St Mary's College, Toowoomba eNewsletter

Principal News

Dear Parent and Carers,

2022 - We're back!

A very genuine welcome (or welcome back) and thankyou to our Parents and Carers of St Mary's College for 2022. It promises to be an exciting year, despite the uncertain start. I look forward to working with each one of you for the betterment of your son's development and wellbeing. It was wonderful to see our boys back at St Mary's College yesterday.

On behalf of the community, I wish to extend to our new students and families a warm welcome and we hope the journey for you and your sons is as worthwhile as the many families who have come before you at St Mary's.

I would like to take the opportunity this week to outline a few reminders about COVID. As you are aware, COVID is present in the Toowoomba community and we wish to keep the St Mary's community as safe as possible in the coming weeks.

Face masks

A reminder that face masks are mandatory for all high school students in Queensland including those under 12. For ease of communication with our community, I would ask that masks are mandatory for all students at St Mary's College, including Primary students. The only exemptions are available through a recent medical certificate.

Rapid antigen tests (RATs)

Students can receive priority access to RATs at Queensland Health testing clinics. If your child is unwell, please keep them at home. If they become sick at school, you will be contacted to collect them and your child will receive a test to administer at home. We are expecting a delivery of these RATs during the week. Alternatively, please visit a testing clinic near you.

Visitors on school sites

From Monday 7th February, we will be limiting large group visits to our school, including assemblies and welcoming parent gatherings. We appreciate your understanding and support at this time.

Excursions and camps

From 7 February – 4 March, some school activities such as camps, excursions, assemblies, performances and large gatherings will not be permitted. Other activities such as instrumental music programs, ensembles, choirs, incursions and PE classes will continue as normal. Please monitor our Sentral Calendar as a live record of our events.

Confirmed COVID-19 cases

With COVID-19 prevalent in the community, please monitor your family for symptoms. If a family member is feeling unwell, get them tested and follow Queensland Health guidelines. Students and school staff will be prioritised for free rapid antigen tests (RATs) at testing clinics. www.covid19.qld.gov.au

Questions

Questions around COVID can be passed through the front office at St Mary's. This includes the use of email address: reception@stmaryscollege.com

Newsletter

Our newsletter will be produced once a fortnight this year. We hope to keep it as relevant and informative as possible this year.

Peace

Brendan Stewart

College Principal

Identity News

2022 Sacramental Program – Link to Our Lady of Lourdes Parish

We are aware that there may be some within our community who would like to be part of the further initiation sacraments of the Church, that is the rite of Reconciliation, and Confirmation and Holy Communion. We have previously partnered with Our Lady of Lourdes in a sacramental program, and offer that opportunity this year. As a College we will support you and your son in this process in whatever way possible. Could I encourage you to open the link below, and consider if you would like your son to embark upon the sacramental program. Whilst the documentation is focused at a Primary level, we encourage you to consider this at any age level, and we as a college will support you in your endeavours.

Mr Paul Grealy, AP - Identity - grealyp@stmaryscollege.com

Click here to view the Letter from the Parish

Careers News

***Over the holidays we farewelled Mrs Jenny Ball.*** ***Thank you for all that you have done for the boys and Careers Team at St Mary’s College. We wish you all the best in your semi-retirement.***

The University of Queensland - A Taste of Medicine (ATOM) 2022

Are you in Year 11 and interested in becoming a doctor?
Want to know what it’s like to be a medical student for a day?
The University of Queensland, Rural Clinical School, Toowoomba invites you to participate in A Taste of Medicine (ATOM) on the 11^th and 25^th May 2022.

Please contact Ms Bronnie Littlewood in the Career Office or at littlewoodb@stmaryscollege.com prior to February 16 if you are interested in participating. You will need to register yourself following the link in the announcement on Canvas to attend this event.

University Showcase

The showcase planned for Year 12 students for Term 1 has been postponed due to the delayed start to school and ongoing COVID restrictions. Further information will be posted about this.

