2023 - Edition 1
Dear Families
Welcome to ASPIRE, our newsletter for future families highlighting a wide range of successes, activities and events that have occurred during Term 2 at Mt St Michael’s College.
MSM has had a very visible community presence this term. MSM was well represented in the Ashgrove ANZAC Day march in the first week of term and our MSM Singers joined with the Marist choir to perform a haunting rendition of “In Flanders Fields” during the ceremony. Our students also participated in the Teralba Park Stolen Generation National Sorry Day Ceremony.
Our sporting success continues with a special mention going to our dedicated Cross Country Team who won both the CaSSSA Aggregate Cup and the Percentage Trophy.
Term 3 will be another busy term as we look forward to welcoming the Year 7 2024 families. Details of the Orientation Program, including our “Welcome to MSM Family Interviews”, will be distributed early in the term. I also extend an invitation to all families to join us for our annual “Spirit of the Arts” Festival which will be held in the evening of Tuesday 29 August at the College.
I wish all families a restful and enjoyable holiday!
In Faith and Love
Ms Sharon Volp
Principal
Welcome to ASPIRE, our newsletter for future families highlighting a wide range of successes, activities and events that have occurred during Term 2 at Mt St Michael’s College.
MSM has had a very visible community presence this term. MSM was well represented in the Ashgrove ANZAC Day march in the first week of term and our MSM Singers joined with the Marist choir to perform a haunting rendition of “In Flanders Fields” during the ceremony. Our students also participated in the Teralba Park Stolen Generation National Sorry Day Ceremony.
Our sporting success continues with a special mention going to our dedicated Cross Country Team who won both the CaSSSA Aggregate Cup and the Percentage Trophy.
Term 3 will be another busy term as we look forward to welcoming the Year 7 2024 families. Details of the Orientation Program, including our “Welcome to MSM Family Interviews”, will be distributed early in the term. I also extend an invitation to all families to join us for our annual “Spirit of the Arts” Festival which will be held in the evening of Tuesday 29 August at the College.
I wish all families a restful and enjoyable holiday!
In Faith and Love
Ms Sharon Volp
Principal
Around the College
ANZAC Day
Our MSM family paused to remember all who have served our country at the Ashgrove RSL Service on ANZAC Day morning. At our whole College liturgy, we paid special tribute to 70 000 women who have served in Australia’s defence forces since WW1, and the hundreds of thousands of Australian women who kept the home fires burning during times of war. We give thanks to the artists, healers, leaders and spies whose stories are sometimes overlooked by the history books, and we pray for a time when all people can live in peace. Lest we forget.
MusicFest 1 - Seasons
MusicFest 1 took us on a magical musical journey through the Seasons. The evening opened with the “booming sounds” of the Percussion Ensemble performing “Forward March Drumline: Thunder Clap (Get Up Offa Dat)” and “Summer Shuffle”. Throughout the evening audience members were treated to many lively numbers and polished pieces showcasing a breadth of talent from our students. The final piece for the evening was a combined item involving the College Choir, Year 7-8 Choir, Percussion Ensemble and Senior Strings “I Love My Love” which also showcased Year 12 Music Captain, Sinead as the soloist. Year 7 student, Matilda produced the original artwork for the program and Sinead, our Music Captain did a fabulous job as compere of the evening.
Dance Showcase
What a night our Dance Showcase was! The high calibre student performances were enjoyable, entertaining and thought-provoking. Raising issues of treatment of our elderly, bullying and deforestation, the audience was challenged as well as entertained. The many, many hours of rehearsals were evident in the polished performances.
CaSSSA Cross Country Champions!!
On Thursday 25 May our MSM Cross Country team made history, winning the Aggregate Cup for the first time ever and also taking home the Percentage Cup for the fifth consecutive year at the CaSSSA Cup competition. Throughout the entirety of the competition, our students demonstrated exceptional perseverance, teamwork, and should be congratulated on a stella performance.
