So Busy!

Wow! What a busy couple of weeks it has been on our Junior Campus! We have been blessed to have many families come and join us for several special occasions that we have held. Community is so important to our life here at PoP and we know this benefit creates a sense of belonging and connection to others.

We are so proud of how our students have settled into their routines this year! As I spend time moving around the campus at break times and in different classrooms throughout the day, there is a buzz of creativity and curiosity happening. There are students creating, asking questions, making mistakes and learning something new from them, students helping other students and so much more. Our 4R’s are in full swing and our children continue to show each other what being a PoP student means through their words and actions.

Our community is a place that continues to grow as new families settle in. PoP is such a wonderful place to be, and we look forward to the next few weeks ahead with many things happening around our campus.

JC Traffic Update

Thank you to all our families who have been patient with our drop off procedures. It has been wonderful to see the traffic flowing freely and students being collected in a timely manner.

Just a reminder that if you need to exit your vehicle for any reason, we ask that you please park to allow the free flow of traffic.

Also, a reminder that our school is a 10km/hr zone, which is in place to keep our little ones safe. Thank you to all our families who are protecting our students.

Beginning of Year Conversations

On Thursday 16 February we were able to join and share information about our PoP students with teachers and parents. It was great to see so many families come and speak with our teachers as well as their goals and aspirations for their child.

It is another great example of our powerful partnerships and sense of community here at PoP. If you were unable to attend the evening and would like to speak with your child’s teacher, please contact them via SEQTA to arrange an appointment.

Backflips Against Bullying

This incursion may look like a lot of fun, and it certainly was! However, while the children were being WOWED with acrobatics, they were learning a whole series of valuable skills and lessons about how to spot, prevent and take a stand against bullying. Having the power to stand up for one another is a core theme displayed in the program. By addressing bullying on a social level, this program gives students the necessary tools and empower them to hold each other accountable.

It’s always heart-warming to watch the children engage with open hearts and minds toward nurturing the safe and encouraging environment we strive for here at PoP.

Year 6 Installation

As we came together last Friday to celebrate and acknowledge our 2023 Junior Campus leaders, there was a wonderful sense of community. Students from Year 1 through to Year 6 joined together with families, Senior School leaders, staff and special guests to install our Junior Campus Leaders for 2023. It was a lovely ceremony with important messages from Pastor Nick Mullen and the Honourable Tim Mander, Member for Everton about service and leadership.

We look forward to working alongside these amazing young people this year.

NAPLAN 2023

NAPLAN is a national literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. It is the only national assessment all Australian students have the opportunity to undertake.

As students progress through their school years, it’s important to check how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing, conventions of language and numeracy.

NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards and over time.

NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It doesn’t replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress.

NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.

The NAPLAN testing for Years 3/5 and Years 7/9 students will be taking place between Wednesday 15 March and Monday 27 March 2023. These sessions will be conducted in classrooms and all sessions will be held online except for Year 3 Writing, which will be completed on paper.

Our practice sessions have gone well, and students are familiar with the online platform and the style of questions they will be required to answer.

On the day of the tests, please support your child by ensuring he/she:

• Is well rested the night before and during the test period
• Has a healthy breakfast
• Brings a water bottle to ensure they stay hydrated
• Arrives at school on time and is not feeling rushed the morning of the tests
• Brings a fully charged device
• Has working, plug in headphones, not ear pods or wireless headphones

Whilst these tests give us an indication of your child’s literacy and numeracy development, they do not assess what makes each of our students exceptional and unique 😊

If you have any further questions regarding NAPLAN assessments, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Happy learning!

Building positive relationships and partnerships

This week we had our first in a series of Parent Coffee Catch ups with the Middle and Senior Leadership Team.

It was a great for parents to meet with Melissa Graham, Wendy Bowen, Jonathan Klupp, Simon Hughes and Sarah Hoff-Zweck to explore the three strategic intentions for 2023 from Prince of Peace’s Teaching and Learning Framework; Positive Relationships, Life-Long Learning and Powerful Partnerships.

