Following on from Mrs June Melbourne's retirement announcement to the school community, the College Board can formally declare the appointment of Mrs Fiona Stevens as the Tamborine Mountain College Principal from 2023.

Mrs Stevens joined the College in 2002 as the History and English teacher. During her time at TMC she has held various positions of responsibility, such as Assistant to the Principal, and more recently, Head of Secondary School. 

As well as her Bachelor of Education and Bachelor of Arts university degrees, Mrs Stevens has completed post graduate studies at Griffith University, completed the Aspiring Principals Program with Independent Schools QLD, and most recently attained the Certificate of School Management and Leadership from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Mrs Stevens stated how excited and honoured she is to be stepping into this role. She noted that Mrs June Melbourne has done a wonderful job growing the College into the school it is today. 

The College would like to congratulate Mrs Stevens on her appointment.

Our next P & F meeting will be held on Wednesday 10th August at 9am.  Our P&F have had a fantastic year so far and there are more opportunities to be involved. Everyone is welcome to come along to the next meeting.

This week's featured image is Mr Stevens and some expert drone pilots at our annual Under 8's Day. Read the full story and see more pictures in Primary News.

On Thursday, four of our Year 11 students visited Southern Cross University to attend the Emerging Young Women Leaders Masterclass.

Students worked on their personal 'elevator pitch' and how to talk about themselves with pride and authenticity. They explored their personal attributes and how to sell themselves as they move into future education and employment.

Students were then treated to a panel discussion and Q&A from female industry leaders in business, medicine, environmental science and leadership. This was followed by delicious cupcakes and a university campus tour.

Thank you to Southern Cross University for hosting such a worthwhile and empowering event for our students. 

Ms Hanna Green

On Thursday the Year 8 students spent a beautiful sunny day at a coastal national park; Tallebudgera Creek/Burleigh Heads National Park, to collect data for their forthcoming Geography investigation into green spaces and coastal management here on the Gold Coast. 

Students investigated the processes that shape landforms and landscapes and identified evidence highlighting these processes. Students then evaluated the greenspace area to determine its social and economic benefits. 

Mr Michael Worton

This week, as a part of the Year 12 ARC program our Year 12 cohort had the opportunity to engage with officers from the QLD Police Service regarding road safety and distracted driving. With so many of our senior students already behind the wheel with their 'Ps' and the rest on their 'Ls', it is important that we take every opportunity to encourage positive behaviours when driving. The 2'N'2 program, which stands for "Two eyes on the road and two hands on the wheel'', aims to convey to young drivers the impact that distracted driving can have on their lives. Whether it is texting, reading a Snapchat, choosing a song or even just having a conversation with their friends in the car, distracted driving is the most common cause of accidents next to speeding on QLD roads. To help reinforce their message Officers Tony and Emily from Highway Patrol brought a driving simulator that showed the students how dangerous it was to take their eyes off the road. 

Mr David Haskins

In Year 10 science the students are learning about applying forces to real world scenarios. Today they were learning about levers and were experimenting to see how changing the design in a simple machine can drastically change the amount of weight it can hold. 

Ms Chileen Radcliffe

This week Prep Val learnt about colour wheels. We learnt which colours go where on the colour wheel and how to mix the colours to make warm and cool colours. We made our own colour wheel as a mane for a lion. The children created amazing art work and Mrs Simmons and I are so proud of them.  Well done!

Miss Chloe Scholes

This week the students of Year 5 went to Gallery walk to find out what attracts tourists to Tamborine Mountain and why locals like to live here. The students also asked them to share what change they would like to see in Tamborine Mountain in the future. The Year 5s were very polite and courteous and all the people they interviewed were impressed by the students. A big shout out to the local community who were very hospitable and friendly to our students. The students even received a free tour in the German Cuckoo Clock Nest shop plus free ice cream at Café on Tamborine! We also want to say a big thank you to parent helper, Jo Warner, who gave up her free time to spend this wonderful day with the Year 5s.

