headmaster contents - all souls st gabriels school

TENEIL TO TAKE BECKET REINS Within the next few weeks our new Becket Senior Resi-dent will take up duties in Becket House. Mrs Teneil Smale will become that Becket Senior Resident and will move into the Becket residence.

Mrs Smale is already an employee of the school as she has worked as Mrs Margaret Riddle’s aide in the Prep class for a couple of years, so she will be making the short journey, up the path from Junior School to girls boarding.

It has taken us a little while to make this appointment. Mrs Smale was keen to move into boarding and we were keen for her as well, but Darren Guldbransen, as Head of Boarding, wisely recommended that Teneil work a number of shifts to prepare herself for boarding. She has enjoyed this and will start duties as soon as possi-

ble. We need to find a replace-ment aide in Prep, and as this is well underway, Mrs Smale will start work next week.

Mrs Smale already had some hours as part of the current roster and is already well known and liked by the Becket girls.

Teneil will bring her family with her which includes her police officer husband. So if you see a patrol car parked by Green dorm in coming weeks it will not be because the girls have been misbehaving that badly. NEW HEAD As promised, I can give another update on the search for my re-placement. Interviews were conducted in late May as announced. The selection panel met afterwards to review the process, a candidate was selected and final referees’ checks were made. This decision was ratified at the May 27 Board meeting and an offer has been made to the select-ed candidate. Final negotiations are taking place and the Chairman of our Board of Governors, will make an announce-ment, all being well, before the end of term. LIONEL AND THE CATTLE BARONS I would like to recognise the efforts of Lionel Hartig and the Cattle Club students in this newsletter. They have recently returned from the Malanda Cattle Judging School

Contents Headmaster’s Report

Important Notice Page 2

Independent Schools do

Make A Difference Page 2

Deputy Head Page 3

Dean of School Page 3

Dean of Students Page 4

Cowboys Trip Page 4

Grand Secret Books Notice Page 4

School Counsellor Page 5

Parental and Supported

Code of Conduct

for School Sport Page 6

School Chaplain Page 7

School Prayers Page 7

Values Education Page 8

Week 10, Term II Program Page 8

Career Education Date

Claimers 2015 Page 9

Cambodia Service

Trip 2016 Page 10

Cattle Club Page 12

Sport News Page 14

Junior School Page 16

Junior School Sport Page 18

Beautiful Minds Program Page 18

Head of Boarding Page 19

Page House Page 20

Feetham House Page 20

Ramsay House Page 21

Alban House Page 21

Becket House Page 22

Chad House Page 23

2015 Senior Formal Page 24

Out & About Page 26

Staff Profile Page 27

The Last Word Page 28

Headmaster

Issue No 8/2015 5 June 2015

The Captain and Teneil:

Teneil Smale with Becket House Captain

Sarah Salisbury

where we placed 2nd to Tully SHS and Billy Dakin won the major judging prize. Of course this comes after a successful trip to Beef Week in Rockhampton. As you read this the Cattle Club will be on the road to the Winton Show, seeking to gain more experience and prizes. None of this is possible without Li-onel’s hard work which involves much time in preparation as well as early mornings, late nights and much time away from home. Lionel will tell you that it is much easier to do with the good team of stu-dents, that he has, led by our Rural Activities Prefect, Jessica Lusk. This may be so, and I do congratulate the team for their hard work, com-mitment, behaviour and success. But without the leadership that Li-onel gives, experiences and learn-ing such as this are not possible. Parental and Supporter Code of Conduct The school has recently adopted a Parental an Supporter Code of Con-duct for all supporters of ASSG School and Club Sport. You can find this on page 6 of this newsletter. This code has been in development for some time as part of our ongo-ing upgrade of policies and proce-dures documents. It is a common sense guide to ensuring everyone upholds the ethos of our sporting commitment. Gordon Royall Headmaster

PAGE 2 ISSUE NO 8/2015 5 JUNE 2015

Independent Schools Do Make A Difference

DATA CHECK #1

After controlling for student ability and socioeconomic background, the odds of uni-

versity participation for independent school students are 2.0 times that of govern-

ment school students

Source: Marks,G.N (2004) School sector differences in tertiary entrance: Improving the outcomes of Government school students. Australian

Social Monitor, 7(2):43-47. Available at http://cunningham.acer.edu.au/inted/onlinedocs/140241.pdf

IMPORTANT

NOTICE Parents, please note the following:

Term II is 10 weeks long and students have 3 weeks holiday at its conclusion.

Week 10 is as important as any

other week.

Much time and effort goes into

preparing this important week

Events in Week 10 include

QCS Preparation

Year 11 Practice Job Interviews with Char-ters Towers Business

People

Year 10 Bronze D of E

Expedition

Year 8 and 9 Career Aspirations

No student should be absent unless ill during this week.

Any requests for early departure, must be made to Mrs Kelly (Deputy Head).

Sam Kelly Deputy Head / Academic Dean Exams Looming Academically, things are starting to speed up for students (and staff) as many assessments are being completed and the exam block schedule is being completed. The exam block is from Tuesday to Friday during week 9. The schedule will be separately e-mailed to parents and printed for students. My thanks go to Mr Matt Johnson for once again assisting me with the schedule. Reports Teachers are in full swing with re-ports and, for those parents new to ASSG, these are far more com-prehensive than the interim mid semester reports and are posted out to parents during the holidays. If you have changed your address during semester one and have not updated your information, please phone the main office on 07 4787 1433 to do this. Last Week of Term During our last week (week 10), is our alternative week with a variety of assessments or career projects. The Year 11’s complete their mock interviews with a range of employ-ers. This is also their main assess-ment task. Barb Salisbury will have the full overview of the week in her section. I thank her for her many hours of connecting with the generous community who sup-ports our endeavours. I remind parents that the last week is not a week where the kids sit there and “do nothing” – no matter how much your son/daughter says so to get to you let them start their holidays early.


Leave permission for legitimate purposes must be to me either via e-mail: [email protected] or mobile on 0409 783 658. Students in Year 11 and 12 must adhere to the QCAA (Queensland Curriculum Assessment Authority) guidelines of attendance and as-sessment. In other words, stu-dents must reach their minimum hours for each subject and hand in the mandatory syllabus assess-ments. Changes There are a few changes for Se-mester Two. We have two mem-bers of staff leaving us: Mr John Hayes and Mr Ovidiu Trusca. Add-ed to these staff changes, are the changes with the Year 10 Senior Phase of Learning. I will be en-deavouring in the next week to finalize and minimize the impact of these changes. Year 10 stu-dents will have their new “lines” for choosing their final subjects by Week 8 and I am anticipating each parent will receive a final letter of subject choices in an e-mail during week 10. Students can change their minds about their subjects (that is the whole point of starting early) but I en-courage students to “take a chance” and try out more chal-lenging subjects for their Semes-ter Two start. As semester one draws to a close, I would like to thank parents for their support in communicating and working with staff in educat-ing your children. It has been a great semester and this doesn’t happen by accident.

Karen Storey Reports and Parent-Teacher Interviews As is always the case at the end of the Semester at All Souls St Gabri-els School students will receive an end of semester report. The aim is that these will be mailed by the end of the semester so that par-ents receive them before students return for Term 3. Please take the time to discuss academic results and comments with your child and assist them to set some appropri-ate goals for semester 2. Parent-teacher interviews will again take place from 2-4pm on travel day, Monday July 20th. Parents wishing to make appointments are asked to please contact Jon Teich-mann: [email protected] by Friday July 17th to ensure that a schedule can be completed prior to the day. I look forward to seeing many of you there, however, of course, all of your child’s teachers are also contactable via phone or email should you not be able to at-tend the parent-teacher interview afternoon. Combined Schools Formal Charters Towers State High School will host the Combined Schools Formal for Years 11 and 12 stu-dents on Friday July 24th. We are awaiting information from CTSHS regarding the theme and times for the evening, however, I would like to offer a reminder to students who are booking appointments for this day that these are to be made for after lunch only. Obviously attend-ing a hair/beauty appointment is not a QCAA approved reason for absence, so students and parents are asked to keep this in mind and abide by the School’s request to book appointments after lunch. Your co-operation in this matter is expected and appreciated.

