ConcordiaLutheranCollege

Monday 29 August to Friday 2 September 2022

From the Head of College

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Wow, winter has definitely provided us with a reminder this week that it still has a few days to run! I hope that you have been able to keep warm during the week. Last week on Thursday and Friday, I attended a Lutheran Principals’ Queensland spiritual retreat up on the Sunshine Coast. This gathering afforded me the opportunity to connect with my principal colleagues and debrief on all matters relating to our respective jobs and schools as well as slowing down and focusing on our spiritual and wellness journeys. What stood out for me about Concordia during my informal discussions, was the quality of the relationships which are in place where every student is deeply known and deeply loved. I have returned to Concordia feeling affirmed, very proud and graciously confident that we are a blessed community on a very strong and upward trajectory. Pastor Thomas was the retreat pastor and I thank him for the care which he brought to this gathering for all who attended.

On Monday we witnessed the beginning of the “changing of the guard”, as ten of our current Year 11 students presented their 2023 College Captain nomination speeches to the senior assembly. I need to congratulate each of these students on the authenticity of their speeches, their wonderful confidence and the effort which they put in to present themselves so well. Choosing two College Captains from this group is going to be a very difficult task, but it affirms that Concordia will be in great hands in 2023. It was wonderful to host our current Year 5 students from both Warwick and Hume Street Campuses at this special assembly as they begin to consider a similar process and the “changing of the guard” on our two Junior College campuses. What a wonderful role modelling opportunity was afforded to our younger students. Thank you to Mrs Leah Bowes for overseeing this process for our Year 11 students.

Thank you to the many families completed and returned their Sports Survey. This information has been collated and will serve to further inform the College about the restructure of our Sports Program in 2023 and beyond. We look forward to sharing these new initiatives and our strategic intent for Sport at Concordia with you in Term 4.

It was great to see Book Week and reading celebrated in such fine style across all our campuses. Whenever I get asked about a suitable gift for a child, I always recommend either a book or a book voucher as this allows children to grow their own “library” at home and foster a love of reading. Well done, students and thank you parents for your support in helping your student dress up on the day. Thank you to the staff, led by Mrs Karen Mabel [Junior College] and Mrs Heidi Edwards [Middle and Senior College], for their enthusiasm, encouragement and participation in this event.

Next week will see the College celebrate Father’s Day on our Junior College campuses and Grandparents’ Day celebrated at our Stephen Street Campus. I look forward to seeing you at these events.

This week I would like to focus on Connecting with our children. We all worry from time to time that we are not connecting with our children as well as we could. Do I know my kids well? Do they know I love them and care? We all have those doubts from time to time. You are already showing you care by worrying about it, so let’s look at some suggestions for improving these connections: [Acknowledgement: Parenting Today]

Talk (and listen) to them
This is the most basic way to connect with your children. Tell them about your day and ask them about theirs. Ask them questions. It’s imperative for people to feel like the person they’re talking to cares. Asking questions about your child proves you are listening and want to know more and remember to pack away any phones and devices during this time.
Take an interest in their interests
Sometimes talking doesn’t work so you can try to get involved in someway in anything they like to do. Try not to be judgmental; they are more likely to respond if they feel you want to appreciate what they love.
Invite them into your world
If you’re willing to show your children who you are they may open up and do the same. Invite them to one of your favourite shows or sporting events.
Find a new hobby
If you find you have no interests in common, you can talk with them about finding something new for the two of you to do together. You could try and find an activity neither of you has tried before and start together.
Guilt is not a weapon
Make it clear that you want to spend time with them and get to know them, but don’t try to make your kids feel bad if it doesn’t work out right away.
There is a time for friendship and a time for parenting
It’s necessary to find a balance between parenting and friendship. As a parent, you’re there primarily to ensure your child is safe and grows up well.
Don’t get discouraged
Being a parent is challenging. It may seem that no matter what you try, you still feel just as distant as when you started. Don’t give up. Your children will appreciate that you are trying – even if they don’t always show it.

