From the Principal

Fantome dishes out a lesson

Bwgcolman Community School Newsletter

do because we have many

students who come each

and every day. Why not set

a goal for your children to

attend more than they do

now. Coming to school

on time each day is the best

way to ensure your child is

achieving the very best they

can and we all want that.

With the new pontoon al-

most ready to go and a per-

manent ferry timetable

just around the corner,

the school will be discuss-

ing a move back to full time

Fridays for the start of 2015.

We will be seeking opinions

of community members

about this and would value

any contributions.

We wish all our students

and their families a safe win-

ter break and look forward

to seeing everyone on Mon-

day July 14

Have a great week

Jeff

The end of the term has

arrived and it’s time to

reflect on what we have

achieved. Teachers are

visiting families with the

reports form school and this

gives an opportunity to

discuss your child’s

progress and to goal set for

achievement for next term.

Many students have

improved greatly in their

reading levels and this is

due to hard work and ensur-

ing that they are here

every day.

Of great importance to

achievement is the

attendance rate. Our overall

attendance so far this year

sits at 67.5% which is far

from our overall target of

80%.

It’s vital that all students

attend every day and on

time. Getting up late is no

excuse for non attendance.

PICC provide a breakfast

program at school so a lack

of food in the house is also

no reason for a child not to

attend. With the school bus

and the School Attendance

Scheme bus, wet days are

no longer an issue either.

Lets’ check on the attend-

ance rates for each year

level so far this year.

To achieve at least 80% for

each year level, all students

must attend at least 4 days

each week. To be eligible

for a Cathy Freeman at-

tendance award students

must attend 9 days out of

each fortnight. Our percent-

ages reach the height they

Date Claimer:

Start Term 3 … 14th July

Horizon’s Sydney Trip …

13th - 19th July

Horizon’s Canberra Trip

… 1st - 5th Sept

CFF Starting Block Awards

… 17th Sept

End Term 3 … 19th Sept

Volume 2 : Issue 3

Prep-64.6%

Yr7– 78.6%

Yr1– 77.2% Yr8– 67.7%

Yr2– 79.8% Yr9– 61.8%

Yr3– 70.9% Yr10– 41.0%

Yr4– 70.8% Yr11– 50.8%

Yr5– 81.6% Yr12– 70.3%

Yr6– 77.9%

Fantome Is has taken out

the 2014 Athletics Carnival

in both the Primary and

Secondary school events.

While scores were close

throughout the carnival the

skills of the team in red

prevailed beating their

school rival Curacoa by 30

points with St Michael’s

Trevally another 71 be-

hind.

Age Champions for 2014 were:

Ingai Geia & Seirra Sibley (9yrs)

Jarrias Coolwell & sarina James (10yrs)

Daniel Nomoa & Rani Lind (11yrs)

Brandyn Castors & Shauntae Ryan (12yrs)

Hector Ketchup & Jaisheree Oui (13yrs)

Mark Wotton & Dianne Fulford (14yrs)

Thomas Baira & Moira Murray (15yrs)

Ralph Sibley & Kathleen Haines (16yrs)

Fastest man & woman went to:

Wayne Pickles & Bronwyn Kerr

Page 2 Bwgcolman Community School Newsletter

The junior girls’ netball trip was a huge

success. We took an awesome team of

eight girls from grades 5 to 7 to Towns-

ville to compete in the McDonalds Jun-

ior Netball Carnival. There were over

ninety teams in the competition which

was held over two long days. Our girls

were on the top of the ladder by the

afternoon of the first day, tearing up the

courts and winning their first three

games. The last game of the day was

against rivals St Michaels. It was a close

match and we were just beaten by the

girls in red and yellow. The next day

the girls put their weary feet back in

Mac’s Junior Netball Carnival by Chloe McIntosh

After many weeks of hard work training afterschool, the students

performed extremely well. Initially competing for a place on the

Townsville team, students competed against students in the en-

tire Townsville catchment. This meant that each race had ap-

proximately 150+ students in it. Students that placed in the top

10 then went on to compete in the North Queensland trials, you

can see for yourself how well our 14 students placed, with 6 stu-

dents asked to return the following week. The exact results are

as follows:

Regional Trials:

1st- Levi Biara

1st- Mericka Friday

2nd- Jeanie Sibley

3rd- Elijah Miller

5th- Hananias Murphy

10th- Nilbi Yasserie

14th- Chylesiah James

20th- Waisie Miller

Top 50- Etosha Pearson,

Daniel Namoa

Top 60-Shauntae Ryan, Juanita

Fraser, Preston San

Top 100- Jarrias Coolwell

A week later Levi, Mericka, Jeanie, Elijah, Hananias and Nilbi returned to

compete for a place on the North Queensland Team, needing to place in the

top 5 and competing against students from as far south as Whitsundays Dis-

trict, as far north as Ingham District and everyone in between. The team was

also joined by Dianne who took part in the High School trials. Competing

against students who often have coaches and are part of regular running

clubs, our Palm Island Athletes did extremely well. Jeanie Sibley ran an out-

standing race to place 4th and earn a spot on the North Queensland Team and

will be heading to Brisbane in July to challenge for spot on the Queensland

Cross Country Team. With some promising positions Elijah 12th, Nilbi 15th,

Levi 20th, Mericka, Hananias and Dianne in the Top 50, these athletes should

all be very proud of their efforts as they represented Palm Island with pride.

