In this issue

St Mary’s Debutante Ball

It was wonderful to see so many SCOTS PGC students make their debut at the St Mary’s Debutante Ball last weekend.  What a wonderful group of young people! (Photo supplied)

Front row from L-R: Abigail Skaines, Sophie Poole, Krystal Petersen, Bridget Hardy, Jessica Angus and Sophie Brennan.

Back row from L-R: Darcy Noller, Lachlan Naughten, Brice Zerner, William Auger and Mitchell Twidale.

From Boys’ Boarding

Mr David Marriott | Head of Senior Boys’ Boarding

The Senior Cardinal Ball was a fantastic night for our boarding boys, and my wife Jodi and I were very pleased to be able to share the evening with all the students and staff present.  The entire event, from the garden party at Girls’ Boarding to the final dance of the night and clean up by all the other boarding boys, was a huge undertaking, so congratulations to all involved –  it was spectacular indeed. It was great to see all the Year 12 students embrace the occasion, with a special mention to Scott Taat for his dance award. Jodi and I particularly enjoyed the unique arrivals of the partners down East Street, including the classic and hot rod cars; it was most entertaining. Special mention to Mr Stewart Bailey on his ‘arrival’ in his black mustang as ‘chauffeur’ for Geoffrey Warren and Ashleigh Sellars. The night was certainly a fitting celebration for this cohort of students.

Are you working or avoiding?

During the week, on school nights, our students in Years 5 to 9 complete their homework (known as Prep) in the LRC (SCOTS PGC library). Year 10 to 12 students utilise the private and communal spaces in Senior Boys’ Boarding.

All students are assisted/tutored by several experienced staff during this time to help them with all aspects of their academic tasks.

There have been many examples, wonderfully positive instances, each week of this term, where boys have achieved their homework goal in a particular subject area during these sessions. This has been very pleasing to see, and extremely rewarding and motivating for the boys themselves.

On the other hand, some boys instead focus their energy during Prep time on being a ‘work avoider’, which is in contrast to the attitude our boarding staff are wanting to instil in the students.

Parents and Carers, as you read this article, I encourage you to ask your son the question above.

The answer will soon be evident.

Broncos Vs Raiders Rugby League match @ Suncorp Stadium (Sat 11 June)

Please note this date as our final Boarder activity for Term 2. It is very likely that SCOTS PGC day students will also attend, so we expect 2 bus loads of excited students and staff to make the trip to Brisbane for the match. Students attending must be confirmed shortly. Please contact Mr Stewart Bailey (Head of Junior Boys’ Boarding) for further details.

From Girls’ Boarding

Mrs Susan Everson | Head of Girls’ Boarding

As we come towards the end of Term 2, the girls have all shown that they are enjoying the many privileges that boarding provides.

Last weekend, our Year 12 Boarders had their Cardinal, which was such a memorable day for all the students, staff, and families present. It was a fantastic opportunity for our junior girl boarders to see their leaders in their formal dresses and join in on the festivities.

All boarders also enjoyed an excursion day to Toowoomba for mini golf and a swing on the golf driving range, followed by a shopping spree at Grand Central. It was fantastic to see some of the girl’s talents on the golf driving range and their bright attitudes and teamwork during minigolf.

Heading into Week 8 means the girls are really focusing on their school assessments – many evenings are spent revising together for exams or practising presentations to an audience of other students. All girls are also participating in one (or many!) co-curricular activities and it is fantastic to hear so many success stories from these ventures.

As we approach Term 3, the Girls’ Boarding house would like to start a project that explores where the girls come from and what they appreciate about their hometowns and their local areas. This is an opportunity for the girls to share stories about their background with their boarding community and give everyone a snapshot into the wonderful and diverse boarding community that we have.

During the holidays, could you please take the opportunity to discuss this with your girls and assist them with collecting photos or videos of their hometown to share with their cohort. When we return in Term 3 the boarding staff will help the girls put together a presentation of their story to share with the rest of the boarding house. We would love for all of our boarders to participate in this activity and can’t wait to hear their stories!

Mr Tom Bradbury | Acting Director of Co-Curricular Activities

Darling Downs Cross Country Championships

On May 24, a small but dedicated group of runners from the College headed north to Toowoomba to contest the annual Darling Downs Cross Country Championships.

In the absence of being able to contest our own Cross Country, this group was truly the dedicated few and they all performed creditably on behalf of the College. Below are our individual results for the day. In the teams vents our U14 Boys team consisting of Declyn Wren, Rory Farrell and Will Angus came away with the Gold Medal ahead of many of our more fancied school teams.

