The phrase, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is so true. We, each individual, are that “beholder”. We first need to practise seeking beauty in things. We tend to skip that practice and then complain that there is no beauty.

As any skill that must be learnt, recognising beauty is a skill that can be honed. Sometimes we are able to see the beauty, if we have enough practise, in the most unlikely of places.

The next time you enter the office, look up. You will see the sunlight streaming through the design in the ceiling. The photo was taken when it was a rainy day so the sunrays can’t be seen. Even without the streaming sun, it looks beautiful.

The perspective angle makes the ordinary look very interesting. Change your perspectives in life to see your beauty. 

Mr Roshan Sabapathy

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Mrs Helen Garner

Mrs Helen Garner

Years teaching: I have been teaching for 16 years, but I have only been in Australia for the last year.

Country of Birth: Manchester, UK.

Subjects Taught: I taught IT and Business Studies for many years, then re-trained to teach mathematics, as that was always my favourite subject at school.

Reason for Becoming a Teacher: After ten years as a retail manager, I knew I had to make a difference in another way. My mum was a teacher and I loved Enid Blyton's Malory Towers and St Clare's School based books as a child, so I think I was destined to end up in this career!

Favourite Thing about Teaching: I laugh every single day. Students keep me young at heart and I love it when a student finally says, "I get it!"

Schools Taught At: I worked at three schools in Yorkshire, England (The Snaith School, Priory School and Armthorpe Academy). I moved to Australia in July 2019 and worked at The Springfield Anglican College, before I found this wonderful school on the mountain.

Something Your Students Might Not Know About You: I am a huge DISNEY fan. I worked at the Magic Kingdom in Disneyland, Paris, during their opening year (1992), then as a manager for their stores all over the UK for seven years. I simply love all their live action remakes of the classics, too.

Well, we have reached the end of a term of school that we were all hoping for - 10 weeks of on-campus learning! I would like to thank our staff, students and families for being so supportive of the College this term. We introduced many new procedures to help our learning environment to be as safe as possible, and these have been followed by everyone in our community. We are all in a fortunate part of the world and all our little actions to be 'COVID-19 aware' are helping our children and loved ones.

Through it all, I have been continually impressed and inspired by the resilience and positive attitude of your children's teachers. From the Early Learning Centre, right through to the teachers of Year 12 students, without fail the teachers of Tamborine Mountain College have been up to the task, going above and beyond what many of us may expect. So much additional hard work and determination has gone into the last two terms, and your children have been fortunate to be in such a supportive, proactive community. I cannot thank them enough.

Today, we wore blue free dress to support two wellbeing charities - our Primary raised $287.50 for Kids Helpline and our Secondary students raised $245.10 for Beyond Blue. It is wonderful to see so many of our students joining in the fun of the day to raise money for these worthy organisations.

As we move into next term, we have had to rethink many of our end of year events. The College will endeavour to make them as special as possible, while maintaining our commitment to keep the health and wellbeing of everyone at the front of our minds. Please understand that we are working within recommendations and regulations at the moment, and we wish as much as you that full parent participation could be possible. Our parent support and engagement is something we value so much.

Over the holidays, I would like to remind everyone to consider hygienic practices when out in public and return to school for the start of next term ready to learn! Please rest, relax and spend time with each other. Enjoy the quiet moments and get out and have some fun!

Mr Mark Stevens

What a busy Term 3 it has been for the Kindy class!

We welcomed some new friends - Petie Finn and Ashton, and each of them are settling in perfectly.  We also welcomed our new educator Mrs Hinkins, who has joined us on Mondays and Tuesdays!

This term the interests of the children gravitated towards healthy eating and our bodies.  This focus has extended into learning about:

* the dentist and what happens there
* group games outdoors using our whole bodies
* what kinds of foods are healthy choices
* stretching our bodies as we participate in some cosmic yoga.  
 
Many of us are becoming much more confident standing up in front of our group to talk about our interests and we are continuing with our show and share sessions.  Please encourage your child to bring in something special to talk about within the group if they wish to.  Perhaps a place you have visited?  Or a nature item they have found? 

It has been great to see special friendships growing within the Kindy room and we have all been discussing how we are all going to be moving next door into the Pre-Prep room next year. To help this transition process feel a little smoother, we are going to be having some short visits there over the coming weeks to become familiar and also to build confidence within our new environment.  

We hope you have a very safe and enjoyable holiday this spring and Mrs Bridges and Mrs Hinkins look forward to seeing you all for our Term 4 celebrations. 

