Principal’s Report

WAYNE KENNEDY

Welcome to Term 3, 2021.

I hope you all enjoyed the mid-year break and are equally and grateful as I to be continuing our on-campus learning. Even though we are only in the second week of the term, several significant activities and events have taken place.

On the pupil fee day (Monday 19th June) our Sunshine Coast Sporting Academy football students became the Sunshine Coast Primary Football Champions (quite the accolade, coinciding on the first anniversary date of the Sporting Academy’s establishment).

The students will now be competing within the Southeast Queensland Championships on Friday 20th August. On Wednesday 28th July, the U12’s competed in the State Futsal Finals held at Coomera. In a very close match, the boys were defeated 3-2 in the final. However, they will still progress to the Australasian finals. Mr Wilkes conveyed he was very proud of the U12’s performance and achievement. The College’s U13/14 will also compete in the State Futsal Finals which are to be held on the 12th of August.

Within the mid-year break, the College Board were successfully able to complete ground works to expand the College facilities, we now have two full size football fields – to better cater to the expanding Sporting Academy program. Irrigation and grass seeding to be undertaken shortly. The Junior School playground and Middle School fitness station is scheduled to commence instillation by REED Play Company Pty Ltd in late August.

Also, within the holiday break additional staff were recruited. Ms Kate Hansell has joined Mrs Shae Watson and Mrs Tania Robinson within our Administrative team. Miss Samantha Mann will be our Prep to Year 5 HPE teacher and will also teach Year 2 on Fridays. Mrs Ruth Fairbanks and Miss Charmaine Schou will join our Education Support Officers. The splitting of the Year 2 and 7 cohorts has worked well, with positive feedback from students and parents received in the initial weeks. The following breakdown of student numbers in each year level follows (with future enrolments for Year 4 to be closely monitored). The College Leadership team are pleased with the current student to teacher ratios and the allocation of ESOs.

ESO’s

ESO Name Day/s on Campus
Angela Gowdy Monday – Friday
Renee Brown Monday – Wednesday
Charmaine Schou (new) Monday – Tuesday
Ben Conquest Monday – Wednesday
Mia Layton (volounteer) Tuesday
Ruth Fairbanks (new) Thursday – Friday

Classes and student numbers

Class / Homeroom Number of Students Class / Homeroom Number of Students
Prep B 14 Year 6 H 18
Prep G 15 Year 7 M 13
Year 1 13 Year 7 S 15
Year 2 D 13 Year 8 D 21
Year 2 N 11 Year 8 R 18
Year 3 20 Year 9 15
Year 4 25 Year 10 22
Year 5 19 Year 11 7
Year 6 D 17 Year 12 8

Careers Expo

On the first day of the term, Mr Freudigmann and Mrs Illiffe attended the Careers Expo at the University of the Sunshine Coast with the Year 10 students. The students reported that they found the Careers Expo very informative, providing valuable information to support them in their navigation of future study and career pathways.

In Week 2, all the Year 10 students participated in the annual Work Experience program. The Work Experience program was well organised by Mr Freudigmann, with a diverse range of workplaces attended.

The feedback from Year 10 students was extremely positive, with the Senior Teachers that attended workplace sites impressed with the experiences that our students had been exposed. One student was able to access a flight simulator, worked within aviation engineering facilities and went on a return flight from Maroochydore to Toowoomba.

Vocational Education & Training

At present we have fourteen of our Senior Secondary students engaging in Vocation Education & Training pathways (VET).

Some of the Certificate II courses include: Screen and Media, Outdoor Recreation, Fashion, Skills for Work and Vocational Pathways.

Certificate III courses include: Hospitality (Traineeship), Dance, Health Services, Sport and Coaching, and Retail (Traineeship).

After the completion of the SET Planning meetings conducted with Year 10 students and their parents at the conclusion of Term 2, the projected numbers for the 2022 Year 11 program will be in excess of twenty students.

