PRINCIPAL’S ADDRESS
Dear Parents and Carers
As most of you are aware, the College has been undertaking a review of its College Leadership Team structures since the middle of Term One. This process has involved seeking feedback from the community via our Community Satisfaction Survey, the drafting of possible models and gaining staff feedback and a review of our strategic priorities into the future and discerning the best structure to meet these demands.
I am pleased to announce that I have signed off on a new structure that will be fully operational from the commencement of the 2018 school year. An outline of the structure and related responsibilities appears below.
The following CLT members make up this new structure:
- Principal - Simon Dash
- Head of School (Secondary) - Kerry Sidaway
- Head of School (Primary) - Russell Davey
- Assistant Principal Administration (Primary) - Stephanie Smith
- Assistant Principal Teaching and Learning (Secondary) - Chris Relf
- Assistant Principal Student Welfare (Secondary) - Reagen Collier
- Assistant Principal Religious Education (Curriculum) - Amy Brennan
- Assistant Principal Religious Education (Mission and Formation) - Brendan McDonald
As you can see from the diagram below, the new structure clarifies responsibilities, line management and covers aspects of our operations that are currently a little 'ad hoc' in nature.
I am confident that our new structure will set us on a path to new standards of excellence and will support the outcomes of our Middle Leaders Review that is also approaching its conclusion.
I thank all parents, staff and students for their continued support of our efforts to renew the College and prepare it for the next chapter in its exciting development.
God Bless
Simon Dash
Principal
HEADS OF SCHOOL ADDRESS
YEAR 9 INFORMATION EVENING
This week saw many parents and students come along to an Information Evening to hear about the changes that are occurring in Senior school over the next 2 years. Our current Year 9 students will be participating in the Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR) system which will see many changes to both courses and assessments. The College is looking at how we can support both students and parents to be in the best position to understand and plan for these changes. If you were not able to attend this session, a copy of the presentation can be found on the Parent Portal.
YEAR 12 PROGRAM AND FORMAL
It has been a busy week for our Year 12 students starting with them sitting the Queensland Core Skills (QCS) on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then Friday will see them begin their exam block which will continue until next Thursday. On Friday, September 8, they will relax and enjoy their Formal evening which will be held at the College. The cars will start to arrive at 5.30pm, please feel free to come along and watch their arrival.
XAVIER@WORK - PRINCIPAL'S TOUR
This Friday 1st September, the College is happy to invite existing families as well as those interested in joining the Xavier community to see our College at work. Tours of the school and the opportunity to meet the Principal and our Student Leaders will occur from 9am to 12 noon.
PRINCIPAL'S AFTERNOON TEA
As a way of recognising and rewarding those students who work consistently in all subjects and demonstrate the ideals of our College, a selection of students have been invited to an afternoon tea with the Principal this Thursday during period 6.
SEEKING FEEDBACK FROM OUR COLLEGE COMMUNITY
As a way of seeking feedback to ensure a process of continuous improvement the College will be asking staff and students to complete surveys. Staff will complete the ‘Staff Organisation Culture Survey’ to gather feedback on a range of organisation processes. Students will complete two surveys. The first is the ‘What’s happening in this School’ (WHITS) Survey which will be completed online during an extended Pastoral Care session. Students will be asked questions across three main areas – school Climate, Student Agency and Risk Factors.
The second survey is one that will be delivered to particular classes by one of their classroom teachers. Teachers have nominated a class they wish to survey and they will undertake this over the next few weeks. The aims of the survey will be for staff to gather feedback on the Learning Environment, as well as Student Motivation and Engagement. The data will be utilised within Professional Learning Teams to work towards continual professional growth, and adapting to the learning needs of our students. After some time the students will then be re-surveyed to assess the positive impact of our teachers revised pedagogical approaches.
This will be an on-going process of staff working to identify areas for improvement and work to address them through collaboration with their colleagues. If you would like more information on these Surveys please feel free to contact your Head of School.
Heads of School – Ms Kerry Sidaway and Mr Russell Davey
UPCOMING EVENTS
September 1 – Junior School Preformances 11:30am and 1:30pm
September 1 – Junior School Father’s Day Breakfast & Liturgy
September 1 – Xavier@work morning/Principal’s tour
September 1 – Year 11 Hospitality Excursion to EAT@Dan & Steph’s
September 4 – Year 12 End of Term 3 Exam Block
September 4 – XCC Healing Mass
September 6 – Year 4 Camp Underwater World Overnight
September 7 – Brisbane Writer’s Festival
November 6 – Junior School Grandparents’ Day Liturgy
FROM THE APRES
INVITATION TO JUNIOR SCHOOL FATHER’S DAY BREAKFAST & LITURGY
Fathers play a significant role in the lives of their children and families. Every year on Father’s Day, we remember the many sacrifices fathers make for their children and families, and the ways they do this - both big and small. We also remember the other men in our lives who may have filled the role of father for many of our college families; these may include grandfathers, uncles, brothers and cousins, teachers, priests and coaches. All are invited to join us for a special breakfast and liturgy on Friday 1st September. A small breakfast will be served from 7:30am with some games organised on the Junior School Oval followed by a liturgy in Goa at 8:45am. Parents and families are warmly invited to attend.
