Primary School News

Dear Primary Families,

At our Year 5 Welcome Mass last Wednesday I reminded our newest students of the message I gave them on their first day at the College….no one belongs here more that you. This message is one that I hope all our boys are aware of, and one that they contemplate as they arrive at school each day.

The Marist theme for the year is Known and Loved. In reflecting on what has been a very challenging term for all members of our community, I hope that negotiating these testing times has been made easier through being part of a community where you know your boys are known and loved.

As we approach the Easter Break, I invite you to reflect on the words of Pope Francis.

“accept the risen Jesus into your life. Even if you have been far away, take a small step towards him: he awaits you with open arms.”

Year 5 Welcome Mass

Last Wednesday we held a very special welcome Mass for our Year 5 students and their families. It was a fantastic celebration of the Eucharist and a great opportunity for our Primary boys to officially be welcomed into The Chapel. As is tradition, the boys finished by singing the Sub Tuum, a hymn they will come to know very well as they journey through the College as the graduating class of 2029.

“Dig It!”

Congratulations to all Year 5 students and the Music Department for a fantastic performance of ‘Dig It’ last week. The students performed two shows in what, for many of them, was their big stage debut.

Primary Swimming Carnival 

Many thanks to Mr John Lambourne and all the Primary Staff for their efforts in running our Primary Swimming Carnival last Friday. With a distinct focus on participation, it was so great to see so many boys engaged in activities for the whole day.

Primary Award Assembly 

This morning we came together as a Primary School to celebrate our first term together and acknowledge a number of students with a Men of Courage and Love of Work Award. Congratulations to the following boys:

Parent/Teacher Interviews 

A reminder that bookings for Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews close on Wednesday 30 March at 12:00pm. 

Term 2

Term 2 commences for all students on Wednesday 20 April in full winter uniform and with appropriate haircuts. For those families attending Parent/Teacher/Student interviews on Tuesday 19 April, students are also required to be in winter uniform for these interviews. 

ANZAC Day

As is tradition, all students are invited to march with College at the Ashgrove RSL ANZAC Day Service. More details will be communicated at the beginning of next term. 

Year 6 Emu Gully 

Year 6 families are invited to complete the permission form in ParentLounge for the Year 6 excursion to Emu Gully on Friday 29 April.

Year 5 Camp – Save the Date 

As per the College Calendar, the Year 5 Camp will take place from Wednesday 25 – Friday 27 May at Tallebudgera Leisure Centre. More information regarding this will be communicated in early Term 2. 

Absentees

Thank you to all families who are continuing to inform us of absentees using the Parent Portal. If you and your family are having to isolate due to COVID-19, could we ask that you please include the day that your son will be returning to school. It is expected that all students and families are following the Queensland Health expectations for isolation for positive cases and close contacts. 

Public Speaking and Debating

Well done to all boys who have registered their interest for the interschool debating and public speaking competitions that will commence next term.  Interested students are asked to contact Mrs Robyn Brown (brownr@marash.qld.edu.au) and Mrs Kylie Tippins (tippinsk@marash.qld.edu.au) for more information.

From the Primary Learning Leader - Ms Jen Little

To say that this term has had its challenges would be an understatement. The delayed start, high absences due to COVID-19 and exceptional weather events have certainly presented both teachers and students with their fair share of obstacles this term. Despite this, I remain impressed with both the resilience of our students and staff in the Primary and very proud of what we have been able to achieve given the circumstances presented. 

It is my hope, that we can reflect on Term 1 with a great amount of pride in what has been accomplished. 

• We have welcomed a new cohort into the College, ensuring that these students have both a place of belonging and a thirst for learning as they strive to reach their personal best, whatever that may be.
• By the end of the week, we will have managed to host Academic Care meetings with all our Year 6 students (141 in total) around how their learning is tracking, establishing important goals for the future.
• By Wednesday afternoon, we will have had 50 goal setting meetings with parents of students requiring learning enrichment
• We have offered learning support in the areas of reading and phonics for selected students
• We have offered additional before school tutoring for anyone seeking further support in our Morning Study room
• We have offered Extension Programs in Mathematics with writing to commence next term
• We have ushered in a new Literacy Program in Year 5 aimed at prioritising reading and writing as a focus point for each new cohort. This has incorporated Grammar and Punctuation Do Dailies and the daily Stop, Drop and Write Program.
• We have prepared and organised assessments for students around the areas of English, Maths and Humanities. Many of these assessments have required a number of catch-up sessions to cater for significant absences over the testing period. As I write, teachers have been dedicating much of their own personal time to the marking of these assessments. 
• Primary Teachers have began working with the Learning Management System for the first time, allowing grades and feedback to be captured in Parent Lounge and Student Café. This has ensured that all grades and feedback are now centralised and completely transparent.
• Primary Staff have also received Professional Development in effective pedagogies aimed at improving student learning. These pedagogies have included the use of feedback, hexagonal thinking and fish-bowl strategies. 