Deputy Head Dean of School

Working tough Most students would have heard this phrase consistently in their Lifeskills and Career and Develop-ment lessons over the past semes-ter, but now, more so than ever this is critical. As I look at the calendar of events for the remainder of the term I am left wondering how I am going to fit everything in before, and I teach two subjects. I have no doubt that many stu-dents, especially seniors, are hav-ing this same quandary. Students at All Souls St Gabriels School are giv-en many strategies to organise themselves and cope with the de-mands of exams and assessments ranging from priority lists to study skills and beyond. The most critical of these, however, is the ability to communicate if as-sistance is needed. I know that over the next few weeks many par-ents will have conversations with their children about how much they have to get done, how little time there is and how they don’t under-stand what is required. These are all issues that your child’s teachers can assist with provided we are aware of them. I know I write something similar to this at the end of each term, but, please ensure that your child is communicating if there is a prob-lem. We cannot help if we are not aware that there is a problem.


Dean of Students

Shannon Lee It has been a busy term already and many assessment tasks have already been completed. Howev-er, there is much hard work to go. These last few weeks of term can really be make or break for the semester. It may be easy to lose focus and slip into the mindset that the finish line is in sight. I urge all students to finish the se-mester well by, keeping on top of assignments, beginning their revi-sion early and ask for help if you need it. There are plenty of op-portunities for support here at ASSG, you just need to ask. Bullying Report This is a follow up from the last edition of the Phoenix Rising. The online bullying report has gone ‘live’ and every secondary student has access to via their school e-mail account. I’m pleased to re-port we have already resolved some issues which have been bought to our attention via an online report. We encourage all students to report any bullying behaviours which they witness.

Mindfulness On Friday 29th May I had the op-portunity to sit in on one of Tania’s (School Counsellor) Mindfulness sessions. Tania has been working with Barb Salisbury to integrate some proactive sessions in build-ing resilience for all students in Years 7 and 9 during Life Skills. Although I only got to see a snap-shot in the series of lessons, the positive effect it will have was ob-vious. Students began by prac-tising skills which they had been developing over the previous weeks and took time to talk about things for which they were grate-ful. They then worked in groups to discuss how they might deal well and not so well with potentially stressful situations. I have no doubt that the skills the students are developing in these sessions will benefit them in years to come. Tania has certainly had a positive impact on the students already and I look forward to her contin-ued success here at ASSG. Good luck to all the students dur-ing the upcoming exam period.

Stock Exchange Arcade, Mosman Street, Charters Towers

Ph: (07) 47879900

Would like to remind students who received

Gift Vouchers at Speech Day 2014,

these are now due to

be presented.

Shop hours

Monday - Friday

8.00 am - 4.00 pm

Saturday:

7.30 am - 1.00 pm

Cowboys Trip

Mac Horne

A group of about two dozen students and teaching staff enjoyed the lat-est trip, this time to watch the Cowboys v Broncos game.

It was good to be part of the 24000 strong crowd. There was a stop on the way home, as usual, to enjoy a late night snack. My thanks to the supportive staff members Denis Riddle, Jane Elshaw and Pia Taylor.

Dean of School

School Counsellor

Tania Van Wijk Hello! I would like to say thank you to everyone for such a warm wel-come to All Souls St Gabriels. This has been an exciting transition for me to a new working environment with many changes and challeng-es. I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about accessing the student counselling service. I am located in the Clinic, near the administration building at the Senior School, with the school nurses. Students are able to drop in and see me during morning tea and lunch breaks, and after school without an appoint-ment. Ongoing appointments are scheduled during school hours, and students are given an appointment slip. This allows me to give dedi-cated time to that particular stu-dent to discuss the issues of con-cern to them without interruption. Students don’t need a referral to see me, although sometimes they will be referred by teachers or oth-er school staff if they identify is-sues of concern. Parents may also refer their child by contacting me via administration. Depending on the age of the student, they or their parent will be asked to sign a consent form to see the school counsellor, and will receive infor-mation on confidentiality and stu-dent services. In addition to student services I am looking forward to making reg-ular contributions to the school newsletter. Recently I have had a lot of queries from parents around managing the transition to adoles-cence. Adolescence is an exciting time as our children begin to ex-plore and develop the identity that will carry them through to adult-hood. During this time teenagers are adapting to changes in their brain and bodies, and striving for greater independence, whilst par-


ents often feel a loss of connec-tion and struggle to support their teenager through these changes whilst maintaining a strong rela-tionship with them. These strug-gles become the topic of conver-sation between parents, along with the giving of well-meaning advice, sometimes helpful and sometimes not! It may be helpful to consider whether doing a parenting pro-gram may be useful to support you in developing a wider range of skills to better navigate the teen-age years. Participating in a pro-gram does not mean that you aren’t parenting well; there is no manual and we all do the best job we can. However, for many of us our first child entering adoles-cence is a new experience and previously used parenting strate-gies may no longer work as well as they did when our child was younger. Two well-known parenting pro-grams are Triple P and 1-2-3 Mag-ic. Although Triple P programs can be accessed in a range of formats, most adolescent programs require in-person attendance, which can be difficult when you live in rural/remote areas. In contrast the 1-2-3 Magic program can be pur-chased as a book with a DVD also available, with in-person programs also available. What you choose will be what works for your family and what you can access most easily. If you have any questions about these programs or would like fur-ther information please don’t hesi-tate to contact me. Also, if you have any topics that might be of interest for the school newsletter please let me know; if you have a question it is likely that there are other parents that would also be interested in the same infor-mation. Counsellor’s Phone: 4788 2280

Parental and Supporter

Code of Conduct for School Sport

The Headmaster, on behalf of the School, requires all parents and supporters who attend all school

sporting fixtures to abide by the following code at all All Souls St Gabriels School sporting fixtures, trials or

friendlies.

This Code applies to all matches whether they are Inter-School fixtures, trials, friendlies or carnivals, Inter

-House matches or carnivals or Club matches. The Code applies to all sports.

The Code also applies at matches played at other schools or other venues. Parents should be aware the

other school and/other sporting associations may have similar codes or guidelines at their venues which

may be specific to their situation or venue. The ASSG Parental and Supporter Code of Conduct will still ap-

ply in such cases, as well as the code of the other school or association.

Parents play a key role in ensuring that our sportsmen and women enjoy their sport and your behaviour,

whether it is exemplary or unacceptable reflects immediately on you, your child and our School.

BEING POSITIVE

Show respect for officials and other players

Act as a positive role model to all young players

Encourage in your support

Be courteous to all

Applaud good play

Verbally support in a proactive manner

Remember victory is not everything

Children are playing for their own enjoyment

Enjoy the day and transmit that enthusiasm to the players

THE NINE COMMANDMENTS FOR ASSG PARENTS AT SPORT

1. Do not force your child to play

2. Do not stray on to the pitch or court at any time

3. Do not verbally abuse match officials -remember that they are volunteers

4. Do not verbally abuse players or other spectators

5. Do not openly criticise officials, players or coaches

6. Do not use bad language

7. Do not threaten or intimidate

8. Do not become involved in physical aggression

9. Do not do anything which is likely to offend by way of insult, humiliation or discrimination


In our thoughts and

prayers;

We continue to pray for

those involved in the

discernment process for

selecting the Head of

School for 2016.

We give thanks for the

success of the various

sporting and extracur-

ricular events that have

taken place over the last month. We partic-

ularly give thanks for

the success of students

who represented us at

the Malanda show.

We pray for our com-

munities in the West

who continue to battle

the effects of drought

on their livelihood and

families.

