We are definitely in soccer season! Our ISSA Cup team consisting of middle school students did us proud, despite going down 2-1 to Ripley Valley in their quarter final. Our Uhlsport students have been very impressive in this competition over the last couple of years. With the departure of Year 12 students at the end of last year, this team is going through a rebuilding phase, but are showing the same grit and determination. Yesterday they played in the quarter final against Kings Christian College. After travelling to the Gold Coast for this quarter final, our team were “pumped” and very keen to try to regain their title, getting off to a very quick lead scoring a goal off the first kick off. Kings scored late in the first half to go into the half time break 1-1 draw. Unfortunately, the game ended with Kings Christian College taking the win 3-1 ending our Uhlsport campaign for 2023. This will be a valuable experience for our team moving into 2024. Well done!
The anticipation is building for our CaSSSA Cup Athletics team who will be competing on Monday. They have been training before school for months and have participated in four Monday and Friday night lead up CaSSSA meets to perfect their competition skills. Their camp was held last weekend at the Gold Coast Performance Centre in Runaway Bay and their final training session was held on Thursday afternoon at UQ. The team was presented on assembly on Tuesday and we wish them all the best for Monday. Go MSM!
The depth of our sporting talent at MSM has been demonstrated by the number of students who were selected for District and Metropolitan North Regional Teams during Semester 1. Congratulations to the following students:
| Triathlon 11-19 years | Harriet S |
| Triathlon 11-19 years | Laura B |
| Tennis 13-19 years girls | Erika W |
| Swimming 13-19 years | Ana S |
| Swimming 13-19 years | Zoe S |
| Swimming 13-19 years | Makenzie S |
| Australian Football 13-15 years girls | Katie S |
| Australian Football 13-15 years girls | Lucy D |
| Hockey 13-19 years girls | Elise C |
| Hockey 13-19 years girls | Ellie H |
| Hockey 13-19 years girls | Paige H |
| Netball 10-12 years | Gracie C |
| Touch Football 16-18 years girls | Ciara H |
This has been just a snapshot of the sporting life of MSM. We look forward to celebrating the achievements of our sporting students at the Sports Celebration Breakfast on Friday 13 October.
Queensland Schools’ and College’s Music Festival
I would like to wish our various choirs, bands and ensembles all the best in the Queensland Colleges’ Music Festival which will be held at Villanova College from 17-20 August.
The Co-curricular Music program is another important area of MSM life. Our music students make a year long commitment to their performance area which includes weekly rehearsals and performances at various events both at the College and external to the College. I have great admiration for the talents of these students and delight in watching them perform.
Thank you to Ms Townsley and the music staff for all the effort that they have been putting in to prepare our students for this special event. I look forward to sharing their success stories in the next edition of the Spirit.
Staffing Update
We wish Ms Kate Simpson, Dean of Faith and Mission, best wishes and safe travels as she commences her long service leave tomorrow and look forward to her return in Term 4.
In faith and love.
Sharon Volp
The 2023 Spirit of the Arts Festival has been named Vitality, referencing the College theme “Love without Limits” in the visual form of a heart, encapsulated within the closing ceremony of this special event.
“The ‘broken heart’ is repaired and strengthened with gold (kintsugi), creating a beautiful and resilient vital heart (continuance of life) with golden flaws.”
We give thanks for the artistic gifts of Year 7 Art student, Gracie, and for her stunning monoprint featured within the heart motif.
Academic Buoyancy is the "student's ability to successfully navigate academic challenge and adversity" (AGSA, 2022). Challenges may include disappointing assessment outcomes, anxiety and stress, or clashing assignment due dates. Consequently, academic buoyancy is commonly known as academic resilience. Academic resiliency leads to positive outcomes, increased motivation, and wellbeing.
Research demonstrates the significance of supporting girls through teaching practices that accentuate highly engaging lessons. At Mt St Michael's College, we purposefully utilise data to gain an understanding of each learner, allowing us to target the specific requirements of our students so that teachers can implement strategies to improve academic buoyancy. By fostering strong teacher-student relationships, we ensure that students receive the necessary attention and resources, listen to students’ perspectives, and demonstrate genuine interest in their learning objectives.
During the student free days next Thursday and Friday, our teaching staff will be engaged in collaborative professional learning, reviewing, and updating current curriculum and pedagogies to ensure that we are not only updating to the new Australian Curriculum, but also sharing teaching practices and learning strategies that are associated with greater academic buoyancy so that we continue to have thriving, happy students. This will also be an optimal time for students to be in flow and focus on upcoming assessment.
