Principal's Message
Blessed be the mercy journey that beckons us forward to need. Madeline Duckett rsm
Ash Barty inspires us all
Ipswich is synonymous with Ash Barty, an Australian tennis champion and a proud indigenous person and ‘local girl’. There is much about Ash to be proud of and she is a great role model for our young people. I watched her in interviews after her French Open win and she was so poised, humble and grounded. Ash continued to refer to her team, her supporters and referred to ‘our win’ rather than ‘her win’. She is a wonderful inspiration to us all. As educators and as parents we want to grow young people who are selfless, fair-minded and grateful. We encourage them to be their best selves, to develop their talents and skills, to think of others and to be positive in their outlook. My 5-year-old granddaughter Harriet is taking her first tennis lessons. Whilst she may not know the rules of the game or how to serve the ball, she does know about ‘Ash Barty, the tennis champ from Ipswich’.
Staff News
Someone who has inspired a love of sport and physical education in our students is Mrs Louise McCarthy, who was a member of staff since 2006. Louise has been offered a leadership position in a P-12 College on the north side of Brisbane. She is a highly regarded colleague and teacher, whose leadership in the area of Health and Physical Education has been exemplary. Louise has built a strong team in the HPE area and together they have developed a quality program for our students from Years 7 to 12. We will miss her expertise, drive and leadership.
Mrs Lisa Kelly will assume the role Curriculum Middle Leader – Health and Physical Education and we are currently recruiting to find a new HPE teacher. We congratulate Lisa on her appointment. Mrs Alice Williams will leave us in Week 9 as she takes maternity leave. We wish Alice and her husband all the best for the upcoming birth of their first child. We are pleased to announce that Mrs Margareta Lemon, our current Campus Minister, will join our teaching staff to fill in during Alice’s leave. We are currently advertising for a Campus Minister, aiming to have someone in place for the start of Term Three. As with any changes to staff we look to minimise the impact on the students.
Multicultural Mass Celebrations
On Pentecost Sunday, the St Mary’s parish celebrated its second Multicultural Mass; a celebration of diversity and inclusivity. It was a wonderful community event, full of colour, music and cultural expression. It was a joy to be part of the festivities. I thank the Parish and Fr Stephen for sharing their photos from the day: http://bit.ly/ipswichpentecost2019
A Prayer for Winter
Dear Lord, thank you for the seasonal change that we witness first hand each year. Even though we can predict an inevitable shift in weather, each time a new wave of beauty ushers onto the scene we are reminded of the amazing way You have created the earth. The beauty in each season reminds us of Your creativity and finite care for life, especially ours. Amen
Blessings for the joys of winter,
Judith Finan | College Principal
Kokoda Challenge 2019
Brisbane 48km - Bert Kienzle Cup
Mighty Mary’s Do It Again
On Saturday 1 June, staff and students were up bright and early to participate in the Kokoda Challenge through the D’Aguilar National Park. This year, we entered 3 teams in the school 48km Bert Kienzle Cup. Team members included Rhianna Ward, Kasey Weier, Dakota Norbury, Piper Norton, Madison Quinn, Georgia Forrest, Kellie Starkoff, Hannah Morgan, Lucy Clark and Alexa Murrin.
Known as one of the hardest team-based endurance races in Australia, this event is like no other. We are very proud to say that the teams broke a new record and finished the challenge in just over 12 hours.
Special thanks to the team leaders, Mr Marcus Richardson, Ms Angela Hughes and Ms Kelly Gryga, for their commitment and patience in leading our students through their training and the Challenge. Thank you also to my fellow support crew members Fran Bordujenko, Amanda Hinchliffe and Lauren Taylor in providing much needed support and muscle with the setup and set down. Thank you to Deb Doolan for the wonderful catering. Finally, thank you to family and friends for your support not just on the day but along the way. Seeing your proud faces on the finish line made it all worth it.
Kokodians, you should be extremely proud of yourselves! You have achieved what many may never achieve in their lifetime. You will always have a special bond with your fellow team mates and confidence in your own abilities. You are now part of a St Mary’s College legacy which few can say they belong. Congratulations and well done!