We pray for those who

are sick, particularly

remembering Kay

Hooper and her family.

We pray for the Kemp-ster family as Zak re-

covers from surgery in

Townsville Hospital.

SSchool chool PPrayersrayers

Dean of School

School Chaplain

Br Nathan-James SSF Confirmation Classes: Term 3 Preparation for confirmation will take place in Term 3. Classes will be held on Thursdays from 3.30 – 4.30 in the Chapel during weeks 3 – 8. Students, siblings, parents and school staff are invit-ed to join in the Confirmation preparation classes. The Right Reverend William (Bill) Ray, Bish-op of North Queensland, will Pre-side at the Confirmation service to be held on Tue 20 October 2015 at 5.30 pm. Candidates must be Baptised prior to, or on the day of, Confirmation. Candi-dates who are not Baptised should discuss this with me at their earliest convenience. For further inquiries please feel free t o e m a i l b r n a [email protected]. Students blessed for D of E Trip On Friday the 22nd of May I was preparing for our early morning chapel service when two stu-dents in street clothes turned up; one carrying a palm branch. I was puzzled by the scene. Sam and Dylan are regular attendees of our morning chapel service; they were heading off for their Silver D of E expedition and asked if I would say a prayer and blessing for them and their jour-ney. Sam had brought with him a palm branch for the occasion. So, we duly had a prayer for them, blessed some water, and used the branch to bless them with the holy water. It was a privilege to be asked to do this for them.


Prayers for new Head of School Over the last couple of months we have been praying for our Board of Governors, and consult-ant Rev Paul Bland, as they un-dertook the process of discern-ment for selecting a new Head of School for 2016. Recently we have also been praying for the Candidates for the position. It was good to be able to welcome Mrs Di Alford, Br Donald Camp-bell and Rev Paul Bland who joined us for morning Chapel last week as they, and others, gath-ered to conduct Candidate inter-views. We have also been giving thanks for Mr Royall’s continued commitment to, and leadership of, our school. We continue to pray for the discernment process as final arrangements are made. Music in the Chapel I would like to thank all of those who are making the effort to as-sist our Chapel worship through providing music support. Mrs Ta-nase’s departure left us ponder-ing the question of what will we do now on Fridays. Thankfully, our new music teacher, Julia Maclay has been more than hap-py to take on the role of Chapel organist for our Friday service. We were also very grateful for a last minute substitution by Jane Elshaw recently during Julia’s ab-sence. As always, I am more than hap-py to see our musically gifted students contribute to our Chap-el worship. I encourage anyone with an interest in playing during our Chapel services to speak to either our Music Prefect Jack McDougall or Chapel Prefect Cal-lum McDougall.

Barbara Salisbury Head of Values Education Important - Last week of Term As I wrote in the last Phoenix - The last week of Term 2 is very im-portant for our career aspirations program. I can understand board-ers keen to get home for holidays, but this is the ideal time for us to run these alternative programs. Time and time again we witness student’s higher commitment to their studies when they are aware of the requirements for future training or employment. It is through our career aspirations pro-gram that student’s learn enough to make an informed choice about their future and are inspired to set goals. A brief overview of the pro-gram is shown below:


In the last Phoenix I wrote about the Year 11 and 12 program in de-tail, explaining the Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) Course, First Aid Course, Mock Job Inter-views and QCS Test Practice. So much happens in this important last week, so please resist the temptation of your child going home early.

You will notice in the Careers Event Calendar that the Year 10 Get Into Uni Camp is now in the last week of this term. Four inter-ested students have already been registered. The Year 11 and 12 JCU Experience still has places for the last week of the July holidays.

I have enjoyed working with the Year 12s as they finalise their ca-reer plans for beyond school. If you would like to make a time to discuss career options for your child, I would welcome hearing from you.

Year 8 and 9 Career Aspirations Program On the Monday, both Year 8 and Year 9 will enjoy a day with JCU Staff and student ambassadors ex-ploring career pathways and setting goals for the future. On the Tues-day, Year 8 will go to JCU for the day and enjoy activities and a tour of the university. While Year 9 will have a variety of presenters related to trades such as TORGAS, Defence Force and Skill 360. Year 9 will also complete the final important ses-sions to the personal growth pro-gram run by Tania van Wijk. On the Wednesday, Rural Health in North-ern Outback (RHINO) will run ses-sions with both groups centred around health careers and activi-ties.

In Summary, this is what is on: (Note: Year 10 is on D of E and Year 7 does their career aspirations day in Term 1)

Values Education

Year Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday 7 FRIENDS Program and Nor-

mal Classes Normal Classes Connecting with Community

Spinal Education Awareness presentation (11.30am)

Connecting with Community

8 JCU Career aspiration activities at ASSG

Trip to JCU in Towns-ville.

Rural Health Careers activities (1.30pm) Spinal Education Awareness presentation (11.30am)


9 JCU Career aspiration activities at ASSG

FRIENDS Program, af-ter lunch Career talks from TORGAS, Defence Force, Skill 360

Rural Health Careers activities (8.30am) Spinal Education Awareness presentation (11.30am)


10 Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh OR JCU Get Into Uni Camp

Duke of Edinburgh OR JCU Get Into Uni Camp

Duke of Edinburgh OR JCU Get Into Uni Camp

11 RSA Course Or Mock Job Interviews

Mock Job Interviews (most of Year 11) RSA Course

First Aid Course; Certificate III Fitness practical Spinal Education Awareness presentation (1.30 pm)

First Aid Course

12 Op

Day 1 QCS Practice Test

Day 2 QCS Practice Test

First Aid Course ; Rural Health Careers activities (10am), QTAC Application Spinal Education Awareness presentation (1.30 pm)

First Aid Course

12 Non OP

DTTC; RSA Course; Comple-tion of assessments

DTTC; Mock Job Inter-views for those interest-ed; RSA Course

First Aid Course ‘Ringer’ guest speaker Spinal Education Awareness presentation (1.30 pm)

First Aid Course

Week 10 Program

Persistence Time Again We are heading into the busy as-sessment period. As a whole stu-dent group there seems to be more acceptance of the need to work tough during this time. Students are facing the challenge with more talk of getting on with it and less complaining. Encourage your child to do the same if you see them wa-vering when faced with assignment due dates and the exam block. Please look over the calendar for upcoming events these holidays and for Term 3. Year 11 and 12 Camp at JCU Year 11 and Year 12 parents will be emailed shortly with detailed infor-mation about the JCU Experience being held in the holidays. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to learn details about courses that interest them and really helps in decisions about future study. We have many attend that are in two minds about going to University at all. Most return feeling more confi-dent about what they plan to do and have a sense of relief as they cross things off their possibility list.


FUTURES DINNER

On Tuesday 19th May our Year 12 Students attended our 'Futures Dinner' where they have the opportunity to talk with leaders of local business and industries.

The students enjoyed the evening, with one student saying "Tonight was awesome, I'm so glad the school does this for us."

Thank you to our guests who give up their valuable time for our students.

Date Event Year June 22

-25

Please see other table for

the huge number of im-

portant events on this

week.

Jun 23-

25

Year 10 Get into Uni

Camp

4 places

only

13-15

July

(3

days)

University Experience at

JCU – great opportuni-

ty for students to take a

closer look at 3 courses

of interest to help them

decide.

Interested

Year 11 or

12

Wed

22 July

DTTC Careers Expo Year 7-10,

interested

Year

11/12

Late

August

JCU Open Day Int Yr10-

12s

Cambodia Service

Trip 2016 Barbara Salisbury Trip Coordinator The Cambodia Service Trip in 2014 was a life changing experience for students and adults alike. We are now very pleased to be asking for applications for students interested in going on the 2016 trip. I have sent an email to all Year 10 and Year 11 parents, plus students have had the opportunity to collect the application pack from me. Ap-plications and deposit are due by the 25th June. I think revisiting the report from the last trip written by the students is the best way to give you an idea of what your child could experience if they come on the trip.