Parents participated in feedback focused questions surrounding these three areas and had time to learn more about the Leadership Team and each other.

There are three more times that we will offer these coffee catch up sessions for Parents and the times are as follows:

• Monday 6 March 8:30am-9:30am
• Thursday 30 March 5:30pm-6:30pm
• Wednesday 19 April 5:30-6:30pm

Please RSVP to Sue Noon at snoon@princeofpeace.qld.edu.au and list what session date you wish to attend.

We also thank the Parent and Friends Association for their support, preparations and service of the Pancake Stall on Shrove Tuesday. It was great community day and opportunity to build positive wellbeing and connections for students, staff and parents. We encourage new and existing Middle and Senior Campus parents to attend the Parent and Friends Association AGM on Wednesday 8 March at the Junior Campus, to become a part of creating powerful partnerships in 2023 on the Middle and Senior Campus.

Continuous Feedback (Progressive Reporting) and Parent/Teacher/Student Conversations

In building powerful partnerships over the last year, we have focussed on progressive reporting and continuous feedback to students and parents on learning. What this means is twice a term for each subject, students and parents will receive feedback on SEQTA on assessment for learning in real time. As parents you will gain a notification through SEQTA that feedback has been updated and you can check the feedback teachers have given.

This is our mode of reporting for this term and there will be two pieces of feedback by the end of Week 10. An end of Semester 1 report will be issued in Week 10 Term 2 that will report on overall grade for the semester, work habits for success and a pastoral care teacher comment.

We also have Parent, Teacher and Student Conversations which will be on Thursday 30 March from 3:30pm-7:30pm and Wednesday 19 April 3:30pm-7:30pm. The focus on these conversation times is for students and parents to be present with teachers. Bookings for these sessions will come out via SEQTA on Direct Message and we use a online booking system called SOBS.

At any time, you wish to communicate with teachers about your child’s learning please do not hesitate to contact individual subject teachers.

Academic Awards

We have much to celebrate and be thankful for as we have had the opportunity in the last fortnight to recognise student academic achievements from Semester 2 in 2022. We were able to gather in Sub-school Assemblies to present Academic Honours and Excellence Awards.

We congratulate students who received these awards listed below. I would like to congratulate all of our young people in pursuing their personal excellence and pathway with us at Prince of Peace in 2022, and hope they can reflect on their proud moments that brings hope into the new year.

We wish to extend our special congratulations and blessings to our Year 12 graduating class of 2022 and it was delight to have them return for the awards assembly and hear about their joys in beginning O-Week at University and TAFE Colleges. Included below is also the speech given by our College Dux for 2022, Austin Haines, we hope his words bring you much encouragement for the journey that a young person travels on through the middle and senior years of their education at Prince of Peace and hope for the future.

Dux for 2022 Speech — Austin Haines

Good morning, Mr Hughes, Ms Hoff-Zweck, Teachers, Parents and Students.

Thank you for inviting me here today to share some words of thanks and also advice about how I achieved College Dux. Before I begin, I would like to congratulate my fellow 2022 graduates who are here today. To be honest, I never thought I would be Dux. Our results were all so close, so it really could have been any of us up here speaking. We have also been the Year 12 cohort most affected by COVID through our senior schooling. We overcame many hurdles, and we should be proud of ourselves.

I would like to thank the teachers who have taught us all over the 13 years of education. I would like to thank my Year 11 and 12 teachers. I am thankful for their advice, encouragement, and wisdom. I would also like to thank my parents for their continued support.

I believe there are three factors that resulted in achieving dux. The first being consistency. No matter how much or little, I made sure I did homework nearly every day, even during holidays. Diligence and sustained effort ensured I completed all tasks. Once you are behind it is much harder to catch up since Year 12 content moves so quickly. Consistency is also crucial for subjects such as Maths that are more of a skill than a remembering game. Despite struggling with Maths in Year 10, by doing homework consistently through Year 11 and 12, I improved my skills and achieved good results.