UQ Science Ambassadors and World Bee Day
World Bee Day acknowledges the importance of bees and other pollinators in our ecosystems. To celebrate, our UQ Science Ambassadors organised and directed activities that raised awareness and educated students on these hardworking insects.
National Sorry Day
Our College community paused for a moment of reflection on National Sorry Day, as we remembered the thousands of First Nations families who continue to live with the impacts of the Stolen Generations. Our Social Justice Council lowered our College flags to half mast, we read a reconciliation pledge and signed our community Sorry Book. Our Social Justice Council attended the memorial service at Teralba Park, where we laid a wreath and prayed for reconciliation, healing and a future that is just and equitable. As people of Charity, we commit to working towards a more just society for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Year 7 Study Skills Presentation
Our Year 7 students learnt the skills on how to study and time management. This seminar, run by Elevate Education, provides additional support for the Learning to Learn program that runs in Year 7 and 8. The presenters are current University students. The girls found the seminar very helpful and engaging, with 100% of students stating they would recommend the seminar to their peers, and 99% considering the time was well spent. The girls felt more confident in their ability to manage their time and assessments moving forward.
Year 8 Theme Launch
Our Year 8 Homeroom Captains, Sofia and Harper (8A), Imogen F and Elise (8B), Siana and Imogen L (8C), Elizabeth and Daisy (8D), Eliza and Tilly (8E), and Paige and Gabby (8F), launched the 2023 Year 8 Theme, "Together we stand, hand in hand" which demonstrates the cohort’s commitment to work as a united community and proudly share their core values of love, justice, hope, and compassion. Together we stand, hand in hand theme logo was designed by Year 8 students Mary, Genevieve and Rose.
Rush Spirit Day
Our Rush House students celebrated their special house spirt day with cake and plans for spirit activities. Rush House was named for Francis Rush, a great friend to the Sisters of Charity, who was installed as Archbishop of Brisbane on 29 May 1973.
Grantuly Spirit Day
Grantuly House celebrated in style on 1 June. On this day in 1925, the Sisters of Charity opened their first school on the verandah of Grantuly Homestead. Students from Grantuly House celebrated with a cake and spirit activities.
ExtravaCANza
Our MSM students enjoyed the magnificent winter sunshine on our Convent Lawn, celebrating our second ExtravaCANza Market for the year. The ExtravaCANza is hosted by our Community Action Network (CAN) as a way of raising funds for our Major College Project. This ExtravaCANza featured the perpetually popular sausage sizzle, food and drink stalls, crafts and a teacher pie-face stand! Thanks to our generous students for all of their efforts in raising funds for Project Wakitikimi.
House Cake Decorating Competition
Rush v Grantuly....Spiderman v Superman! Competitive house spirit was on display in the Sophia Centre as our Rush and Grantuly students participated in their first ever cake decorating competition! Revenge was sweet for the victors, who won the opportunity to throw a pie in the face of the losing house’s supervising teacher!
Certificate II & III Sport & Recreation
MSM Year 12 students, Madison, Ava and Skye are completing their Certificate II and III in Sport and Recreation and recently travelled to Mater Dei Primary School to conduct a coaching session with the Senior Primary students. As part of their nationally recognised qualification, students are required to coach junior athletes in a variety of settings.
Senior School Ethics Olympiad
Our Senior School Ethics Olympiad team participated in the Queensland competition. They engaged in quality debate around challenging topics such as Lookism and free cosmetic surgery; Anger in politics; the fifth industrial revolution; and death and taxes. Their ability to work seamlessly as a team allowed them to face on-the-spot challenging questions from both their opponents and the philosophers judging the competition.
Bunyaville Excursion
Year 8 Humanities students spent the day gathering data on the threats facing Bunyaville Conservation Park for their annual excursion. Students considered how weeds, feral animals and human activities all pose a risk to the health of the park, and native animals, and will use this information construct a YouTube video for their assessment.