XAVIER PLAYGROUP
What: Playgroup @ Xavier
When: our first session will be on Friday 20th October
Time: 9 – 11am
Where: In GOA in the Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) room, just along the path from the main car park (follow the signs)
Why: To have a play with your children in a happy setting, to come along to meet other mums and dads, to enjoy a story together……….
What to bring: morning tea for your children, and a hat for outside play. We will provide a cuppa and some morning tea!
OFFICE HOLIDAY CLOSURES
The College Office will be closed Monday 18 September until Wednesday 20 September and will reopen on Thursday 21 September and will be open for the remainder of the school holidays from 9am – 3pm.
SVDP CLOTHES DRIVE
Bring in dresses, shirts, scarves, jumpers, shorts, jeans and clean clothes for the Magis Minis clothes drive. Please no stains or holes because they need to be worn. Bin locations for the clothes are GOA, Library, Language Centre and Student Reception from 30th August until the 13th September.
SCHOOL DENTAL VAN
Students are eligible to use the dental van from Prep to Year 10. Students in Prep to Year 7 will be issued dental forms through class teachers. Any students in Years 8-10 that wish to access the School Dental Service, please pick up a dental form from student reception. Dental forms are to be returned signed by 31/08/2017.
XAVIER CONTINUES ITS STRONG PRESENCE AT OPTIMINDS!
On Saturday the 26th August, 3 teams ventured to Shalom College in Bundaberg to compete in the Regional Optiminds. The competition was strong with one of our teams (X-Plosives) coming away with an Honours in the Science and Engineering division. Each team worked very hard over the term and displayed our strong Xavier spirit on the day, in the Presentation & Spontaneous section. Many thanks to Tom Riley, Alana Curran, Peter DeWaard, Jo Kliendienst, Lisa Stewart and Shannon May for all their help with Optiminds. A big shout out to the parents who gave up their weekend to transport and attend the event. Certificates will be awarded to all students who participated at next week’s assembly.
UNIVERSITY TRANSITION PROGRAM
On Tuesday 12 September USC have put together a series of informative sessions to help parents and students navigate their way through to University. This event is aimed at students in Years 10, 11 and 12.
A Headstart information session will also be available. This is USCs transition program for Year 11 and 12 students to study USC courses while still completing high school. This program provides students with a taste of university where they can gain credits towards their future degree, however there are criteria to be met in order to participate.
SCHOLARSHIPS:
Most universities offer a variety of scholarships, for example
- ACU offer a range of scholarships for commencing students recognising everything from rewarding academic achievement to supporting equality. There are nearly 400 scholarships on offer – some contribute a one-off payment, while others provide support for each year of a student’s degree. ACU contacts for further information include: Paula Moffat – 36237448, Caitlin Nash 36237649 and Alicia De Paoli 38616132 or futurestudy.bne@acu.edu.au
- USC offers several scholarships to help undergraduate students pay for their education. These funds come from a variety of university, federal, state, and private sources but unlike loans, they do not have to be repaid.
- Generally, scholarships are reserved for students with special qualifications, such as academic, athletic, or artistic talent. Awards are also available for students who are interested in particular fields of study, are members of underrepresented groups, or live in certain areas of the country. http://admission.usc.edu/docs/Scholarships.pdf to view all information relating to USC scholarships.
- https://scholarships.uq.edu.au/ - UQ offer a range of scholarships for both future and current students so keep checking the scholarships site each year you are studying to see what is available.
Please check each university you are considering studying with next year for information on scholarships. Make sure you carefully check and address all required criteria when applying. Applying for scholarships is a time-consuming process but it is worth it!
Annie Sexton
Guidance Counsellor (Grades 8-12)
CQ UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE
Last Friday four of our Year 9 Leaders attended a conference at CQ University. The conference involved Year 9 students from high schools in the Wide Bay. Students attended lectures and workshops on Social Enterprise. By the end of the day our students had selected an issue that was present in our community and designed a pitch/fundraising idea that they presented in front of their peers and teachers from other schools. Daniel Harding, Brianna Skyring, Larissa Wilson and Amy Wyvill should be commended on conducting themselves beautifully. They received excellent feedback from the CQU lecturers saying they represented our College very well.
