Welcome to Term 2. We began the school year in times we have never experienced before. We pray that this term will be different for our students and that they can enjoy all that school offers them. We will continue to do our best to minimise the transmission of COVID-19 and hope that our students and staff can stay healthy and well over the coming months.
The Annual Plan for the College was reviewed over the break, and I would like to share aspects of our work so far this year. Our number one goal is to improve student learning and we have in place several strategies across Reception to Year 12 to support the learning of all students.
Academic extension initiatives have been implemented and include:
- A student working group across Years 7-10. This group is comprised of students who excelled at standardized tests in 2021. They will discuss what they value about the current curriculum and what approaches to teaching could extend their learning.
- A debating team has been established with twenty students in Years 7 to 9. The debating competition will also be held at St Columba, and this is a first for the North.
- ‘The Brain Bee’ is an international academic event, focused on the theme of neuroscience and brain anatomy. A team of ten students from Year 10 are meeting twice a week after school to study together.
- The ‘Tournament of Minds’ competition, held at Flinders University, will be a focus for our Year 4-5 students and the Middle School this year.
- A ‘Gifted Student Profile’ is being developed to track students via classroom and extracurricular participation and performance in NAPLAN and PAT.
We congratulate the following students for excelling in Term 1:
- Indonesian students in Years 7, 8 and 9 who participated in a global Online Languages Championship. The College finished 34th out of 2826 schools. From 704 schools who teach Indonesian, we finished first! Our two top performing students were both from Year 8, with Georgette Frimpong scoring 5,674pts (finishing 567th) and Yassamin Attaie, scoring 5,082pts (finishing 747th).
- Nadia Tuyisenge (Year 12) for her podcast ‘Attendance Matters. Every Student. Every Day’
- The Year 4 Hotshot Tennis Team who will compete in the State Championships in Term 4
- Kia Skuse (Year 7) for selection in the SA State Team for Little Athletics
- Jackson Eastwood (Year 7) for selection in the SA State team for Little Athletics
- Molly Reudiger (Year 9) for selection in the SA State Under 14s Softball Team
- Georgia McKee (Year 10) for selection in the State team for the Women’s AFL Under 18 National Championships and Under 18 AFLW All Australian team.
The majority of our students come to school wanting to do their best. This year we have introduced a ‘Reward and Acknowledgement Procedure’. Students who excel at academic learning, service to others or leadership are recognised with Gold Slips. We celebrate the following students who were the top three achievers at each campus last term:
Junior School:
Mujinga Mulunda (Year 2)
Chris Yoko (Year 3)
Mabior Dut (Year 3)
Middle School:
Rahmat Rahimi (Year 9)
Matheson McLean (Year 7)
Marco Abratigue (Year 7)
Senior School:
Kevin Hua (Year 10)
Daniel Brookes (Year 10)
Sarah Wells (Year 10).
While our co-curricular activities have been disrupted so far this year, I am pleased to let you know that our musical, ‘The Sound of Music’, will go on! Directed by Mrs Kerryn Harris, we have 70 students involved in the show which promises to be a success at the Shedley Theatre this September.
Finally, I am delighted to let you know that the Middle School campus building project campus is now well underway. This significant project will benefit students and their learning. The first stage of the project is the redevelopment of the Lecture Theatre into a Performing Arts Space with an adjacent Drama Space. Four basketball courts (with cover for two courts) will be built on the western side of the campus. The car park will be redesigned and relocated on the western side. Once this stage is completed, the builder will begin to construct a two-story building that will house state-of-the-art classrooms, maker spaces and break-out collaborative spaces along with a learning support hub, offices and a student services area. This is an exciting development for the College and one that will make a positive difference to our students and their learning.
Ms Leanne Carr | Principal
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