19 November 2018

Principal’s Reflection

Principal’s Reflection

We farewelled another graduating Year 12 class last week. We want so much for our children – success, happiness, a good life. But the ultimate test for our success as parents and educators is that our children and our students will create a future that is better than the one we brought them into. What we model, what we value, what we question and where we lead through own personal commitments in life will be the values, the visions and the answers we get in the next generation.

And so what advice can we offer the young who have just graduated and those still in our care? I hope that we will teach them to reject versions of the world that define success solely in terms of money, accumulation of things and over-emphasis on status and security. That they might resist shallow definitions of what constitutes a worthwhile and valuable life. That they remember the wise words of the comedienne Lily Tomlin who once said: The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat!

We want them to be happy but know that lasting happiness is always closer to contentment and inner peace than it is to sensual pleasure, which can be fleeting and unsustainable; know that true happiness abides in an open and compassionate heart. We want them to resist being pushed around by peer pressure, from prejudices and delusions and from potential nonsense that can masquerade as truth.

We want them to be resilient and never give up on the truly important things. It can be a bleak world if one is subjected to incessant, unfiltered media and is focused on keeping up with others.

We hope that every student who has passed through this College will be able to readily acknowledge that, regardless of their faith background that they were educated by the Church that Pope Francis describes as being ‘of and for the poor’. I hope at Shalom, we have given them a positive experience of Church -

A Church which recognises the work of the Divine and the presence of God in all faiths;
A generous and inclusive Church that shows deep love for the poor and marginalised;
A Church that strives to usher in the Reign of God: the promise of fullness of life and true freedom for all in our troubled world;
A Church focussed on getting the Kingdom of God and its message of justice and truth into the world, rather than people into its ranks;
A Church not so worried about how the world might change it but rather, how it might strive to change the world; and,
A Church that strives ceaselessly to tell the poor and excluded that God loves them and that the Gospel is good news for them as well.

A Life of Service – at the Graduation ceremony the community used the opportunity to acknowledge the life of service offered to Shalom by Br Rochford who moves into a very well deserved retirement in a few short weeks. I hope our graduating Yr 12s take something of him with them as they form their ‘world views’ and their dreams for their futures. In a similar way, can I acknowledge the great lives of service we have in front of us every day in the lives of our Policemen and Women, our Ambulance Officers and our Firefighters? We have many of those services represented in the families at Shalom. They deal daily with trauma and injury and put themselves in harm’s way – physically and emotionally – for our community. Recent events have really emphasised that for me in Bundaberg. We should be forever grateful for lives of service.

Family Zone remains an underutilized service offered by the College to Shalom parents. We will have a representative from Family Zone at the College this week on Thursday Nov 22 from 2pm – 4.30pm in the Loyola Centre to assist parents who want to install this app on their devices. This is an exemplary tool to help you keep kids safe on-line, provide sensible boundaries and assist them to be good digital citizens. If you don’t want your children to spend too much time on-line and you want to limit where they might ‘wander’ on-line, please take advantage of this.

Mr Dan McMahon
Principal
McmahonD@shalomcollege.com

Newsletter Articles

Curriculum News

Year 12 students

Congratulations to the Year 12 students on completing their years of schooling!

I emailed the students last week, attaching a memo regarding the need to access Learning Accounts via Student Connect, so that results are readily available when published on 15 December. QCS Test results were released on 14 November and may be viewed in Learning Accounts.

Subject Achievement Indicators (SAIs) will be published for OP-eligible students at Shalom College in Authority (OP) subjects on 21 November. These will be posted on boards outside the Senior School Coordinator's office and will show each eligible student's position in the class. Students are encouraged to make the time to view - and check.

A FAQ sheet can be found here:

Subject Changes

Current Year 8,9,10 and 11 students

Students and parents may have discussed possible subject changes. Applications for change will be accepted by the Middle School or Senior School Coordinator between now and the end of term.

Year 8 and 9 students may collect a Request for change of subject 2019 form from Student Reception and return these to Student Reception.