During a time of significant upheaval, we have achieved much. Our College Prayer calls on us to ‘not be content with mediocrity.’ However, as Cuban Revolutionary Che Guevara once wrote ‘Words without deeds are worthless”. The list of ‘deeds’ above speak volumes for what we value as a College and I feel very proud of what we have achieved. I also feel blessed by the wonderful students, staff and parents who have assisted in making these things happen. It has often been said that ‘it takes a village’ to achieve great things. Well, what a ‘village’ we have at Marist College Ashgrove.

Reporting

Parents will be able to view students' results on the Parent Lounge at the conclusion of this term. These results will be released on Friday. Parents can expect to receive an email and instructions when they are made available. Please note that the reports will cover the following subjects for each year group:

Please note that Religion was completed but not assessed due to the disruptions to the term.

Further to our Interim Reports, parents and students should also be able to see the results of individual assessments on the Parent Lounge and Student Café. The remaining assessments will be released at 5:00pm on Wednesday. Please take time to read over the important feedback that teachers have offered students to guide future progress. These assessments and feedback should form the basis of some of your conversations during our parent/teacher/student conferences at the start of Term 2.

NAPLAN Online

Next term, students in Years 5, 7 and 9 will sit the NAPLAN online tests. The testing window for this will fall between Tuesday 10 and Friday 20 May. This Thursday, our Year 5 students will take part in the NAPLAN readiness testing. All students will require a fully charged chrome book on Thursday. Could I ask all parents and students to be vigilant in ensuring that these devices are fully charged and that students remember to take these to school. Headphones are also needed for this testing.

Primary Sport - Mr John Lambourne

Achievements

Congratulations Nick Osborn (6B) who has been selected for the Queensland School Sport swimming team to compete at the School Sport Australia 10-12 Years Swimming Championships, to be held at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre, 19-23 August.

Nick Osborn – State Championship Results

Gold – 12 Years 100m Freestyle

Silver – 12 Years 200m Freestyle

Silver – 12 Years 50m Butterfly

Silver – 12 Years 100m Butterfly

Silver – 12 Years 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay

4th – 12 Years 50m Freestyle

4th – 12 Years 4 x 50m Medley Relay

Primary Swimming Carnival

Congratulations to the Gold Team, Primary Swimming Carnival Champions 2022.

Spectacular weather was provided for our Primary Swimming Carnival. Participation and enjoyment were the focus for the day, with all the boys getting involved and doing their best to earn points for their respective colour teams. Gold were champions, but credit must go to all of the primary boys for the way in which they gave their all throughout the day.

Special thanks to all the Primary staff, for without their assistance a day like this is not possible. Thank you also to parents for encouraging each of your boys to approach the day in the right spirit.

Term 2 AIC Sport

Rugby and  Football

It has been a fantastic start to Term 2 AIC sporting season; Queensland Reds and Football Queensland Development Officers guided the boys through a number of skill development sessions, these were a great lead in to Saturday’s internal trials.

Special thanks to the 1stXV Rugby Tour Squad for being there to support the Year 5 rugby boys; running them through a number of skill drills and finishing the session with a rousing rendition of the A Tiki.

• All boys will have training/trials Week 1 and will play trials vs. Villanova College, Saturday, 23 April.
• Term 2 training schedules will be confirmed and placed on the app over the break.
• All matches are played Saturday mornings, training will be one afternoon and one morning session each week.
• Boys require; Jersey, shorts and socks - available from the College Clothing Shop
  Boys also require; Rugby: Boots and mouthguard and Football: Boots and shin pads.

Cross Country

Cross country training will continue over the holidays, Monday and Wednesday mornings, boys are to meet at the swimming pool, session will run 6:45am – 7:45am.

Cross Country - Junior Parkrun

Each Sunday morning at Des Connor Park there is a junior Parkrun. Parkrun is a free, fun, and friendly weekly 2km event for juniors (ages 4 – 14). Year 5 students race 2km and Year 6 race 3km at the AIC Championships.

The cross-country coaches would like all Years 5-6 students to complete a Parkrun in the next four weeks so that students can record a 2km race time.

Please visit www.parkrun.com.au/desconnorpark-juniors for more information and to register. Parkrun is a fantastic community event for students to complete in and another opportunity for boys to participate in a regular running session.

Holiday Gym Program

Years 5-6 boys are invited to participate in a holiday strength and conditioning program each Tuesday and Thursday morning. The program will be based around speed work and core strength activities, a wonderful opportunity for the boys to get ahead for the upcoming rugby and football seasons. There is no need to register for these sessions, boys meet outside the Champagnat Centre gymnasium.

Year 5 – 7:30am – 8:15am

Year 6 – 8:15am – 9:00am

Come and Try Hockey

Marist College has strong links with Norths Hockey Club and they have extended an invitation to all Marist boys to come and give hockey a try. Primary boys are the perfect age to start playing and will be made very welcome and become an important part of the club. Training is provided with the opportunity to represent MCA once the boys enter senior school.

Games do not begin until the start of Term 2 but training has begun every Thursday night at Dorrington Park at 6:00pm 

For further details please contact Russell Thirgood - russell@thirgoodarb.com.

Alternatively, turn up to training on a Thursday night to see if you enjoy hockey. It is a great game as many would have seen watching the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos at the Olympics. It would be great to see some Marist / Norths boys playing for the Kookaburras in 2032!

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 Lambourne - primarysports@marash.qld.edu.au