Middle/Senior School Bulletin Issue 12 / 22 August 2014
Middle & Senior School News Learning to do and be the best we can be! Each and every one of us, working with God’s gifts and grace, are called to do and to be the best we can be. Over the past week, I’ve come across many examples of our students ‘doing’ and ‘being’ the best they can be. On Wednesday I had the great pleasure of joining Senior School students for a chapel service led by our College Captains, around the theme of gratitude. The Leaders encouraged students to reflect on how being grateful promotes wellbeing. Showing gratitude helps us to be at our best. The Middle School Expo on Monday night was indeed a wonderful showcase of the learning opportunities on offer at the College and I relished the opportunity to listen to students sharing their learning with the wider community. To me it typified the whole notion of PERMA in action. Students when Positive and Engaged in Meaningful work feel that authentic sense of Accomplishment that comes from knowing they have done and been their best! The R of PERMA stands for Relationships and is well placed at the centre, because relationships are at the core of all that we do. Our students ‘doing’ and ‘being’ the best they can be, is encouraged through the relationships they have with their teachers and peers.
The Secondary campus celebrated National Science Week this week and a range of activities have been on offer that encourage our students to see how scientific development
can provide service to those in need both in Australia and around the world. A particular focus of chapel on Monday was on how we might grow high-quality food without increasing deforestation, in order to combat the problems associated with malnutrition. Tuesday Evening we had a record 11 teams compete in the Griffith Science Trivia challenge. The Year 6 team placed 3rd, a Year 8 team finished 2nd out of 40 teams, and our Year 11 team placed 7th out of 80 teams. Last weekend, a number of language students took part in the annual MLTAQ language competition and achieved commendable results both in the Japanese and the German competitions. (More details to follow in the next Bulletin). Listening to the Intermediate Concert Band rehearsing in the courtyard was yet another highlight for me over this past week. This year we sent a record 4 bands to Eisteddfod and the Performing Arts is yet another area where students continue to flourish and grow in number. The Eisteddfod participants have done exceptionally well across a number of areas and more detailed results can be found later in the Bulletin.
On Wednesday afternoon our Year 11 cohort had their after school study session for Term 3. There is no understating the value of having students engaged in collaborative study and accessing the staff on hand to review their work and extend their understanding of the material covered in class. The study session was held in the Cecile Ryan Centre (Secondary Library) which is open until 5.00pm each afternoon and is a great place for students to study and complete work. I strongly encourage students to take advantage of this facility and the opportunity to learn collaboratively with their peers on a regular basis.