Air Force Simulator Experience
On Monday 4 June, Year 10 to Year 12 students were selected to participate in the Air Force Simulator Experience. The Air Force Simulator Experience is an Air Force funded motivation program aiming to increase awareness and develop interest amongst young people in aviation careers (Pilot, Mission Aircrew and Mission Controller) within the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
The experience consisted of an immersive flying lesson with instructors inside the Super Hornet simulator, air traffic control games, virtual reality experience, aircrew life support gear demonstrations and a variety of aviation presentations. The team consisted of ADF personnel currently employed across a variety of aviation and non-aviation roles within the Air Force.
Organiser, Sergeant Brad Postle, was full of praise for our students and informed us that St Mary’s College had outperformed other Queensland schools, especially in the area of traffic control. Sgt Postle said that St Mary’s College students were exceptional at taking direction and listening, showing maturity in responding quickly to feedback and actioning contingencies. Sgt Postle indicated that he would be only too happy to come back later in the year, and extended an invitation to the College to visit their headquarters at the Brisbane Airport. Well done to our students for representing St Mary’s College proudly.
Christina Page | Defence School Mentor
Cultural Update
Dance Troupe
Congratulations to the SMC Dance Troupe who competed at the Ipswich Junior Dance Eisteddfod on Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 June. 42 students overcame injury, illness and tiredness to compete spectacularly. You should all feel very proud of your efforts and dedication to the Dance Troupe. Enjoy a well-deserved rest during the June-July holidays!
The girls came away with the following awards:
Junior Dance Troupe
- Two x Very Highly Commended – Bollywood and Tap
- One x Highly Commended – Jazz
Senior Dance Troupe:
- Two x Very Highly Commended – Senior Taps
- Three x High Commended – Student choreography, Tap, Senior Jazz
Cheer Crew
Thanks to the 15 students who attended the Ipswich Civic Centre as part of the Dance Cheer Crew on Thursday 13 July. It was great having such a supportive bunch in the audience! Your cheering certainly spurred the dancers on to give their best. Congratulations on your exceptional representation of St Mary’s College; should be very proud.
Combined Colleges’ Musical
Our dedicated musical students, as well as their hardworking teachers, have been rehearsing weekly to prepare for the upcoming production of Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical. We are pleased to announce that all of the ensemble pieces are finished and that we are now dedicating our time to polishing them, as well as the rest of the scenes and dialogue. For the next two Sundays, parents, grandparents, family and friends of the cast are invited to join in the working bee to help sew, paint and build everything needed to stage this production. We have also begun costuming and the excitement is growing as the cast are starting to bring in their items. Tickets are selling fast with over 1000 sold already so make sure you get in early to secure your seat at what promises to be an outstanding show! Grace Jen and Jorja Jansen, Year 10 | Journalism Club
Musical Ticket Sales
Musical tickets are selling fast! The Balcony has now been opened for the Friday evening, Saturday matinee and Saturday evening performances. Get your tickets at https://www.ipswichciviccentre.com.au/event/roald-dahls-matilda-the-musical/. Don’t forget to share the Facebook event with your family and friends. https://www.facebook.com/events/370888230212103/
World Environment Day
On Wednesday 5 June, the Social Justice Committee celebrated World Environment Day with multiple activities for all the students to enjoy. To begin, worksheets were distributed to each PC where they had to match the items to the appropriate bin and fill in a quiz sheet; the best PC winning a prize. In the Rose Garden during break, students sorted their rubbish into an assortment of bins. If they were correct, they won a packet of red frogs. Both activities were extremely popular, with a huge number of students lining up to have a go. “It raised awareness and we learnt new things such as what went into each bin,” a Year 8 student said. Jasmine O'Malley | Journalism Club
Journalism Club
In 2019, a Journalism Club was formed after an increasing demand from students to have a place to extend their written skills to develop their creativity and have their voice heard at the College. With students involved from Year 7 through to 12, it is a fantastic place for students to build on what they already know, as well as discover new passions and talents. Members of the Journalism Club have individual roles from photographers, to editors, to reporters and graphic designers, and can work in the area that they are most interested in. Our students have had great success writing for the school newsletter, capturing photos and videos for our school’s social media page, and much more. Students meet weekly to put together their written and visual pieces, and to participate in regular workshops to improve their writing, photography, videography and editing skills.