The second is understanding what is being assessed. With every assignment, a task sheet and a marking guide are given. To achieve high marks, you don’t have to be inherently smart, you just must understand what you are being assessed on and what teachers are looking for in your work. It is really that simple. I remember 2020 Dux, Lucas Eaglestone, making the same point as this. Exams are also similar as you know what topics are going to be on the test, it is just a matter of revising the material and understanding the types of questions that are likely to be included with the topics. As part of this, it’s important to communicate with teachers and ask for feedback and clarification.

Thirdly, balance. Amongst studying, I still found time to work a casual job, go to the Gym a few times a week, and spend time with friends and family. I found a routine that worked for me, and I stuck to it. I encourage you to do the same. Balance is crucial to make sure you enjoy Year 12 and are not burnt out. As a part of a balanced life, something that people often overlook is sleep. Consistently getting enough sleep every night did wonders for my focus, motivation, and ability to think well.

Although I am the College Dux, I do not believe I am the most intelligent in my grade. I am not a particularly fast learner and I rarely got things right the first time. However, by staying consistent, understanding what I am being assessed on, and having balance, I was able to achieve good results. And look, I don’t want to play down the effort and long hours, it was by no means easy for me to achieve College Dux either. It is also important to mention that at the end of the day, your ATAR does not matter as long as you get into your preferred pathway. My ATAR far exceeds the University course requirement.

In closing, my most important piece of advice is to make the most of Year 12, as it will be over before you know it. It doesn’t seem like long ago when I was sitting where you are listening to the previous College Dux’s speech. Year 12 can be the best and hardest year of high school, but the friendships and memories are what last a lifetime. There are times when you are inundated with homework, assignments and upcoming exams and the thought of getting through it seems impossible. I know the feeling. But trust me, just hang in there and work hard, you will get there eventually.

Thank you and best of luck.

Year 7 Camp — Camp Warrawee

On Wednesday 8 of February, Year 7 students from Prince of Peace embarked on their very first high school camp at Camp Warrawee, situated at the Y.M.C.A. camping grounds at North Pine. The students were filled with excitement and anticipation as they boarded the bus, ready to be challenged by a range of individual and team-based activities.

Once we arrived at the camp grounds, students had the opportunity to select their own cabins in which to sleep in and were given an overview of all the fun and engaging activities they would be completing over the coming three days. After students were allocated an activity group, they proceeded to unpack their belongings and sat down for their first meal before heading off for their first activity.

Over the next three days, students participated in a range of activities that included the giant swing, canoeing, archery, pizza making, low ropes, indoor rock climbing, as well as raft building. Students also spent time writing a letter to their future self to open at the end of Year 12.

Overall all Year 7 students had an amazing time engaging with fellow students in a supportive and caring environment.

2022 TAFE Graduate Of The Year

For some time now I have received questions and comments about students that do alternative pathways for their Senior studies. TAFE is certainly not an easy option, students need to be organised and committed to going off-campus one day a week and learning in a very different environment to what they are used to.

Laura in Year 12 has been the epitome of hard work and impeccable organisation. She was nominated last year for the TAFE at Schools Graduate of the Year Award—and won. She was up against nominees across the state, so this was quite an achievement.

The course Laura completed was a Certificate II in Community Services (Childcare). She has since gone on to start a School Based Traineeship in Childcare. She is successfully juggling Year 12 studies with the part time hours of the Traineeship and finishing a Certificate III in Childcare. Well done Laura!

The following is a citation from her TAFE Teacher:

Laura consistently demonstrated a respectful, professional and positive attitude to every aspect of the learning programme this year and has achieved a high standard across her learning journey. Throughout her studies Laura has been well-focused and positively engaged in topic research. She is always willing to collaborate with others, share her reflections and get whole-heartedly involved in practical task experiences.

Laura always brings her ‘happy self’ to the classroom environment. She authentically champions her peers and gets actively involved in all facets of class learning. Laura shared her sense of fun and creativity with those around her and her kind, considerate and caring nature supported her to become a valued member of her TAFE at School learning community.