Wishing everyone a safe weekend.

Yours in Christ

Mr Anton Prinsloo
Head of College

Quote of the Week: Life is the most difficult exam. Many people fail because they try to copy others, not realizing that everyone has a different question paper. [Author unknown]

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From the College Pastor

Community

Last week saw a flurry of activities that reflect our Concordia community. On Saturday morning our Head of College together with other members of the Leadership Team, facilitated a strategic planning session to hear the voice of our community for the future direction of our College. Saturday night saw the first Boarder Disco in a long time, to which day students were also invited. On Sunday was the opportunity for families to mix and enjoy an afternoon at bowling, thanks to Parent Connect. There was great participation at the recent track and field championships and other sports competitions. This week is Book Week, which includes a number of events and activities that allow our community to gather and mix – and, of course, there was the recent wonderful Arts in Focus Day. In other words, there are lots of things happening and lots of opportunities for people in our community to gather, to support and encourage one another and to celebrate our community.

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Walk My Way

At Concordia Lutheran College, we are aware of the many blessings that God has provided us with and the responsibilities that come with being so blessed! We are encouraged to share our gifts with others, so that all may experience God’s infinite love and care.

Walk My Way is part of The Grace Project, which since 2019, has helped more than 62,500 refugee children to go to school!

This year again we have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives and future of refugee children.

$26 will allow one child to attend school for one year, including learning materials! It is facilitated by Australian Lutheran World Service, a government approved aid organisation, with a great track record for helping those most in need.

Could the Concordia community send 100 children to school next year? Come and join the Concordia Community for the Walk My Way events this year!

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Community News

You're invited

Sport Survey Results

Many thanks to everyone who completed the recent Sports Survey. We received 186 submissions to the survey. Please click the button below to view a summary of the results.

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Auditions

Audition Day is fast approaching and we are so excited to see how many students come forward to audition for leads, chorus and dance.

There are still Audition Packs available outside M Block Staffroom, or your Junior College Campus Reception for Years 5 and 6 students, and we encourage everyone who is thinking about auditioning to give it a go!

Our audition process is very friendly and welcoming, and everyone is very supportive. The Arts Captains will even come into the audition with you if you need it!

When: Friday 2 September

Times: Leads 8.30am–12pm
Chorus 1pm–2.30pm
Dance 2.30pm–3.30pm

View the Audition Day Schedule and Information letter for details on how the day will run.

We are looking forward to bringing We Will Rock You to life on the Main Stage of the Empire Theatre in 2023!

Social Golf for Father's Day

Project Based Learning at Concordia

Junior College

From the Junior College Directors

This week Concordia celebrated Book Week, with the theme for 2022 being ‘Dreaming with Eyes Open’. This theme explored how books can take children on a journey into other people’s lives, into other perspectives and new topics, while also teaching and entertaining readers. Reading books assists our children to not only develop their brains but also to spark their creativity and imagination.

To celebrate Book Week, our Junior College students and staff, donned their best outfits for our annual dress up day and parades, and our youngest students celebrated with a special Pyjama Storytime on each campus. Thank you to all who assisted with our Book Week events and to Mrs Karen Maben, our Junior College Library Assistant, for teaching our students that “Reading is an adventure that never ends”.

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JC Library News

I would like to extend a huge thank you to all our students and their families for their enthusiasm towards all of our Book Week activities. The Book Week parades were filled with such great characters from a huge range of books both in our libraries and from student’s own collections. I understand that it is a daunting task sometimes to help your children coordinate the outfit for the day and I truly appreciate your efforts. The students really enjoyed parading their costumes and sharing stories with their buddies.

The Pyjama Storytimes were also a big success with many very excited students attending dressed in their best warm pyjamas with their teddies/special cuddly toys and torches and bringing their families along to enjoy the stories and help them with making their own personal Australian animal themed book marks.

