Primary News

Dear Primary Families

Morning Study

As we journey through Week 4, our boys are beginning to prepare for a number of assessments. With this in mind, I encourage you to have a conversation with your son about accessing our morning study room. This facility is open each morning from 8:00am for our Primary boys. In this space, they have access to a number of our staff members as well as our Academic Captains who are available to assist them with their completion and revision of work.

Day for Daniel

A big thank you to all students and families for getting behind Day for Daniel last Friday. Through wearing red and taking part in activities, everyone played their part in raising awareness for child safety.

Safe on Social

I hope a number of you were able to attend the Safe on Social Parent Seminar last week run by Kirra Pendergast. As part of our child safety activities on Day for Daniel, our Year 5 students took part in another session run by Kirra.

Of particular importance was the reminder that a majority of social media platforms out there have an age restriction of 13 years of age. In light of this, I would encourage you to have a conversation with your son about their engagement with social media and what strategies they have in place to ensure their safety. More information can be found on the Safe on Social website.

Christmas Appeal

This week sees the launch of our St Vincent DePaul Christmas Drive. Please refer to the Mission section of this newsletter for further information.

World Teachers’ Day

This Friday 29 October we celebrate World Teacher’s Day. Whilst our teachers enjoy a well-deserved break due to the postponed Ekka holiday, it is important that we acknowledge and give thanks to our amazing teachers for the great work that they do. Let us give thanks to: Mrs Earley, Mrs Geraghty, Mrs Garton, Mr Pelly, Mr Jones, Mr Bathersby, Mr Connolly, Mr Furminger, Mrs Maclean, Miss Little, Mr Woodward, Mrs Barnett, Mrs Taylor, Mrs Tippins, Mrs Round and Mr Lambourne.

I believe this poem, by renowned poet and MCA parent, Rupert McCall paints a great picture of the impact that teachers have each and every day.

AIC Touch Football Competition 

Congratulations to the 18 students in Year 5 and 6 who represented the College at the AIC Touch Football tournament on Saturday. I would also like to thank Mr Furminger, Mr Lambourne, Mr Caplick and Mr Webb for all their efforts in ensuring the boys’ participation in such a great day.

Year 5 Leadership Afternoon 

Tomorrow afternoon I have the privilege of working with our Year 5 students as part of their leadership afternoon. This day will focus on the pillars of Marist spirituality and challenge boys to reflect on how they can lead the Primary School as Year 6 students next year. Interested students will also be invited to take part in an additional formation opportunity where they can nominate for one of our five Primary Student Leader positions for 2022.

Further information can be found below from our Primary Pastoral Leader – Mr Michael Connolly.

ASH Dash

This morning our boys took part in the annual Ash Dash. Congratulations to our winning teams, 5 Blue and 6 White.

Debating

Best wishes to our Year 5 and 6 students who are participating in the final round of the QDU debating competition tomorrow night. The boys have shown a marked improvement each week, thanks in part to the wonderful work of their coaches Mrs Garton and Mrs Brown. This week’s topics are: ‘That fairytales set us up for disappointment’ and ‘that books are better than movies’. Best wishes, boys.

Primary Pastoral Leader – Michael Connolly

All Year 5 students will attend an afternoon of reflection on Wednesday this week when they attend a retreat afternoon in the Chapel and the Tower.

The activities the boys will encounter centre on our 5 Marist characteristics with a focus on leadership for 2022.  Our Year 5 boys will be encouraged to look ahead to next year and suggest ways that they could lead our Primary School. 

We will start our time together with a sausage sizzle at Break 1 but the boys will be required to take their Break Two food with them to the tower in their lunchboxes. 

The boys will be dismissed at the usual time from their classrooms.

It is worth noting that all Year 5 boys will attend this retreat.  At the conclusion of the afternoon session, boys who are interested in becoming one of our five student leaders in 2022 will be asked to nominate on Thursday or Friday by writing their name down on the list in the Primary Office.

Primary Sport - Mr John Lambourne

AIC Touch

The Primary boys were very excited to be involved in the AIC Touch Invitational held at St Laurence’s College playing fields, Runcorn, on Saturday. Marist had entered two teams in the Primary Division, from the outset it became evident that the level of touch was of a very high standard and that wins would be tough to come by. The improvement in the MCA teams across the day was fantastic to see with the MCA Gold team winning through to the grand final, unfortunately, going down to a very polished Villanova side. Thanks must go to coaches Mr Furminger and Mr Beatty.

Term 4 Swimming

AIC Team Sport Term 1 2022

Year 6 students 2022, who wish to represent the College in Term 1 AIC team sport, are asked to complete the sign-on form. Sports that are offered are AFL and Cricket, please only nominate for one team sport as boys can only play AFL or cricket, not both. Boys are still able to be part of the swimming squads and play Saturday sport.

Details regarding sport can be found in the Primary Sports Handbook, a detailed Term 1 Sports Handbook, including season draws, will be available towards the end of Term 4.

Year 6 2022 - AIC Team Sport Term 1 2022

Trial Information

Sports Photographs

We are always on the lookout for photos and action shots to be used for the Blue and Gold, other College publications, season or end-of-year wrap-ups etc. Please follow this link and add your photos - Marist College Ashgrove Primary Sports Photos.

College App

Please ensure that you download the College App to your smartphone. This app will be used weekly to inform you of sporting fixtures, cancellations and bus arrival information.