finalized and will have more information put up in the library in the coming weeks.  

Last week I was lucky enough to accompany the Year 11s on their Leadership camp in Tallebudgera, which was so much fun, and I had the best time getting to know these amazing young people and their visions for the future as our leaders for next year. 

Today’s prayer is from a mediation reflection on 'How can I make the most of this day?' Which is very important for us to remember that we have to treat everyday like a gift and to breathe and enjoy ourselves.

Lord help me to become aware of the opportunities that you have given me today, and help me to seek your guidance for how to make the best use of those opportunities.

Amen.

Have a great week!

By Mrs Alison Porter, Career Development Practioner

National Careers Week

The 17^th to 23^rd of May is National Careers Week. We have some activities planned with students to celebrate the week and will share some ‘career profiles’ of our school staff with students so that they may see the varied pathways that career journeys can take. For Careers Week, I would like to share some online resources that students and parents can use to discuss and investigate pathway and careers options. These are as below:

Assumption College Careers www.acwcareers.com

Job Outlook www.joboutlook.gov.au

My Skills www.myskills.gov.au

National Careers Institute www.nci.dese.gov.au

Your Career www.yourcareer.gov.au

Good Careers Guide www.goodcareersguide.com.au

Job Jumpstart www.jobjumpstart.gov.au

My Future www.myfuture.edu.au

Apprenticeships Queensland www.apprenticeshipsqld.gov.au

Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre www.qtac.edu.au

Careers date claimer:

Warwick Careers Expo being held at Assumption College Warwick on Monday 19^th July. More information to come.

By Miss Jaime Slattery

"The only way to prove that you’re a good sport is to lose.” – Ernie Banks

Bill Turner Football:

Congratulations to our female team who travelled to Stanthorpe last week and defeated both St Joseph’s and Stanthorpe SHS. The girls will now travel to Toowoomba to play in the second round.

Congratulations also to our male team who took on Warwick SHS and the Warwick Christian College and had two wins. They will now play Stanthorpe SHS in the next round, with the winner proceeding to the second round.

Both teams displayed excellence sportsmanship on and off the field. Thank you also to our senior students and Mrs Butler for your work in preparing our teams.

Darling Downs:

I would like to take this opportunity to wish Declan Clegg the best of luck over the coming days as he competes with the Darling Downs team at the State Championships for Football. Also, a big congratulations to Cooper Morton on being selected in the DD Orienteering team, we wish you the best in your upcoming competition. Darling Downs Cross Country takes place on Monday 17 June, good luck to our athletes competing: Jazmine Cruda, Faith Henderson, Lilly Kerlin and Imogen Fox. It is fantastic to see our school being well represented within the region.

Broncos Cup:

In weeks 8 and 9 of this term ACW will be participating once again in the Bronco’s Cup, Rugby League and Netball carnival. I know we have many talented sportspeople at the College and we look forward to presenting them with the opportunity to have some fun playing alongside their peers and against other schools. Further information, permission notes and medical forms will be available to students in the coming weeks. Thank you in advance to all staff members and our valuable senior students who will attend and complete training sessions with our teams, we couldn’t do it without you.

Warwick Touch:

Our ACW1 and ACW2 teams are continuing through the season, despite having many interruptions to the draw. Although, the rain is always welcome. The idea to enter in the Warwick competition was met with enthusiasm by many of our students, enough for two very full teams. So far, I’ve witnessed our players develop their confidence on the field, learn to work as a team and even implement strategies into their games. Seeing their sportsmanship develop has been a highlight. Again, we couldn’t have been a part of this competition without the help of our staff members, Mr Matt Bruton and Miss Dimity Brackin.  

Assumption College Vision & Mission Statement 

Year 12 Pastoral & Academic Bulletin

By Alison Porter, Year 12 Pastoral & Academic Leader (PAL Acting)

This week I have discussed the included quote with our Year 12 students, and I have asked them to consider whether they are ‘talking’ about and ‘promising’ to try their best or whether they are ‘acting’ on this and ‘showing’ that they are doing their best. I thought this was an apt quote considering we have the achievement data from our Term 1 academic reports for students, and soon to come, the Year 12 academic reports. I am proud to say that we have had numerous students achieving at very high levels, others maintaining very sound levels of achievement and others making improvements across the board or in various subjects.