Cross Country 2014 by Chris Sachlikidis

Mothers’ Day by Julie O’Shea The Bwgcolman Pre-Prep class was turned

into the Pre-Prep pampering salon for a

day to help Mums, Grandmas and Aunties

celebrate Mother’s Day. The ladies were

treated to a relaxing time and enjoyed

getting their nails painted, hand massages

and being turned into princesses for the

day. It was fantastic to have such a great

turn out to celebrate this special occasion.

their runners and pulled together

to win two games and draw their

final game. Palm Island girls domi-

nated the competition, Bwgcolman

finishing second and St Michaels

first overall. Congratulations to all

the girls on their efforts and sports-

manship both off and on the courts

over the weekend. They did their

school and community proud.

Page 3 Volume 2 : Issue 3

Happy wanderers, dancers, runners,

singers, possum “hunters”, and

more - It was all there on our trip to

Melbourne and Cottage by the Sea.

It was a long day of travel to Mel-

bourne. Not much excitement to

start with but the group we had

were a mixed bunch. We left Palm

on Wednesday 28th May between

4.00pm and 5.00pm. We walked to

the domestic terminal for our flight

to Melbourne at 7.30pm. After

check in we ordered pizza for din-

ner. Then before we knew it we

were ready to go. Of course the

security check was the first new

challenge. Water off a ducks back

for these kids. No problemo! Daph-

ne and I didn’t even think to check

their carry-on luggage for anything

Horizon Melbourne Trip by Marina Coutts that shouldn’t be carried on board

but they went through with flying

colours, after a few grins from the

security people. It was a long and

tiring ride with 1 or 2 sleeping the

whole way, but the rest were watch-

ing movies or playing games on the

IPADs. This kept them busy except

for 1 or 2 who were so excited they

talked the whole way down. Rakeem

and I, with Terese from St. Michaels

were seated at the back of the plane

and the rest of the group were up

front. Rakeem didn’t realise how

loud the engines would be and the

force on take-off. “We still going up,

when we gonna stop?” We were

greeted by Shaun and Bob (bus driv-

er) from Cottage by the Sea. With a

direct flight to Melbourne, we

touched down about 11.00pm and

the temperature was about 10 – 12

degrees. We were all rugged up and

ready for the cold! That was ok until

we found out we had to walk (5-10

mins) to our motel, with our luggage.

Some complain-

ing but then we

were ready to

settle in for the

night. That walk

did warm us up a

bit.

Highlights of our trip:

Day 1: Breakfast “automatic pancake machine”, Science Works – “racing Cathy” & Rescue Exhibitions “rescue raft, jet

skis, helicopter, reporting the news” , VIS with Cathy Freeman “blue track racing, mentoring session with Cathy about

goal setting”, dinner with Landers & Rogers (Lawyers) (12th floor) plus making music and playing games with “electrified”

apples, creating a Hip Hop disk with different beats and sounds with African Hip Hop artist.

Day 2: Credit Suisse building “roof top walk” and “journal time on the 41st floor” , walk to Federation Square and Bur-

rarung Mar, visiting the MCG and Sports Museum “interactive gallery”, visiting the Korin Gamadji Institute (based at the

Richmond Tigers clubhouse) and meeting the Indigenous people working there – Luke Murray-Lovett giving the “Walk

the Talk” session about the “Long Walk” (Michael Longs walk to Canberra) 10 year anniversary, watching the Channel 9

news broadcast in the studios, dinner with some dancing.

Day 3: Melbourne Museum via Carlton Gardens “possum spotting”, walk to Queen Victoria marketplace for lunch. Shop-

ping time and “happy wandering”, the “Long Walk” from the Sidney Myer Music Bowl to the MCG with the crowd,( com-

memorating 10 years), “Dreamtime at the G” game between Richmond and Essendon.

Day 4: Pack up and travel to Queenscliff “Cottage by the Sea”. Sightseeing Pt. Lonsdale Lighthouse, the Marina.