Time in the Village by Juanita Allingham Well what a life changing experi-ence it was, that is the only way I can explain our week in the village. Our time began with us being wel-comed by all the village children who gave beautiful coloured flow-ers and sang us a song which was titled ‘Welcome’, which brought tears to some of our eyes.

PAGE 10 ISSUE NO 8/2015 5 JUNE

We had the whole Cambodian ex-perience with us partaking in a homestay, where three families gave up their houses for us to stay in. During that week we bonded with the families especially the chil-dren who treated us like we were a part of their family. Our afternoons were filled with nu-merous village activities from an ox cart ride to broom making which were all done to support the mem-bers of the village. Our activities would be completed but our day wasn’t over with the kids always giving us flowers which meant by the time we left there were few flowers to be seen on a plant. As well as the feeling that we got from helping the village build the library, the feeling that you got from playing and teaching the chil-dren was wonderful. They were beautiful, the way their faces lit up when we gave them a netball which they used as a soccer ball and a Cowboys football was an im-age that I will never forget, just the joy they had all over their fac-es.

The best part of the week was when we took 18 children to a temple which none had ever been to but most of all most of them had never been on a bus before. For starters they were a bit scared but then they got excited when all of us made little friends who walked with us throughout the temple. It was a great feeling to know that we gave them the opportunity to do something that they would probably never of had the chance to do. It was so hard to say goodbye to everyone, especially the children who we had made special bonds with but also the food which was the best tasting food we had had during our trip. We probably won’t miss our bathrooms but it was all a part of the experience and some-thing that added to it all. This week of the trip was a life changer and the moments we had with all the members of the village are ones that will never be forgotten.

Helping build the library by Sam Nolan

Helping on a building site in Cam-bodia was a real eye opener as the equipment we had to use was lim-ited to buckets and hand tools. Our job was to dig trenches for the foundations and then lay the bricks. Thankfully we were used to the heat because it was really hot in the full sun, no wind and 80% plus humidity (even the locals were saying it was very hot). It was a struggle to build, but this also made it rewarding as we looked at how much work we got done in the short time we were there. We cer-tainly became more grateful for what we have in our country! Food by Sarah Salisbury We had many interesting encoun-ters with various types of food we ate which included: deep fried ta-rantula, chicken feet, frogs in a va-riety of forms, fish eye, chicken in-testines and ant soup. Mr Lewis, Juanita, Sam and I went on an eat-ing challenge and managed to eat all of these. Overall the food was amazing and even the weird and wonderful things listed above didn’t taste all that bad. The tarantula was like one big chewing chip, and the chicken foot was like eating skin as there’s not much meat. The fish eye though was an experience


as all the lovely juices flowed eve-rywhere when you put in your mouth. The markets were a great way to see the large variety of bugs, eggs and various parts of an-imals (like a pigs head) on display. Otherwise the Asian cooking was delicious and we even got to do some cooking lessons.

Market Shopping by Emma Golding If we didn’t know how to barter before heading to the local mar-kets in Cambodia we definitely learnt quickly. Seeing stalls crammed with so much stuff that if you so much as glanced at it the stall holder would be asking you if ‘you buy?’, ‘you like?’, ‘how much you pay?’ within a second flat. If you bargained well you could get whatever it was half price or less and if they didn’t lower it you would just start walking away and then they would chase you down saying ‘special price just for you!’. Needless to say many of us came home with luggage many kilos heavier and had a lot of fun shop-ping in such a different way.

So much to see by Katherine Salisbury Getting places was an adventure in itself. We had an amazingly good bus driver who navigated us through the insane traffic. We ex-plored modes of transport that we had never experienced before like ox-carts, local boat and tuk tuks. We visited so many amazing plac-es: the Royal Palace, many tem-ples including the spectacular Angkor Watt, Angkor Museum, Silk Farm, Artisan of Angkor, Mount Kulen and the Giant Budha. What touched us the most was our homestay in the vil-lage and visiting places like the Landmine Museum and The Kill-ing Fields. Our guide Vuttha Dam really helped us understand the recent history in Cambodia and the struggles they still experience today. This was such a life changing ex-perience and we are very grateful to Mrs Salisbury for organising it, Mr Lewis, Tracey Meteyard and Carol Shadforth for both caring for us and being so much fun.

ISSUE NO 8/2015 5 JUNE 2015

Cattle Club @ Beef Week

Jessica Lusk Rural Activities Prefect

On Saturday the 2nd of May, 14 students from the All Souls Cattle Club set off to Tedlands Station, on their way to Beef Week 2015. We arrived at Tedlands after a pretty interesting bus ride, and went for a tour of nearby pad-docks. Mr McDougall showed us different pastures, their cattle selection and identification measures as well as a bit of croc spotting, in which we didn’t see the croc. We enjoyed a barbeque dinner by the fire with the McDou-gall’s and set up our camps for the night ready for the day ahead.

An early morning start on Sunday saw us arrive in Rockhampton around midday and gave us some time to pre-pare before the Young Commercial cattle judging that afternoon. We observed the prime cattle judging and took part in a small crash course in what to look for from the judge of those cattle. That advice definitely helped us prepare, with Mickala Gough making it to the finals in her division along with Clayton Gough in his division. Unfor-tunately, neither made a place. After the competition we arrived at the majestic Tent City, selected our tents and set off for a quick look around Beef Week and the studs we would work with before going to a lovely dinner at Red Rooster.

Monday saw eight of us, in two teams of four, compete in the School Team Judging competition against dozens of schools from surrounding areas and beyond. Set with the challenge of judging four Charbray bulls and speaking in front of hundreds of people, the nominated speakers for each team, Gayleen Lawrence and myself, presented our teams views to the judge. Again, we did not gain a place but both teams are incredibly proud of our efforts. The rest of the day saw us exploring the many trade sites and working for our different studs when required. A good feed at the RSL rounded off a great day.

For those of us working for Brahman studs, Tuesday began bright and early at 3:30 am to prepare for the Brah-man judging at 7:30 that morning. A busy pace of cleaning, brushing and preparing the stalls and cattle gave us a pretty good wake up. The Brahmans had a successful and long day. Meanwhile, Mickala, Gayleen and Bronwyn were given the opportunity to present cattle for their Dexter stud. Those cattle were placed very highly in their re-spective classes. Lionel and me were both invited onto the ABC Capricornia Breakfast show where we were able to share our experiences so far at Beef Week. That same day, a reporter from ABC North Queensland interviewed Li-onel, Billy, Clayton and I for a news story along with taking snapshots of all of us at camp and working at our studs. Another dinner at the RSL went down a treat, but we all basically slept in our food that night.

Wednesday and Thursday saw our usual stud work routines followed by exploring the trade show, buying out the Ariat tent and raiding the lolly jar at the All Souls stall. Some of us were lucky enough to be given the opportunity to attend the heifer sale held at the Great Western Hotel on Wednesday night. We also were observing the judg-ing of different breeds in the centre rings, admiring the judging skills involved and the fluffy tails of the Charolais and Brafords. Billy, Mickala, Gayleen and Bronwyn were also lucky enough to be given roles in the Grand parade on Thursday afternoon.

Friday was when we hit full swing, with Billy, Vicky, Mickala and Gayleen all taking part in the Junior Paraders com-petition that morning where again we worked hard, but did not receive a place. Following the paraders was the Young Judges competition. Vicky, Kayla and Billy all made the finals in their respective age groups. All of our stu-dents presented themselves and spoke extremely well. However, it was Billy who came away with our only place of the week, receiving a third in his division against dozens of competitors. After cleaning and thanking our studs for the last time, we all got ready for a night at the PBR. After all, that’s what we had been looking forward to all week. It was definitely a great way to end an amazing experience that really can only be understood by going to such an event as Beef Week.

