Middle Senior School Communications, 05 October 2023

Term 4 - Week 1

OUTLINE OF NEXT WEEK
Wednesday: Principal's tour
Thursday: Parent Presentation - Adolescent Brain

KEY EVENTS THIS TERM 
20 Oct – 22 Oct Volleyball - MS Schools Cup Year 7-8 
27 Oct – World Teacher's Day 
2 Nov - CAPA Soiree / Sports Awards Evening 
6 Nov – 10 Nov - Emu Gully Year 11 Camp / Y10 Work Experience  
14 Nov - 12 Hour Relay – Y12 
15 Nov - MSS Celebration Service 7-11 
17 Nov – Final Y12 Chapel / Valedictory and Graduation 
22 Nov – Calvary MSS Futsal Cup  
26 Nov - Carols @ Calvary – Springwood  
30 Nov - MSS Christmas Themed Free Dress Day 
01 Dec – Bounce Year 7-12 / Term 4 concludes 

Dear Parents and Carers 

Over the past few years our student leadership model at Calvary has been evolving. We believe leadership is an action – something you do that makes the world better in some way. This is why we have our two-pronged definition of leadership:

• A Calvary leader enriches life at the College for others
• A Calvary leader brings about good for others

We don’t want to give leadership positions to students because they are simply nice or really well-behaved children (we have many of these), rather we want our students to be active in their expression of leadership. Some schools have leadership models where only a very small select few can obtain leadership and some schools make every senior student a leader and have so many ‘leaders’ that no one is following. We have neither model.

Instead, we have a criteria-based model where any student from Years 7-12 can be recognized as a College Leader, if they enrich life at the College for others or bring about good for others. We don’t have 400 leaders, rather we have a much smaller number who have a genuine point-out-able reason for being acknowledged as a leader. Some of our students spend many outside of school hours supporting our sport staff in assisting and coaching Junior School sporting teams, some students run other co-curricular activities for their peers, and others assist in making sure our services like our library, etc., run effectively. 

I have included the graphic below to illustrate what our leadership model will look like in 2024. We have identified three key areas where we want to see our students leading, including:

• creating events and other opportunities for their peers to enjoy at school
• • This will be managed by a team of College Leaders overseen by our Prefects.
• improving and driving our house culture
  • We are creating a new category of House Leader which will be an annual position students can apply for (one for each house in each year level).
• connecting and engaging students who are finding it difficult to be involved in community.
  • We are creating a new category of Student Connectors (I am most excited by this one), as these students will be trained by our wellbeing team and rostered on different lunch breaks to seek out and find students who have disconnected from peers and either draw them into activities with others, or at least provide that child with a genuine positive moment of connection in their day.

Our current Middle School Stage 5 Leader positions are becoming redundant in this model and students with a desire to lead will be absorbed into one of the above three strands.

We will have a smaller number of formal leadership positions in Senior (Captain/Vice/Prefects) whose role is to support, mentor, and guide other students in their leadership roles on the premise that great leaders create other leaders. Notice in the graphic that the direction of the model reflects this philosophy as these significant formal positions underpin the other leadership roles rather than celebrate having authority over others.

Next week I will release to students and put in communications the new House Leader position descriptions (which will be short) that students in Years 7-10 will use if they wish to apply for one of these positions.  

Why bother with all this? While we want all our students to strive for excellence in their studies, this is only part of a holistic education. We want to provide opportunities for students to contribute to the common good – to stretch out of their comfort zone - to value improving life for others – to find joy in the community. Ultimately, mastery of curriculum content matters, yet mastery of skills development matters more, but what matters most is the development of character and faith!

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

General Notices:

Bus Minder

Just a quick reminder that Term 4 bus passes are only available until 6 October 2023. Families using the bus daily can benefit from a 5% discount, so be sure to grab your passes before the deadline.

Please ensure that all BusMinder accounts are in credit at all times. We will not be able to offer the bus service to any families whose accounts are not in credit. If you wish to talk to the Finance Department, please contact them anytime on the Carbrook reception 3287 6222.

Parent and Teen/Tween Presentation

Understanding the Adolescent Brain & Mental Health Parent Session

We have invited our local Ed-LinQ psychologist to facilitate a Parent & Tween/Teen session about the adolescent brain, and signs to watch for that might indicate your child requires further support. We’d now like to extend this invitation to our teens/tweens.This is a great opportunity for them to learn more about their brain, and start healthy conversations about adolescent mental health and well-being within our families. 

Thursday 12 Oct @ 6pm - Carbrook Campus 

Register online here: https://www.trybooking.com/CLFXH

If you require child minding, there will be a 'G' rated supervised movie screening. 

Conclusion of Year 9 & Year 12 Laptop Program

Please click on the button below to view essential information concerning the Year 9 and Year 12 laptop program, which concludes at the end of Term 4. We appreciate your student's involvement and your support. As the agreement concludes, you have two available options please.

Mango CAFE Specials for Week 2

Events & Term 4 Flyer

The Term flyer and 2024 calendars were sent home earlier this week we have a number of new events happening during Term 4.

Please click on the button below for the Term 4 flyer our term flyers are now also permanent on our website on the Term Dates page for easy reference.

Calvary TV

Please see the link to some of our College's Highlights for 2023: 

https://www.calvarycc.qld.edu.au/calvary-tv/2023/