Year 10 and 11 students may collect a request form from Mrs Ivers. In the case of prospective Year 12 students a full, green form will need to be completed and submitted as soon as possible.

All students and parents must note that requests will be accommodated when the 2019 timetable is complete. Submission of a form does not guarantee change: some applications may not be possible because of timetable constraints.

Mrs Katherine Nelson
Assistant Principal – Curriculm
Katherine_Nelson@shalomcollege.com

Graduation

On Thursday 232 Year 12 Students Graduated from Shalom. They have been a wonderful cohort and we will miss them. We wish them all the best for the future and thank them for all they have contributed to our College. Shalom Chaverim Seniors 2018

Brother Rochford

Brother presented his final Slide Night on Wednesday. There was lots of laughter, a few reflective moments and much clapping and cheering for Brother. What a gift he is to us!

Thank you for all the wonderful messages. Mrs Georgia Halpin has complied them into a beautiful book.

As we continue to recognise Bother there will be a Parish Mass to celebrate the great contribution he has made to our community. This will be at Holy Rosary on 25 November at 5:30pm. Everyone is welcome, so please if you know of past students or parents who would like to wish Brother well, let them know. If you can stay for a cuppa afterwards please bring a plate to share.

Mrs Mary Taylor
Assistant Principal – Mission
Mary_Taylor@shalomcollege.com

Administration

Glückwunsch Cara Mainwaring

Google tells me that ‘Glückwunsch’ means ‘Congratulations’ in German – I hope this is correct. Someone who could tell me is Cara Mainwaring who has been awarded a Certificate for German Language Studies.

This Honours Award Certificate is a prestigious award and is given by the Goethe Institute and the Consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany to school students who have shown excellent achievement in their studies of the German language.

This impressive achievement is even more extraordinary given that Cara has taken this course through Distance Education with only the help of an online tutor. She has shown dedication, talent and organisation to achieve this and thoroughly deserves this honour.

Cara Mainwaring

Year 10, 11 End of Semester Two Examinations

The Year 10 and 11 examination timetables are attached below and have been posted on the College Intranet (‘Assessment & Reporting’ tab), the College website (Curriculum/Senior School/Forms and Publications) and Daily Notices (pushed to students via Student Café).

Please note that Year 11 students do not need to attend school unless they have an exam.

Year 10 students, however, must attend school up to and including Thursday 29 November. Students who have taken Specialist Maths have an exam on Friday morning but may leave after this exam. Any student who has outstanding assessment may be asked to attend a ‘supplementary session’ on the Friday to complete this assessment. All other Year 10 students are not required to attend on Friday although there will be supervision at school provided for those students unable to make alternative arrangements.

Parent Lounge

A reminder to parents to regularly log on to Parent Lounge to keep involved with your child’s schooling. Here you can find a wealth of information including report cards, assessment results and the school calendar. If you believe there is an error on Parent Lounge in the due dates, completion of assessment etc, please contact the classroom teacher.

Mr Brendan Maher
Assistant Principal - Administration

MaherB@shalomcollege.com

Quiet Achiever

Nicholas Cahill Year 10

The purpose of recognising our Quiet Achievers is obvious; giving recognition to those who are truly deserving who would normally “fly under the radar”. Nicholas Cahill is an example of exactly the type of young man that we are proud to claim as a student of our College. Nicholas contributes to all that we offer; he works extremely diligently academically, embraces all that we aspire to as a valuable member of Rice House and is altogether a fine human being. That would be enough to be a great example of a ‘quiet achiever” but Nicholas has done so much more and has, until now, been unrecognised by us as a community. Nick is a gifted Lawn Bowler. He is currently ranked Number 2 in Australia for his age. He is ranked 144 in Australia in the Open Men’s Category. In the September holidays, he participated in the Australian U/18 National Titles as a member of the Queensland 4s team and won a bronze medal. These are fantastic achievements by anyone’s standards and only a small part of Nicholas’s achievements in this Olympic Sport. Accomplishments that definitely deserve celebrating!