With the end of term approaching fast, I would like to ask for your help with ensuring your children are returning all overdue library books and home readers. The students will be encouraged to borrow books for over this school holidays, but I would love their loans to be up to date prior to this time. If you have any concerns about books that may be overdue, please email me at Karen.Maben@concordia.qld.edu.au

Mrs Karen Maben
Junior College Library Coordinator

Free Dress Day to support Loanialu Health Clinic - 29 August

Loanialu Health Clinic

The students in Years 4 and 5 have been studying Acts of Service. Mrs Monika Bennett came and spoke to them during Term 2. They were so captured by the stories that she told, that they decided they wanted to do something to assist. As a result, we are learning a little more about Loanialu and gathering Head Lice products to send to Vanuatu. The following is a script that Rylee and Seth will present to the students during Assembly.

We thank everyone for their support of The Loanialu Health clinic. We are supporting this special community by donating headlice treatment, hats and/or beanies. Mary’s Pharmacy is helping our cause by selling discounted headlice treatment. Families can purchase the treatment at Mary’s Pharmacy. They will collate the numbers and order in bulk. These donations will then be passed on to Concordia. We are also holding a free dress day on Monday with gold coin donations also going towards this special cause.

Assembly Script from Rylee and Seth

JC Student Art Work

Reminder: Please make sure you collect your child/ren framed art work from your respective Campus by next Friday.

Outside School Hours Care

Hume Street Campus

HSC Tuckshop - 1 September Cancelled

Please note that due to scheduled events at SSC, there will be no tuckshop on Thursday 1 September. Tuckshop will be back on the following week.

HSC Parent Connect Father's Day Stall - Wednesday 31 August

The HSC Parent Connect will be running our annual Father’s Day Stall on Wednesday 31 August. There will be $5.00 gifts available to purchase.

Gifts - Your child/ren may like to purchase a present for Dads, Grandads or any other special fatherly role models. All orders and money are due by Friday 26 August.

Please place the money in an envelope marked with:

Child’s name
Amount in envelope
Number of gifts to be purchased

HSC Father's Day Stall Gifts and Volunteering Information

HSC Father's Day Breakfast and Kite Making Activities

HSC Prep Vision Screening

The Primary School Nurse Health Readiness Program will be screening our Prep class on Monday 29 August. This program is a Queensland Government service that offers Free Vision Screening to all children enrolled in Prep. If your child is in Prep and you would like their vision screened, please complete the consent form which is attached below. Consent forms are due by Sunday 28 August 2022.

Online Consent Form and Parent Information Letter

The following video explains the benefits of having your Prep child’s vision screened- “What is Prep Vision Screening?”

Online Consent Form FAQs

HSC Grandparents' Day - 16 September

We would love to invite our special Grandparents to come and spend the morning with our students on Friday 16 September. The morning will follow:
8.40am Classroom visits
9.50am Special Chapel Service
10.30am Shared morning tea in the Junior Playground.

Please use the link below to register your attendance by Friday 9 September.

We look forward to welcoming as many Grandparents as can join us this year.

2022 Grandparents Day Registration Form

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Parent Help for Grandparents' Day - 16 September

We would love your help on Grandparents' Day in providing a plate of food for morning tea. Each year level is being asked to bring a certain type of food to share.

Prep – Fruit Platter
Year 1 – Hot Food (mini pies, quiches, sausage rolls etc)
Year 2 – Biscuits
Year 3 – Cakes/Cupcakes, Muffins
Year 4/5 – Slices
Year 5/6 – Sandwiches

To avoid huge wastage and in consideration of our earth’s sustainability, we are happy to wash up dishes to return to you, however, please ensure that your name in on them.

HSC Parent Connect

On Thursday 1 September we will be holding a Parent Connect Meeting at 2pm. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Below is a link to the HSC Parent Connect Facebook page. Keep a watch on this page for upcoming events or important information.

Parent Connect Facebook Page

Warwick Street Campus

WSC Father's Day Sausage Sizzle - Thursday 1 September

WSC Father’s Day Stall

The Parent Connect will be running our annual Father’s Day Stall on Thursday 1 September. This year there will be both $5.00 and $10.00 gifts available to purchase.

