The College is pleased to again restart our P&F Association in 2021. After the P&F made a great start in 2020 and had some exciting plans in place, everything was put on hold at the end of Term 1. A new year brings new opportunities and the College again invites our students' parents to join our P&F meetings and offer your ideas and assistance where you can. Please follow this LINK to get a ticket and come along to our first meeting of 2021 on Wednesday, February 17 at 2pm.

After five years of service, the College community wishes Ms Vanessa Simpson well as she departs TMC for the next chapter in her career. Since 2016, Vanessa has been an important member of the administration team and we thank her for her commitment to the College during this time. All the best in the future, Vanessa!

It has been an exciting week for the older students of TMC with the swimming carnival taking place on Wednesday. The drizzling weather of the previous few days cleared up and made way for a beautiful day at the pool. Ensure to read the articles below from Mr O'Loughlin (Sports Coordinator) and Mr Haskins for more information on the event and for some wonderful photos. A big, 'Thank you' to Mr O'Loughlin for organising the event, to our staff who ran the event, our students who had jobs on the day, and also to our swimmers for getting in the pool and giving it a go.

Thank you also to our Year 7 parents who were able to come along to our information night on Tuesday. It was lovely to see some new and familiar faces. 

Our Elevate Parent Seminar is next Thursday night. See below for information on how to register for this event. 

What a week it’s been in the French department! Each class has now had their first French lesson of the year and have started to unpack culture and language. 

The Year 9s in particular have been very busy creating information posters about different aspects of French culture as well as creating their own timetable in French! Perfect for them to build on their topic of daily routine. 

The Year 12s have been writing reviews of the movie “Le Petit Nicholas” (Little Nicholas) in French, with a focus on how families have been represented in the film. Read through one of our reviews and if you are interested in watching this film, or other French movies, SBS On Demand French Connections has a brilliant and engaging selection for the whole family. 

We can’t wait to see how our students progress this year, and what creative and informative pieces of work they will create in French. 

Ms Brianne Rodgers

In Visual Art Year 7 Vic were inspired by local artist Therese Flynn Clarke, looking at local aerial landscapes students started to create a layered mixed media art piece. Therese Flynn Clarke educated students about her art journey and how she personally uses inspiration from her own experiences to create her own artwork. In their first layer, students used magazines, old books, music sheets and newspapers to describe their aerial landscape. They used shape, colour, lines and patterns to create detail to their landscape. In future weeks students will apply pastels, ink pens, sewing techniques and acrylic paint to identify the contours, rivers, islands, houses etc. to communicate meaning in their artwork. More information about Therese's artwork can be found on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHzWfl81mE8

Mrs Michelle Criss

Elevate Education will be on campus on February 11th to run study skills sessions with Years 7, 11, and 12, as well as a parent seminar in the evening. 

Year 7 will participate in a Study Skills Kick Start program which covers:

• Transitioning to High School
• Dynamic Reading skills
• Effective note taking skills
• Conceptual learning techniques
• Independent Learning

Year 11 students will participate in the Time Management program which covers: 

• Developing routines to balance study and lifestyle
• Working smart by completing high value work
• Utilising study groups to leverage time
• Techniques for overcoming procrastination

Year 12 students will participate in the Ace Your Exams program which covers:

• Highest value exam preparation tasks
• Fixing mistakes to ensure constant improvement
• Time allocation during exam preparation
• Techniques for managing stress & time pressure in exams

The Year 7 to 12 Parent seminar will be held Thursday February 11th from 5:30 to 6:30 pm and covers:

• The key points from the seminars their children have attended
• Strategies for how the skills can be reinforced at home

To reserve your seat for this free parent event, follow this LINK to book your ticket.

Lots of excitement this week with our first swimming lesson and walking back in the rain! We had umbrellas delivered and made the decision with Mr Stevens to walk back bare foot! Our children carried their own bags, negotiated the sharing of umbrellas and demonstrated their probleming solving skills, resilience and sense of adventure.

Ms Jodi Byron

As part of our Science unit for this term, the Year 5 students visited the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on Tuesday. We explored the physical and behavioural adaptations animals have to survive in their environment. The Sanctuary was closed to the general public so we were the only group inside and had our own personal tour guide! Despite the wet weather, the students really enjoyed the experience, feeding the kangaroos, seeing the bird show and learning interesting features and facts about many animals. Here are a few photos from the excursion. Thanks to Mr Golden, Mrs Noel and Mrs Visser for helping out with the excursion :)

Mr Sean Golden

A reminder to all Primary parents that children are not to be dropped on campus before 8:15 am, unless they are attending before school care. Supervision begins at 8:15 am when the first teacher goes on playground duty. Before this time, our playgrounds and fields are not supervised. Before school care provides a safe, happy and fun environment for children who need to be at school early. Please follow this LINK for more information about our outside school hours program.

A reminder for all parents that our Years 1-6 drop off and pick up area outside the Prep building is in place to minimise the numbers of adults on campus. This area forms part of our Covid-safe plan, so please remember to socially distance on the grassed area if you are waiting in the afternoon.

With the current lifting of some restrictions, we are allowing parent meetings to occur in classrooms after school, but these must be pre arranged and any visitors on site must sign in at Reception.

Thank you everyone for doing your part to help keep our campus Covid-safe.

What excitement we shared at the 10-17 year old swimming carnival on Wednesday! It was our first swimming carnival since 2019 and the students all raced to the best of their abilities. It was great to see such house spirit! Congratulations to the students who swam, Mr O'Laughlin for organising and the staff for running the event on the day.