Japanese Drumming
Japanese and music students from all year levels joined forces in a Taiko drumming workshop. Students respectfully entered the "doujou" (training hall) and were instructed in how to hold their drumsticks and maintain the correct stance. Their drumming was powerful and rhythmic. As well as having fun, students were able to see how important discipline and communication are in this art form.
Science Titration Competition
Students from the Year 10 and 11 Chemistry classes are currently competing in the Queensland Titration competition run by RACI. The students conduct chemical analysis through acid base titrations to determine the amount of an unknown substance. Although their results are assessed as a team, the students must conduct all their work individually under time pressure. The most successful teams from across Queensland are then invited to compete in the National finals.
Altitude Day
20 Year 9 students from MSM joined 800 Year 9 students from across Brisbane for YLead Altitude Day where they learnt from and listened to guest speakers and their peers about how to “Unlock your potential”. Here’s what Year 9 student, Jasmine had to say about the day - “For me my big take away from this day was that wherever you are, whoever you are, you can make a difference in the world, you just have to be passionate about what you believe in as demonstrated by the three guest speakers. “It’s a long process, but it’s doable.” – Tom Price, You are Not Alone founder.”
Combined MSM and Marist Choir
The MSM College Choir enjoyed performing alongside the Marist Senior Choir at both the Marist ANZAC Ceremony and the Ashgrove RSL Sub-branch ANZAC Day March and Service at Ashgrove Memorial Park. Mrs Alison Braidwood from Marist, and choral students from the two Colleges enjoyed working together to prepare the evocative “In Flanders Fields”. Everyone loved the rich, rounded timbre of the full SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) mixed choir. We look forward to being involved in future events together.
World Dinosaur Day!
Dinosaurs are a large part of our social culture with these majestic and mysterious animals playing roles in popular culture such as the Jurassic Park movies. Who wouldn’t want to visit a park to walk with these enormous beasts? The enigma that surrounds them stems from the fact that we only appreciate them through fossils and their modern-living day descendants. World Dinosaur Day occurs on June 1, and our UQ Science Ambassadors invited students to celebrate this by testing their knowledge on dinosaurs and making dinosaur hats and hand-puppets.
Rugby 7s
Rugby is alive at MSM! We have excitedly fielded teams in junior, intermediate and senior for the Rugby 7s competition.
QC Cup Netball
Downey Park was a buzz with netball teams from Catholic Schools in South-east Queensland competing in the Qld Catholic Cup Secondary Netball Carnival. MSM fielded two teams in this competition, with our junior team (students from Years 7-9) competing in the Intermediate A competition and our open team (students from all age groups) competing in the Open A competition. Well done to both teams on their outstanding performance, especially to our junior team who played together for the first time, finishing 4th out of the 14 teams in their competition!
EASTER COLOURING COMPETITION
Congratulations to Sabine on winning our Easter Colouring competition! Thank you to all the future MSM students who entered - we loved seeing your work!
Did you see MSM in the Catholic Leader?
2024
MSM Term Dates
Term 1
Tuesday 23 January (Years 7, 11 and 12) – Thursday 28 March
Wednesday 24 January (all students) – Thursday 28 March
Term 2
Monday 15 April – Friday 14 June
Term 3
Monday 8 July – Friday 13 September
Term 4
Monday 30 September – 22 November (Years 7-11)
MSM Term Dates
Term 1
Tuesday 23 January (Years 7, 11 and 12) – Thursday 28 March
Wednesday 24 January (all students) – Thursday 28 March
Term 2
Monday 15 April – Friday 14 June
Term 3
Monday 8 July – Friday 13 September
Term 4
Monday 30 September – 22 November (Years 7-11)
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Mt St Michael's College - MSM News
Our mailing address is:
Mt St Michael's College
67 Elimatta Drive
Ashgrove, QLD 4060
Australia
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Mt St Michael's College - MSM News
Our mailing address is:
Mt St Michael's College
67 Elimatta Drive
Ashgrove, QLD 4060
Australia
Add us to your address book