A Parent Information Evening has been scheduled for our current Year 10 families transitioning into Year 11 in 2022 to discuss subject selection opportunities with the Senior Teaching team at 5:30 – 6:30pm on Tuesday 17th August 2021 (Venue: Kelly Library).

School Camps

This week saw the Middle School students (Years 5 – 8) attend the PGL Kindilan Adventure Camp at Redland Bay. It was definitely a case of all good things come to those who wait. After a number of cancellations, the initial cancellation occurred with the students packed and on the bus within minutes of departing.

Our Year 3 & 4 students will be attending the Maranatha Camp facility at Yandina later in the term (Week 9: Monday 13th September to Wednesday 15th September). The Year 2 students will be conducting a day visit on Tuesday 14th September 2021.

ELOs

This week (Week 2) we commenced our Semester 2: Enhanced Learning Opportunities program (taking place P5 & 6 – on Wednesday fortnightly). The following activities were presented for student selection:

  • College Musical ‘Beauty and the Beast Jr’ rehearsal – (Selected cast and crew)
  • Photography (Grades 5-12)
  • Rock Band (Grades 5-12)
  • Junior Guided Drawing
  • S.P.O.R.T Club (Safety in sport, Participation, Organisation, Respect & Teamwork)
  • Land for Wildlife (Year 1 and above)
  • Study/Research Group
  • Problem Solving and Projects Hub
  • Handicrafts
  • Board Games
  • Enrichment Board Games (Higher Order Thinking – Extension)

Parent/Teacher Interviews

In Week 3, (Tuesday 3rd & Wednesday 4th August) opportunity for those parents that have been requested to attend Parent/Teacher interviews to discuss achievement and to address academic challenges will take place in Junior School classrooms and within the Kelly Library for Middle & Senior Secondary students. Interviews commence at 3:15pm and conclude at 6:00pm.

Melvyn Wilkes the Technical Director of the Sporting Academy’s Football Program will also be available on the 3rd & 4th – with bookings being undertaken via the emailed link. Please be reassured that the Teaching Team are pleased to arrange a meeting at a schedule time of mutual convenience at any point in the academic year. The Leadership Team also welcome and appreciate the opportunity to discuss any student or parent concern.

Upcoming Events

Two important events that will need to be placed in diaries are the Book Week Parade, scheduled for Wednesday 25th August (Week 6) and the College Musical: Beauty & the Beast Jr planned for Wednesday the 8th of September 2021 (Week 8).

The Book Week Parade will involve Kindy to Year 12 students and will take place within the Kelly Library – Period 5.

I will continue to monitor the Health Department & Independent Schools Queensland directives with respect to guidelines on parents’ attendance and will confirm via email as the Book Week date gets closer.

CBCA Book Week 2021

Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds is the theme for this year.

Each year public libraries and school libraries celebrate books, their authors and illustrators.

In the foyer of the Kelly Library is a display of our purchased short-listed books for teachers and students to read in the lead up to Book Week.

**Mark it in your diaries – Wednesday 23 August – Book Week Parade**

Stuck on costume ideas for your child?

Think future lands, space travel, down a rabbit hole, out the back of a wardrobe…
let your imagination wander!

More details will follow in our Emu Chronicle as we approach the exciting date.

Scholastic Book Club

Hello Parents,

Issue 5 of Book Club was delivered to all students from Kindy through to Grade 6 this week. Hopefully this has made its way from the school bag onto the kitchen bench! There are loads of popular fiction and stimulating non-fiction books to buy for your children. Order and pay on-line and your books will be delivered to the school. Deliveries are usually within a couple of weeks and will be taken to your child to bring home. This issue will be closed on Monday 2 August.

If you are new to Book Club here is a little information for you.

Yours in reading

Tania
School Librarian

Magazines & Newspapers required

Do you have any old magazines at home you would like to move on?

We would love them for an upcoming ELO class.

Please leave them with the admin team at reception.

School Musical – Update

As everyone is hopefully aware, this year’s musical is Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”. We are now 6 weeks away from the big day!