 Pre-Prep
 
Pre-prep has had a busy fun filled term, they have continued with their interest in building cubbies using loose parts and creating rocket ships. National Science week created an opportunity to investigate and inquire into experimenting with some science concepts. Learning about predicting the children hypothesized whether something sank or floated, what happens to water when it is frozen and what happens when water that is frozen is taken out of the freezer?   Meeting the QKLG outcomes 4 and 5- children are active and communicative learners within their environment.    

Pre Prep Vic celebrated Indigenous Children’s Day by looking at what is your culture helping children to develop different perspectives of our first people culture and their own. The Early Learning centre decided to enter the Tamborine Mountain Scarecrow Festival. This led to researching what scarecrows are and discussing how our farmers grow crops that need protecting.  We learnt the song titled ‘Dingle Dangle Scarecrow’  the children came up with many different suggestions on what we could call our scarecrow and voted on the name of the song, ‘Dingle Dangle’.  The children brainstormed their ideas, designed their scarecrow and then involved families in contributing resources. Mrs Fernandez found a large pot which when covered made a great head.  OSHC collaborated over several afternoons to create a cow which is another character from the song.  Some imaginative and creative thinking occurred in OSHC which resulted in a cow named buttercup! In week 9 Pre-Prep Vic added the finishing touches to Dingle Dangle and positioned him out the front of our centre. By the end of the week it was judged with the final result of ‘Highly commended’ being awarded! We could be happier. Thank you to al the families that helped us pull this project together with the children.

We have been progressing through the Jolly Phonics sounds programme spending time on a sound each week, next term we will finish off with the sounds f, l, b, j, l, q, w, xyz.  

Transition to school visits occurred this term, the process of transition occurs over time, beginning well before children start school. Here at TMC we are in a unique position situated on the school grounds. The children have the opportunity to start of the process early on, they are continually developing relationships with teachers helping them with feeling a sense of belonging at the College.  It has been a little different for families due to Covid 19 but you can feel secure in knowing your child is being prepared. We have participated in a teddy bears picnic, eating morning tea with Prep and playing together in the Prep playground. Pre-Prep Vic took part in the Athletics Carnival. We met Mr Fern and Ms Browne who have been so friendly.  In weeks 8 and 9 the children enjoyed meeting up again with Prep, this time in their classes where we listened to a story and interacted with Preps having a fun time playing. We look forward to completing Term 4 with you before your children move on to Prep!
 
OSHC

What a term! It was a busy term filled with so many different activities and projects led by all of the wonderful children and our community. In the last 10 weeks we saw the children's creativity burst in so many different ways using beads, wool, Lego, straw and so many more materials.

The highlight for this term was the beads. So many beads! From week one all ages were engaged in these ironable beads where they simply pick up a bead and place it onto a tray and make something to take home. Five boxes later and in week 10 we made a big poster showcasing all of our wonderful designs for Artsfest and as a reminder of all of their hard work and concentration on these marvellous creations.

We also made a super cute cow to go along with the Pre-Preps Scarecrow for the Tamborine Mountain Scarecrow festival. The children were given the opportunity to brainstorm and design their cow, each one coming up with materials and ideas on how we can make the cow realistic. 

Sadly, we can't explain all of the amazing art we created this term because there is so much of it, but we can list a few of the ones that really stood out. We made our own woollen dolls, painted some plaster, used some chocolate moulds and made our own Lego animals.

Another main focus this term was Science. Many of our older children became fascinated in the world of science from robots to volcanic eruptions. We celebrated national science week with rain clouds and solar systems, we even made some tin foil boats during the term. Definitely some little scientists in the making, this area of interest will continue to be extended next term.

 Mrs Baillie and Miss Phair can't wait to have an amazing term again with everyone in term 4!

Mrs Nicola Ashley

Our Primary Choirs, Songbirds (Year 3 - 6) and Kookaburras (Prep - Year 2) did their first performance for 2020 on Wednesday.  Both Choirs did a wonderful performance for each other which was recorded and will be available for Arts Fest in Week 2 next term.  It was a great opportunity for Songbirds to practice performing songs from The Wizard of Oz.  Kookaburras sang a variety of our favourite songs including Row Row Row Your Boat, Kite Song, Gecko, Nursery Rhyme Picture Book and The Pirate Song.

Mrs Felicity Addison

Our TMC Equestrian State Team (Fuschia Criss, Cailtin Ward, Talia Criss, Sienna White and Primary rider Ava Byrnes) are competing over the September holidays at the state titles in Toowoomba. We wish them all the best and know that they will compete with Valour on their way to achieving Victory.

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