I am sure everyone is looking forward to the EKKA public holiday next Wednesday to enjoy a mid-week break and our beautiful weather.
Our Year 8 students enjoyed a wonderful day of reflection at their Retreat on Monday. Taking inspiration from the Disney film Frozen, our students reflected on the strengths and qualities of compassion, courage, positivity, selflessness and gratitude, and how these can be cultivated as they continue to grow into the people they are meant to be. Frozen tells the story of two sisters, each gifted in her own way, who much grow to understand and accept all parts of their identity. Our students enjoyed a variety of engaging, enriching activities, from the hilarious highs of the toilet paper snowman relay, to moments of stillness and reflection through the use of mandalas and the creation of gratitude bags. A particular highlight was the opportunity for each student to create a sensory glitter bottle. These can be used to calm storms and provide moments of stillness. Sincere thanks goes to the marvellous Ms Kelly (Pastoral Leader – Year 8) for her work behind the scenes to make this Retreat a success and our outstanding Year 8 Pastoral Team, who were as engaged as the students across this beautiful day.
This Retreat was the final Year Level Retreat for MSM this year, and marks the end of the first stage of implementation of our new College Retreat Formation program. I would like to thank Ms Volp for her continued support of this important part of our College’s mission work, and the wonderful Ms Godden for her excellent administrative support.
I will be enjoying a period of Long Service Leave from today until the end of Term 3. I look forward to seeing our students at the beginning of Term 4!
As we approach the halfway point for the term, students should be starting to think about their end of term examinations. To help them prepare for these assessments, they should be creating a study schedule to allow them to revise continually to eliminate panic prior to examinations.
To create a study schedule, the first thing that your daughter needs to do is ascertain exactly what examinations that she needs to prepare for. This information is contained on her Assessment Calendar.
When creating her study schedule, your daughter needs to clearly identify when her examinations are occurring, what her dedicated study times will be as well as include all other commitments that will have an impact on her time.
It is important to note that there is no “right” way to make a study schedule. Your daughter’s study schedule will need to be personalised based on the examinations that she needs to prepare for as well as the time she is able to devote to it. The following tips may assist your daughter to create a study schedule.
#1: Evaluate your current schedule and time management – Use a calendar to identify all your upcoming commitments over the next four weeks. This needs to include when you will be doing your homework, co-curricular activities as well as family commitments. This will let you see how much of your time is already committed, and what time you have available for studying. If your current commitments leave you little room for studying, you may need to evaluate what you can cut back on for the next four weeks, or what you need to rearrange to have more open time for studying.
#2: Develop a schedule – Now that you can identify what time you have for studying, you need to schedule your study sessions. Add your study sessions to your calendar like any other commitments. This ensures that you remember this is time set aside specifically for studying.
Use the assessment calendar and identify the subjects that you need to study for the remainder of the term. Plan out which subject you will study on which day, to ensure that you are devoting enough time to each subject.
#3: Remove distractions – You will need to ensure that you can focus when studying. All distractions, particularly your mobile phone, should be removed from your environment prior to commencing on your revision. Every time that you are distracted, you will need to re-engage with your revision which will have an impact on your study schedule.
#4: Assess your weekly calendar - At the beginning of each week, identify what you need to study and what you plan to accomplish in the week. Are you completing the revision set by your teacher? You may need to adjust your study schedule as necessary to meet your weekly goals to get the most out of each study session.
#5: Stick to your study schedule – A study schedule works best when it is followed consistently. You need to be realistic when creating your study schedule. You may have to adjust it each week, depending on what you accomplish. Remember, the most important thing is sticking to your schedule!
#6: Maintain accountability - Some students find it helpful to study with another student, as it provides accountability, as well as opportunities for discussion and collaboration. When creating your study schedule, check with other classmates to determine if you can coordinate study sessions with them. However, if you tend to socialise more than study when you are around others, stick to an independent study schedule. If you do have a study partner, make sure it is someone with whom you are likely to stay on task. Alternatively, you may wish to give a copy of your study schedule to your parents so that they can assist you in your commitment to study for the remaining weeks of Term 3!
Over the past two weeks, eligible students in Years 7 – 12 have been acknowledged for their academic efforts for Semester 1. Principal awards have been presented to students for academic excellence as well as for excellence in commitment. Congratulations to all award recipients.
