Have you noticed that a number of articles have been appearing in The Lion’s Roar that seem to be written by students? Well, this is the work of the Journalism Club, a team of students from both primary and secondary who have banded together to inform everyone of anything new happening around our school. Each week the journalism club meets to discuss ideas for new articles. The articles range from extra curricular activities, to new staff, to school events. Our student leaders and editors are our resident Year 12s, Portia Ilaoa and Lana Bignell; and we have students ranging from Years 5 to 12. 

After interviewing Mr Haskins it was revealed that the Journalism club started in 2020 when Portia asked Mrs Stevens if students could contribute to the school newsletter, which Mrs Stevens agreed to. The purpose of the club is to produce articles for the newsletter in order to promote the school's successes, shine a spotlight on student achievement and help improve student writing skills. Mr Haskins explained that his favourite part of Journalism Club was seeing the improvement in writing, structure and vocabulary that students develop over the course of the year. So if you're keen on talking about how great TMC is and you want to work on your writing in a fun and stress free place, come on down to JW5 every Tuesday during first break and give it a go.

By Emily Clarke Yr 11

Year 12 student, Dylan Sippel, is a Secondary School Captain. To become a school leader, students must display our College values and seek to represent TMC to the best of their ability at all times.

We asked Dylan his thoughts on being a student leader:

"I applied to be a student leader as I wanted to take on the responsibility of representing the school and student body of TMC, and be a voice for the students of TMC. Being a school leader has given me the ability to build character, public speaking experience and the opportunity to continue to grow my leadership qualities."

Dylan is a role model for all students at the College and we are proud of his contributions as School Captain.

Mrs Fiona Stevens

This week's featured image captures a moment of fun in nature at the Year 7 and 11 camp, held recently and featured in a student article today.

The Primary and Secondary campus participated in evacuation and lockdown drills. We practiced what do do if a lockdown occurs during class time and also what to do if it happens during lunchtime. The procedures are different depending on whether it is a lockdown or an evacuation, and so we ran three drills to practice all situations.

Teachers discuss our procedures with students, and have let students know a drill would happen at some time this week. We don't tell the students exactly when it is to occur as it is important to practice with spontaneity. 

Our Primary and Secondary campus responded well to the drills and followed our procedures. The ELC also run drills on a regular basis.  

With COVID disruptions causing many universities to switch to online/virtual open days, TMC Year 12s have still been able to have a first-hand experience with student advisors from universities coming to the College! So far we have had Griffith, Southern Cross, with Bond & University of Queensland to visit in the next couple of months. Having representatives from universities allows students to understand the diversity of our state's tertiary system, and what universities have to offer them in terms of available courses, pathways, and support. Students have thoroughly enjoyed being able to directly access this information and ask questions in person. Pathways interviews with Year 11 & 12 Coordinator Ms McCredden have also been a focus this term, so students have their Year 12 Graduation goals and are planning strategies to achieve those outcomes in their final year of school. 

This term in week 5, the TMC Year 7 students set off on their annual camp alongside the Year 11s. This year they travelled to Bornhoffen PCYC Leadership Development Centre for a 3 day bonding camp, leaving the students feeling closer than ever before. The Year 7 and 11 camp is designed to create stronger connections between the students, allowing them to develop friendships with those around them and break down any walls between them. 

Holly Hines, Jack Welsh and Emma Anderson were interviewed about their experiences with their 3 day adventure. Each of them loved the hands-on activities and the chance to learn new skills, both indoors and outdoors. One activity in particular was believed to be the most exciting and valuable activity of them all. This activity was creeking and was a fan favorite as they got to explore waterfalls, ponds and connect with nature. 

Holly shared with us that she believes this was a good experience as ‘I think it was a really good bonding experience, I got to make friends with some of the people in my group that I haven't talked to.’  Emma added to this by stating that it was a beneficial experience to all as they were able to participate in various team building and leadership activities, bringing everyone closer. Finally, we asked the students what they would give as a piece of advice to future Year 7s going on this camp. Jack stated that ‘It is a good bonding experience’, giving the future years going on this camp even more to look forward to. Holly shared a valuable piece of advice by saying; ‘I guess try new things and don't focus on trying to impress people, just on having fun.’.

Year 7 teachers, Ms Carlyon, Mrs Garnar and Mr Horn were delighted to see such a wonderful array of personalities truly being shown on this camp. All of them agreed that they liked that this camp was a good time for the students to be outside and one with nature, without being on devices or stuck in a classroom. Specifically, Mr Horn mentioned that “[he liked camp because] it was really great to see kids outside of the classroom, that you see a different side of them and it is really great to see how much kids want to help and be part of a team and make everything work.”