Mrs Claire Stallard
Rice House Coordinator
StallarC@shalomcollege.com

Pathways

YEAR 9 CAREER EXPLORATION

Year 9 students recently participated in Reclink Australia’s dynamic and interactive Career Exploration session. Students began to explore the links between school subjects, lifestyles and career choices.

BLUE DOG GRADUATION

Blue Dog Training held a congratulatory BBQ for Year 12 Certificate I Construction & Certificate II Engineering Pathways students where they were presented with their qualifications. We congratulate the students on their hard work.

SCHOOL HOLIDAY OPPORTUNITIES

Awesome Citizen Science student experience!

Healthy Land and Water utilise the data collected on these trips to assess the condition of seagrass in Moreton Bay. There are some 50% scholarships that Dr James Udy (Director, Science Under Sail) can apply to the 10 – 16 December excursion.

Contact: Danielle Udy for further questions and a copy of the application form.
E. Danielle.udy@uqconnect.edu.au M. 0435 521 432

Introductory Helicopter Experience Program

Airwork Helicopters is offering a short two-day program on the 16th & 17th of January. This program will be open to school leavers and students about to leave school, and will offer a detailed introduction to helicopters and experience what it is like becoming a helicopter pilot.

Mrs Liza O’Donnell
Pathways Coordinator
Liza_ODonnell@shalomcollege.com

Technology

Makerspace!

Makerspace Timetable Term 4

Information Technology

Yr12 Laptops

For the Yr12 students who have been leasing a Shalom Laptop since the beginning of Yr10, your laptop is yours to keep. Please note the software information below before the device leaves the College.

For those students who are leasing a Shalom laptop and were not a Shalom Student at the beginning of Yr10 in 2016, you will have the option to buy out the laptop by paying the remaining balance on the lease. Please enquire with the College Finance team as to the buyout value of your laptop. If you choose not to the buy out the device, it will need to be returned prior to Graduation Day.

Software

As most of the software is licensed to Shalom College, we cannot let the laptops go home without them being wiped. We will re-load Windows 10 onto these devices in which you can claim a free license key from the following location – Intranet > Utilities > Software web store.

Note – Windows 10 does not come with Microsoft Office.

We do not want to chase you however we will be keeping a list of those who have had their Shalom laptops wiped. If you do not bring in your laptop, please be aware that Windows, Office, Adobe and other software licenses will expire and therefore become unusable.

Final Warranty and Repair claims

Please note the HP warranty and Accidental Damage Protection (ADP) ends on 30 November 2018. If your device has an issue and needs to be looked at, you will need to bring it to the IT Unit before 28 November so we can assess it and get it repaired. If you bring your laptop to the IT Unit after 28 November, there is a high possibility of this not being logged due to limited resources available.

Just a reminder the HP ADP excess is only $60.50. If you have not claimed any of the three parts this year, you will be able to utilise them up to 30 November for any claims.

Please remember it is your responsibility to get the device fixed. After you graduate, the ownership of the device will change from Shalom College to yourself and therefore the College will not be responsible for any damages or will we be assisting with wiping the devices after this time.

Yr10 & Yr11 Shalom Laptops

Final Warranty and Repair claims

With all school laptops, the College purchased 3yr HP warranty and Accidental Damage Protection (ADP). The ADP covers each user with up to three parts per calendar year which you can claim from and get fixed for $60.50 per claim. As the device belongs to Shalom College until you graduate, we require ALL damages to be repaired this year. For example if you only have a cracked screen, this normally is quite an expensive part ($500-$800) that can be fixed under ADP for $60.50 if it’s deemed an accident.

We would certainly appreciate if students can be proactive and bring devices into the IT department as we will be performing class checks soon and we will keep a list of all devices we have seen.

We would appreciate if all final 2018 Repair/Warranty claims can be performed before the 14 December 2018 as we will not be able to guarantee the device can be processed after this time.

The IT Unit is here to work with all students and we would like to get as many devices fixed as possible before the specified dates.

