By Mr Simon Fleming - Principal

Recently, we celebrated World Teachers Day and in this article I would like to reflect on the role of teachers in today’s society. In my 35 years in education I have always been inspired by teachers' love of what they do, and the obvious satisfaction they get from teaching young people. I realised that their work was more than just a job, and the people they worked with generally all enjoyed the same values and attitude to their work. 

When I began teaching, education was a social equaliser for many teachers as they benefited from scholarships that gave them an opportunity to attend tertiary education to study at a time when other degrees would have been out of their reach. During that post war period, some of the best and brightest students chose teaching because of their love of learning and young people, and because of the secure career opportunities it provided. Many would likely have been influenced by the financial circumstances of their families. This situation continued for many generations until Gough Whitlam introduced free university education. This provided everyone with the chance to complete any course for which they qualified for. Nevertheless, teacher scholarships continued and still lured many high-performing students into teaching because of their financial circumstances. Young people were studying teaching as a first choice. 

The passion for teaching still exists amongst young people who are considering their future career options, although we are told that it may have become a second choice career for many. I do not believe that anyone who is not motivated to make a difference in the lives of young people—and who does not have a positive high regard for young people—will ever sustain themselves in the profession. Therefore, we have a teaching force that still seeks to increase the learning, wellbeing and life outcomes for young people. As teachers, we know how satisfying it is to see our students graduate from Year 6 or Year 12 in the knowledge that we have made a difference in their lives, and have helped to set them up to be the best version of themselves to be all that they can be. We are entitled to a warm sense of pride when students see us many years later, say hello and acknowledge our contribution to their lives. 

The community should recognise that teaching is a very noble profession which makes a difference to the lives of young people every day. We should be proud to say ‘I am a teacher’, and not be reluctant to promote our work in the community. Our teachers are hard working and really deserve due respect as professionals.

Kind Regards,

Simon Fleming

By Ms Natalie Smith, Acting Deputy Principal

Term 5 Activities

Further to Mr Fleming’s last newsletter article regarding the end of the school year and Term 5 activities with Years 7 – 9. The following information is to provide greater clarity. Just to clarify. Years 10 and 11 complete school for 2021 at the end of week 8 (Friday 26 November). Years 7-9 are the only students attending school in week 9. In previous years, various activities have occurred during this week. This year we have decided to formalise the activities and provide more information to parents.

Students in Years 7 -9 will select activities to do in the morning and afternoon. All activities will be run by staff. Last week a draft schedule of activities was published to students for feedback and to gain a preliminary idea of the number of students interested particular activities.  Looking at the feedback and student interest, we have now decided to make all the activities free of charge to those who wish to attend.

This morning, Year 7, 8 & 9 students were given a preference form for their Term 5 activities. This form will need to be completed, with students indicating their preferred options for activities, signed by a parent / guardian and returned on Monday.

Numbers for a few of the activities are capped so it will be important that students return their form as soon as possible. Students and parents are encouraged to check if any special requirements need to be met for students to attend their preferred activity.  

Term 5 will be a good opportunity for students to participate in activities that interest them, have fun and to strengthen their relationships with other students and staff.

Uniforms – Reminders for 2022

Hats and Sports Shorts         

The College shade hat is a compulsory part of the uniform. It must be worn at both morning recess and lunchtime, the times of peak U.V. radiation. I am aware that we have been transitioning to the new style of shade hat with the College crest on the front with the students’ names embroidered on the back. In 2022, all students in Years 7 – 11 will be expected to wear the new style hat. This transition period also applies to the College sports shorts. All students in Years 7 – 11 in 2022 are expected to have the correct sports shorts, complete with the ACW logo. Students in Year 12 in 2022 will be able to continue wearing the old style hat and sports shorts. 

Remembrance Day Ceremony

The College was proud to have a leading role in this year’s Remembrance Day Ceremony held by the Warwick RSL Sub-Branch in the Warwick Town Hall on Thursday 11 of November. Remembrance Day commemorates the end of the First World War and is a time of reflection not only for those who lost their lives but also for those families and communities who they left behind. College Leaders, Rachael Jordan and Juliana Cruda were invited to give the address to share their thoughts on the importance of Remembrance Day for the youth of today.  They both did an outstanding job. College Leaders, Tom Doherty and Taylah Eastwell, then laid a wreath on behalf of the school. Well done and thank you to all these students for their involvement in the ceremony.

By Mr Michael Simpson - Assistant Principal - Curriculum 

Junior School

It has been great walking around classrooms recently and seeing the enthusiasm for learning. At this time of year, with the holidays approaching, it can be hard for students to stay motivated; however, I do not get a sense of this when I walk around the school. Students are engaged and actively learning which is what Assumption College is all about!