As we start to think about subject selections for 2024, this is a reminder that Mt St Michael’s College is working with UNIQ You, a virtual platform that connects female students in Years 9 - 12 with women in industries that females often do not look at for careers. The platform uses 30-minute video calls to connect the students with female advisors, either before school, at lunchtime, or after school. This one-on-one service is at no cost to families.
All students in Years 9 – 12 are encouraged to register to be able to use the platform. Parents needs to approve the registration to ensure that their student is able to speak to their preferred advisor/s. To register, please use the following link: https://uniqyou.com.au/student-registration-form/.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Ms Webb on awebb@msm.qld.edu.au
Year 11 2024 Subject Selection Processes
SET planning interviews commenced this week and will continue into next week. I thank Year 10 students and their families for their continued engagement with this process. Year 10 students will need to ensure that they have submitted their finalised Year 11 2024 subject preference form to Web Preferences by Monday 21 August.
Year 8 - 10 2024 Subject Selection Processes
Years 7, 8 and 9 students need to ensure that they have submitted their finalised subject preferences into Web Preferences for 2024 by Monday 21 August. Information about all the different subject options can be found in their year level team. If they have any difficulty accessing Web Preferences, please do not hesitate to contact me.
I would like to thank the students and parents who attended our inaugural MSM Foundation Careers Conversations Breakfast with our MSM Alumni this morning. Students and families were able to converse with the MSM Alumni about the wide range of pathways they have followed since graduating from the College. The diversity in careers allowed our current students to reflect on their academic journey so far and consider what the next few years could look like. My sincerest thanks must go to the Alumni who so generously gave of their time.
- Mrs Anne O’Keeffe (President, MSM Alumni Association) Media and Communications, ABC
- Dr Sarah Pollock (MSM Foundation Chair) - Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Neuropsychologist & Fletcher (Therapy Dog)
- Ms Alice Spies (Treasurer, MSM Alumni Association) - Head of Client Success, InTouch
- Ms Genevieve De Michele (Class of 2008) - Civil and Construction Engineer, Bene Advisory
- Ms Caitlin Conway (Class of 2012) - Pastoral Leader, Secondary Schooling, MSM
- Ms Brittany Roy (Class of 2012) - Corporate Communications Advisor, Sunwater
- Ms Grace Egan (Class of 2015) - Physical & Financial Trader, eShell
SPORT & LEISURE PROGRAM
We celebrate the achievements of Year 12 students, Gemma, Skye, Ava and Madison who between them have attained their Certificate II and III in Sport and Recreation and completed the Sport and Leisure program of study at MSM. These students have embraced theoretical knowledge and actively participated in all required practical aspects of their course, assisting with the delivery of various sport and recreation activities. Well done girls!
BRAIN BEE
Year 10 student Tully was given the opportunity to attend an immersion day at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) at the University of Queensland as a part of the Australian Brain Bee Challenge. This challenge involved students from all over Queensland competing in a series of online quizzes to test their knowledge of the brain and neuroscience. Tully’s hard work saw her make it into Round 2 of the competition held at QBI. The day involved lab tours, talks from PhD students and competing in both a teams and individual final round of the competition. This experience provided valuable insight into research and the study of neuroscience at university. Well done Tully!
JAPANESE SPEECH CONTEST
MSM Proud of all our participants in the annual Modern Languages Teachers Association of Queensland’s Japanese Speech Contest held at Griffith University. Maddy S placed 1st in Year 12 and Pia M was awarded 4th place in Year 9. Our other contestants all received a Highly Commended award. The girls were meticulous in their planning and preparation and presented in a confident manner on the day.
YEAR 7 DEBATING
MSM Year 7 debaters and their coach and Debating Captain, Emily, have been working towards the next round of the QDU Debating season. The girls have shown great commitment and excellence in the debating season thus far. Keep it up, girls!
MSM's GOT TALENT
Thank you to MSM’s Interact CAN group who coordinated the annual MSMs Got Talent. Entrants from across the Middle and Senior School entranced the audience with their spectacular instrumental performances, singing, dancing, signing and circus tricks. Congratulations to our Middle School winner Hannah who signed to “There’s nothing holdin’ me back” and our Senior School winner Sophia with her Bollywood Belly Dance Fusion. The spirit of MSM didn’t stop with our students. Our MSM Wellbeing teaching staff participated in a Splice performance where the spices took to the stage. A big thank you to the judges, students, AV support, maintenance team and Interact members for this wonderful celebration of spirit and talent. Thanks to the gold coin on entry, all proceeds went to this year’s school charity Wakitikimi.
