Middle Senior School Communications, 16 May 2024

Term 2 - Week 5

Upcoming important dates

• 6 June MSS Athletics Carnival 
• 8 June Show Team Quiz Night & Silent Auction 5pm 
• 14 June MSS Eisteddfod  
• 14 June Free Dress Day

Reflection from Mr Wilson

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are approaching a very busy time of the term where there will be examinations and assignments due. Particularly in the senior years, it is important for students to engage in productive and efficient study techniques if they want to receive higher grades in their coursework.

Study should improve your understanding of skills and content and thus your overall results, however, there is a right and a wrong way to study, and you can study too much with little improvement. Many students tend to think that the best way to study is to write down a lot of notes and read over them again and again and again. This would be useful if examinations started with: Question 1. Rewrite your study notes. But, as we all know examinations involve questions requiring an application of skills, not the rewriting of notes.

Here are a few simple actions your child can implement to have better study practices:

1. Make it a habit – do a bit each day. Start with small time allocations if study/homework has not been a priority in the past. Studying is hard – it takes a lot of discipline to focus on something, and it is easy to procrastinate on things that are less challenging. Start small and be consistent and your ability to study will improve.
2. Be accountable. Get a small whiteboard/pinboard from Kmart, stick it on the bedroom wall and chronologically list all the assessment/project items due each term. Parents and carers can gently remind students that there is some study/homework/assignment work to do if it easily point-out-able.
3. Best drafting practice is threefold:
   1. Create a dot-point plan. Get your idea checked with the teacher before you spend hours writing a draft.
   2. Write about half a draft. Get some teacher feedback.
   3. Complete your draft. Get more teacher feedback.
4. For examination-based subjects (e.g. Science/Mathematics) create your own examination with a few questions per week. This could involve writing two core questions and one extension question each week. Try them. Get the teacher to check your answers and get immediate feedback if you don’t understand a concept.
5. When studying, remember it is normal to get stuck and not understand something. Write down what you don’t understand and ask for help. If you understood everything perfectly and never need any assistance, direction, or feedback, there would be no need for school.
6. Put your phone away while studying (and perhaps your laptop too). Try and have a distraction free space.

I have posted a few good links here from the University of Queensland on effective (and ineffective) study techniques that may be of interest.

Good study habits:

https://study.uq.edu.au/stories/good-study-habits-students-high-school  

Poor study habits:

https://study.uq.edu.au/stories/poor-study-habits-and-how-break-them

Mr Josh Wilson
Head of Middle & Senior School & Innovative Learning Design

Reflection from Mr Arraiol

NOTICES (from Mr Arraiol – Head of Wellbeing and Community)

Chinchilla Donations:

The Year 9 students are travelling to Chinchilla in the last week of school in Term 3 to be of service to the Chinchilla community and present our Hygiene Product collections to Drought Angels. Drought Angels will use these donations to create care packages for farmers who are hard at work producing food for us and may not have the time or resources to care for themselves. Year 9 students will visit Form classes regularly to collect the donations that will "Help us Help the Farmers that Feed Us". We ask that all Hygiene products (as listed below) be sent to school and High School students will collect these each morning starting from Monday 20 May 2024:

•  Manicure set – nail files, nail clippers, polish, cuticle oil.
•  Pedicure set – foot file, toenail clippers, foot scrub, foot cream.
•  Bath set – bath bomb, gel eye mask, tea light candle, body wash, body scrub, body moisturiser.
•  Shower set – shampoo, conditioner, body wash, razor, loofa, body moisturiser.
•  Bathroom accessories – elegant soap and toothbrush holders, tea light candles.
•  Men’s bathroom kit – deodorant, body wash, shaving cream, razor,
•  Ladies bathroom kit – deodorant, body wash, razor, dry shampoo, travel tissues.

Middle and Senior School Athletics Carnival

Dear Parents and Carers,

On Thursday 6 June (Week 8), the Middle and Senior School Athletics Carnival will be held at Calvary Christian College. This day will involve all students from the Middle and Senior Schools. The program of events is on a separate attachment, and more information will be emailed to all students in the school.

Students are expected to wear their House-Based Sports uniform to and from school on this day. Upon arrival at school, students may further accessorise their uniform to support their House. House colours may be displayed or worn as ribbons, hair ties, face paint and coloured zinc cream.

Parents and friends are most welcome to attend the carnival – please sign in at the Main Reception upon arrival.

The College tuckshop will NOT be accessible to students during the day. However, student pre-orders will still be accepted and delivered to the oval twice across the day at similar times to the 1st and 2nd Breaks. Student orders will need to be submitted before 9 a.m. on the day of the carnival.

In the event of wet weather, the carnival will be postponed and students will attend normal lessons for the day. If rain is forecast, families should regularly check the College MSS Facebook page for confirmation of postponement and be prepared to attend normal classes.

For any further queries, please contact me on 3287 6222 or at sport@calvarycc.qld.edu.au.

Yours in sport,
Mr. Chris Paech
Head of Sport (P-12)

General Notices

Calvary Bus Service

All students have now received their new 2024 Student ID cards.

All bus students are required to swipe their ID cards when boarding and disembarking from the bus.

Utilising student ID cards ensures:

• Accurate tracking of all students using the bus service, enabling correct charging.
• Provides parental tracking capabilities via the app, receiving email alerts when students board and disembark the bus.
• Enhanced efficiency during the boarding and disembarking processes.

Failure to utilize Student ID cards for bus trips during Term 2 will result in an administrative fee of $1 per trip as these trips must be manually entered.

In the event of the newly issued ID cards being lost, replacement cards can be purchased at Reception at a cost of $5.

Key points to remember:

• Rollcall accounts must maintain a positive balance for students to utilize the service. Credit can be added via the Rollcall app.

• It is preferable that a booking is made via the Rollcall app for every trip taken on the bus service.

School Locker stores will open on Friday

Following some significant stock losses, not all sizes of all garments will be available. Stock has been re-ordered and School Locker expects to be fully stocked by the end of June.

For the rest of this term, please send your children to school in any Calvary uniform garment you have that is in good repair. This will mean there may be days your child wears a formal jacket with a sports uniform or vice versa.

We ask that students wear their uniforms neatly and continue to respect shoe, jewellery, hair and makeup requirements.

Thank you for your patience through this challenging time for School Locker.

Cafe Specials - Week 6 Term 2

Events at Calvary

Our current College events can be found on our website: https://www.calvarycc.qld.edu.au/events/

Show Team Quiz Night and Silent Auction Fundraiser

Get ready for an evening of fun and friendly competition at the Calvary Show Team Quiz Night Fundraiser!  Mark your calendars because it's happening in just a few short weeks!

• If your family owns a business and would love to support our cause, we'd be thrilled to feature your donation in our Silent Auction Fundraiser! Simply drop us an email at show.team@calvarycc.qld.edu.au with all the details.
• Round up your squad and start forming your teams now! Plus, get creative because there's a special prize waiting for the best dressed team!
• Book online here: https://shorturl.at/bsuE2