In Ms Carlyons’ opinion, the most beneficial aspect of camp was “Learning skills outdoors and being outside. When I am on camp, I realise how much time we don’t spend outside when at school. The kids had no devices and we were breathing, walking, chatting and they weren’t sitting behind desks and they were learning. I was learning.” We discussed with Mr Horn what the best thing Year 7s get out of this camp is and he stated that, "they realised that they are capable of more than what they thought." He elaborated by saying, "each of them has perhaps a set of skills that they didn’t know they had, I think they probably found sort of courage, more courage than they knew they had." 

Finally, we asked Ms Garnar what her favourite memory and funny moment was from camp. She stated that her favourite moment was during creeking, when the group played in the water and swam behind the falls, as well as the fact that she got to abseil down the cliffs. She couldn’t help but laugh when the students decided to jump in the swimming pool, fully clothed, as to waste no time getting changed. Altogether, the camp was an unforgettable adventure that we are sure will leave each and every person with a different memory that they can treasure and remember each other by.

By Lily Parker and Hannah Clements, Year 9

Introducing a new Scholarship  "Rising Stars" for Upper Primary

Scholarships for Upper Primary (Yr 5 and 6), Yr 7–10 and Yr 11–12 are awarded to students on the basis of Academic, Sporting, Arts or Drama excellence. Recipients are expected to contribute to the College in the form of active representation as required.

Students entering Upper Primary (Yr 5 and 6), Year 7 and Year 11 can apply for a scholarship prior to the end of June in the preceding year.

The 'Rising Stars' scholarship is a new initiative for students currently in Year 4 and Year 5. More information will be released in the coming weeks about how to families can apply.

The Primary swimming lesson program has two more weeks left. It has been wonderful to see the children's involvement and enthusiasm. We have only had to cancel one Thursday so far due to bad weather. Even on days when there is a shower or two, we still walk the students up to the pool for their lessons. The pool is heated - this week the instructors mentioned the water was 29 degrees! Building a bit of resilience while walking with an umbrella is a great learning experience (not to mention a lot of fun!), but we will cancel lessons if the weather demands it. If we have to cancel lessons, Mr Stevens will email all families as early as a final decision can be made and update our College Facebook profile. If you haven't already, please 'like' our page for the latest updates. Sometimes lessons can be canceled well ahead of time, but often the weather can worsen quickly, so a late change can happen.

This week's panorama photo was taken during not-perfect-weather on Thursday - the students were having a great time!

The 5-9 Year Old Swimming Carnival will be held on Tuesday, March 30. The carnival focuses on fun involvement and will include kickboard races for the younger students, and freestyle and breaststroke races for the older students. Ribbons are awarded, but we do not count individual points for age champions - at such a young age there is too much advantage for children born at the start of the year and we want to encourage participation for many years to come. At this stage, parents will not be able to come to the carnival due to Covid considerations, but Mr Stevens will notify all parents if this changes. We are so grateful that we can hold their carnival this year!

One of the many joys of coming to TMC is how we incorporate nature studies into our work program. Mr Jamieson (teacher aide) helps to maintain and organise our organic vegetable patch. The productive garden is a source of learning for our students and it is planted throughout the year with seasonal varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Woolworths is running a seed promotion at the moment - we have had some generous donations already (see photo below). If your family shops at Woolworths and you have some spare seeds, please send them to school and we will add them to our garden!

Our Prep - Year 3 PALs are organised for 2021. The PALs (Parent Advisory Liaisons) are a parent representative who helps to manage the parent contact list, encourages social events and is a point of reference for other families. Thank you to all the parents who volunteered for this role. On Monday, Mr Stevens will send all families information about the parent contact list.

2021 PALs:

• Prep VIC - Ami-Lee Fegan
• Prep VAL - Kiran Basran & Christine Briggs 
• Year 1 - Roxanne Lehmann
• Year 2 - Ali Mubarak
• Year 3 - Alana Wassell

Last weekend our Interschool team ventured to two venues Wide Bay Regionals in Caboolture and Warwick Horse Trials. On the Friday at Wide Bay Regionals for Combined Training Talia Criss came 2nd overall in the 95cm & Grace Fullerton placed 8th. For Showjumping over the weekend Talia came 7th overall and Grace Fullerton came 15th in the 80cm.  Grace, Talia and Emily Seagrave had a great weekend at Widebay Regional Championships.

At Warwick Horse Trials in the EV80 Ashlee Lowe came 1st and received the best performed off the track thoroughbred. Summer Jacobs came 7th and Caitlin Ward 8th in the EVA80 and 10th in the EVA95.

Our teams had a successful weekend receiving personal bests and qualifiers for States. Well done, students.

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