Laura has shown dedication and commitment to her learning, maintaining an excellent (100%) attendance. She was able to successfully apply her subject learnings to her 50 hours of Vocational Placement Practice within an ECEC service, receiving excellent feedback from her Supervisor.

Careers @ PoP

With the school year now in full swing and the universities gearing up to start lectures soon, I am now being inundated with various pieces of information about post school pathways. I will endeavour to have POPCORN as the main source of information to keep you up to date.

The first one that I need to let you know about is The University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT). It is used by a majority of institutions as another indicator alongside of the ATAR.

Bookings for this open 1 March until the 17 May. See https://www.ucat.edu.au/about-ucat-anz/ Exams will be sat between 3 July and 11 August 2023.

Med Entry is the most popular company that is used to provide preparation for these exams. Please see https://www.medentry.edu.au/ for details.

For questions about UCAT or anything else related to Career pathways, you can contact me via direct message.

Blessings,

Mrs Julie Grosas
Careers and VET Leader

Junior Campus Sport

Various sporting opportunities continue to roll out on the Junior Campus.

Last Friday, was the first of our Year 4-6 NISSA Gala Day’s for Tee-Ball, Touch Football and Basketball.  Our Junior House Captains described their day at Tee-Ball to be filled with excitement, energy and home runs. They had fun playing fair and enjoyed having the teachers and past student Ned there cheering on the POP teams. “Overall, Gala Day was a blast!” – House Captains.

Senior Touch also had a great day, with mention to the Senior Girls team undefeated and all very involved.  Our wonderful coaches said it was great to see the older boys jumping in to support the younger boys and sharing knowledge.

All Basketball teams displayed exceptional sportsmanship and as the day went on students grew confidence in their own abilities and the abilities of their teammates. We look forward to the next NISSA Gala Day, Week 9, Friday 24 March.

Congratulations to six of our very own PoP students, who competed at the competitive Regional Swimming carnival last Monday. A credit goes to each of you for your bravery and stride to represent yourself and your school in such a passionate and professional manner. Well done team PoP!

Congratulation Charlie Gilfillan, on your recent selection into the North District Boys Touch Football Team. We wish you all the best in your preparation for the carnival early March.

Starting from this week, students in Physical Education classes will participate in physical activities designed to enhance physical fitness and endurance in preparation for their upcoming Fun Run & Cross Country events; Week 9, Wednesday 22 March – P-2 Fun Run & Week 10, Tuesday 28 March – 3-12 Cross Country Carnival. A courtesy reminder Running Club is Wednesday and Thursday’s first break on the Oval. 

Rehearsals have Commenced

Junior Campus Choirs rehearsals have commenced. However, you’re still welcome to come along to the next rehearsal and give it a go. Times as below.

Tuesday: JC Upper Primary Choir (Years 4-6) — 7:40am in the Music Room
Wednesday: PoP Junior Voices (Years 2-3) — 7:40am in the Music Room

Shrek The Musical

As you may be aware Shrek, The Musical will be presented by the College in May this year—we would like to offer Junior Campus students in Years 5 and 6 the opportunity to be part of the show. Students will have the opportunity to learn two musical numbers (dance and song) ‘What’s Up Duloc’ and ‘I’m a Believer’.

Rehearsals will begin Week 7 of this term, Thursday 1st and 2nd break in the music room. Permission forms with further information will be handed out at our first rehearsal.

Instrumental Music

Just a reminder that if your child is attending at excursion, it is your responsibility to let the Tutor know. Notice given prior to the day of the excursion, will allow tutors to reschedule lessons. If you do not let them know, there is no guarantee that a lesson can be made up.

Just a reminder that if your child is attending at excursion, it is your responsibility to let the Tutor know. Notice given prior to the day of the excursion, will allow tutors to reschedule lessons. If you do not let them know, there is no guarantee that a lesson can be made up.

Should you have any questions about the instrumental, choral or classroom music program on the Junior Campus, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Sherree Cudney
Junior Campus Music