FUTURE PROBLEM SOLVERS
Today our Senior and Middle School Future Problem Solving teams completed their qualifying booklet on the topic: Robotic Workforce in a 2 hour lock up. This has been an 8 month journey and we are so proud of you. Congratulations to our Senior School team: Aisling, Summer, Ava and Sarah and our Middle School team: Keira, Ivy, Jasmine and Lani.
YEAR 7 THE TRIAL OF JULIUS CAESAR
Recently, students of 7D placed Julius Caesar on trial for (alleged) crimes against the Roman Republic. The class was divided into prosecution and defence teams and each team were provided with a particular charge (those of you familiar with Caesar will know that he has an extensive rap sheet). Students were required to locate evidence from a variety of primary and secondary sources, work together and develop an argument which they then, somewhat rambunctiously (apparently lawyers have entrance music like boxers or dart players), presented before the judge. In the end, Julius was found guilty on all charges, with the judge deciding that the rule of law should take precedent above all.
This activity was designed to demonstrate to students the importance of using historical evidence to formulate a considered argument, something which they can hopefully apply in their forthcoming task.
FRENCH EXCURSION
Years 10 & 11 French students were transported to the streets of 19th century Paris and provincial France when they visited the Monet in Paris exhibition. The artworks of the French Impressionists were brought to life through an immersive experience of light, colour, sound and fragrance. To top it off, the students were able to dine at a Parisian-inspired café.
FOOD TECHNOLOGY
In preparation for their catered soup event, MSM Year 10 students are exploring the art of bread decorating in their Food Technology class. Using focaccias as their canvas, they creatively shape and embellish the dough with various toppings. The result is a delightful blend of flavours and textures that will be showcased at the event.
VISUAL ART
Year 12 Visual Art students are working on a variety of IA3 projects in sculpture, painting, digital work, installation, and printmaking.
As part of their “Art as Code” unit, Year 11 Visual Art students are experimenting with visual language and art conventions, expressing their ideas through a diverse range of media.
VISUAL ARTS IN PRACTICE
Year 11 Visual Arts in Practice students are creating a pendant light, cleverly using a range of opaque and transparent materials, and a variety of recycled structures and design mediums.
We look forward to seeing the final pieces of these amazing works-in-progress exhibited at The Spirit of the Arts Festival – Vitality on Tuesday 29 August.
PILATES
One of the continuing and very popular activities within our social sport program each term is Pilates. Students participate in Pilates sessions at Studio Pilates Ashgrove, providing them physical activity that isn’t competitive by nature but so good for their physical and mental health. A brilliant way to stay active and be involved in MSM life. This activity always has limited places but will be offered again in Term 4 for MSM students.
Term 3
P&F Mothers Lunch Friday 25 August 12pm
P&F Meeting Monday 4 September 6pm
Term 4
P&F AGM & Meeting Monday 6 November 6pm
Term 2
Monday 17 April – Friday 16 June
Term 3
Monday 10 July – Friday 15 September
Term 4
Tuesday 3 October – Friday 24 November (Years 7-11)
Click here to view the 2024 term dates.
Support the MSM Environment Group by donating your eligible containers! Bring your containers to school or use our scheme ID when returning to your local depot. Your donations will go towards funding our current and future environmental initiatives.
Mt St Michael's College scheme ID: C10333591
Slow down!
The Brisbane City Council, in coordination with The Gap Ward Office, recently erected an additional 40 km/h school zone limit and traffic signs facing incoming traffic along Elimatta Drive and Aloomba Road following a request from Mt St Michael’s College to investigate the traffic management in the school vicinity. A safety project endorsed by Mt St Michael’s College’s Work Health and Safety (WHS) Committee.
In consideration for our neighbours, where possible please avoid leaving your motor running, especially when parked outside a home.
Mt St Michael’s College is pleased to bring to you the MSM Business Directory. Accessed through our website and APP, this online portal, profiles businesses and provides opportunities to connect with the wider MSM community to promote your services, sales and special offers.
Many business owners profiled in the MSM Business Directory are long-term friends of the College. They include current and past parents, local businesses and alumni who, together show a commitment to Mt St Michael’s College and support for MSM events, fundraisers and initiatives.
If you would like to be included in the online MSM Business Directory, simply email msmnews@msm.qld.edu.au.
For more information please click here
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Ashgrove, QLD 4060
Australia
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