Debating
We are proud to have a strong tradition of debating at the College. For many years, the College’s debating teams have had a great amount of success debating in the local APEX Debating Competition in Term One each year. Typically, the College enters six or seven teams in Year 7/8, Junior (Year 9/10) and Senior (Year 11/12) divisions.
In addition to this, we also hold a more relaxed debating season in Term Three, with schools from the local Ipswich community to continue to develop skills and grow a passion for debating. Part of this involves our students mentoring students from local primary schools to foster an interest in debating which our students see as extremely beneficial. Students participate in and run weekly workshops and debates throughout the term.
Year after year, our debating students are given the opportunity to develop teamwork skills, build the ability to think laterally, grow their communication skills and have fun in the process. Debating is a great way for our students to develop public speaking skills that have endless benefits across all of their subjects.
Over the past few weeks, several students participated in a debating workshop offered by the Queensland Debating Union (QDU) to improve our skills. We spent the past six weeks participating in the workshop, and last Monday had an amazing night debating against other school’s teams as an end to the six weeks of learning. The Year 10 team made up of myself, Jorja Jansen and Mackenzie Precians won our debate against Bremer – despite them being in Year 12. The Junior team of Mackenzie McDermott, Jasmine O’Malley and a third student from another school also won their debate. Katie George, Year 10 | Journalism Club
Courtney Fook | Cultural Program Leader
Sporting News
CaSSSA Cross Country
Congratulations to the 36 students who participated in the CaSSSA Cross Country Carnival on Friday 31 May at Limestone Park. It was great to see students representing SMC. Each of the runners showed great dedication and commitment. St Mary’s College came 5th overall in the medium schools.
Well done to each of the age groups:
- 12 Years – 4th
- 13 Years – 4th
- 14 Years – 5th
- 15 Years – 5th
- 16 Years – 6th
- 19 Years and under– 4th
Congratulations to the following students who placed in the top 10:
- 16 years - Kate Sotiriadis – 5th
- 16 years – Lara Bell – 10th
- 12 years – Charli Emblem – 8th
Thank you to Kelly Gryga and Kate Chapell who assisted to coach our Cross Country Team in 2019. Their commitment and enthusiasm helped our students achieve many personal bests.
A special thank-you must also go to the following Year 12 students - Libby Burgess (Sports Captain), Emma Picton, Rachel England and Cleo Jordan for their encouragement and leadership on the day. They are great mentors and role models for the rest of the school. Thank you also to the many families that came to Limestone Park to support us; it was very much appreciated.
Year 11 Certificate 3 Fitness
This term, Year 11 Certificate 3 Fitness students organised fitness games and activities for a couple of the Year 7 classes. The aim of the sessions is to give Year 11 students an understanding of the following components required to facilitate approved community fitness programs: benefits, purpose, aims, target group, acceptable program modifications and equipment requirements. The Year 11’s have come up with some wonderful and innovative games which by the laughter and chatter the Year 7’s thoroughly enjoyed. Well done to all involved.
Sports Aerobics
On Saturday 8 May, students participated in the Industrie 1 Sports Aerobics Competition held at Somerville House. This was a great warm-up for the State Championships which will be held in 2 weeks time.
Congratulations to the following teams:
- Secondary Large Teams – SMC Platinum – 3rd
- Secondary Pre-Choreographed Teams – SMC Electric 2nd and SMC Infinity –1st
St Mary’s College will have 4 teams competing at the State Championships; we wish our students the best of luck.
Antonia Conomos | Middle Leader - Sport
What's been on
Students in Year 9 have been busy in their food preservation unit working on their assessment items creating beef jerky, jams and dehydrated fruit. Well done - they look very professional.