Those selected for the Darling Downs Team include Mackenzie Mayall, Declyn Wren and Mika Repo with Hamish Swift waiting patiently for a possible call as 1st reserve in his age.

QCIS Cross Country

Our small team once again stepped into the breach against our QCIS counterparts on Wednesday 1 June at Downlands College. The Course was a challenging one with some hills to negotiate across the Downlands campus and adjacent Alex Horn Park.

The best of our Individual Results were as follows…

Open Girls – Eliana Jones 3rd

Open Boys – Mika Repo 4th and Mackenzie Mayall 5th  

U16 Boys – Hamish Swift 2nd and Benjamin Carey 3rd – also First in the Teams event

U15 Girls – Briana Groves 4th

U14 Girls – Elliza Moore-Kirkland 3rd

U13 Boys – Lachlan Groves 2nd

Our team of 25 did their best throughout the day in trying windy conditions that challenged the best of the athletes on course.

A huge thank you to Downlands for hosting the event, to Miss Angela Brittain for her work on the recording desk and for Miss Carey, Mrs Davis and Mr Charles for their work as managers and course officials for the day. Without the likes of these people the day could not proceed.

Our Cross Country team wrap up their season now with the final three left standing as members of the Darling Downs Team. We wish Mika, Mackenzie and Declyn Wren all the very best as they now prepare for the State Championships in late July at the challenging Rivermount College course at the Gold Coast.

Good habits start young

‘Digital citizenship is more than just a teaching tool.  It is a way to prepare students for a society full of technology.’

Dr Mike Ribble – Researcher and Educator

Parents, carers and schools play an important role in helping children develop digital intelligence.  As described by the esafety Commissioner, this includes the social, emotional and practical skills needed to successfully navigate the digital world.  As the key adults in the lives of our young people, it is essential that we model and guide them to develop and embed the principles of respect, empathy, critical thinking, responsibility decision making and resilience in how they engage in their daily world, in person and online.

‘Today’s youth have access to and are accessible by many millions of people worldwide.  Teens are often not aware that their words and/or photos, which may have been intended for a small audience, sometimes find their way to a larger one, often with unexpected and undesirable consequences.’

 Susan McLean – Australian Cybersafety Expert

www.cybersafetysolutions.com.au

The conversations we have with our young people need to be ongoing, relevant, age appropriate and proactive.  Trusting relationships are key for these sometimes challenging, yet important conversations.  We can focus on positively building our children’s digital intelligence, rather than just reactively dealing with situations.  The esafety Commissioner website provides useful resources and ideas for parents and educators about how to do this.

The key points to support our boys and girls to develop digital intelligence include:

• Promoting respectful communication
• Encouraging empathy
• Teaching young people to question what they see
• Encouraging safe and responsible behaviour
• Assisting young people to build resilience

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/skills-advice/good-habits-start-young

As a part of our Middle School Wellbeing and Pastoral Care Program, students in Years 6, 7 and 8 have attended a presentation about Cybersafety and Digital Citizenship presented by Sergeant Shane Reid from the Queensland Police Service.

Sergeant Reid provided developmentally appropriate, ‘real life’ scenarios as a way for students to think about the issues as relevant to their own use of technology and social media.

He discussed with the students :

• how to protect ourselves and our information online
• the importance of being respectful online
• questioning the validity of what we see in the digital environment
• how to make good decisions online
• where to go for help

Through future Tutor Group and Year Level sessions, students will continue to be supported to develop their understanding of how technology forms a part of their world, the impact of their actions online and how they can create a positive digital space.

Here are links to some websites and resources that may be useful to continue to promote discussions at home:

eSafety Commissioner 

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents

ThinkUKnow organisation 

https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/resources-tab/parents-and-carers

Rebecca Sparrow ‘Before you hit send’ 

https://rebeccasparrow.com/before-you-hit-send-notes/

Susan McLean – Cybersafety Solutions

www.cybersafetysolutions.com.au

National Simultaneous Story Time

“It started with a seed, and that seed was me.”

Last week was one of the highlights on the Library calendar, the National Simultaneous Story Time.  This year, the book ‘The Family Tree’ by Josh Pyke and illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh, tells the story of a tree and a family and how we are connected through the generations.

