In this issue

Darling Downs 13-19 Years Track and Field Championships

Last Thursday and Friday a contingent of twenty-plus students attended the Darling Downs 13-19 Years Track and Field Championships in Toowoomba.

Day 1 of the Championships saw some twenty students contest the track events at Glennie. The day started very well for our SCOTS PGC students with multiple successes in the 400m events:

• 18-19 years | Mackenzie Mayall 1st
• 16 years | Ben Carey 1st
• 15 years | Adam McDonald 2nd
• 14 years | Murphy Benson 2nd

Later in the day, Elliza Moore-Kirkland gained 3rd in the 14 years Girls’ 400m Final.

Attention then moved to the 200m where several students made their way to the finals:

• 14 years | Murphy Benson 4th, Bailey Harm 8th
• 13 years | Charlie Montgomery 6th
• 14 years | Elliza Moore Kirkland 3rd, Amira Duffy 10th, Sarah Morris 15th
• 15 years | Adam McDonald 3rd
• 18 years | Tom Denny 2nd, Mackenzie Mayall 3rd

The 800m events were next where Murphy Benson (14 years), gained silver, whilst Ben Carey went one better with gold in the 16 years event.

All eyes were then turned to the blue ribbon event of the 100m where again several students made their way to the final.

• 13 years | Charlie Montgomery 8th
• 14 years |  Lachlan Nolan 8th
• 15 years | Nelson Madua 3rd
• 16 years | Harry Mayall 5th, Darcy Noller 9th
• 18 years | Tom Denny 2nd

Day 2 of the Championships saw the field events conducted at O’Quinn St Oval. Several students made the trip to Toowoomba with successes across several events as outlined below.

• Elliza Moore-Kirkland | 14 years | 5th Triple Jump, 4th Long Jump
• Bailey Harm |  14 years | 2nd Long Jump, 1st High Jump, 3rd Discus
• Tanner Henley | 14 years | 3rd Javelin.  1st Discus, 1st Shot Put
• Tom Denny  | 18 years | 3rd Discus, 3rd Shot Put, 2nd Long Jump
• Emma Bradbury | 16 years | 5th Shot Put, 4th Discus
• Millie Groves| 18 years | 6th Shot Put
• Sienna Sparksman | 13 years | 7th Discus, 3rd Shot Put
• Henry McMillan | 13 years | 3rd Discus
• Ellyse Kruger | 14 years | 1st Discus, 6th Javelin
• Emilie Miler | 14 years | 5th Discus, 8th Shot Put
• Sarah Morris | 14 years 4th Shot Put
• Phoebe Sellick – sadly fouled out in the High Jump

We congratulate all on their performances and await confirmation of all those selected to the Darling Downs Team which we will acknowledge in our next issue.

Super Schools Cup Semi-Finals

Last Wednesday, the Semi-Finals of the Darling Downs Super Schools Cup were held at Highfields Sports Park. All teams had epic encounters with their opponents across all grades.

This coming Wednesday (31 August) will see the Open boys face Faith Lutheran in the Grand Final after a fantastic come-from-behind, last gasp win against the ladder leaders TAS last week. We wish the boys all the best for the Grand Final to be held at Clive Berhofer Stadium in Toowoomba.

A word from our Captains on last week’s semi-final performances:

U13 – Angus Bauer

“The U13’s finished our rugby season with a semi-finals game against Toowoomba Anglican School at Highfields. The game came down to the final minutes with us losing by a mere try in the last minutes. The Final score of 31-26 represented the struggle well with play moving end to end regularly. Baxter Twidale and Harry Grayson were standout players putting their bodies on the line for their team, whilst Innes Nowlan’s moments of individual brilliance also contributed significantly to our result. The whole SCOTS side played exceptionally well with the whole team giving it their all.”

