On Saturday, the 13th of May, staff and my fellow students of Tamborine Mountain College hosted our annual Open Day. The day’s beautiful weather was the perfect backdrop for the highly anticipated official opening of the Koala and Echidna Learning Centres. Local families came to experience guided tours of the school grounds, showcases of student work such as public speaking and debating, sports and games, artwork, dancing, and the many other fun activities on offer on the day.

Throughout the day visitors had the chance to spot our two lion mascots - Vic and Val. These lions are a huge part of our school spirit, and as one of the students inside the costume on the day, I can tell you they are a super fun way to interact with everyone. Vic and Val were present for the main event of the day, the ribbon cutting ceremony. The ceremony featured an instrumental performance by TMC’s Highland Strings band, a warm welcome speech from Mrs Stevens, and an address by the College’s Board Chair, Mr Lance Cordingley. After the conclusion of the ceremony, the newly constructed classrooms were open for viewing and many were seen wandering around admiring the new spaces. 

One of the best parts of the College’s Open Day was the rides and experiences on offer. The tall climbing wall was the most popular with many children braving it to the top and ringing the bell. My personal favourite was the petting zoo, featuring some adorable baby animals. The piglet was the clear favourite. The second-best part was the food on offer; food trucks, fresh coffee and the amazing P & F bake sale with all goods kindly supplied and baked by College parents. 

 The event ended with a bang - or at least a “blast off” as the 3D printed rockets made by the STEM club students were launched. 

 Our Open Day had a great turn out and we are looking forward to welcoming all of our new students and parents in the coming year. As a school that greatly values our students, we understand that a school is made by its students and the way they feel at school. Our Open Day helped us convey the importance we place on empowering our students to achieve now and into the future.

By Rose Eggleton, Year 11 student

May

Monday, 22/5 - QYMA Kookaburra Choir Competition

Wednesday, 24/5 - HIA Interschool Sports Primary Soccer Competition

Friday, 26/5 - Beginner Music Concert

Tuesday, 30/5 - Year 1-3 Parent Literacy Workshop 3pm-4pm

Wednesday, 31/5 - Prep to Year 2 Athletics Carnival

June

Thursday 1/6 - Gold Coast Careers Festival 2023 (Year 10/ARC)

Thursday 1/6 - Prep Excursion to David Fleay Wildlife Park

Friday, 2/6 - Years 3-6 Athletics Carnival

Monday, 5/6 - Year 6 North QLD Tour 2023

Wednesday, 7/6 - Years 7 to 12 Athletics Carnival

Tuesday, 13/6 - Year 7 in 2024 Information Night 5pm-6pm

Wednesday, 14/6 - Year 12 Formal

Friday, 16/6 - Student Free Day & Sydney Art Tour 2023

Tamborine Mountain College will be hosting students from Osaka Suito International High School (Japan) in Term 3. Home Stay Australasia are looking for host families for the visiting students. 

The students arrive on 28 July  and depart 7 August 2023. They will stay with host families for 10 nights.

If you are interested in the wonderful experience of hosting Japanese students, please get in touch with Susannah Tosh from Home Stay Australasia on 0415 721 328 to arrange a time for an interview.

Students will require a lift to and from school, three meals a day, and to spend time with you and your family and friends on weekends.

Home Stay Australasia will help you apply for a Blue card if you don’t already have one. 

There is a maximum of two visiting students per family. Each host family will receive a payment of $1200 to cover costs.  

Contact Susannah Tosh from Home Stay Australasia on 0415 721 328 or homestayaus@bigpond.com for more information. 

From this year, parents and carers will get earlier, simpler and clearer information about their child’s NAPLAN achievement based on new, more rigorous national standards.

Education ministers have agreed to change the way NAPLAN results are reported to parents and carers, now that all students are taking the tests online, and with the move to an earlier NAPLAN in March. New proficiency standards with 4 levels of achievement for each year level will replace the previous 10-band structure that covered all 4 levels tested and the old national minimum standard set in 2008 when tests were on paper. The new proficiency standards include a baseline benchmark to identify students who are likely to need additional support.