Mr Matthew Millls
Technical Officer
millsm@shalomcollege.com

Instrumental Music

What’s next – All groups except Rochford strings have finished rehearsals for the year. This young string group under the direction of their conductor Mrs Connolly, are preparing for a visit to The Lakes retirement village and Centacare on Monday 26th November.

Absenteeism

Please email the applicable conductor by 7:45am if your child/ren are not able to attend a rehearsal.

If your child is unable to attend a group rehearsal, please email the applicable conductor, NOT Mrs McAtee, as she now has a new role within the College. A phone call or email will still be sent to the student’s family if no apology has been received.

Mrs Robyn Edgar
Instrumental Music Coordinator
edgarr@shalomcollege.com

Cambodia Community Service Trip 2019

I know that we are coming towards the end of 2018, but we are already looking forward to meeting our new travellers for the 2019 Cambodia Community Service Trip. If your child is currently in Year 10 and you are interested in finding out more about this unique adventure, we will be holding an information session in the staffroom on Tuesday 20th November at 6:00 pm.

If you cannot attend this session, but are still interested in what our trip has to offer your traveller, please email Mrs Jacqui Smith smithj@shalomcollege.com for more details.

Mrs Jacqui Smith
Teacher
smithj@shalomcollege.com

College Event Programs and DVD’s

College Event Programs

The following programs are now available from the College office:

2018 Academic Awards
2018 Year 12 Graduation Liturgy
2018 Sports Awards

College Event DVD’s

The following DVD’s are available to order from the College front reception for $5 each - please call 4155 8111 to place your order.

2018 Dance Night
2018 Academic Awards
2018 Shalom Day
2018 Year 12 Graduation
2018 Year 12 Slide Night

Uniform Shop

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

OPENING HOURS

Monday - Thursday 8am - 12pm

Shalom is looking to fill fitting times for our incoming Year 7 students for 2019, as well as current Year 9 girls going into Year 10 in 2019, new students and current students looking for new uniforms in 2019. Please call the main office on 07 4155 8111 to secure your fitting time.

Female students moving from Year 9 to Year 10 MAY choose to replace the dress uniform with the skirt and blouse OPTION. IF a change is planned, please make a fitting appointment for the skirt and blouse.

For all uniform fittings please call 07 4155811 for an appointment.

Mrs Sharon Stevenson
Uniform Shop Manager
StevensonS@shalomcollege.com

Textbook Collection 2019

Volunteers Wanted

Book hire is requiring volunteers to clean, repair and re-shelve the hundreds of books being returned at the end of this term. Any help from the 19th November would be appreciated. Morning tea is provided as well as lunch if staying longer. If you can assist, please contact me

Phone – 4155 8100 – extension 8270
Email - rehbeink@shalomcollege.com

Thanking you.

Collection of Textbooks

Please note the dates and times for collection of textbooks for 2019. These textbooks may be collected from Book Hire in the Goondeel Library during these periods. Also, please note that textbooks will not be issued to students who have not returned their 2018 resources. If these hours are unsuitable, collection can be arranged before school ends by contacting me on 4155 8100 – extension 8270 or by email rehbeink@shalomcollege.com .

There will be NO COLLECTION OF TEXTBOOKS FOR YEARS 7 AND 8. However, if you have students in the higher grades needing textbooks, novels (year 7) and English workbooks (year 8) can be collected at the same time.

Collection Dates and Times:

Krys Rehbein
Book Hire Co-ordinator
rehbeink@shalomcollege.com .

Shalom Sunday Markets

New Stallholders Welcome – Please contact Peter Barone 0438 446 269

Markets Tuckshop Roster

Markets BBQ Roster

Tuckshop Roster

Community Notice Board

Gladstone Port Corporation Bursary

IWC Dental

Triple P Parenting

The State Government is funding free access to Triple P, which is the world’s most evidence-based parenting program and has helped more than four million children and their parents around the world develop closer, more positive relationships.

Please click on this link, which will take you to the website where you can access information relevant to your situation.

This link will remain in our Newsletter with Triple P sending us regular updates and helpful tips.