Primary School News

Dear Primary Parents,

Since our last newsletter was shared, the Summer Olympic Games for 2024 have started in Paris.  Every four years, the world comes together to celebrate the pinnacle of athletic achievement, but the games offer more than just thrilling competition and national pride. They present an opportunity to share with our students, stories of perseverance and dedication across so many disciplines over the next few weeks. Let’s hope that our boys can be inspired to work hard and achieve their best in whatever it is that they turn their minds to. 

Our Primary School boys will have their own chance to claim gold as Mr Graham launches our Gold Medal Moments program today which will see many boys awarded gold medals for doing the little things right. I am looking forward to sharing our medal tally table over the next four weeks. Good luck boys!

Primary Pastoral Leader – Anthony Graham 

Launch of Gold Medal Moments

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our Gold Medal Moments initiative, designed to celebrate and recognise boys who consistently do the little things right, both inside and outside the classroom. This program highlights those who receive Positive Pastoral Notifications by awarding them a gold medal during Weeks 4-7. Additionally, teachers have the opportunity to nominate their colleagues for their outstanding contributions. We look forward to seeing our community come together to acknowledge the everyday efforts that make our school a better place.

Reflecting on the MOC Program and Friendology

Our MOC program continues to make significant strides, particularly with the recent focus on Friendology. Over the past fortnight, both Year 5 and Year 6 students have participated in a lesson centred around the concept of the "Friend-o-metre." This session aims to help students distinguish between healthy and unhealthy friendships and friendship groups, both in-person and online, while also understanding the impact of body language on these relationships.

One of the key takeaways for students is the WWW of friendships: What works? What doesn't work? What's your plan? For example, if you text a friend and they don't reply immediately, what doesn't work is texting them 20 times in a row. Instead, what works is sending one or two messages and then speaking to them at school the next day.

These lessons are instrumental in guiding our students towards building and maintaining positive, healthy friendships. We are proud of the progress our students are making and the supportive environment they are helping to create.

Exciting Times: Walkathon

Exciting times are ahead as we gear up for our annual walkathon! All students have now received their donation booklets and can start collecting pledges. This year, we have an array of primary-focused rewards for students who reach significant milestones. One of the most anticipated rewards is the chance to take on the role of Principal of the Primary for a day! We wonder who will earn the opportunity to step into Mr. Connolly's shoes.

Make sure to encourage your children to participate actively and enjoy the process of working towards their goals. Let's make this walkathon a memorable event for everyone involved.

Primary Learning Leader – Jen Little

Literacy and Numeracy Cup Results

Year 5:

Literacy – 5 Maroon – 81.5%

Numeracy – 5 Silver – 84.2%

Year 6:

Literacy – 6 Gold – 80.92%

Numeracy – 6 Blue - 63%

Book Week – Mrs Meaghan Round and Ms Robyn Brown

Last week, the Primary Library celebrated Book Week with the theme ‘Reading is Magical’. The boys had a marvellous week with countless activities and an enormous dose of fun. 

Remy Lai was our visiting author and illustrator, and she gave the boys a terrific insight into the story-writing process for a graphic novel. It is far more involved and time-consuming than the boys had anticipated. Some fortunate boys had the opportunity to hone their artistic skills and gain some insight into improving their drawing from a celebrated author and illustrator during her workshop. 

Our book fair was an enormous success with our sales topping previous years. We would like to thank everyone who supported us by purchasing books and merchandise. A generous percentage of the sales will be converted into new books for our library. 

Our book week parade was an enormous success with the boys dressing as their favourite book characters. We had some incredibly creative costumes and it was evident the boys had spent time and thought in developing their ideas. Thank you for supporting your son with this fantastic event. 

Our celebration of Book Week 2024 was triumphant, and we feel gratified that we have stimulated and excited the boys in the marvellous world of books.

Year 6 QDU Debating – Ms Robyn Brown

Our first round of Year 6 QDU debates were victorious! All three teams were successful in winning their debates. The topic for the debate was 'That school tuckshops should be banned'.

The boys demonstrated exceptional research skills in preparing their speeches. This was followed by their attentive listening and rebuttals.

Congratulations to all three teams!