Gifts - Your child/ren may like to purchase a present for Dads, Grandads or any other special fatherly role models. Money will need to be brought to school on Thursday 1 September. If you would like your child to purchase more than one gift (maybe for Grandad?), there may be an opportunity for them to do so.

Please place the money in an envelope marked with:

Child’s name
Amount in envelope
Number of gifts to be purchased

WSC Tuckshop Orders

At WSC, Tuckshop is held on a Wednesday. All orders are to be completed online at My Student Account by 3pm each Tuesday. Please notify Reception by 9am on Wednesday if your child is absent and we will cancel their order. Tuckshop will finish in Week 9.

Stephen Street Campus

Happy Book Week!

Despite the freezing cold Wednesday, it was great to see staff and students get involved in Book Week celebrations. Thank you to Mrs Heidi Edwards for bringing Book Week to life through library displays and activities. There is no doubt that levels of students reading for pleasure has declined internationally over the past ten years with smartphones now occupying a lot of leisure time for young people. Sadly, curling up on the lounge or bed is not considered to be as virtuous as it once was. However, we encourage all of our students to fall in love with this habit again, as it has so many lifelong benefits, including general wellness as well as inspiring further learning and connection.

Year 12 2023 College Captain Speeches
I have a continuing great sense of pride and hope for the future of Concordia with the current and emerging leadership talent within the College. On Monday, five girl and five boy students had the courage and passion to present their College Captain speeches to the rest of Stephen Street Campus (as well as some Year 5 visitors!). I can easily say that these were by far the best leadership speeches I have heard from a group of students. Each one was unique, but also contained a common thread – a commitment to listen and serve with humility. As I remarked on the day, they have made life very difficult for the panel that will make the final decision on who our captains for 2023 will be. Interviews are the next stage of the process for the candidates – so we wish them all the best as they continue to put their best foot forward.

Parent Connect – Ten Pin Bowling
I wish to sincerely thank our Parent Connect group – particularly Mrs Dorothy Christensen, for organising the family and friends ten pin bowling event at Sunset Superbowl last Sunday. It was great to share the time amongst other families, engaging in a bit of competitive fun with each other. What a beautiful family environment Concordia offers, so we were blessed to have this time to interact. Thank you also to Raelene and her team at Sunset Superbowl for making the event special with some extra games and donations (also provided by Slush Puppie). The support of our local businesses for events such as these is very much appreciated.

Senior exams update
Well done to our Year 12s who have almost completed their mock exam block. Teachers will be shortly marking these exams and providing feedback to students on where to focus their energy in preparation for the external exams starting in October.

Our Year 11 students will go into their exams in Week 9 – all the best to this cohort as they enter study time for this block.

Next Wednesday we will be holding our next Year 7, 2023 Parent and Student Connect Session. We look forward to welcoming back parents and students who will be joining us on Stephen Street Campus next year.

Have a great week.

Yours in faith,

Mr Jamie Pukallus
Director of Campus

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Year 8 HaSS

HaSS students in a kitchen? You could be mistaken for thinking 8B were cooking up some culinary delights when recently creating 3D models for their Geography ‘Design an Island’ class project. As a part of their ‘Landscapes and Landforms’ unit, students were required to create a topographical map and an island with various elements to demonstrate their knowledge of geographical features.

Students engaged in hands on activities using the Augmented Reality Sandbox to create contour maps of their initial ideas before modelling them in the kitchen. Their islands were shared in the form of a presentation to their classmates. The islands included creative combinations of mountains and valleys, plains and plateaus, volcanoes, cliffs, waterfalls, and a variety of habitats and other features. The presentations were informative and entertaining. Well done, 8B! Check out the gallery of photos below.