We would like to congratulate all the wonderfully talented students who are working tirelessly to produce their amazing roles in the musical. We would also like to thank our Visual Art department staff who have spent many hours, on the holidays, preparing our sets and props.

Each class up to Year 8 have now started learning their songs and blocking scenes, we will be ready in a few weeks to put it all together and hold whole school rehearsals.

Our musical this year will be held in the College quadrangle in-between buildings 1, 4 and 5 on Wednesday September 8th. The show begins at 4pm and runs for approximately 1 hour. Students will stay at school until the beginning of the show at 4pm.

A letter outlining details of costuming and what parents are required to source and provide has been sent home via your classroom teacher. Costumes are to be brought in and left with your classroom teacher by Week 6 please. In past years, we invoiced families with a musical fee, however this year we have decided to ask families to provide their child’s costume.

If you have any questions about our upcoming production, please contact our musical team Mrs Ryan s.ryan@pbc.qld.edu.au or Mrs Freudigmann h.freudigmann@pbc.qld.edu.au.

We are well on our way and looking forward to a fantastic production! Thank you in advance for all your help!

Keep an eye out as lead cast are now bringing home Term 3 rehearsal schedules!

Mrs Samantha Ryan Mrs Haylee Freudigmann

Prep

AMBER GARRATT & MISS J BLAHUTA

100 Days at School!

Congratulations to the Preps on their 100th day at school!

On Monday, the Preps celebrated being 100 days smarter by dressing as 100 year olds. We enjoyed a morning of 100 themed games and crafts, including walking stick relays and creating a ‘100’ mosaic. We are so proud of everything our Preps have achieved so far and are excited to watch them on their learning journey at PBC.

Year 3

JEANNETTE TOLOMEO

Taking care of our environment

The year 3 class have been learning about how to take care of and love our environment.

As part of their own initiative, the girls from year 3 decided to pick up rubbish found in the playground. They understand how dangerous it can be to leave rubbish around for our beautiful native birds in our school.

Congratulations, girls, for taking your learning from the classroom to the real world and showing that you care!

Year 10

KIMBERLEY ILIFFE

Sunshine Coast Daily Careers Expo

Our Year 10 students had a brilliant start to Term 3 with an excursion to the 19th Annual Sunshine Coast Daily Careers Expo. The event was incredibly organised with lots of stall holders from Australian Universities, Private Education Providers, Queensland Colleges, Queensland Police and Defence Forces, Government Agencies, Employment Agencies, Gap Year and Exchange Programs and Student Support Services. They also had the opportunity to attend seminars that provided lots of information which will help them make important decisions on what career or study direction they would like to consider in the future.

The feedback we received from some of the students were:

“I found various stalls from Universities on both the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane, that can help broaden my decision on what University I want to go to in the future and I found two new careers that I might like to consider”

“I learnt that there are multiple ways to enrol in a University depending on your situation. For example, the Southern Cross University provides a semester long transition course for people who haven’t received an ATAR, and once they complete that, they have access to any course. I also discovered a number of new Universities that are located on the Sunshine Coast that I originally didn’t know about, and that there are flexible learning options available to fit into my own personal schedule.”

“I learnt that I could do a mechanics degree through the Army Reserves with better pay and it only takes 2 years”

Mr Freudigmann and I really enjoyed watching the students engage with the stall holders and ask lots of questions during the seminars. They all returned to school with some cool freebies, lots of information packs and hopefully with even more motivation to work towards their future pathway goal.

South East Qld Primary Football Championship

ALEC WAREING

The boys were triumphant on the day, winning the semi-final 6-1 and the grand final 7-0.

The team will now play in the South East Qld Championship on Friday August 20. Congratulations to all students who represented PBC and to the excellent Sporting Academy Football coaches for all their hard work leading up to the competition.

Nipper registrations now open!

Join Coolum Nippers!

Nipper registrations for the 2021-2022 season are now open.

New Nipper Info Session

8 Aug 2 – 4pm

Coolum SLSC Club Room

Apply online and find out more @ coolumsurfclub.com.au