I would encourage any Year 12 students struggling in any way with their studies to see me in coming weeks so that we may put plans in place and best support each Year 12 student through what remains of their final year. We also have Year 12 Academic Interviews coming up and I would encourage parents to attend these as they are invaluable in terms of seeing a student’s overall progress and putting supports and goals in place for upcoming studies.

Some points of note for our Year 12 students and parents:

• Consistent attendance at school is vitally important. I understand that medical and family concerns certainly are important, but I would encourage students to be on time to school and attend all days that they can. Late arrival and poor attendance makes staying ‘on top of’ senior studies very difficult and taking days off can become a downward spiral
• The 1^st-3^rd of June are Year 12 Academic Interviews. Invitations to attend these have been emailed to parents. If you have not received yours, please contact the college as soon as possible
• I have encouraged our Year 12 students to set some Learning Goals. Students should upload these to our Year 12 Canvas page. I would encourage all parents to discuss with their student the learning goals that they have set. Statistics show that setting SMART goals can mean increased success and improve chances of meeting goals
• We have held the first of our ‘Elevate’ (https://au.elevateeducation.com) sessions with our students. This was tips and tricks for time management. In coming weeks, Year 12 students will also participate in the Study Sensei (study tips) session, with an ‘Ace Your Exams’ session being held in Term 3
• This week we are holding the first of the ‘Alive’ sessions for our Year 12 students. The first session entitled ‘Get The Mind on Your Side’ is a stress management workshop. We have a number scheduled over coming weeks and these will focus on student wellbeing.

Tackle Flu Free Indigenous Flu Clinic 

Warwick Health Service is organising the Tackle Flu Indigenous Flu Clinic for Indigenous people 15 years and over. The clinic will be held at Cowboys Rugby League Club on Tuesday 25^th May from 5pm-7pm. People are asked to please bring their Medicare Card to the Tackle Flu Clinic.

There will be some opportunity for Indigenous children aged 6 months to 15 years to have their flu shot at the same time, but this needs to be pre booked by ringing Child Health on 4660 5400. Alternatively appointments for the flu shot can be made for the Child Health weekly immunisation clinic, or with your preferred health provider.

Please note: Tackle Flu shirts are only available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People aged 15 years and over.

Enrichment Program

This year, the ACW Enrichment Program will offer Year 7-10 students the opportunity to participate in a number of extra-curricular activities in a variety of interest areas, including science and technology, language and literature, the arts, and critical and creative thinking.

There are three criteria for entry into the Enrichment Program:

1. A teacher recommendation, based on their learning profile.
2. High academic performance in at least five subjects or evidence of success in an extra-curricular field or talent.
3. Results in the AGAT (Acer General Ability Tests), an online assessment offered in Week 6 this term.

If your student is considering being involved in the Enrichment Program, please have them complete the following steps:

1. Email morrison@twb.catholic.edu.au to register for the AGAT test.
2. Collect a permission form from the College Office.
3. Ask a teacher to complete the attached recommendation sheet.
4. Provide evidence to support the application if an extra-curricular activity is involved.
5. Return the permission form before Tuesday, May 18.

Please contact Ms Karyn Morrison if you would like further information regarding the program.

 

Come From Away

On Wednesday 5th May, ACW students travelled to Brisbane to the Lyric Theatre to watch the stage show, Come From Away. The show takes place in Newfoundland, an island off the far north east coast of Canada, where planes were diverted to on September 11, 2001. A fantastic time was had by all! 

Year 10 Ag Excursion 

The year 10 Ag Students were lucky enough to experience an excursion to "Risdon" owned by Nick and Liz Sudok.  The students were able to engage in different industries operating at Risdon, however I think the foster puppies were everyone's favorite! Thank-you very much Nick and Liz for giving up your time to share your knowledge with our students. We will look forward to visiting again!

By Mrs Mary-Anne Driver 

The term is off to a great start with our library lunch time activities. The students this week were challenged in a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) activity to create a scissor lift and use it to pick up an object (we used a chocolate for extra inspiration) Last week we held a paper plane competition – special mention to Jett White whose plane won both rounds!