Saturday saw us tour the Goonoo Station Feedlot owned by Australian Agricultural Company. We saw their pro-cessing facilities, and feed facilities where we played in the freshly steamed oat piles being the mature kids that we are. We also admired the thousands upon thousands of Waygu cross cattle that were being fed in the pens. Some of them were, as we were told, anywhere upwards of 700kg. Steaks from these cattle were being sold in England for around $400 a kilo. Our tour guide, a Philippino man working at Goonoo also gave us some valuable life advice, where he told us of his family, his country and hard times. In a nutshell, life could be a hell of a lot worse, so be thankful for what you have and what you get the opportunity to do. It opened the eyes of everyone on the trip and it definitely made you stop and think.


It was definitely an amazing trip in which everyone should be proud of all of their efforts in every competition and everyday work. We are forever thankful to Lionel for putting together such an amazing trip along with everyone who was involved in putting the bits and pieces together with him. Thanks must go to the McDougall family for al-lowing us to stay at their home and all of their great hospitality. We must also thank the Goonoo Station staff for warmly welcoming us into the homestead and showing us around. Finally, a big thank you to Mr Jim Lawrence who accompanied us on the trip and helped drive the bus with Lionel. Words cannot describe the trip, the amazing time we had, the competitions and the rare opportunity to skip a week of school.

I will admit, I did mess up in the previous newsletter. I wrote that the Malanda Judging school was the weekend of the 23rd and 24th of May. It is actually Friday the 29th through to the Sunday. All students are very excited for this school, with some keen youngsters coming through the ranks of Cattle Club. A full report will be included in the next newsletter along with news from the Winton Show.

Sport News Sport News

Karen Storey Secondary Sports Co-ordinator Sports News The sporting calendar has been jam packed over the last few weeks with events ranging from Inter-School fix-tures to house and NQ trials. All teams have achieved some great results and the students continue to represent the school proudly. A summary of recent events appears below. North Queensland Representatives Congratulations to Mitchell Rankine, Bianca Peace, Breanne Peace and Luka Hall who were selected in the North Queensland Cross Country to compete at the State Championships on the Gold Coast in July. We wish these stu-dents well. Today there are 7 x 15 Years Boys trialling for North Queensland Rugby Union. We wish them well also. Inter-School Sport: Since I last wrote we have played 3 rounds of Inter-School Netball and Rugby League against CTSHS, CCC and BTC. Just yesterday (Sunday) we enjoyed taking on BTC at BTC in a reverse of the first round of fixtures which were played here at ASSG. The results of the games from the last 3 weeks appear below:

Round 2 vs CTSHS

Round 3 vs CCC

Team Win/loss Score

1st Rugby League Won 16-4

1st Netball CTSHS no team

2nd Rugby League CTSHS no team

2nd Netball CTSHS no team

15 Years Rugby League Won 18-4

15 Years Netball CTSHS no team

14 Years Rugby League CTSHS no team

14 Years Netball Lost 9-20


13 Years Netball Won 33-5

12 Years Rugby League CTSHS no team


Team Win/loss Score

1st Rugby League Lost 14-22

1st Netball Game still to be played

2nd Rugby League CCC no team

2nd Netball Won 19-8



14 Years Rugby League Lost 20-26







Round 4 vs BTC

This week we take on CTSHS again with the 12 Years and 14 Years Rugby League teams also playing games against the Charters Towers Miners as CTSHS are unable to field teams in these age groups. The final round of Inter-School Netball and Rugby League will take place against CCC next week. Some of these games will be played under lights on Friday evening, 12th June. A schedule of games will be forthcoming in the next week. House Athletics Trials Over the past fortnight we have been working on house trials for the Inter-House Athletics Carnival which will be run on Thursday 30th (afternoon only) and Friday July 31st (all day), week 2, term 3. These trials will continue to happen each Friday until the end of the term to ensure that house teams are ready for the carnival. A program will be available in the final newsletter of the term.

Team Win/loss Score

1st Rugby League Draw 6 all

1st Netball Won 33-13

2nd Rugby League BTC no team

2nd Netball Lost 8-22







12 Years Rugby League BTC no team

12 Years Netball BTC no team


Junior School

Tina Akers Head of Junior School Past the halfway point Well here we are, over half way through Term 2 already. How time flies! So much has already hap-pened this year and there is still so much to do. Teachers and students are well and truly in the thick of assessment in preparation for reports at the end of this semester. The process of re-port writing is an extensive one, with teachers utilising many forms of assessment to make judgements on student progress. Reports will be sent home on Thursday 25 June. Parent teacher interviews will be held on Friday 26 June between 1:00 and 3:00pm and again on Monday 20 July be-tween 2:00 and 4:00pm. I encour-age all families to take the oppor-tunity to meet with your child’s teachers to share academic, social and emotional development. Ap-pointments can be made by calling 4788 2242 or emailing Mrs Shepley [email protected]. Reader’s Cup On Thursday 28 May, William Holt, Heather Brassington, Olivia Titley and Annika Peace travelled to Townsville with Mrs Toohey to rep-resent our School at the 2015 Re-gional Reader’s Cup Challenge. As a team, the students all represented our School well. I would like to con-gratulate them for their commit-ment to reading the books in prep-aration for this event and the team-work they displayed on the night. It is always great to see students en-thusiastic, as reading has so many positive outcomes which are critical to academic success. Thanks also to Mrs Toohey and the parents for your support.

Mrs Toohey with Heather, Olivia, Annika and Will Under 8’s Day We were very excited to celebrate the ‘Voices of Children’ at our annu-al Under 8’s Day this year. The Year 6 students did a magnificent job of hosting a morning packed full of activities for the young children. Children, along with their parents, carers and families from the wider Charters Towers community joined in the celebrations in the relaxed environment of All Souls St Gabriels Junior School. Thanks to everyone involved in creating a special morn-ing for the young children.


Soccer Clinics Soccer Clinics at Junior School are always a hit with our students! A representative from NQ Football has been travelling from Townsville each Thursday to teach our stu-dents the drills and skills required for this great sport. Thank you to Craig Perfect for providing the op-portunity for our students to en-gage in these specialised coaching clinics and have lots of fun. Squaring the Wheel It was wonderful to see the ex-pression on the students’ faces and hear their comments as they were engrossed in watching the fun, en-tertaining “Squaring the Wheel” performance. It was arty with an element of science. It was funny and sad. Things beeped, popped and banged. There was miming, puppetry, balls flying, dogs bark-ing, and lots, lots more. It was an entertaining show inhabited by a quirky contraption and concluded with some interactive audience participation which all the students thoroughly enjoyed.

Welcome Back Mrs Limkin The Pre-prep children were very happy to not only welcome back Mrs Limkin after her extended leave, but enjoyed celebrating her birthday. Belated birthday greet-ings Mrs L, it’s good to have you back in the Pre-prep. Thank you to Mrs Alisha Maff for all your efforts in supporting the learning in the Pre-prep class over the last 5 weeks. The children have enjoyed getting to know and learn with you.