Senior School

Year 11 students are currently starting work for Units 3 and 4 in all their subjects. Technically, the work commenced is Year 12 work. It is important that these students engage thoroughly in the work for the remainder of the term. Every assessment piece they complete from now, will count towards their results. Although the students have a deserved break in three weeks, it is essential that they pick up their books over the holidays and continue to revise and summarise their learning. Students who are completing Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Agricultural Science, Mathematical Methods, or General Mathematics will have a 50% weighted external examination this time next year. This will be on content they have learned this Term as well as work they will learn in Terms 1-3 next year.

Extensions For Assessment

The below flowchart outlines the extension process for students. It is essential for operational reasons that students follow these guidelines.

YEARS 7- 10

YEARS 11-12

Draft Assessment and Due Dates

Assumption College has high expectations for students engaging in the assessment and feedback process. Subject assessment is often seen as the end of the learning journey, but at ACW it is seen as a significant part of the journey, leading to continual improvement. Students should take every opportunity to gather feedback from their teachers in relation to their learning as this gives them every chance to reach their potential.

Students are often given opportunities to gather this feedback in draft submission form for various assessment. This is a fundamental part of the learning process and students should submit a full and complete draft. In other words, they should treat the draft due date as the final submission, and the final submission as a second chance. This will ensure they are using all strategies available to them to improve their learning.

Furthermore, Assumption College will not accept mediocrity when it comes to assessment. If a student does not submit a draft to the standard expected, then teachers will follow this up with the students and let parents know. Also, if students fail to submit a final copy, or resubmit their draft at the final due date, then these students will have their draft marked as their final copy but will be expected to complete the assessment to a satisfactory standard during an academic detention. This detention will usually occur after school and parents will be notified if this is the case. The College would like to thank you for your continued support in this matter.

By Mrs Carol Sharp, APRE

All Souls’ Day

Last Tuesday, November 2^nd, we commemorated All Souls’ Day. This is a day on the Catholic Church calendar when we pray for the souls of the faithfully departed. To honour this day and provide staff and students with a quiet place to pray, a special space was set up in the library. In this space, staff and students could light a candle and pray for someone who has died. They could also light a candle and pray for those who that person has left behind, perhaps a friend, family member or even themselves, as they come to grips with the loss.

Thank you to all who took the opportunity to come along and spend a quiet moment in reflection and pray for those in our community who have lost someone they love.

Year 7 Mass

Last Thursday our Year 7's had their year-level Mass at St. Mary’s Parish Church. This was the final year-level Mass for 2021, and overall they have been a great success. Every year level has experienced Mass at the Church twice over the course of the year. A very big thank you to Fr. Bony and Fr. Franco who have led these Thursday morning Masses with such enthusiasm, reaching out to our students with caring words and relatable stories. A big thank you also to the members of the St. Mary’s Parish who have shown patience and have welcomed our students with such genuine smiles. We look forward to continuing our year-level Masses into 2022 and beyond.

Vinnies Christmas Appeal

Only one week left in the Vinnies Christmas Appeal! The appeal officially ends on Monday November 22^nd when students from the Vinnies Club start to assemble the hampers for delivery to our local Vinnies organisation. Can I please encourage all families to think about what they are able to give this year? Providing generously for those in need also helps to ensure we experience joy this Christmas as we are living the true meaning of Christmas. Thank you to all who have donated so far.

Prayer – Reflection

by Miss Denise Ryan - Chaplain

There are four skills that everyone needs in order to not only make friends, but to be able to connect with and work together with others are...

Starting conversation: Any social interaction requires talking to other people and being able to understand the flow of the conversation.

Interpreting social situations: Being able to size up a situation, and the people in it, is key to knowing how to act. Does your child know when to start or stop talking based on what’s happening in a social situation?

Interacting positively: There is a positive way to engage with people and a negative way. Is your child able to join a conversation without interrupting or saying something negative or hurtful? 

And of course the most important skill to quickly connect with someone and make them feel welcome and safe in our presence is to…. SMILE!

Breakfast Table

Our breakfast table is available for all students on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 7:45am - 8:45am. There are plently of goodies for students to choose from Milo, toast, cereal, juice and tea. 

This is designed for students to access to ensure that they are fueled and ready to start their day of learning. 

By Mrs Alison Porter, Program Leader Student Pathways

Assumption College Student Careers & Pathways News

Year 12 school leavers, please be advised that we have emailed several full-time employment opportunities. Be sure to check these out!

