Principal’s Report
WAYNE KENNEDY
As Term 1 draws to its end, upon reflection it has definitely been an eventful term with a number of unexpected occurrences that have definitely kept our academic community on its toes.
This Issue
Week 10 was no exception. After considerable months of planning for our 2021 Middle School and Senior School Camps, with Mr Dupuy and Mr Freudigmann completing their final camp preparation speeches to enthusiastic and eager students, ready for new adventures, Queensland Health issued the three-day lockdown of the greater Brisbane area.
The Middle School camp destined for PGL Adventure Camps at Redland Bay was promptly postponed, with confirmation notification only being received at 8.30am on the morning of the camp. Disbelief and disappointment from students was the result of the 11th hour Queensland Government’s decision.
However the Middle School quickly regrouped and have participated in a variety of fun camp inspired activities in the College pool and throughout the College grounds for the remainder of the week – to successfully transition students into the Easter holidays.
The future dates for the Middle School camp are now confirmed for Monday 26th – Thursday 29th July (Week 2, Term 3).
In addition to the disappointment felt from the Middle School camp news, all our Sunshine Coast Fire Sporting Academy students that had played football fixtures in the Moreton Bay region ,and our Dance Academy students that were in Brisbane on Saturday and Sunday, were directed to self-isolate for three days, which made access for those students to the Senior School camp unachievable.
The Senior Secondary students had a delayed departure, as the College awaited clarification from Queensland Health with respect to directives on COVID and school camps. The ‘green light’ was eventually given mid-morning to cheers of relief from the Senior students. The Senior Secondary camp has had mixed weather conditions, but students have shown considerable resilience to continue all activities as planned. Daily reports from Mr Freudigmann have been extremely positive with considerable collaboration and team building being achieved through the camps duration.
ANZAC DAY
Although advice regarding community ANZAC celebrations throughout Queensland are pending due to COVID, the College is still planning to have a representative from the Coolum/Peregian RSL address the Junior and Middle/Senior assemblies on Wednesday 21st April 2021.
This assembly has also been scheduled for the presentation of badges for Student Leadership and the elected members of the Student Representative Council.
Anaphylaxis
With recent enrolments, the College now has three anaphylactic students with nuts as the trigger for their severe allergic reactions.
To ensure the safety of these students, commencing Term 2, the College will be implementing a nut free school policy. Further information will be emailed to all parents in the coming week.
The College will also be implementing a new master timetable for the commencement of Term 2, to accommodate the departure of Senior Mathematics/ICT teacher David Borchardt and the recommencement of Italian teaching duties by Lisa Bell.
The timetable will also be addressing the three long weekends taking place at the commencement of the term to ensure all curriculum materials are covered in their entirety and subjects/students are not disadvantaged by the Monday holidays. Education Support Officer allocations will also be presented on the Term 2 timetable.
On behalf of the Leadership Team, I would like to acknowledge the professionalism of the PBC Teaching Team, and the consistent support provide by the College parent body on a number of new initiatives undertaken throughout the term.
It has been an extremely productive start to the year, and I look forward to seeing a refreshed academic community in Term 2.
As has been conveyed to me by the Junior school students throughout the day – ‘have a hoppy Easter’.
Easter Raffle!
The Easter Raffle was a huge success for the first PIPS fundraiser of the year, $244 was raised.
A big thank you to Jayne R and Cheryl Mc for selling tickets before and after school.
The winners were drawn on Wednesday 31st March:
- Prize 1: Harry and Ben C
- Prize 2: Shae W
- Prize 3: Harry C
- Prize 4: Ruby G
PIPS Team
Nesting Boxes
LYNN BACK
Some pictures of our nesting boxes getting some good use!
Harmony Day
JUNIOR TEAM
Last week saw the Junior school celebrating Harmony Day.
Harmony day is a celebration of our cultural diversity – a day of cultural respect for everyone who calls Australia home. A time for all Australians to remember and respect our diverse cultural background and what we have in common. The central message being that ‘everyone belongs’.