Monday saw Miss Ryan announce (officially) the winners of the Yo-yo competition! Congratulations to Harry Hume who came in first and Eamon Walsh who took out runner up. Our judges and all of the competitors came away grinning and with a certificate from Miss Ryan.

Mrs Wooding has also began working with the students and the 3D printers! A wonderful little group is starting to learn the basic of TinkerCad before they get to print their own 3D creations.  One creation is being printed as we write this.  Maybe a photo of the finished product will be in our next newsletter.

We had lots of people come and visit the library on Friday afternoon – some made a chatterbox with lots of interesting details about ACW on them.  Some completed the  library challenge and found the answers to the questions in the library.  Everyone was enthralled with the 3D printer that Mrs Wooding had making ladybugs.  We had a lovely afternoon meeting new friends and some younger siblings too!

It's coming... the 5th Warwick Interschool Chess Tournament!

On Friday, May 21^st you will have the chance to pit yourself against chess players from schools across the region. If you know the basic rules of chess, you are welcome to participate.

Please see Mrs Wooding in the library for an entry form and get practising!

We are collecting cans, bottles, poppers and all other 10 cent containers in our Containers for Change red bins at school. The money we collect will be put towards purchasing new equipment for the library, specifically VR gear.  If you would like to donate your next batch of recycling at 119 McEvoy St towards this effort, our Containers for Change number is C10441035 or send them to school and put them in the red bins. 

By Mrs Jenny Gillespie

5 ways to build a confident mindset in young people

How you think, effects how you feel which in turn leads how you behave. Developing a confident mindset where your thinking is constructive and hopeful, places teens at an advantage in adolescence right through to adulthood.

Good social-emotional literacy skills are crucial to a confident mindset and provide the unwritten rules of getting along with others and preparing for success in learning and the workplace.

Meta-analysis studies around the world have demonstrated that social-emotional competencies can be taught and make a positive difference in young people’s lives. The long-term benefits include better academic outcomes, improved conduct, healthier relationships, and lower emotional distress. (Taylor et.al (2017).

All students undertake Pastoral lessons each term explicitly focused on social-emotional literacy and skills.  Junior students undertake ‘Program Achieve’ lessons and Senior students participate in ‘Alive’ workshops.  These Programs teach skills and how to manage social-emotional ‘blockers’ like procrastination, anger, stress and anxiety.

At home, there are also ways to help build confident thinking patterns in young people through ongoing conversations, encouragement and practice. As with all aspects of development, focusing on progress, rather than perfection is essential as self-confidence takes time to grow.

1. Teach young people the ins and outs of healthy friendships. Lead them to find out who they really are (not who they think they should be or who others want them to be). Help them see how friendships thrive through common ground, open-mindedness, mutual respect and empathy. Bonds are strengthened further by understanding that differences are a natural part of human diversity and can be a positive aspect of friendship.

2. Teach emotion regulation skills. Let young people know emotions are contagious and being responsible for the feelings you bring into a space is an important part of growing up and developing your emotional intelligence.   Teach young people to create a space between their feelings and their actions - “Regulation gives us the ability to put time and thought between a feeling and an action”.

3. Help them understand the value of confident self-talk. Spend some time allowing young people to have a ‘thought dump’ in a journal or through conversation with you. In this time, they think of all the things their inner critic says. Next, they create a new dialogue, a steady voice that speaks with kindness and encouragement, like you would offer a treasured friend. 

4. Practice compassion. Studies have shown that being compassionate by noticing the good in others, valuing and appreciating them for who they are can reduce stress, producing calmer, more rational and reasonable thinking. (Weng et al (2018). Have deliberate conversations where you notice the good in others. Over time, this optimism and compassion for others actually builds a young person’s confidence in themselves.

5. Teach problem solving and decision-making skills. To be confident, you need to know what to do when faced with an unexpected curve ball. Sometimes young people will be able to do this by themselves and sometimes they will need the confidence to ask for help. Having the tools to deal with age-appropriate problems strengthens young people’s belief in themselves over time.