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Little Souls “Little Souls” will start again on Wednesday,10 June between 9:00 and 11:00 in the Pre-prep. Parents who bring their children along to Little Souls are asked to pay $3 (for resources) and contribute a plate of food to share. Should you require more infor-mation please don’t hesitate to contact the JS Office or Colleen Limkin at : [email protected] Emergency Procedures Practice During the term the School con-ducts practice emergency drills. This may be either a Lockdown or an Evacuation procedure. Any par-ents or other visitors on the School site during this time will be ex-pected to participate in the drill by following instructions that are given to them by any member of staff during this time. It is imperative that this happens to fully test the robustness of our processes. Partners in education At school we make no apologies for putting clear expectations and boundaries in place. We certainly want to nurture, respect, care for and grow our children, assisting them to solve problems when they make mistakes and learn from their actions, both positive and negative. We only grow when we make mis-takes and take some risks. Working with our School community, is a partnership. There will always be two sides to every story and we do our utmost to establish the facts. Yes, we can appreciate that it is a challenge to sometimes hear that your child is at fault and has some reflecting to do, or a particular con-sequence will follow their actions. If they see parents and the School standing firm as one with some ‘tough love’, our children are far more likely to learn from their mis-takes than believe that they can manipulate a situation and get their own way, irrespective of where the truth may lie. Similarly, establishing where the truth begins and ends

can be a challenge at the best of times with children and we too are human and don’t always elicit all of the necessary information from the children. We would certainly expect that a parent be their child’s advo-cate if this does occur and welcome your feedback so we can clarify what has occurred if these situa-tions arise. On occasion, concerns may cause frustration and anxiety. At such times it is always important to or-ganise a time to talk with the School staff in an unhurried and confidential atmosphere. If you need to approach the School in or-der to discuss issues or concerns regarding your child’s progress, welfare or actions enquire about policy or practice, or request specif-ic information about an event or ac-tivity please don’t hesitate to ar-range an appointment. In most cases the class teacher is able to answer your questions, however depending on the matter you may be referred to Mrs Shepley or asked to make an appointment with Mrs Akers or a member of the Senior Management team.


Personal Learning Journey I recently attended the 12th An-nual Thinking and Learning con-ference in Melbourne. A confer-ence that challenged the ques-tion: How do we prepare our stu-dents for a world we cannot im-agine? It was an amazing oppor-tunity that re-affirmed (for me), that ASSG Junior School is on the right track. As a staff, we are constantly talking about how we can develop each student’s appe-tite for knowledge and the capac-ity to learn. Through our profes-sional learning conversations we have a culture that focuses on working collaboratively on all matters related to learning. We are committed to professional growth – to thinking, planning, acting and reflecting on the im-pact our teaching practice has on student learning. Ensuring that all students in our School are flour-ishing to their full potential with their learning is our first priority. Thank you for your wonderful support and ongoing partnership in educating your children.

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Junior School Sport

Pia Taylor Junior School Sports Coordinator The Junior School Touch season has been in full swing the past couple of weeks. On the 22nd May four teams from ASSG travelled to Columba Catholic College to participate in the Charters Towers U12 Touch trial day. All students involved should be congratulated on the way they played and conducted themselves throughout the entire day. There were some hard fought matches that came down to the wire. At the end of the day the Year 7 Boys and Girls teams each finished in 3rd place, the Year 6 Girls team finished 6th, and the Year 6 Boys team finished in 7th place. Congratulations to Piper Davey, April Tabo and Annika Peace who made possibles and probables. And Congrat-ulations to Tom Marshall, Ryan Fox and Corey Stanger who were selected in the Charters Towers U12 Boys touch team. Special thanks to Adrian Guldbransen, Reggie Santo and Daryl Fry who helped with coaching teams on the day. Week 7 sees the conclusion of the Primary Touch Inter School sport rounds with ASSG hosting Richmond Hill SS. Both the boys and girls will play on Burry Oval with games starting at 1:20 pm on Friday 5th June. Good Luck to all who are involved.



Head of Boarding Darren Guldbransen Head of Boarding Mobile: 0415 903 479 Email: [email protected]

Boys’ Boarding Feetham House Chris Lerch Senior Resident Mobile: 0419 471 433 Email: [email protected] Page House Davin Marshall Senior Resident Mobile: 0409 071 433 Email: [email protected] Ramsay House Brendan Travers Senior Resident Mobile: 0400 751 433 Email: [email protected]

Girls’ Boarding Alban House Narelle Kelly Senior Resident Mobile: 0419 771 433 Email: [email protected] Becket House Teneil Smale Senior Resident Mobile: 0407 142 493 Email: [email protected] Chad House Yvonne Schaefer Senior Resident Mobile: 0439 764 638 Email: [email protected]

Dormitory News Dormitory News Head of Boarding Darren Guldbransen State of Origin Our dining staff always get the ball rolling on origin night by decorating the hall in Maroon, which the kids love, although it is always a pretty tough meal to sit through for our Blues supporters, but there is noth-ing quite like State of Origin night in the dorms. The really keen and organized people stake their claim by putting their mattress out in the common room that afternoon with a name tag on it so they have a prime position for the game. Snacks are bought the weekend before and pizzas are ordered before prep that night so they have all the ingredi-ents for a great night. Having Queensland win is a bonus, but if not at least all the food groups have been covered.

Day at BTC We had another great day over at BTC on Sunday with our kids play-ing netball and rugby league. All the results will be covered in this newsletter somewhere but I just want to say how happy I was with how our students presented and conducted themselves. A lot of our

kids would have been sick of me and other staff reminding them about their uniforms, especially their shoes and hats, but I believe when our school is on show like that we are seen as one unit. Not boarders or weekly boarders or day students or kids on leave, but just as All Souls students, and the easiest way to do that is to have everyone dressed in uniform. In past years we have had anyone not competing dressed in their day uniform but we now have every-one in their PE uniform so specta-tors don’t feel like they are being punished for not being in a team. It certainly makes supervision eas-ier, but being dressed in full uni-form makes everyone equal and makes it about the school and not the individual.

Leave I am asking parents and hosts for some help with our borders leave and travel please. In my time in boarding I have never seen so many boarders involved in so many different sports, activities and events. At the moment we have kids involved in a number of club sports, Cadets, Towers Players, Cowboy’s trips, camp drafts, sport-ing trials, Cattle and Horse Club outings, as well as all our usual leave arrangements and school ex-cursions. We are not looking to stop any leave or outings but I want to make sure our boarding staff can keep track of all their boarders and their comings and goings, particularly if they are being picked up or dropped to one of these outings, and who they will be travelling with. My preference is for all leave to be sorted by email by Thursday night but some of our kids are very good at dropping a last minute leave request on their parents, hosts and staff on Friday morning or even Friday afternoon. We are happy to accommodate these re-quests, which are normally done over the phone, usually without much trouble. I would ask though that parents follow that call up with an email please. That’s it for now.

Page House

Davin Marshall Senior Resident The term is well past the halfway point and the boys are fully occu-pied with training for various sports and keeping up with their assess-ments. We are starting to have some good wins in the school Rug-by League competition and the boys are sporting some bumps and bruises as badges of honour. They are certainly enjoying the physical nature of the game. The Rugby Un-ion players are also having some wins and are really enjoying their season. Kade Banset recently made the North Queensland Under 15 boys Rugby League side and travelled to Roma for the State trials. He had a great time and gained a lot of expe-rience from the event. Well done, Kade. A training hike for the upcoming D of E Hike on Hinchinbrook Island was conducted at Conway National Park near Airlie beach last weekend and we had some boys in attend-ance: Jack McDougall, Rhys Don-aldson, Dylan McKenna and Sam Meteyard travelled down with Miss Pimm and Mr Riddle. Unfortunately Dylan hurt his ankle and was una-ble to complete the course, but the others all passed with flying col-ours. Our Seniors are doing a great job in the dormitory with the younger boys, especially keeping an eye out for bullying and boys getting into conflicts. It is great to see the level of maturity they have reached. The Year 11’s are also growing towards the role of dormitory leaders as they look towards next year. We have a great group of older boys in the dormitory. The State of Origin event in the dormitory was great fun as usual. The competition for the best view-ing position was fierce and the piz-


za ordering was a top priority. My favourite part is when they all stand and link arms to sing the na-tional anthem at full volume. The ref copped the usual abuse for bad decisions, but in the end the mighty Maroons prevailed and everyone went to bed happy. Great stuff. The dormitory is functioning well at the moment and apart from the few small incident we have had I am happy with everyone’s con-duct. If you have any concerns re-garding your son please feel free to contact me.

