Primary School News

Dear Primary Families,

It is with a sense of sadness that I write my final newsletter at MCA. As a school in the Marist tradition, we are united with schools across Australia and around the world by the five pillars of Marist Spirituality: Family Spirit, Presence, Simplicity, Love of Work, all in The Way of Mary. Looking back on our time together, I am very proud to say that each of these pillars have and will continue to be entrenched throughout all areas of our Primary School.

I believe that as a Primary School we are truly blessed to have such an engaged and supportive parent body. This is certainly not something I have taken for granted during my time at the College. Another group who are integral to the growth and development of our boys is our dedicated and professional primary staff, who work tirelessly to ensure that our students are supported and challenged to reach their full potential during their foundational years at Marist College Ashgrove.

The last two years have provided me with a wonderful and rewarding opportunity to serve a community that I once had the privilege to be part of as a student, one that has been an integral part of my development, and one that I will always hold very close to my heart. Marist College Ashgrove is a very special place and I leave knowing that I will take a part of this place with me as I lead St Thomas’.

In the years to come, I have no doubt that the boys within our Primary School will go on to achieve remarkable things in their bright futures. I hope they will always look back fondly on their time in the Primary School, and may they always and in all things have as their motto Virliter Age – Act Courageously.

Staffing Update

Congratulations to Mr Michael Connolly who has been appointed as the Acting Head of Primary for the remainder of the year, and Mrs Kylie Tippins who will be the Acting Primary Pastoral Leader. Mick and Kylie are well known to our boys and families in the Primary School, and I have no doubt they will do a fantastic job. 

Thank you also to Mr John Lambourne and Mrs Prue Maclean who will be taking on an additional teaching load to ensure consistency for the boys during this period of transition. 

Marist Extend Information Night

Tournament of Minds

Well done to our Primary boys who did a fantastic job representing our College and the state of Queensland at the Tournament of Minds International Final in Canberra over the weekend. The boys thoroughly enjoyed the experience, which I am sure they will remember of years to come. Thank you to Mrs Rhonda Carson and Mrs Majella Stevens for all their hard work in providing this amazing opportunity for our boys. 

From the Pastoral Leader – Mr Michael Connolly 

It is with mixed emotions that I find myself writing this newsletter piece for several reasons.

So many happy, great things have happened since the start of the term.

Firstly, it has been such a positive experience to return from my recent leave and has so many boys giving me such a warm welcome back. So many boys took the time to ask about my time away and welcomed me back to the Primary School. Many wanted to know if my golf handicap had improved but, I had to share with them that sadly, it hadn’t! I have enjoyed reacquainting myself with the young men in the Primary School and have been amazed at how much they have changed during the time that I was away.

It is a very special term for our Year 6 boys and they are rightly excited (if not a tad nervous) about leaving the Primary School and continuing their Marist journey in the Secondary School. During Week 1, I met with all Year 6 students in the Cyprian Pavillion to plan for our time together this term. We spoke about teamwork and respect, and we came to the realization that, if Term 4 2022 is to be the very best experience that it can be for all boys in the Primary School, then we need to work together to make it happen. 

I shared some All Blacks Rugby Union wisdom with the boys . The All Blacks use a canoe as a focus for an old Māori saying. The saying, when translated, reminds us that ‘a little water seeping through a small hole may swamp a canoe’. The boys understood the significance of this and recognised that it is the responsibility of every boy to do their part to ensure that our MCA Primary ‘canoe’ does not take on too much water this term as we finish the year off together. 

The last two weeks have been tinged with a degree of sadness however as we learned that our Head of Primary, Mr Beatty, will be leaving MCA this week to lead St. Thomas’ Primary School at Camp Hill. Mr Beatty has worked tirelessly to assist the staff and students of the Primary School for the last two years and his passion for our school and the boys in it has been on display for all to see. We will miss Mr Beatty around our Primary School but we wish him every success at his new school and thank him for all that he has done for everyone in our community. One thing for certain is that we will all think of Mr Beatty when the NBA season kicks off and his beloved Boston Celtics make a run at the title again next year!

Primary Student Leadership 2023

On Friday last week, the Year 5 boys attended a Student Leadership information session in the Draney Theatre. The purpose of this session was to introduce the notion of student leadership to the boys and explain the process. Our current Year 6 Leaders addressed the boys and conducted a Q and A time for the younger boys to ask any questions that they may have wanted to be answered. Student Leadership is not something that every boy will be interested in, but we are hoping that our time in the Draney Theatre has enthused some of our Year 5 students into expressing their interest next week.

Gilroy Ash Dash

It was great to see the Primary boys competing in the Gilroy ASH Dash on Tuesday. Each Primary class were represented by 4 runners who run the designated course whilst keeping hold of a hay bale. Suffice to say, not all hay bales made it back to the start line in one piece! Congratulations to all boys who took part but especially the boys from 5White and 6Red who took the honours this year.

Year 6 Beach Trip

Advance notice that all Year 6 families will be receiving information regarding our Caloundra Beach trip to be held on Thursday 24 November. It has always proven to be a great day that the boys and staff enjoy to mark and celebrate the final week in Year 6 for our boys. 

We will be looking for some parents from each class to attend the day and assist with supervision so, if this is something that you would like to do, please notify your son’s class teacher to register your interest. 

Final Primary Assembly

Invites will be sent out shortly to our final Primary Assembly which will be held on Friday November 25th in the Draney Theatre. This is a special day for our Year 6 boys as they conclude their Primary years and begin their Secondary journey. 

From the Primary Learning Leader – Ms Jen Little

Assessment Calendars

Please note that Term 4 Primary Assessment Calendars were emailed to all parents and students this week. Please use this to assist with preparation for study and revision.  Please keep in mind that the  Class One Notes are an excellent resource for this purpose. Also, a friendly reminder that our Morning Study Room is available to all Primary students from 8:00am – 8:30am each morning. On top of this, writing tutoring is also available on Thursday mornings in the 5 Gold classroom at the same time. This was very well attended last week and the students deserve special congratulations for the way they embraced these sessions. 

Australian Mathematics Competition

On Monday morning, we presented certificates of Credit and Proficiency to our Years 5 and 6 students who competed in the Australian Mathematics Competition. Congratulations to these boys who worked conscientiously throughout the test. Special congratulations to the following Year 5 students who managed to accomplish Certificates of Distinction: Cooper Lewis, Henry Mackay and Xavier Hill. Further commendation also goes to Xavier Hill who received ‘Best in School’ for his work during this test. 

We are still awaiting the Certificates for the Maths iCAS testing that was completed in late August. Please note that these will be handed out to students as soon as we have them.