Primary School News

Dear Primary Families,

I hope all our wonderful Marist Mums were spoilt rotten over the weekend for their special day. It was wonderful to see so many families at our Mother Son Breakfast last Wednesday morning. Our guest speaker, Kylie Butler-McIntosh, spoke about the special moments of motherhood with adolescent sons. I hope that the hugs the boys gave their mums after her speech were the first of many for the week. 

NAPLAN Testing

Well done to our Year 5 students who completed their first round of NAPLAN testing this morning. To set them up for success across the week, boys are reminded to have a healthy breakfast and bring all the required equipment. My many thanks to all our Year 5 teachers and Ms Jen Little (Primary Learning Leader) for their support of the boys. 

Walkathon 

Thank you to all those who have already begun fundraising for the College Walkathon. Last week you would have received a letter from the College with more details about the day.

A reminder that student participation on Sunday 5 June is compulsory. If for any reason your son cannot attend, please ensure that you communicate this with Mr Michael Connolly or myself prior to the event. Any student unable to walk on the day will be expected to complete the Make-Up Walkathon on Friday afternoon, 10 June.

Walkathon Letter to Parents

Year 6 BBQ

This morning our Year 6 cohort came together for a BBQ breakfast at McMahon oval. This was a great opportunity for the boys to share a meal together and reflect on their recent experience at Emu Gully.

Phones in Primary

At yesterday morning’s assembly the boys were reminded that Primary students are to put their phones in their lockers as soon as they get to school. This is not only for security, but to ensure our boys are developing the skills to have face-to-face conversations with each other and creating positive relationships. Any student who is unable to meet this expectation will have their phones confiscated and will have to sign their phone in and out of school each day at the office. 

Free Dress Day 

This Friday 13 May is a Free Dress Day for all students across the College. Boys are reminded to wear appropriate footwear and a hat. This year we will be fundraising for our College’s MATES Program, all students are asked to please bring a gold coin donation. 

Brisbane Writers Festival 

The library staff had the pleasure of taking a group of students to attend Word Play, the educational program which forms a part of the Brisbane Writers Festival. The festival was held at the State Library. The boys had the extraordinary opportunity to dive into literary wonderlands with highly acclaimed authors. They sharpened their drawing skills with graphic novelist and comic artist Andrew Cranna, and also discovered the arduous process involved in creating a graphic novel. Scientist and novelist Cristy Burne had the boys thinking creatively about science during her hilarious presentation. We concluded our wonderful day with a most captivating and intriguing magical show by the highly acclaimed magician and TikTok creator Ash Magic. 

The boys enjoyed a couple of short breaks outside in the fresh air with their lunch. They were beautifully behaved and did us proud with both their perfect manners and poignant questions to the authors.

Last week the following students took part in the excursion:

Thank you to Mrs Round and Ms Brown from the library for accompanying the boys.

Public Speaking Update – Mrs Kylie Tippins

Last Tuesday night, six brave Year 5 students (Ollivier Canning, Oliver Holt, James Stigter, Jack Donohue, Callum Nowers and Matthew Higgins) participated in Round 1 of Public Speaking at St Laurence's College. The boys wrote their own speeches and were able to present them to an appreciative audience. They are to be congratulated on their efforts. Speaker of the night went to Callum Nowers. The boys are now busily preparing for Round 2, on 24 May.

Debating Update – Mrs Robyn Brown

On Tuesday evening our Round Robin Debating Competition commenced. The Year 6 Debating Teams competed brilliantly against their opponents, St Laurence’s College. 

Team 1: (Will Webster, Ted Armstrong, Kayden Kyoung and Harry Player). They debated the negative against St Laurence’s with “That homework should be abolished”. The outcome was very positive for the team with them winning the debate. Their ability to listen intently to the opposition and respond with strong rebuttals was evident and instrumental in their success. Kayden Kyoung was the worthy recipient of the “Speaker of the Night” award.

Congratulations boys!

Team 2 (Henry Walker, Caelan Rabie, Jackson Keir and Roman Kerwin-Torrisi) 

They debated the affirmative against St Laurence’s with “That homework should be abolished”. The boys argued beautifully but were defeated by their opponents. The arguments for the topic were well researched and presented.

Primary Sport - Mr John Lambourne

Achievements

Congratulations to Tex Higginbotham (6G) and Harry Cleary (6R) who have been selected to represent Met North (10–12 years) AFL at the Queensland School Sports State Championships, to be held 9 – 12 June.

Congratulations to Hunter Chan-Riotto (6V) who has been selected to represent Met North (10–12 years) Football at the Queensland School Sports State Championships, to be held 28 June – 1 July.

Congratulations to Damon Johnston (6G) who has been selected to represent Met North (10–12 years) Hockey at the Queensland School Sports State Championships, to be held 16 – 19 June.

North West District Cross Country

Congratulations to all the boys who represented Marist College at the North West District Cross Country. 

Abe Patricks (5W), Matthew Higgins (5G), Xavier Hill (5G), Zaiden Cook (6B), Thomas Shaxson (6G), Aidan Marshall (6W) have qualified to run at Met North Regional Cross Country Tuesday, 24 May.

Marist College finished the carnival in second, a fantastic achievement as the boys compete against schools with both male and female athletes.

AIC Cross Country Championships

Unfortunately, tomorrow’s meet at SLC has been cancelled, it is hoped that this meet will be rescheduled to 25 May. It is crucial that any boy wishing to qualify for the AIC Championships commit to training over the next 3 weeks.

Cross Country Meet #1

St Laurence’s College Playing Fields, Runcorn

Wednesday, 11 May

Cross Country Meet #2

Curlew Park, Shorncliffe

Wednesday, 18 May

AIC Cross Country Championships

Curlew Park, Shorncliffe

Wednesday, 1 June

Cross Country Training

Boys are to meet at the swimming pool 6:30am for a 6:45am departure.

It is recommended that students complete two sessions per week. Students should attend one of the following: 

• Monday and Wednesday
• Monday and Thursday
• Tuesday and Thursday

This structure allows students to have a rest day between sessions and to complete different types of training.

Term 2 Sport

Term 2 Training Schedules

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.

Pick-up Arrangements - “Plan B”

It is important that you are aware of the pick-up procedures if you are running late. Sport training sessions finish by 4:45pm. We ask that boys are picked up at this time, or soon after. Any boy who is still at their training venue at 5:00pm will be directed to the Boarding Reception area so that he may be collected from there. In the case of bus arrivals, boys will be sent to Boarding Reception 15 minutes after the arrival time of the bus. 

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.

For further information please do not hesitate to contact me;

John Lambourneprimarysports@marash.qld.edu.au