This year Amy Woodgate, Amanda Hall and Christine Peterson read to the Prep to Year 6 classes after which each group did a range of activities that connected with the story.  We also planted our own ‘Family Tree’ beside the stairs leading to Junior School.  This tree was decorated in family photos from across the classes and was a special addition to the story and hopefully a reminder in years to come of the importance of family connection and making memories that last for generations.

Cardinal 2022

Last Saturday night we celebrated our annual Cardinal, and what a night it was.  Beginning in the late afternoon amongst the beautiful grounds of Girls’ Boarding; staff, parents and friends gathered to both celebrate and admire the students in their finery.

As always, the arrivals proved to be full of glitz and glamour.  With the dulcet tones of Mr Keevers announcing each couple’s arrival on the red carpet in a multitude of amazing vehicles, the students and their families then made their way into the beautifully decorated Dining Hall.

The evening began with the Father/Daughter Pride of Erin dance followed by the Mother/Son Gypsy Tap dance and by the second round, fewer toes were being stepped on as the dances progressed.  As the parents and other guests departed, the students sat down to an exquisitely prepared two-course meal and danced the night away.

Successful events like this take hours of planning and preparation to run smoothly and it is always dangerous to thank individual people.  Thank you to Mr Kuhn, Mrs Bellingham, Mrs Hobbs, and the Cardinal Committee led by Kate McCarthy and Mia Benson.  Thank you to John Rogers and his catering team for providing such a beautiful meal.  Thank you to the staff who willingly gave up their night to both celebrate and supervise; and finally thank you to Alex Naughton for DJ’ing and most importantly to the students for the fervour and energy you showed leading up to, and on the night.

Mr Mark Richards | Director of Teaching, Learning and Innovation

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

– Abraham Lincoln.

As the Antarctic blast sweeps in from the south, the nights draw on and the frost sparkles in the morning light, I often find myself thinking of the future.  The last few years have been a rollercoaster of uncertainty and turbulent change but some of the innovations have fundamentally changed the world for the better.  The days of a “job for life” are fading and the education sector must adapt in line with this shift and reflect the fact that the essential, in-demand skills of the future will be very different from what has been taught in the past.  What we teach must change; how we teach must also change to reflect the rapid digitisation that is taking place.

Rethinking what we teach

Many of the jobs today’s schoolchildren will work in don’t even exist yet. LinkedIn predicts 150 million new technology jobs in the next five years, and almost all the roles in LinkedIn’s “Jobs on the Rise” report for 2022 can already be done remotely.  Even NAPLAN is now conducted almost entirely online.

So, what sort of skills will be essential for success? In its Schools of the Future paper, the World Economic Forum outlined essential characteristics that will define high-quality learning in the future:

1. Global citizenship skills: Include content that focuses on building awareness about the wider world, sustainability and playing an active role in the global community.
2. Innovation and creativity skills: Include content that fosters skills required for innovation, including complex problem-solving, analytical thinking, creativity and systems analysis.
3. Technology skills: Include content that is based on developing digital skills, including programming, digital responsibility and the use of technology.
4. Interpersonal skills: Include content that focuses on interpersonal emotional intelligence, including empathy, cooperation, negotiation, leadership and social awareness.
5. Personalized and self-paced learning: Move from a system where learning is standardized, to one based on the diverse individual needs of each learner, and flexible enough to enable each learner to progress at their own pace.
6. Accessible and inclusive learning: Move from a system where learning is confined to those with access to school buildings to one in which everyone has access to learning and is therefore inclusive.
7. Problem-based and collaborative learning: Move from process-based to project- and problem-based content delivery, requiring peer collaboration and more closely mirroring the future of work.
8. Lifelong and student-driven learning: Move from a system where learning and skilling decrease over one’s lifespan to one where everyone continuously improves on existing skills and acquires new ones based on their individual needs.

It is pleasing to see aspects of these skills embedded throughout the teaching and learning at SCOTS PGC College.  From the coding and creativity in STEM to the personalised and self-paced learning inherent in the Maths Pathways program.  Most importantly, our focus on the soft skills of relationship building and interpersonal skills and the holistic education of every child will pay dividends in the years to come.  As machines can automate more and more workplace tasks, our inherently human social and emotional skills will become hard currency in the workplaces of the future.

There’s no doubt that rethinking what we teach and how we teach it is a huge task. But I believe it’s essential if our education systems are to meet the needs of 21st-century students and prepare young people for success in our rapidly changing world.

“The future depends on what you do today.”

– Mahatma Ghandi