Anyone for a coffee?

Congratulations to over thirty students who recently completed their barista qualification. The course involved much theory work and school staff were treated to coffees with all of the practice coffees that were made.

A Young Change Maker

We offer our congratulations to Isabel Natividad who has been accepted into the University of Queensland’s Young ChangeMakers program. The program is a three-day experience designed for Year 11 students with big ideas and ambitions, aimed to develop leadership, critical thinking and innovation skills. As a Young ChangeMaker, students will participate in activities that ignite a passion for innovation, ideas and creating change in the community and the wider world. We wish Isabel all the best for the program that commences at the end of this month.

TAFE In School

TAFE Queensland, South West is taking applications for students to study certificate qualifications as part of senior school studies in 2022.  The courses for these qualifications are aimed at current Years 10 and 11 students. An overview of offered courses, course durations and course costs can be found in the ‘TAFE At School’ 2022 Course Guide booklet. This booklet has been emailed to students and can be found online at https://tafeqld.edu.au/information-for/school-students/ or obtained from our Careers office. Please note that applications for TAFE at school courses will close soon. Should you have any queries or need more information, please contact our careers office.

 

Studies via Distance Education

Information has been emailed home to the families of those students considering senior study via schools of distance education. Please note that any students wanting to complete distance education studies in 2022 must have enrolment completed as soon as possible or may miss out on a place with classes and distance education schools.

 

The Assumption College Careers office would like to sincerely wish our Year 12 students all the best for their graduation and hope that the personal and career journeys for these students are enjoyable and successful.

 

Remember to check out our college careers website at www.acwcareers.com.

State Selection - Laura Scheiwe 

A huge congratulations to Laura Scheiwe for being selected in the 13-15 yrs Queensland team at Cricket State Championships this week. 

Darling Downs Selection

Congratulations to Claire Eckersley on being selected in the 13-14 years girls' Darling Downs Futsal team.

Rodeo Street Parade 

Such a fun time was had by students and teachers on Saturday the 30th of October at the Annual Warwick Rodeo Street Parade. 35 students including students from our two rock bands, QISSRL and QISSN donned their past, present and future school or sports uniforms to support the College. 

Huge thanks go to Nick and Danielle Lamb from Lamb Haulage for supplying their amazing truck and trailer. 

Year 10 - ITD

Mr Retallick's ITD class has been creating country clocks and cheese boards throughtout term 4, they look like they will be great additions to their homes. 

Assumption College Art and Design Showcase

James Hall, 25^th November 5:00pm – 5:50pm

Before we celebrate Presentation Night, you are invited to attend our showcase and view student work from across Arts and Design subjects and enjoy light refreshments while you view the work. There will be static displays, live and recorded performances and films from across Music, Drama, Visual Art, Textiles, Design and ITD presented for you in St James' Hall. Hospitality students will contribute platters, available on the night,  to also share their talents.

By Mrs Mary-Anne Driver 

As we come to the end of the year our focus moves from the students to our resources.  Spare a thought for us as we receive 3,960 text books back, clean, repair and get them ready to go out again next year.  Our whole space will soon be full of piles of books.

Staff and students have borrowed over 6,500 resources from us during the year –  a sure sign libraries (and librarians) will be needed well into the future.

Following on from this, we will soon be recalling all books and ask that if you spot any library books at home you send them in with your students.  If books are not returned by the end of the term, a replacement charge will be added to your account.  We will follow up with students about any outstanding resources in the last weeks of the school term.

Thank you for your support of ACW and our library, and for coming on the journey through 2021 with us.  We look forward to 2022 and our new library space.

Mrs Wooding, Ms Bastion and Mrs Driver

By Mr Scott Clegg - Business Manager 

NEW PARENT PORTAL and APP.

Parents/caregivers have recently been sent an email containing the steps that you need to register for the new Parent Portal and App. Should you experience difficulties, or if you have not received an email, please do not hesitate to contact the office for assistance.

Sentral for Parents App

Assumption College Warwick are moving to a new Portal and App for parents and caregivers in Term 4. The Parent Portal is available via any device with an internet connection. The App is called Sentral for Parents and is available from Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. 

To access the Portal, you will receive a unique Portal Access Key from the school that will provide access to your student's information. This Portal Access Key is contained in the email that was recently sent to parents/caregivers. Once you set up an account password, you can use this login for both the Parent Portal online and the App.

If you have students at another Diocese of Toowoomba Catholic School, you will receive a separate Access Key from the other school. You will be able to switch between schools within the App settings.

