There has been much happening for our Year 9 students since our last Parent Corner prior to the holidays. Already during Term 2, year 9 students have been involved in attending or participating in ANZAC Day services, extra-curricular teams and preparing for Open Day – just to name a few. Year 9 students have also been busy in the classroom preparing for NAPLAN and reviewing their Term 1 results and teacher feedback, in preparation for parent/student/teacher conferences. Other events coming up this term include the mother/daughter celebration held over the next few weeks. As you can see, this has been a very busy term so far and we are only just coming to the end of Week 2.

On Tuesday 26 March, Year 9 and 10 students were privileged to attend a presentation held by producers of a documentary series The Mosque Next Door (SBS & Netflix). Students were informed about an exciting opportunity available to them, which included taking part in this series being filmed this year. The documentary follows the exchange program of teenagers from schools across Brisbane with students from the Islamic College of Brisbane. This exchange is planning to take place over a period of a couple of weeks, where chosen students being paired with a Muslim student. The buddies would attend each other’s schools and get to know each other’s families. This is an incredible opportunity to experience life and culture from a perspective very different to their own. If your daughter was interesting, they received a letter regarding this and will receive information about the next step soon.

Also on Tuesday, Year 9 students attended the Brainstorm Production – Verbal Combat. This educational theatre performance explored resilience and anti-bullying for teenage students, in particular covered the following relevant topics - online safety, bullying, group dynamics and the role of bystanders. They covered the complex dynamics that emerge within peer groups and the harmful impact of bullying and cyber-bullying. The performance depicts the challenges students face, as they try to find their place in the social world. Identifying that some students will get caught up in rumours and bullying, while others try to maintain power and control. Student learnt that the most powerful strategy that - reporting, help-seeking, restitution, empathy and compassion. Students were encouraged to examine their own behaviour and create more respectful environments at school and online. This will be further discussed during Personal Development classes, however, I encourage you to also speak to your daughter about this important topic and ask them if they have the courage to stop and report bullying and cyber-bullying.

During the term, many year 9 students have been involved in many aspects of College life, as well as participating in extra-curricular offered outside of school. Congratulations to one year 9 student who is in the Northside Polo Bears Water Polo Team - Chelsea Blake. As with many other students, Chelsea trains two afternoons per week and competes every Saturday.

On Sunday 20 March, Chelsea received the Coaches Award.

“The award I received was the Coaches Award. My coach chose me for this award as I helped her coach the other girls in my team when she needed help and when she was injured. As some girls were new and I helped get them to understand the concept of Water Polo and even won a few games. I also aside from my club, Polo Bears I was able to trial for metropolitan Water Polo team a few weeks ago and made it into the reserves team as goalie. I competed against many girls from many different schools from ages 13-19. As one of the youngest there I was able to make it into this team!” Chelsea Blake.

Well done Chelsea for your dedication to your water polo team while also keeping up with your studies and other commitments.

I will leave you with this week’s SchoolTV topics, which I recommend you view with your daughter:

Please continue to contact me at the College on 3357 6000 or via email at chrit@staff.mta.qld.edu.au if you would like to inform me regarding your daughter's achievements or if you have any questions.

Teena Christofis

Year 9 Pastoral Guardian

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