U12 STATE TOUCH FOOTBALL
Last week Harry Armstrong and Nate Tomekovic competed in the State Carnival for Touch Football. Both boys represented the Wide Bay exceptionally. Harry was awarded 4 MPV awards from 6 games then unfortunately busted his knee, tearing his lateral ligament. He was unable to play the remaining 4 games but was still announced as a shadow for the Queensland team. The Wide Bay Team finished the carnival 5th overall out of the 12 regions competing.
EQUESTRIAN SUCCESS
Xavier was well-represented at the Fraser Coast Interschool Equestrian Competition in Maryborough from 23rd – 25th August. Abigail Penman (Year 2), Megan Berghofer (Year 6), Charli Thompson (Year 7), Nellie Davis (Year 8), Emily Berghofer (Year 8) and Kyra Hughes (Year 9) all participated in a wide range of events, including show jumping, English dressage, Western dressage, the stockman’s challenge, sporting and the school parade. Our Xavier representatives had a highly successful competition, bringing home a number of ribbons for placing in their various events. For some of the girls it was also their first competition. Most importantly, the students enjoyed preparing for the competition and spending time representing the college with their four-legged friends.
Results for the Xavier Equestrian Team at the Fraser Coast Interschool Equestrian Competition were:
In English dressage tests: Charli Thompson 1st & 2nd, Nellie Davis 2nd & 6th and Kyra Hughes 2nd & 4th. Emily Berghofer placed 4th in the Sporting Challenge, and Nellie came 2nd in Western dressage. Showjumping: 90cm – Nellie Davis 1st, 40cm – Charli Thompson 4th, Kyra Hughes 3rd.Abigail also received 5th place for lead dressage.
Congratulations girls! Megan Berghofer also joined Nellie and Emily in the school parade on Friday – an event involving over 300 horses and riders!
Thanks must go to the parents, coaches and horse owners who make the students’ participation in the event possible. We are already looking forward to next year’s competition and new team members are always welcome, including those who have not competed before.
STATE SOFTBALL
Last weekend Edward Gatenby represented the Wide Bay at the Queensland 10 – 12years Softball State Championships held in Toowoomba. The Wide Bay team placed 5th with Capricornia taking out the trophy and Edward played incredibly well, demonstrating tremendous determination. Well done Edward.
XAVIER BASKETBALL
Well done to our Xavier Basketball teams in the Fraser Coast Inter-School Competition. Our Girls Open Team claimed the overall trophy, while our U15 and Open Boys teams both finished in 3rd, missing the Grand Finals, due to some very narrow losses of 1 and 2 points. A very successful campaign and massive improvements, largely thanks to the many training sessions put in by the students. Thanks to Ms Nicholson, Mr Lund and Mr Ninnes for preparing the students for competition.
SPORTS GALA DAY
On Friday all of our Year 3 and 4 students had a great day out at Gala Day, participating in a variety of sports against other schools in the area. We had students going to Rugby League, Soccer, Netball, Oz Tag and Hockey. The students learnt new skills and refreshed the skills they already had. Thank you to the staff for taking and coaching their teams both before and on the day.
XAVIER KINDERGARTEN
STOCKLANDS HERVEY BAY SCHOOL REWARDS
Help
Xavier climb the leaderboard for prizes in the Stockland Hervey Bay
School Rewards program. Any purchase made from a Stockland Hervey Bay
store earns points towards our campaign.
Simply, visit the customer
service desk with your reciepts and register towards our school OR
register and upload your dockets online at
www.herveybayschoolrewards.com.auEvery dollar spent, can earn one point towards prize rewards for Xavier.
WOOLWORTHS EARN AND LEARN
The Woolworths Earn and Learn program is back for 2017 and once again Xavier College is participating.
The
program works like this – if our community saves their stickers when
they shop at Woolworths we can use these to ‘purchase’ educational
resource items from Modern Teaching Aids at the end of the promotion.
The program runs from 26 July – 19 September.
Staff, grandparents,
neighbours and friends can all support our school by collecting
stickers and placing them on a sticker sheet and dropping them into the
boxes marked ‘Xavier College” at each Woolworths store or in the box in
the college foyer.
Last year we were able to supplement our PE
equipment for junior school and this year we would love to be able to
use the resources in other learning areas.
Thanks for your support.
GREAT BOOK SWAP
Please support the Great Book Swap to raise funds for Indigenous Literacy Foundation