NRG Services and St Mary’s College Mechanical Workshops Initiative Information Session

Date: Friday 11^th February 2022

Time: 11.00am – 11.30am

Where: Old Gym

Who For: Students in year 10, 11 and 12 interested in a hands-on mechanical experience

This program is designed to engage Year 10, 11 & 12 St Mary’s School students to both design, engineer and build a cold room on a trailer.

A breakdown of some of the trade specifics each student would obtain from the initiative include:

Design of cold rooms/trailers around transport requirements
Heat load calculation critical to temperature and humidity requirements of the product
The science, maths and hand skills that are involved specifically with refrigerant and pressure temperature relationships around gases
Design around electrical loads/control and power circuits

TAFE Queensland South-West along with NRG Services is pleased to offer this opportunity for exceptional students with a keen interest in a refrigeration career to participate in a work- integrated training program. The ability to deliver a holistic, industry-relevant and practical training program will enable your students to not only finish the school year with a completed qualification, but also leave with strong enterprise and non-technical skills preparing them for employment in the real world.

Students will obtain a Certificate II in Electrotechnology (Career Start) – UEE22011 and 3 QCE Points on completion of this initiative.

Click here to watch the NRG Career start program video

Contact the Careers Team

Mr Kris Glass, Career Development Practitioner glassk@stmaryscollege.com

Mr Paul Barber, Career Support Officer barberp@stmaryscollege.com

Ms Bronnie Littlewood, Career Support Officer littlewoodb@stmaryscollege.com

Please phone the College or email us at smc-careers@stmaryscollege.com to make an appointment (by phone, in person or Microsoft Teams). We’re more than happy to assist you and your son with any queries you may have in areas such as, school-based apprenticeships, work experience, TAFE and university applications, career decision-making or industry connections.

Years 5 to 9 Curriculum News

Welcome back to our returning families, and a very special welcome to our new students and families!

Despite the delayed start to 2022, it was excellent to see and hear that students were engaging in the preparatory online Canvas pages (years 8 & 9) & booklets (years 5 – 7) which were provided by teachers over the last week to assist students in their transition back to school. As students recommence their face-to-face learning this week, this provides a great opportunity to reset and create new aspirations for the year ahead. During Year 7 – 9 Skills lessons, students will be provided with time to think about their learning aspirations, will set SMART goals, and will also complete a study planner for the term to assist them in achieving their goals.

College Diary (Years 5 – 10)

On Monday, all students in Years 5 – 10 were issued their new 2022 student diary by Year 12 students in their Mentor Group. The College Diary is an important educational tool for the classroom and home, which assist students with their organisational skills and wellbeing.

Students were informed of the following expectations around the College Diary:

Ensure diary is brought to each lesson of the school day
Maintain diary in a reasonable condition (retain all pages, no signs of graffiti, etc.)
Ensure all homework and assignments, including due dates, are recorded in student diary
Understand that teachers, parents, and members of the school administration can request to view diary to check for appropriate use
Be responsible for the purchase of a new diary if lost or damaged.

As parents, you can assist your child in using the diary by:

Ensuring your child brings their diary to school each day
Check the homework and assessments outlined in the diary and provide support to in completing this work on time.

Mrs Jade Love, Years 5 - 9 Curriculum Leader - lovej@stmaryscollege.com.

School Photos

The professional school photos will be taken on Tuesday 22 February 2022. All students are to be in full academic unifrom on the day. If a student has PE or sporting commitments that day, they will be required to change in and out of sport uniform.

In the interest of maintaining social distancing practices, there will be no group or cohort photos taken. Only individual student headshots will captured.

The Hub

Support is available to all students who require assistance with homework, assignments or reviewing current classwork. Support is available with Mr Roy in the Hub every morning before school from 7.00am and at both lunch breaks. Support will also be available after school on Thursday afternoons from 3.05pm until 4.00pm. If you would like further information, please contact Dave Roy on 07 4631 7333.