Feetham House

Chris Lerch Senior Resident Now well past the half way point of term the new computers in Feetham have been running at full capacity as assignment due dates approach fast and exams are sneaking up not far behind them. Although we’ve had another busy term it certainly seems to have run quite smoothly and I must give credit to both the carefully bal-anced time tables put in place for all the activities on offer and the students for being where and when they should be. Term 2 in my experience in board-ing has always been one of the most popular terms, partly due to the milder weather which is a wel-come change after a long hot summer which makes for a pleas-ant night’s sleep, but mainly be-cause Term 2 means footy sea-son!! Of which Feetham house has a large number of boys playing in the competitive inter school com-petition, from the under 12’s through to the open division of both the firsts and seconds sides.

There have been great contests and exciting games in all ages, but mostly it’s just great to see the boys having fun and being in-volved. Certainly the highlight of the footy season is the State of Origin games which is truly an elec-trifying experience in the dorm. I believe only watching a game live at Lang Park could better the at-mosphere created in the dormitory on Origin night. The 33 boy huddle around the television for the na-tional anthem is a great touch, alt-hough we certainly have some ordi-nary singers amongst us…. Dylan Rodger was our sole repre-sentative from Feetham when the All Souls cattle club travelled up to Malanda for their annual show. Talking to Dylan he enjoyed the ex-perience and had a great time, even though the weather was a lit-tle undesirable. Sure would be ap-preciated if they’d send some of that rain down this way. Our Win-ton boys Patrick Washington and John Durack will be heading home this weekend to enjoy their annual show with All Souls representatives, which they have been looking for-ward to. So for the following weeks as the sports and extra-curricular activities begin to wind down, the Feetham lads will start to really knuckle down at our nightly Prep sessions to ensure they are best prepared for the upcoming end of semester exams, certainly with the thought of the holidays in the back of their minds. If you have any queries or concerns regarding your son in boarding please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Ramsay House

Brendan Travers Senior Resident

Term three is rolling by at a rapid rate and the Ramsay Boys are steaming along with it. Our dorm is a hive of activity in the afternoons as we make preparations for the many various commitments we have. Our studies have increased as well, as we near the crunch time of term, with a lot of our free time now spent at the library or under desk lamps with our heads buried in books.

We have completed four rounds of Interschool Footy and the many hours spent practicing is now start-ing reap benefits with victories coming for most teams. This seems to be spilling over into other foot-balling codes as well. Jake Luke and Cody Sibson have both been select-ed as North Queensland Represent-atives in the U15 Rugby Union. Both Jake and Cody play on a weekly basis for the Charters Tow-ers Bulls and have been rewarded for their hard work over the season. Well done Boys. Also gaining selec-tion in a representative team from Ramsay dorm was Corey Stanger. Corey has been selected in the Charters Towers U12 Touch Football Team. With limited training Corey was able to impress the selectors with his footwork and speed. Well done, Corey.

During week six we also missed the company of Matthew, Harrison, Brandon and Camden Finger as well as Aidan and Matthew Franettovich whilst they attended the Malanda Cattle Judging School. The week-end was spent learning how to rope tie, wash, lead and judge commer-cial and stud cattle. From all reports it was a very successful trip. The boys really enjoyed themselves, de-spite the rain, learning plenty and picking up prizes on the final day. A few of these skills will be on display at the Winton show this weekend when the boys head out once again.


That’s all from Ramsay Dorm, as always if any parents would like to contact me, please feel free to do so via e-mail or phone any time.

Alban House

Narelle Kelly Senior Resident Over the last two weeks the girls have again been full of activity. The goings-on are quite a list: Seniors attending their Futures Dinner night, which was an enjoy-able night. Charlee Keleher attend-ed the Horse Health Seminar and a Show jumping school. Amber As-pinall represented her age group to travel to Townsville as she was selected for the NQ Cross Country Trials, she placed 23rd overall, so congratulations to her for making the effort to compete and do well. Kate Blennerhassett, Andie Stan-ger and Katie Core were all in-volved in the Horse of the North that ran from Thursday through to Sunday. All the girls contributed their time one way or another over the few days. Ceelena Lawrence ventured off to Malanda with the Cattle club. Ceelena said that the weather was making things diffi-cult as it rained off and on all weekend. By all accounts our All Souls team did really well. Gayleen Lawrence was absent for a week while on her RITE training block. The girls really got into the spirit of the State of Origin. They were all excited that morning as they had free dress. I must say there was more Maroon than blue get-ting around the dorm. Face paint was the order of the day as well. The girls all settled down to watch the game with their pizza in hand and the ice-cream at half time was a real hit.

Half-time means ice cream with 3 different toppings. There were three Alban girls: Katie Core, Kiara Henry-Nash and Tayla Davidson who made their Debut. I have included their photos and you will all agree how beautiful they looked on the night. Athletics trials are under way pre-paring for the Inter-House Athletics Carnival next term. On Friday the Alban girls ran their 100m trials. Because they are a fantastic group of girls, the trials were run quite ef-ficiently and they found they fin-ished with some spare time. With-out any hesitation the girls eagerly began to play a game of 'ninja'. From what it looks like it was a great bonding exercise for the girls- although I'm not quite sure what the rules are! I am sure that I might have missed something; it does tend to get a lit-tle chaotic sometimes here in our house.

I would like to thank the girls and the relief staff for working together and making our family a great place to be. As the Alban and Becket dorms are connected, last week I did talk to the girls about it being their duty to keep an eye on the time. At 9pm each week day night, the girls are required to move back to their own house (side), so we can prepare them all for bed. There are only a few offenders that seem to like to socialise past that hour, but I know with perseverance they will finally fall into line with our new rule. It just makes the job for the person on duty a little easier in finding them all for bedtime.

But until the next time that I have to write, please take care and ring should your daughter have any is-sues.


Becket House

State of Origin Night. All lined up for ice cream. April Tabo with Lissabelle waiting her turn. Piper is on the ice- cream scoop duties.

Angela waiting patiently.

Katie Core (Becket) and Kiara Hen-ry-Nash (Alban), trying their hand at braiding their hair together. They were inseparable and imaginative for sure.

Karen Tweedie with her CT Soccer team mates Past Head of Junior School - Rohan Robertson, wife Ally, and children Matilda and Noah were on hand to support Karen Tweedie

Chad House

Yvonne Schaefer Senior Resident State of Origin What a night!! With Pizzas at the ready, space on the common room floor reserved and Prep completed, the State of Origin definitely lived up to expectations. The girls had a great night and enjoyed a bit of time out and friendly rivalry. Larissa and Jemma Mafrici, originally from Sydney, flew the flag for the Blues. Anna Winsper, Anastacia Chappell, Vasenai Dabea, Kim Andison and Bronwyn Pedracini QUEENSLAND SUPPORTERS!!

Casey Campbell and Vicky Dakin showing their support for the Queensland team.

A free dress day was held on Wednesday the 27th of May so sup-port for their teams could be out there for all to see.


Assignments and Assessments The girls are working really well and are keeping abreast of their assessments on the whole. There is a lot of support from their teachers and from RINGERS Club as well, to give our girls the best chance. Our computers are very popular and are being used after school, during prep and after prep, as well as in the mornings some-times as well. If you feel that your child needs some added support, please let me know and we can organise some help earlier rather than later. Be Nice to Each Other Dawn and I have been working with our Year Sevens within the dorm to encourage them to look out for each other. This has been done in conjunction with their teachers so there is continuity throughout the school. We are hoping for a group of girls who are confident, and able to make deci-sions that are best for themselves and without the pressure of peer influence. (Wish us luck!) I believe that we are getting there and that our Year Sevens are starting to help each other a lot more. Boarding school can be a great ex-perience for our girls, I would just like to make sure that it is similar for all of them. Leave We would like to see that weekend leave be organised by Wednesday each week if possible. We realise that sometimes it is unable to or-ganised early, but if we can keep this leave to a minimum, it would be appreciated. It is preferable that we have written permission from parents, be it email, fax or text to give permission regarding host leave. We thank parents for your assistance regarding this matter. As always, if you have any issues, please let us know and we will do our best to deal with them.