Afterwards, we went and walked the loop of the MacDonald section of the Tamborine Mountain National Park to look for signs of the powerful owl. We saw many different species of bird, wallaby excrements and many tree hollows. Very suitable habitat for the powerful owl but they kept at bay so we still haven't seen one. But we are not giving up!

Mr Robert Schönherr

The idea of Nature play is that it improves every aspect of child development—from the physical to the social, cognitive and even emotional. Nature is one of the best calm down strategies for kids (and adults alike). There is something incredibly powerful that nature and nature only is capable of doing to our minds and bodies. Since the beginning of time, humans have been closely connected to the natural environment. We have  relied on nature to provide us with a safe place to reside. This was the aim this week, to develop a safe place to play and to do this as a community. Children have been encouraged to work with  a group and to build as a community. 

Playing outdoors encourages movement, nurtures imaginations and fosters social connections, friendships and plenty of creativity. That is what the Primary Rock Area has seen this week; plenty of children working together to solve the problem of; how can we make a shelter out of sticks, rocks, bark or any other natural material. 

We started by collecting some materials, then we decided on the area to build in. Along the way there were some arguments over territory, but this was overcome quickly. The children have developed some alliances and these communities have started to blossom. 

We have 5 days to build our dens and then we might decorate them with some art next week.

Mr Cameron Hall

The Year 4 students have been gathering, recording and representing data for Maths over the past two weeks. We've found the perfect event for data gathering... the Commonwealth Games! 

Each day, we record the latest medal tally, draw a graph of the data and then create the graph online. Attached are some of our amazing work samples. 

Mrs Julie Sands

The sun was out for Under 8's Day, 2022. Based on the theme Play in a Changing World, our Prep - Year 3 students enjoyed games from the past and nowadays, as well as a nature sensory area. Some of the games on offer were:

• Mini Pool, Air Hockey and Football tables
• Ten Pin Bowling
• Remote Controlled Cars
• Knock 'em Downs
• Face Painting
• Croquet 
• Remote Controlled Drone
• Jumping Castle
• Twister
• Snakes and Ladders

To finish off our procedure writing unit, the students in Year 2 Vic and Val channelled their inner-George and made a real-life Marvellous Medicine! We learned that combining baking soda with dish washing liquid and vinegar makes a huge foamy mess! As you can see, we added blue colouring to make it seem even more marvellous! The students all wrote a procedure about our experiment and Ms Byron and Mrs Kramer were very impressed with the students’ hard work!

Ms Martine Kramer

Fun in the dirt!  All primary students are welcome to come along to the Gardening Club with Mr J

Under 8's Day was a great success, thank you to all our wonderful families for supporting the event.  Occasions like this show our strong community links across the campus, Year 6's were  fantastic assisting all under 8's  to participate in the experiences.     

Pre Prep News - Our Castle Project

Fairy Tales, Castles, unicorns and pony play have featured this last week at the ELC.  Pre Prep explored what materials castles are made of by taking a look at some old images of castles and using a variety of provisions they created their own castle. After we read several Fairy Tales, Pre Prep were asked to think about who might live in a castle?  

"Dragons, Princesses, Kings, Queens and people with swords and metal protect them" were their answers. Next week we are going to become actors, acting out a tale!  

Outcome 5: Literacy skills are promoted through our play based program developing vocabulary for describing imaginative experiences, past and present and topics of personal interest. 

Kindy and Pre Prep celebrated National Torres Strait Islander Children's Day on Thursday with sights and sounds that represent their belief in connecting with nature.

Pre Prep learnt the word Daddiri meaning tranquil, listen and connect with nature in a spiritual way through relaxing on their backs outside, breathing while listening to nature around us.    

One of the main lessons learnt is how children are valued in the  culture and how kindness is developed by being a good person, creating wishes for their life and family for the  future on the land.  

Outcome 2: Connectedness -  Encouraging and supporting children's learning exploring aspects of culture and similarities and differences among people. 

Have a good long weekend, Monday is a public Holiday.

Mrs Rachael Fernandez

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