 U15 – George Handley

“Our rugby season ended with a thrilling game against Faith Lutheran College at Highfields. It was an amazing game of end-to-end footy. I think that one of the stand-out players for the game and season was Tyler Caldwell, he is always putting his body on the line for all the boys, and he came out of the semi-final with a solid battle scar. All the boys played great, and we were unlucky to miss the win with just three points separating the game. Thanks to all the coaches and players for putting in the time and putting their bodies on the line this season and we can’t wait until next year.

First XV– Peter McFarland / Scott Taat (with editorial and additions from Mr Bradbury)

“Our Open match started well but an early try to TAS set the tone. Not to be intimidated, SCOTS was quick to respond with a try of their own. TAS fought back and was showing dominance at the break. The halftime break saw TAS with a 14-7 lead. The halftime chat from coach Michael Tucker did the trick along with an inspirational speech from Kenny and Scott about their possible last game for the Lions.

The boys come out firing in the second half. After the fairly dominant first half by TAS, the boys looked like they would capitulate when soon after the resumption TAS/Concordia scored another five-pointer. This was to be their last as the SCOTS side started to turn around the possession count. At 19-7 down with 9 minutes on the clock, the momentum of the game started to shift, and showing discipline and grit the boys fought back.

 A few runaway efforts from intercepts surely helped our cause with a try to Paul Costello early in the game keeping inspiring the lads. Some hard work in the forwards led by Hank Zammit and Jesse Bohm saw the boys march their opponents down the field relentlessly. The boy’s teamwork shone through with a try to Aaron Hinch (WSHS) making the score 19-14 to TAS/Concordia after the conversion.

 The tension was rising, and the spectators could sense something potentially big unfolding before their eyes in this David v Goliath confrontation. TAS defeated us 70-0 in the preliminary rounds so any improvement was to be applauded.

With just minutes remaining, the SCOTS lads held off a surging opposition absorbing several raids upon their line. Finally some quality possession allowed the boys to turn the tables with Aaron Hinch again getting a quality pass that allowed him to breach the line and score in the righthand corner. This left the score 19-19 with the kick to come from number 10, Lachie Woods. As cool as a cucumber, Lachlan stepped up, lined it up just metres inside the sideline, took a deep breath and stepped up to casually slot the ball over the black dot to the eruption of the spectators. We finally led the match 21-19 and the stage was set.

With time fading fast, the boys hastily returned to their positions in preparation for the final roll of the dice from TAS. Panic set in for the TAS boys and from the kick-off, they failed to find their mark and the game was literally lost. The whistle blew and the crowd erupted in unison with the SCOTS boys and their celebrations began.

 A grand final against Faith Lutheran awaits on Wednesday evening so let’s hope they can lift once again. Best of luck to all the lads.”

 Upcoming Events

August 31 – Darling Downs Super Schools Cup Grand Final | First XV Rugby | Clive Berghofer Stadium, Toowoomba

September 8 (Week 9) | Junior Athletics Carnival | Prep – Year 3 | Buss Oval

September 10 (Week 9) – Rugby 7s Girls and Boys v Matthew Flinders Anglican College (Saturday)

‘Dreaming with our eyes wide open’ at the Year 2 Book Week Assembly

The Year 2 students and Mrs Bourke hosted our Junior School Assembly for Book Week. Dressed as a plethora of literacy characters, the students shared some of what they have been learning with us as well as the ways in which they had been celebrating reading. We heard about the Book Week artwork and theme, saw photos of students reading in some amazing places and played a game to guess their favourite picture books from the clues they had written. The special appearance of the Gruffalo was a highlight.

The assembly was also full of performances, with the choir singing a song that fit the Book Week theme of ‘Dreaming with Eyes Open’, and the Year 2 students sharing the song ‘Gotta Keep Reading’.

It was a lovely way to celebrate reading and another exciting Book Week.

Celebrating Science Week

Ms Lynne Nadebaum – Science Teacher

Eating insects. Collecting meteorites. Making biodegradable plastics. Winning awards in a national science competition.

These were all activities available to the students of SCOTS PGC during National Science Week recently.