Out & About

Sarah Valentine State of Origin Each year at State of Origin time, the Free Dress Day usually estab-lishes who the ring-ins are and some playful jeering at Blues sup-porters takes place but the decora-tion of Halse Hall is the thing that puts us all in the mood for the game. The Riot Act is read to the students at dinner time and the students are in agreement. “Yes we will be quiet and do our home-work during prep so we can watch the game” and so the story goes. Each Year, Chef Deborah Kelly pro-vides decorations so the diners ‘get in the mood’. She has been doing this for many years and so today we would like to officially thank her for her Queensland spirit.

Mandy Jones, Deb Kelly and Sue Brown at Halse Hall.

Aiden Gileppa Ky and Kade Banset in their Queenslander Onesies.

They wore their spectacular outfits to dinner at Halse Hall, ignoring the taunts to display loyalty as QUEENSLANDERS.

Sport v BTC On Sunday we had a Netball and Football carnival at Blackheath and Thornburgh. The day was a cele-bration of the sporting prowess of all students. We are thankful to all the coaches and players for a fan-tastic day. The results of all games will appear elsewhere in this bulle-tin. Netball Seconds Game This was an exciting display of net-ball and we were all impressed with the effort the girls put into their game.

Back: Taylor Ievers, Megan Rigato, Tammy Rea, Rose Elliott

Front: Katie Jones, Emma Golding, Ngarita Chappell and Belinda Hughes

Firsts Netball The First’s game was very fast-paced and exciting. Most of the girls have played together for a few years and they play and pirouette as though they were dancing. Their play is almost an automatic series of moves and it can be very daunting for the opposition. They don’t disappoint.

They will leave in a few weeks to compete in The Confraternity Net-ball Shield in Brisbane.

L to R Jacklenn Dart, Holly Grant, Bianca Peace, Georgie Clark, Seanne Santo,

Sarah Salisbury, Dempsey Currin, Kiara Henry-Nash and Annabel Hatch.


Defenders Kiara Henry-Nash and Seanne Santo in action

Bianca Peace and Dempsey Currin against BTC

Hollie Grant looks to pass

During the netball game, we heard an explosion and it sounded like a shotgun. Then we saw the ball and this is what happened. I’ve never seen this before so I thought I’d share.

The First’s game of football was ex-citing and the crowd was on edge for the entire match. This is always a tense time for Coach Adrian “Gully” Guldbransen. He will soon be away with the team for The Confraternity Carnival in the south.

Clayton Gough, Logan Guldbran-sen, Patrick Galvin and Mitchell Rankine

Will Healing runs the ball up, while Dylan Knuth watches on As I watched the 13 Years Football game I realised how genuine they were about the play and their team mates. The boys put their hearts into the game and they played hard until the final bell.

Zac Stevenson and Albert Luke

(with the ball)


Jack Bogdanek makes a break

Todd Thorn with a run away try

The 13 Years boys in

action

The Firsts Footballers Back: Casey Rankine, Will Healing, Liam Durrington, Malik Leo, Clayton Gough, Sam Bojack, Trey Perrier, Zane Zabel, Patrick Galvin, Kacy Kelly, Rowan Fittock,

Logan Guldbransen and Jack Fitchett Front: Dylan Knuth, Max Allingham, Mitchell Rankine, Talon Simpson,

Brendan O’Keeffe and Brodie Campbell.


Staff Profile

Staff Name: Julia Maclay

Duties at ASSG: Music and English

Teacher and

Chapel Organist

How long you have been at ASSG? 6 weeks

Where you are from? Sydney

Something people may not know about you: I have an absolutely crazy laugh

What encouraged you to do this job? The lovely people I met on my first trip to the

school, the opportunity to get stuck into a full time position, as well as the new challenge

living in another part of Australia.

What work did you do before coming to ASSG? I did a few days casual work at a local

primary school, but my last contract job was being the manager for one of the Santa Pho-

tography locations in Sydney! I saw a lot of excited kids, took many photographs and be-

came BFFs with Santa!

What is your favourite aspect of your job? Introducing students to a variety of differ-

ent music, playing music and seeing students reach their goals.

And your least favourite? Marking

What was your favourite subject at school? Music (who would have thought?!)

What was the most important part of your education? Working as a supply teacher in

London taught me a great deal about life, the world, and more importantly, how to be a

half decent teacher.

Which person (or thinker) has had the greatest influence on your life? I’ve been

lucky to meet a great deal of inspirational people in my time, it is hard to narrow it down!

What would you never do, no matter the price? Support any football/rugby team.

If you had a motto, what would it be? The world is your oyster!

If you could choose, what would you have for your last meal? I don’t think I’d be

able to choose- a multicultural tasting platter would probably suffice! (Not asking too

much, I hope!)


New Study Confirms Sector Differences I recently undertook the most comprehensive study of school sector differences to date. This study is more robust than previous studies based on survey data, since the data is both 100% accurate and complete. I analysed NAPLAN and tertiary entrance perfor-mance data obtained from administrative sources for all students (over 40,000) attending all Victorian schools who obtained an ATAR in 2011. For ATAR (Autralian Tertiary Admission Rank is the primary criteria for entry to Australian University undergraduate degrees), Cath-olic school students scored, on average, nine ATAR points higher than government school students. Independent school students scored 17 ATAR points higher. The increments associated with the Catholic and independent school sectors were reduced to six and eight ranks, controlling for so-cioeconomic status, prior achievement (Year 9 NAPLAN performance), gender and language background. Analysis of students’ Tertiary Entrance Aggregate, from which ATAR is derived, revealed substantial effects of school sector. Stu-dents from Catholic and independent schools performed at 0.24 and 0.38 standard deviations higher than their peers in the govern-ment sector, again once accounting for the effects of socioeconomic status, prior achievement, gender and language background. The study included analysis of students who changed school sectors between Years 9 and 12. It concluded that the Catholic and in-dependent school sectors were associated with increases in academic performance of six and eight percentiles, respectively, com-pared with the government sector. Therefore the higher tertiary entrance performance of students attending Catholic and independent schools cannot be attributed to the differences in the social and academic profiles of each sector’s students. Socioeconomic Background Not As Important As Thought This study also demonstrates that students’ socioeconomic background is not nearly as important as often claimed. Student socio-economic status is a weak predictor of students' ATARs. The very much stronger effects of prior achievement (Year 9 NAPLAN per-formance) on tertiary entrance performance cannot (at all) be attributed to socioeconomic status. The absence of strong effects of socioeconomic background on tertiary entrance performance makes theoretical sense. The knowledge and skills assessed during and before Year 12 are overwhelmingly taught in schools; even the most highly educated, wealthiest, or most cultured parent would have great difficulty with the depth and breadth of a typical Year 12 student’s subjects. These findings show that Catholic and independent schools “add value” to students' tertiary entrance performance in Victoria in terms of higher scores. Here “value adding” is defined as increasing student performance beyond that expected by students' prior achievement. This conclusion of substantial sector differences in ATAR does not necessarily contradict studies that show small or no sector differ-ences in NAPLAN. It may be the case that school sector differences in student performance are trivial in primary school but increase over the school career and are sizeable in senior secondary school. At least this seems to be the case for Victoria. Alternatively, Year 12 assessments are “high stakes” tests, whereas NAPLAN and PISA are “low stakes” tests in that there are no consequences for students for excellent or poor performance. Schools are more likely to devote much greater resources to “high stakes” tests. Since the early 2000s Victoria has been a leader in allowing analysis of administrative data on student performance in Year 12. It is hoped that analysis of similar data of senior secondary students from other states and territories will help us understand the extent and nature of school sector differences in Australia.

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