6.1 debated the affirmative against Fig Tree Pocket State School:

Max King, Harry McConnell, Joe Campion, Cormac Gannon

6.2 debated the negative against St Peters Lutheran College: 

Lincoln Bartlett, Andre Bennett, Roman Krutil, Will Minahan

6.3 debated the affirmative against Indooroopilly State School:

Barney Armstrong, Sebastian Kaminski, Ben Mulholland, Harris Ritchie

Year 5 QDU Debating – Ms Jen Little

Our three Year 5 teams had a fantastic start in their debates against St Peter's Lutheran College and Brisbane Grammar School, with two out of the three teams emerging victorious last Thursday evening. The topic was 'that school tuckshops should be banned.' Congratulations to the following boys who dedicated significant time to preparing for their very first debating experience: 

5.1 – debated the negative against St Peter’s Lutheran College:

Harrison Kirkman, Will Carr, Ruben Vos and Cooper Brandis

5.2 – debated the affirmative against Brisbane Grammar School:

Matthew Hendrick, George Thomas, Jovi Zanre and Noah Newman

5.3 – debated the affirmative against Brisbane Grammar School:

Ben Jefferies, Charlie Mackay, Levi Doyle and Sawyer Snyder

The adjudicators of all three debates commended the students on the high standard of debating, particularly given the fact that it was their very first experience.

Primary Sport - Mr John Lambourne

What’s On This Week

Friday, 2 August

AIC Basketball Round 3 vs Iona College

Year 5 @ Iona

Year 6 @ Marist

Saturday, 3 August

AIC Tennis Round 3 vs Iona College @ Iona

AIC Rugby League Round 3 vs. Iona College @ Iona

*Please see the College app for further details

Term 3 AIC Sport

Basketball

Rugby League

Tennis

Harrison Fowler

This week the Year 6 team took on what turned out to be a very evenly matched team from Padua on an unusually warm winter morning. The team demonstrated incredible grit and determination, playing with heart and effort until the very end with every point hotly contested. In the As, Sam Martin and Harry Fowler came out strong in the doubles to get the team off to a winning start as did Hardy Marks and Cormac Gannon before Padua came back into the competition. Our captain Cormac lead from the front winning all of his matches. As it turned out, the results came down to a count back with Marist winning 32 games to 28 games. In the Bs Patrick Pringle and Rhys Adams got off to a winning start in their doubles before Padua fought back beating a gallant Sam Brown and Keagan Mason. Rhys and George Padilla won their singles before Marist closed it out in the reverse doubles, winning 5 matches to 3. All players should be very proud of their resilience, effort and sportsmanship as they fought out each point no matter what the situation. Well done men  

Track and Field

There are 4 AIC T&F meets scheduled at the end of Term 3.

• Thursday, 22 August
• Wednesday, 28 August
• Thursday, 5 September
• Wednesday, 11 September 17

AIC Championships – Thursday, 3 and Friday, 4 October – QSAC.

Track and Field Training

Sprints and Middle Distance

Monday and Wednesday – McMahon Oval – 3:30pm – 4:45pm

Long Jump & Hurdles

Tuesday – Athletics Precinct – 6:45am – 8:00am

Shot Put

Boys wishing to train for shot put are please asked to see Mr Lambourne

Boys wishing to be considered for AIC selection should also be aware that there will be training and meets conducted over the Term 3 holidays.

Sports Training and Clashes

With the myriad of opportunities on offer for the students’ clashes are unavoidable but never a problem if communicated.

Families are reminded that co-curricular activities should not impact on students’ academic performance.

If sports training clashes with music or morning tutoring it is asked that boys alternate from week to week.

Sports Photographs

We are always on the lookout for photos and action shots to be used for the Blue & 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.

Late Pick Up After Sports Training

“PLAN B”

It is important that both parent and student are aware of the pick-up procedure if afternoon sports training is cancelled or if parents are running late for pick-up. As soon as a decision is made to cancel a sporting fixture or training, a message is placed on the College app. If training is cancelled, boys can remain in the primary school or walk to an arranged pick-up point when the time arrives.

Afternoon sports training sessions are scheduled to finish by 4:45pm. We ask that boys are picked up at this time. Any boy who is still at their training venue at 5:00pm will be directed to the After Hours Boarding Reception area / College Health Centre so that he may be collected from there. After Hours Boarding Reception can be contacted on 07 3858 4619.

In the case of bus arrivals from external sporting venues, boys will be sent to After Hours Boarding Reception 15 minutes after the bus arrives back at the College. Parents are asked to collect their sons from this location.