Principal's Log

Welcome to the start of the 2016 school year. We welcome over 140 new students and their families. For the first time this year we have four Year 6 classes, three Year 2 classes and three Prep classes. We look forward to a year of deep growth together over the year.

Thank you to the many parents, staff, students and College Council members who joined local members Mr Jarrod Bleijie and Mr Mark McArdle, Mayor Mr Mark Jamieson and Councillor Mr Rick Baberowski at our Commencement Service on Wednesday evening. It was a wonderful celebration where we welcomed the Year 6 students into the Middle and Senior College and installed and dedicated the student leaders of 2016, new staff and continuing staff.

Mr Kerry Neill welcomed us to country with a challenge to leave a good impact for future generations. Pastor Ray Morris led the service and presented a powerful message written by Pastor Rick Zweck. College Council Chair Mrs Ruth Zerner informed the community of facility development over the year and expressed her appreciation for the grants of $160,000 from the State and Federal Governments, which will contribute to the $600,000 fit out of a new commercial hospitality area and a fourth science lab. The evening also provided the opportunity for me to share with the community our unique growth oriented approach to optimising student wellbeing and outcomes through our people, programs and culture. Copies of these presentations will be made available in the coming fortnight. We thank Mrs Jacqui Layfield for her organisation of the service, Pastor Ray Morris for his leadership and our musicians for the richness they added.

We also celebrated the performance of our Year 12 cohort of 2015. We congratulated all students and particularly Lachlan McKay who, through hard work, performed extremely well on the QCS test to match his outstanding school results to achieve a very high OP 1. He not only focused on his own learning but also tutored his peers and gave strong service to our community through his role as College Captain. He has been accepted into medicine at UQ and been awarded a Vice Chancellor Scholarship with further awards to be announced next month. Many of the 2015 graduates shared this same story of personal excellence and contribution to community. Of the cohort, 86% were OP eligible compared to a state average of 52.2%. Across the bands, of the 61 eligible students, seven students achieved an OP 1-5, 29 students achieved an OP 1-10 and 42 achieved an OP 1-15. In relation to tertiary offers, 63% received their first preference in first round offers and a further 15% received their second preference. Second round offers will occur in February.

We also celebrated the deep growth that occurred for staff and students who were part of the New Zealand expedition. We congratulate the students, staff and parents that were involved and thank Dr Peter McMahon and Mrs Denise McMahon for the leadership of this very unique experience. We look forward to hearing more about this in future newsletters. Families may also want to share the photos and clips of the expedition, uploaded onto our Facebook page in December.

We look forward to connecting with families over the coming fortnight at our P-5 Commencement Service, the Welcome Barbecue and various information evenings.

May God open our minds to the possibilities of the ‘yets’ in our lives.

Dr Bronwyn Dolling, Principal