Ms Leah Parker
HaSS Teacher

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SSC Grandparents' Day

Sports News

Darling Downs Track & Field

Zoe Pietsch: 800m 2nd; 1500m 3rd; 400m Final 4th
Charlie Pietsch: 800m 2nd; 1500m 3rd
Chloe Denning: 800m 1st, 1500m 1st, 3000m 2nd
Alex Roberts: 100m Final 2nd; 1st 14 boys triple jump 10.78m (DD Qualified)
Caitlin Wiggins: 400m final 5th, unplaced 14 girls Javelin and Discus
Ethan Gorham: 100m heat 6th, unplaced 13 boys Triple Jump
Jorja Hollonds: 3rd 14 girls long 4.61m
Selina Richards: unplaced 14 girls Javelin and Discus
Ben Warrener: unplaced 14 boys High Jump

Team sports results

Volleyball
• Concordia 0 vs Fairholme 2 3: Prior to the match we were 1^st and F2 were 2^nd on the ladder. We ended up losing 3 sets to 0 against arguably one of the strongest teams in the league. The scoreline was approximately 75–30 their way.
• Concordia 105 vs Good Volley Miss Molly 85. We were playing without Keenan who is one of our best players. Everyone stepped up though and we ended up on the winning side 105-85, winning the first half by 13 and the 2nd half by 7 after a bit of a rocky start to the 2^nd half.

Rugby
This week the TAS/Concordia U13s and Open teams played their semi-final fixture against SCOTS PGC. The results were as follows:
• U13s: Concordia/TAS 31 defeat SCOTS PGC 26
• Opens: SCOTS PGC 27 defeat Concordia/TAS 25

As a result, next week the U13s will face off against St Mary's in the grand final at 5.30pm, at Toowoomba Sports Ground. Come along and cheer the team on!

Touch
• Primary Girls: Concordia 9 d Fairholme College 3
• Primary Boys: SMC Primary Gold 8 d Concordia 1
• U15 Boys: SMC 15 Blue 14 d Concordia 2

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Boarding

Boarding News

Hello to you all!

This week has finished on an electrifying note with the fantastic Disco that was held in the College gym. Thank you to all who contributed to the success of this event. Special thanks to the super talented disco king, Ross. You deliver every time Ross, the students loved your music selections with the numerous lights and fog effects. Thank you to our fabulous school staff who came along to support us - Pastor Thomas was seen doing a little boogie and Mrs Eagleson the limbo, Ms Marangelli sporting her fluro gear and Ms Donaldson who, along with our Boarding staff, kept everyone safe. Overall, the behaviour of the students was great. Thank you to Chrissy Watson who headed up the Disco committee for student input. Finally, to those who volunteered to assist with the clean up the next morning - Bella, Bryce, Matt, and Liam.

We had a fantastic response from our day students with many expressing that they would like this to be a regular event during the summer month.

After the disco, our students were very tired from dancing the night away. Congratulations to those who came away with a prize. Best Dancers were Cate and Kiera in their pink tutus and green braces, Max for his smooth moves and shuffling feet. Best dressed were Myles in his yellow tutu, shorts and slides and Emily with her fluro painted face. Great job, Emily’s mum!

Sports trainings all went ahead this week with a sprinkle of rain this evening to freshen the grounds.

This weekend we are heading off to Movie World - a day of fun packed full of rides and shows.

We have accommodated for those who will have sporting commitments with the dorms being open from 8am to 10am and reopening at 4pm. Any concerns please contact Andrew or myself.

A reminder to you all that our dorms will be hired out during the September holidays, hence we ask that students take their belongings home at the end of term. The access to the boarding car park will be closed off as from Thursday evening 15 September to Monday morning 19 September, so all students will need to be collected, along with their possessions, from the Aquatic Centre car park in South Street. This is so our Maintenance crew can erect the marquees for the Year 12 graduating students’ arrivals and photos in the afternoon. Thank you all in advance for cooperating with us to enable a wonderful start for our graduating students.

Many thanks to those of you who have mastered our Reach program and who continue to enter leave requests. If you are having difficulty, please give us a call as we would like to have this system up and running for all parents by the end of Term 4.

That’s all for this week folks.

Take care of each other and stay safe.

Mrs Maureen Taurima
Girls' Houseparent