With the Parent Portal or the mobile phone App, you will have access to the following features:

Newsfeed

• The Newsfeed will contain news items from the school relating to your child. Some items may require you to act, whilst others will be informational only. The Newsfeed items can also contain attachments that you can download. When a Newsfeed item requires you to take an action (e.g. grant approval for student to attend an activity), clicking on the item will take you to a screen that will allow you to perform that action. Academic reports will also be published to the Portal newsfeed.

Absences

• Absences allows you to communicate absence information to the school. This includes past absences that require explanation and ‘future’ absences. A ‘future’ absence occurs when you are aware your child(ren) will be away from school.

Messages

• Messages acts as a direct line of contact between parents/caregivers and the teachers of your children’s classes. It is important to understand when you can expect responses from teachers. This should be discussed with teachers to have realistic expectations of communications and to know how long you can expect to wait between correspondences.

Daily Notices

• Daily Notices are written up by the school for the day, as opposed to the Newsfeed, which is a live feed of things relating to your child.

Interviews

• Interviews relate to parent and teacher interviews. Parents/caregivers can book available time slots or request a specific time.

Resources

• School documents that we wish to share with you as parents/caregivers.

Newsletters

• Open and download current and past newsletters from this area.

Links

• We will share web sites of interest to parents and caregivers, and you will see links to these sites here.

Calendars

• In Calendars, you can view school schedules and important events by ‘Today’, ‘Week’, or ‘Month’ by clicking on the sections at the top of the screen. Drill down into a specific event in the calendar for details.

Sentral for Parents App home screen:                          

By Mrs Jenny Gillespie

Parenting Educator Michael Grose from  Parenting Ideas: A trusted source of parenting education and support, writes:

A child’s pathway to adulthood, and the accompanying journey of their parents, is generally viewed as linear. Growing up is seen as a straight-forward march from infancy, early childhood, childhood, adolescence, post-adolescence to adulthood.

While your child has a developmental clock that keeps ticking over, it’s their experiences that determine their maturity and their ability to reach fully-fledged adulthood with resilience, grit and the adaptability needed to thrive.

The experiences that develop this maturity and coping capacities fit into two broad areas – challenging and positive experiences.

Challenging Experiences

The challenging experiences that a young person encounters enable them to build their coping capacities and develop their emotional resources that contribute to their maturity. These challenges include:

Conflict - Disagreements, arguments and rivalry is part of growing up. Whether it’s a dispute with siblings or a fallout with a friend, negotiating conflict is a developmental task.

Rejection - Rejection by a friend or group is hurtful and feels horrible, but it also builds a level of social smarts and judgement necessary for navigating relationships in later life.

Loss - This takes many forms including a friend moving away, the death of a cherished pet and the passing of a family member or close friend.  Loss causes sadness, grief and heartbreak and can feel overwhelming.  However, with time and support most kids learn to cope and get on with their lives.

Disappointment - Losing a game, not being picked for a team, not receiving an invitation they wanted are all unpleasant but do help kids develop perhaps the most treasured resilience capability of them all – acceptance.

Unexpected change - Although few kids like it, and many will fight it change, acceptance of change and the ability to adapt to circumstances is a short cut to maturity and resilience.

Failure - Mistakes are seen in three ways. They are activities to be avoided, signs of failure, or opportunities for further learning. Resilient learners know that mistakes, even initial failures, are part of every learning process so the risk of failure doesn’t hold them back.

Positive experiences

Although young people will inevitably experience challenging experiences, their positive experiences help to balance the ledger by building identity, wellbeing and emotional collateral.

Love - Knowing that a child is loved and loveable is at the core of their self-worth. Self-esteem and identity built in adolescence needs a solid foundation of self-worth.

Friendship - Making and keeping friends is an essential life task linked to many aspects of happiness and wellbeing.

Contribution - The ability to belong to groups through contribution fulfils a basic need. It allows children to experience real gratitude and feel needed, which builds self-esteem.

Expectation - When life becomes challenging or when stress and anxiety build, children need something positive or fun to look forward to. Hope and anticipation are well-known antidotes to stress.

Excitement - Fun, joy, excitement! Any activity that shifts children’s and young people’s emotion from unpleasant, low energy to pleasant and high energy is a good thing.

Play - Involvement in hobbies, interests, sports, music, games, creative and performance arts are central to healthy wellbeing. Activities that are fun, freely chosen and create flow (the ability to lose track of time) fit the criteria of play.

In summary - A young person’s age and related milestones is a recognised marker of their development. However, it is their life experiences, as much as the number of birthdays they’ve had, that contribute to their maturity, resilience and readiness for the wider world.

2022 Sacramental Program