Day 5: Rainy but sun came out. Watching the tankers and fishing boats coming and going through the entrance to Port

Philip Bay. Games and activities. Visited the Marine Discovery Centre with local sea life exhibits. Learning to surf at

Ocean Grove beach with Bob (bus driver). Finally in the surf and having a ball. Quick skills got them all up on the board

and surfing. Rakeem first out, water freezing and he’s sunning himself to get warm (not much sun). Visit by a former

Olympic silver medallist rower for a mentoring talk that evening.

Day 6: Still raining. Visited Barwon Heads rock pools. Light drizzle but good for a walk. Visited the Pt. Londsdale Light-

house and jetty again. Sea very rough and blustery. Last day and kids want to go surfing again. Back to CBTS for lunch

and walk to the beach carrying surfboards, with some extra helpers from CBTS. Still freezing but they have to get in the

water. Credit Suisse staff were on board to help with journals and presentation skills workshop. Each student were asked

to prepare a final report on what they enjoyed about the trip.

All the students had a great time of seeing and doing things for the first time and would like to thank the CFF and other

sponsors/supporters for their contributions.

More pictures at end of newsletter.

Page 4 Bwgcolman Community School Newsletter

Two weeks ago 8 students from St

Lawrence’s College stayed at

Bwgcolman Community School for 4

nights as part of an annual ‘Cultural

Immersion Program’. Prior to their

arrival, as part of their history clas-

ses all students read the book ‘Palm

Island: Through a Long Lens’. This

gave them an insight into our com-

munities rich and complex past –

something that we wish all Queens-

land students had the opportunity to

do.

Upon their arrival the 8 boys along

with their teachers led Manual Arts

lessons in which Bwgcolman stu-

dents made awesome wooden pen-

cil cases with acrylic lids. The fol-

lowing day Mr Chris Evers led a

bushwalk to Cannon Bay and Walla-

by Point. This experience enabled

the Brisbane boys kids to go

‘reefing’ for the first time – includ-

ing eating spider shells on the

beach. . At night the boys watched

parts of the Fantome Island DVD

and sections of the Dormitory Re-

union DVD. The next morning Mr

Todd took them for a walk to Pen-

cil Bay before kayaking home

from Casement. In the

afternoon our year

9/10 boys and girls

challenged the St

Lawrence’s boys in

Back-Board and touch

football.

That night we were

treated with a deli-

cious Kuppa-Murri

that was prepared by

Mr Iaga Viri. All of the

Outstanding performance on AFL field by Rosie Tennant

Exchange between schools by Todd & Darryn

Palm Island youngsters asserted their

dominance on the AFL field when they

took part in the second annual SeaLink

AFL Championships on 14 June. Teams

from St Michaels and Bwgcolman took

on the Garbutt Bombers and the Mag-

netic Island Magpies at Horseshoe Bay

in windy and rainy conditions. The

competition began last year as a rela-

tionship builder between Palm and

Magnetic Islands, and to give young

athletes from Palm Island the chance to

try out AFL. Students from Bwgcolman

showed that a lack of experience in the

game is no barrier as they dominated

in the competition. The first game saw

Bwgcolman take on the Magpies with

the first goal going to Maurice Bourne

after a great kick. Captain Brandyn

Castors and Brayden Nullajar also start-

ed strongly with some great marks and

strong tackling but we went down nar-

rowly at the end. The Garbutt Bombers

were up next and it was here that the

Bwgcolman team really found their

stride. The goals just kept coming, with

Tuqiri Prior-Ross, Jason Bulsey, Ger-

maine Bulsey and Maurice Bourne also

chalking up goals. Rani Lind and Nar-

varsha Miller really stood out in de-

fence, showing that their speed and

tackling skills more than matched the

boys on the field. Finally, we took on

the St Michaels team in a local derby

with another big win. All players on

the field contributed to what was an

extremely impressive display of foot-

ball. A big thank you goes to SeaLink

for their generous support in supply-

ing the player’s ferry tickets, and also

to the Cathy Freeman foundation for

the brand new jerseys that helped

them look as good as they played!

boys commented on how much they enjoyed

their stay and how much they learned.

Then it was our turn to visit ...

On the 16th June, ten male Junior Secondary

students from Bwgcolman Community School

visited St Laurence College in Brisbane. The

all boy’s school were fantastic hosts when we

spent the day at their school. We made key

rings during design Technology classes,

joined in Physical Education lessons, and had

special treats from the school canteen. St

Laurences also organised for us to tour the

Queensland University of Technology and

learn about the ‘CUBE’ which is a huge inter-

active touch screen.

The students also visited the ‘Brisbane wheel’

on the Southbank and had a tour of the

‘Suncorp Stadium’ with Murray Hurst who use

to coach the ‘Cowboys’ and new many of the

families on Palm Island. On the last night, the

Bwgcolman and St Laurence group shared a

meal at Sizzlers before saying their farewells.

Page 5 Volume 2 : Issue 3

CFF Term 2 Award Winners

Pics ...

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Horizon trip

Mother’s Day

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