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It has been great to see so many families engaging in a range of activities and events across the College this past week. A highlight for me has been the Welcome Back Sausage Sizzle hosted by our Hume Street Campus for parents and caregivers. What a great way to go into the Toowoomba Show Holiday weekend. Concordia will be hosting an information booth at the show this weekend, so do drop in to say hello if you are visiting the show.

The Year 6 students need to be congratulated on how ably and comfortably they came together for their SMART Leadership Day last Monday – this bodes very well for 2023 when they will arrive as the new Year 7 students. Once again, our students stepped up and represented the College and their respective families with great confidence, respect and outstanding manners. This is a reputation which I keep hearing about from various visitors, my professional colleagues in town as well as from the new staff who come to Concordia. It takes a team effort to ensure that these expectations and interactions are how we go about learning and living at Concordia daily. Our strong pastoral care reputation and philosophy of every student being fully known and fully loved also to underpin how we meet and come together as a College. Thank you, students, parents and staff, for your support of, loyalty and commitment to Concordia.

This week is Harmony Week, which is a celebration of Australia’s amazing cultural diversity. Sometimes we might be tempted to think that this exists only in the larger cities of our land, but that is not the case. When I came to serve in the little town of Bordertown in South Australia in 2009, I found that 23 languages were spoken in that village of some 2500 people. People from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures lived and worked together, shared the joys and challenges of the local community. While living in a multicultural society has its challenges at times as people do not always understand one another and bring different expectations, experiences and cultural norms with them, it also brings many blessings and opportunities and in my view Australia does it quite well.

Perhaps this reflects a little of God’s vision of Pentecost, where people from across the Roman empire heard the Good News proclaimed in their own heart languages (Acts 2), which led to the birth of the church. I have certainly experienced a connection and unity with people of different backgrounds, languages and nationalities through our shared faith. But God’s vision is universal as the book of Revelation (7:9) witnesses: After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.

Queensland Youth Week (1–11 April 2022) is an annual celebration of young people aged 12–25 and everything they contribute to our community.

To celebrate the passion, energy and achievements of our young people, Toowoomba Regional Council is proud to be delivering a program of free activities across our Region. 

There are Board Game sessions, photography workshops and sports/archery activites. See the gallery below for further details.

Our Cross Country Carnival is on Friday 1 April. 

• 5 - 9 year olds start at 9am at their Campus;
• 10 - 12 year olds start at 11am at SSC.

Please for the Program of Events.

We are looking forward to being able to spend time this afternoon and celebrating the amazing community that we are with those that have time to stay and share in the sausage sizzle.

We have been blessed this term with many challenges, but this has given us opportunity to grow and look at things from different perspectives. If you have any questions, concerns or compliments about your child’s learning, please email your teacher and check in with them. If you have any questions, concerns or compliments about the Campus and Campus events, please email me and let me know.

If you are at the Toowoomba Show, have a look for the �鶹��ý stand in the main pavilion. You might be able to collect a balloon and say hello to someone you know.

As we conclude the term, some of our parents will be meeting with teachers to discuss their child’s progress. Before the meeting you will receive an agenda from the classroom teacher to let you know what will be discussed during this time. Parents are also welcome to add items to the agenda that they would like to discuss as well. After the meeting you will receive some notes of what was discussed. We encourage parents to take the time to read these notes thoroughly so all information has been covered and documented. 

HSC Campus Photos – Monday 28 March
Our Campus Photos are scheduled for Monday 28 March. Please ensure your child/ren are in the correct uniform. Students in Prep and Year 1 will wear their sports uniform.  All students from Years 2 to 6 are required to wear their formal uniform.

Family Photos
To enable parents to purchase a family photo of all or some of their children who attend �鶹��ý, photos of siblings will be taken in the Hume Street Campus Hall between 8am and 8.15am on photo day. If you would like family photos done could you please collect a family photo envelope from Reception prior to photo day. 

It will be the parents’ responsibility to get their SSC children to HSC for the family photo and then take them to SSC ready for school before 8.30am. 

Please note: There is no tuckshop this week.

Tennis coaching will be held during Term 2. Click the relevant link below for further information:

We will be running our Colour Explosion Fun Run on Thursday 31 March with a meal deal on offer for the first break. All orders for the meal deal must be ordered online at My Student Account. The meal deal closes on Wednesday 30 March at 3pm. 

What to Wear
Students are invited to wear something white or old to school for the fun run and waterslide. The colour shows up great on light or dark clothing.

What to Bring
Please send in a towel, their sports uniform and underwear to change into after the fun run is finished. A plastic bag is also a great idea so that wet clothes can be carried home.

Schedule 
10.45am-11.30am Meal Deal
11.30am - Years 2 and 3
11.55am - Kindy, Prep and Year 1
12.20pm - Years 4, 5 and 6  

Activities 
Waterslide
Noodle Obstacle Course
Altus, Kessler and Stedman water challenge
Cargo Net Crawl 
and Lots of Colour

Parent Helpers
Parents are absolutely welcome to come and help squirt colour over your child/ren. If you are available we would love to see you here.

The Colour Explosion Fun Run will be held on the top oval. 

We hope to see you there.

Our Lunch/play swaps are working well and the feedback from parents so far has been very positive.

I would love to commend you as parents for the quality of food in the lunch boxes. There is lots of nutrition in them to support our students with their learning. For more information regarding the importance of school lunches and ideas, please see attached link.