Year 7 students Daniel Kuhn, Bonnie Petersen, Ciara McRae, Belle Sweedman, Bridie Hutchinson, Jasmine O’Neil, Akayla West and all of the students in 7C were successful in winning awards in the 2022 DAF Hermitage Research Facility Schools Plant Science Competition. Daniel’s achievement was especially noteworthy as he was named winner of the Crawford Fund International Agricultural Science Award for Years 7 to 9 as well as runner-up in the AIA Junior Science Achievement Award.

The Year 7 students travelled to The Hermitage Centre for the award presentations and spent the day participating in a range of agricultural and science based activities at the government owned research facility.

The College STEM Club hosted lunchtime activities for all interested students during Science Week. The ‘Meet an Insect’ activity was very popular, with students able to not only get up close and personal with the school’s stick insects, but also able to taste the delicious products made from crickets, meal worms and ants that were on offer. A Scientific Trivia Quiz was another popular activity, as seven teams of four competed ferociously for prizes. A Year 5 team and a Year 12 team were eventually joint winners after two tiebreaker questions.

Strong, flexible and waterproof plastics that can be decomposed by bacteria have the potential to make positive changes in the world and interested students had the chance to see how easy it is to make them during another Science Week lunchtime activity. And finally, many students were surprised to discover that meteorites are everywhere, including in the school grounds. Students were able to collect their own, test them, examine them microscopically and then take them home with them.

Our love of Science continues beyond Science Week.  STEM Club runs every Tuesday from 3.30 pm to 5 pm in Terms 1, 2 and 3. It is open to students from Years 5-12.

Book Week Wrap-up

Mrs Christine Peterson | Head of Library Services

It was great to see so students many getting into the spirit of this great occasion, from fairies, to cowboys, to three blind mice –  the creativity was outstanding!  While the dress-up part is fun, the real opportunities that arise are from the conversations that the costumes facilitate.   Being able to get lost in a book has been proven to increase your empathy, improve your relationships with others, reduce the symptoms of depression and improve wellbeing throughout life.  Reading for pleasure has social benefits as well and can make people feel more connected to the wider community. Reading increases a person’s understanding of their own identity and gives them an insight into the worldview of others. Reading apparently also increases your life expectancy… and remember the dinosaurs didn’t read and look what happened to them!

This year the theme for book week was ‘Dreaming with eyes open’. What a fantastic idea that allowed for much discussion on what dreaming is.  For students in the Junior and Middle Schools, it was an opportunity to engage with Dreaming stories from our Indigenous Culture, as well as stories from fantasy such as Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. Year 5 was stunned to realise that the Wizard of Oz was made over 80 years ago long before CGI.

Reading opens us to new and exciting ideas and worlds, it can transform how we see the world today, tomorrow and into the future.  Reading helps us to engage with new and fanciful ideas, it allows us to venture into a world of 20,000 leagues under the sea with the deranged Captain Nemo or to race around the world in 80 days with Phileas Fogg.  Without reading we would never have been down the rabbit hole or been swept up in a tornado only to land in a world far more exciting and at times frightening than our own. Yet a world where we want to find a way home when it all gets too much.  For me, the greatest fairy tale female is Belle, that girl who always has her head in a book. My favourite Belle quote is “I like books better than mirrors.  Mirrors only show us what we are.  Books show us what we can be.”  Without reading how can we truly appreciate Katniss Everdeen or Harry Potter, yes you can watch the movies but it is in the books that you truly know the story and the characters.

One of last century’s greatest thinkers Albert Einstein was passionate about reading making several well-known quotes on the subject. Firstly,  “if you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” Secondly, “When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge. (It makes me wonder how much sooner man could have walked on the moon… had we listened to a child’s fantasies. It is truly a pity that so many lose their gift of imagination to the steady hum of the status quo).

Thank you to all the parents who put in the time to create the costumes and for embracing Book Week in all its wonder and glory.