The younger grades shared stories and had discussions on belonging. All students then created themselves using an outline and craft materials which will be displayed in the library next term.
The older classes in Junior School spent time discussing how Harmony Day gives us the opportunity to celebrate multiculturalism in Australia and how cultural diversity is a huge part of Australia’s identity. Using www.harmony.gov.au Year 4 researched that 49% of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was and more than 70 Indigenous languages are spoken in Australia!
Students also made wrist bands and banners along with Harmony Day chatterboxes.
Year 1
TENIELE ADLER
Age Appropriate Pedagogies – Agentic
Ensuring that children have voice in their learning. Their ideas and interests initiate, support and extend learning possibilities in order to build on their real-world understandings and experiences.
THE CASE OF THE MISSING LETTUCE LEAVES.
As part of our Design Technologies unit, Year 1 have been growing lettuce. They cultivated the soil, planted seedlings, problem solved what plants need to grow (sunlight, water, kindness and protection from the older students playing handball) and excitedly planned what they would make with their harvest. Lettuce soup, salad or a sandwich were all suggested with sandwich receiving the most votes.
Every day they would put on their Biologist ‘hat’ and care for the plants, they recorded observations, learning how to add detail to diagrams. As each day passed they became more excited as their lettuce began to grow
However, things took a detour when we discovered that overnight, something had eaten our lettuce! We had run into a problem! What were to do? Year 1 all agreed on the problem – that bugs were eating our lettuce. Now we needed a solution.
Year 1 took a collaborative approach, with everyone having opportunity to voice their solutions, which were greeted with praise and encouragement from one another.
Design solutions:
- Add worms to the soil to help the soil become healthier.
- Catch ladybugs so they can eat the bugs.
- Create something that would go over the lettuce to stop the bugs but let the light and water in.
After drawing a design, Year 1 set out collecting worms and sticks to create their structure. They investigated what was in our resource room, looked at what would and wouldn’t work and why. Students worked together to create their structure, problem solving as they went.
We visited Miss Tania in the library who helped us find books about insects and plants. Estee and her Mum Sarah determined that caterpillars had eaten our lettuce, so ladybugs wouldn’t help solve this problem. We visited the Year 4 garden and noticed they had marigolds, which lead to discussions on companion planting and how farmers look after their crops.
Year 4 kindly donated some new seedlings, which we have planted for round 2, wish us luck!
Year 4
RACHEL PRESTON
Out and About with Year 4!
READY STEADY GROW
As part of their community connections initiative, Bunnings Noosaville came to visit Year 4.
They donated vegetable seedlings and tools to support our Science topic ‘Read, Steady, Grow.’
Everyone had a wonderful time planting, mulching and watering the seedlings.
Hopefully we will soon see tomatoes, corn, beans and strawberries ready to harvest.
PEN PALS
Last Friday Year 4 took a trip to the Peregian Beach Post Office to post their letters to their Pen Pals at Killara Public School, Sydney.
The Pen Pal Club is an initiative co-ordinated by Australia Post.
Afterwards, the Year 4 students visited Peregian Pantry for a tasty gelato treat and a quick play in the park before returning to school.
A big thank you to Ms Carpenter for coming along and Pepe for driving the bus!
Vaccinations
Ozcare will be administering vaccinations to students in Years 7 and 10 on the following dates. Only students with signed consent forms will be vaccinated. If you have not yet returned the consent form, please do so by Monday 8th February.
| Year 7 | Thursday 25 March 2021 | Human papillomavirus (HPV) | First dose of vaccine providing protection against 9 types of HPV. |
| Year 7 | Thursday 25 March 2021 | Diptheria-Tetanus-Pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine | One booster dose |
| Year 7 | Thursday 14 October 2021 | #2 HPV vaccine | Second dose of HPV vaccine |
| Year 10 | Thursday 25 March 2021 | Meningococcal ACWY vaccine | One dose will be offered |