Communications between parents and the College is paramount to efficient operating on both parts. As such we are working to ensure that all forms of communication are working effectively. Part of this is knowing which form of communication to use for what purpose.

Seesaw is one of the most amazing programs that we have installed on the Junior College campuses. It keeps you up to date with classroom and your child’s individual learning. It is not a main form of communication about classroom concerns. It can be used for minor messaging such as forgotten hats, and thank yous, but email is used for all other purposes.

Email

• Used for all other purposes for both teachers and parents.

Concordia App

• The Week Ahead – Weekly newsletter with all events and details. We are constantly working to have this newsletter be the holder of all information. This Newsletter is your first port of call for information of events.
• Notifications
  • Event Reminders
  • Cancellation of events
• Calendar
  • Events can be saved from this app into your own calendar by opening the calendar event and clicking on the 3 dots in the corner, then adding to your own calendar
• Contact
  • Email directly your student’s absentee notification for the day
  • Direct link to AdminHSC@concordia.qld.edu.au or Juanetta.priest@concordia.qld.edu.au
• Parent Lounge
  • Absentee notifications
  • To change your student or parent details
  • Camps and Excursions forms

As I’m sure you would’ve seen via Seesaw, this week we celebrated Harmony Day at Concordia. Harmony Day is a celebration of our cultural diversity and a time to recognise everyone who calls Australia home. We are so fortunate to have many students and families from different cultures at WSC and we celebrated this on Monday afternoon with a special outdoor Assembly. Mr Trappett did an outstanding job of creating an extra-large map of the world so that our students could see all the different countries that are a part of our Campus. Next week, our celebration of culture continues as Frau Kobald will be sharing some German food with our Years 1 to 6 classes. Bratwurst and Sauerkraut are on the menu and I am sure the students will enjoy sampling some of these German delicacies. 

As we conclude the term, some of our parents will be meeting with teachers to discuss their child’s progress. Before the meeting you will receive an agenda from the classroom teacher to let you know what will be discussed during this time. Parents are also welcome to add items to the agenda that they would like to discuss as well. After the meeting you will receive some notes of what was discussed. We encourage parents to take the time to read these notes thoroughly so all information has been covered and documented. 

Communications between parents and the College is paramount to efficient operating on both parts. As such we are working to ensure that all forms of communication are working effectively. Part of this is knowing which form of communication to use for what purpose.

Seesaw is one of the most amazing programs that we have installed on the Junior College campuses. It keeps you up to date with classroom and your child’s individual learning. It is not a main form of communication about classroom concerns. It can be used for minor messaging such as forgotten hats, and thank yous, but email is used for all other purposes.

Email

• Used for all other purposes for both teachers and parents.

Concordia App

• The Week Ahead – Weekly newsletter with all events and details. We are constantly working to have this newsletter be the holder of all information. This Newsletter is your first port of call for information of events.
• Notifications
  • Event Reminders
  • Cancellation of events
• Calendar
  • Events can be saved from this app into your own calendar by opening the calendar event and clicking on the three dots in the corner, then adding to your own calendar
• Contact
  • Email directly your student’s absentee notification for the day
  • Direct link to AdminWSC@concordia.qld.edu.au or jackie.minnikin@concordia.qld.edu.au
• Parent Lounge
  • Absentee notifications
  • To change your student or parent details
  • Camps and Excursions forms

Please note: There is no tuckshop this week.

Tennis coaching will be held during Term 2. Click the relevant link below for further information:

As the end of term draws near, I want to congratulate our students on their efforts in completing recent assessment tasks. The resilience shown by both our staff and students is commendable as we have made necessary adjustments to our teaching and learning plans. Thank you to all our parents for your communication with regards to absences and ensuring that disruptions to student learning are minimised. I hope the upcoming holiday period will prove to be a time of rejuvenation for all our families. 

Year 10 into Year 11 2023 Subject Information Evening
On Monday we held the first of our events aimed at preparing our Year 10 students for the Senior phase of learning through a Year 10 into Year 11 subject information evening. I wish to thank Ms Wendy Bowen, our Heads of Department and other subject leaders for their organisation and availability on the evening. The pathway and academic requirements of the Senior years can be quite overwhelming due to the external policies and procedures that come into play. Our goal is to introduce students and families to these changes on a gradual basis throughout the year, enabling effective and informed decision making about subjects and other pathway choices.

Year 9/10 Boys Friday Night Basketball

The Year 9/10 Boys Basketball team came away from the Friday Night Basketball competition as Division 2 Champions after taking care of Centenary Heights State High School in the final last Friday night.

The game started a little slow for the team in the first quarter, but it didn’t take too long for them to get the score board ticking over. Maintaining a full court man defense allowed the team to capitalise on Centenary’s mistakes and converting into points at the offensive end.

By the start of the fourth quarter, the boys had a considerable lead that they continued to build on. It was an all-round team effort by the boys, and they came away with the win 61-33.

A special mention must go to Khan for his 2 x 3 pointers that really put the result beyond doubt in the dying minutes.

Mr Darryl Allen
Sport Coordinator

On Monday, a smoking ceremony was undertaken by local, Buddy Hippo from “Winangali Infusion”.  Buddy invited all our student to come and take part. Many of our boarders became involved and Buddy spoke of the old, present and future for our students. This ceremony was moving and empowering to many. The coming together and acceptance of one’s own history is important too for us all to live in harmony and to lead with a good heart. Thank you to Mr Wally McIntosh for organising this.

Moving into our last week of the term students are under the pump finishing off assessments.