One of the great privileges of my role is getting to know the students in every class. This week, I started my Head of Primary classroom visits in Years 1,2 and 4. Reading stories to children is one of the most practical things that teachers and parents can do, so I made sure to read a few books with the younger classes.

In Year 4, I taught their first lesson of the HPE unit which was focused on 'What is culture?' I was impressed by the answers from the class and I know that they will enjoy exploring this topic with Mr Hall.

Next week, I have scheduled in visits with both of the Prep classes, as well as Years 3, 5 and 6. As an educator, I really value these classroom visits and it is a great opportunity for the children to see me in a different light.

Mr Mark Stevens

This year has got off to a fabulous start, we would like to thank all of our ELC families for working in partnership with us throughout the settling in process.

With a busy start to the year you may notice that your child may be more tired than usual. The Pre-Prep/Kindy environment is fast paced and can be quite overstimulating for some little people. They may fall asleep at rest time even though they do not usually have a sleep. This is totally normal to help their little bodies adjust and regulate to a new environment. You may also notice that more food returns home in your child’s lunch box than you would like. Educators will sit with your children and encourage them to eat, half an hour is given at lunch time for this. Your child may again be adjusting to the new environment and finding their feet to feeling comfortable. As this sense of belonging develops they will begin to eat more from their lunch box. We encourage the children to leave their leftovers in the lunch box so that you can see what they have eaten for the day. It may mean they are hungry when you pick them up, our tip would be for you to offer the lunchbox again as a snack on the way home.

A friendly reminder is that we encourage a nutritious ‘Nude’ lunch box (minimal packaging) as we strive to produce minimal waste at the ELC. This is one of our centre goals around sustainability. If you’re interested in exploring this further, we also have an Environmental Checklist that is displayed in our foyer. We will be looking at establishing our worm farm soon with the children also.

We have also just sent out ‘All About Me’ (digital forms) through Storypark for all Pre-Prep families to fill in. Please fill these in at your earliest convenience. This will help us get to know your child more and use this information for future planning. Please please please come to talk to us at any point if you have any information daily that you would like to share.

The Pre-Prep class have got off to a great start. We have been focusing on building relationships and getting to know each other. Lots of name games and songs that help us become familiar with each other. You will also be receiving some ‘All About Me’ bags shortly where you and your child will have the opportunity to fill it with objects all about you and share it with your class, watch this space!

Kindy have spent their time being imaginative and creative in their new environment. They used their handprints to make a beautiful family tree, played with so much play dough and read some cheeky stories. Mrs. Hinkins sang them some beautiful songs and the group started recognizing their names with a wonderful Lili pad provision.

OSHC has been welcoming back their children this week. Everyone was given the opportunity to express their interests and let us know what they want to see and do this year! We are continuing on with our weekly art challenges, starting with nature art. At the end of this week we will be starting our ASC Carnival once again!

We hope that you have been enjoying some of the StoryPark posts, please let us know if you have had any issues with this as this is the main forum that teachers will communicate with you about your child and their learning.

We would like to take this opportunity to farewell Mrs Bridges. Mrs Bridges has been an integral part of the ELC team and I’m sure you will join me in acknowledging that she will be sadly missed. We will miss her smile, cheery nature and absolute passion for caring and educating our littlest people. Thank you for all that you have done for the ELC and the families and we wish you well on your new journey! 

Mrs Rachael Fernandez

On Wednesday TMC travelled to the BLK Performance Centre in Runaway Bay for the annual House Swimming Carnival for Years 4 to 12. There was some wonderful house spirit on display and victory and valour in the pool. We saw world-class performances, bravery from our youngest students, and a very high standard of swimming across the College. A highlight of the event was the swimming of the senior 50m Butterfly for boys and girls and it was pleasing to see TMC’s 'big guns of swimming' concluding the meet. Congratulations to all staff and students for a great day out! The House Points Score and Age Champions will be will be announced in assembly next week. Cece Knight and Ryan Adam are busy producing the highlights video which we are looking forward to seeing.

Mr Andrew O'Loughlin

Lachlan Williams (Year 11) was selected for the U19 South Coast Regional Cricket Team. Congratulations Lachlan!

Mr Andrew O'Loughlin

It’s that time of year again. School has started, the sun is shining and the competitive school swimming program has begun. This week, on Wednesday, students from Year 4 to 12 made their way by bus to the BLK Sports Centre in Runaway Bay for the annual TMC Swimming Carnival. This was the first such carnival for students in Year 4 and Year 5 and the first carnival in 2 years for everyone else.

The day started with an excited vibe with students climbing on the buses for the 1 hour trip to the sports centre. This excitement increased in tempo once the students got to see the state of the art centre and to set up in their respective House areas. With banners waving and House groups chanting, the races kicked off. 

It was great to see the high level of participation from the students, especially the years 4, 5 and 6s. Multiple heats were needed for all age groups in freestyle and for many of the age groups in the other strokes. 

Ultimately the day was a great success, culminating in the running of a combined Open Girls and Open Boys 50m Butterfly event that saw the best swimmers in the school pitted against each other in a pair of dramatic and close won races. The overall Age Champion and House Point Scores results will be released shortly. Until then, a big thank you must be extended to all the staff and students who worked hard to make the day a success, with a big thank you to Mr O'Loughlin for his tireless efforts in organising the event.  

Mr David Haskins

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