The numerical NAPLAN bands and the national minimum standard will be replaced by the following 4 levels of achievement:

• Exceeding
• Strong 
• Developing 
• Needs additional support

“The standard for proficiency is set at a challenging but reasonable level. If your child is in the Strong or Exceeding category, it means they have demonstrated proficiency and that their literacy or numeracy skills are where they should be at this stage of their schooling. “If your child has not yet achieved proficiency, then they will either be in the Developing category or the Needs additional support category,” said ACARA CEO, David de Carvalho.

The descriptors for each category will make it clear to parents what their child’s literacy and numeracy skills are at the time of NAPLAN testing, and support discussions with their school on their child’s progress. Student reports will continue to show the national average and the range of achievement for the middle 60 per cent of students in their year level, allowing comparison of a child’s achievement against these measures.

Detailed information on the knowledge and skills being measured in each NAPLAN assessment will be made available on the NAP website in the coming months.

For the full ACARA media release, please visit: https://www.acara.edu.au/docs/default-source/media-releases/naplan-proficiency-standards-media-release-2023-02-10.pdf

Ms Hanna Green

Tamborine Mountain College is pleased to announce it will be trialing RollCall; a new school bus travel management system. RollCall leverages the latest software technologies to allow the College to track buses on school routes 4, 4B and 6, with the time, date and location. New bus tags for students on these routes will be handed out over the next two weeks. The tags attach to the student's backpack. The system will be trialed in the final two weeks of Term 2 and will go live from Term 3. A Parent App will be available shortly thereafter. More information about the bus safety solution and the RollCall privacy policy can be found on the company website at www.rollcall.com.au

Visual Art students from Years 10, 11 and 12 came together to explore the artworks of the Pop Masters exhibition at HOTA, Gold Coast. They viewed artworks by Andy Warhol, Basquit and Keith Haring. A great day!

Ms Jenny Radley

We are thrilled to announce that the TMC Chess Club competed in their first Interschool chess tournament on Wednesday. The event gathered 300 students from various schools across the Gold Coast, creating a highly competitive environment.

Our students showcased exceptional skill and sportsmanship throughout the tournament. Noteworthy strategies such as scholar's mates, ladder checkmates, and popular E4, E5 openings were employed. We are proud to share that our Team 2 (Will F, Leo W, Aleksi and Hayden G) secured a thrilling third-place finish, while Eamon, Oscar, Jacob H, Leo W and Will F received merit awards for high scores.

Congratulations to Jacob H, Oscar, Luka H, Eamon, Aleksi, Logan, Hayden G, Leo W, Will F, and Will W for their remarkable achievements and for representing TMC with victory and valour.

Mrs Kym Haskins & Mr JayeshTalati

Greetings, STEM enthusiasts!

We are thrilled to share the exciting news of our recent Open Day, where the brilliant minds of our STEM Club took centre stage. As a testament to their innovation and dedication, these students showcased their remarkable achievement in 3D printing by launching model rockets that left the audience in awe.

Using Tinker CAD and following a template, the students designed and then subsequently printed their own model rockets which were launched (for health and safety reasons) by our dedicated staff.  Propelled by small engines with solid rocket fuel, the 3D printed rockets reached heights of around 30 - 40 metres and only one rocket failed to maintain its ballistic trajectory after launch.

Although the parachute recovery systems across all the rockets performed ‘below expectations’, it did provide students with some future ‘re-engineering’ opportunities.  But, overall a successful venture indeed.

Mr Justin Andrews

Last Friday, as a celebration of Mothers' Day, two of our Year 12 students Charlotte F and Maddy L spent some time travelling to Roslyn Lodge Aged Care to spend some time with the residents. They took with them mothers' day presents that Charlotte had collected and had been donated by members of the community and students from the College. Melisha Tape, Lifestyle Coordinator at Roslyn Lodge expressed her appreciation "Charlotte and Maddy were absolutely beautiful! Our residents loved having them present them with their mother's day gifts! Two of them became tearful and cried in appreciation! The goody bags were delightful and I'm still hearing praises and thanks."

This is the 3rd year that Charlotte has been involved with Roslyn Lodge and her dedication, kindness, empathy and success in this endeavour marks her as a true embodiment of the College's values. 

Mr David Haskins

This week saw the Yr12 section of the AB Paterson Public Speaking Competition take place on Thursday evening. TMc was represented by students Elijah F and Maddy L who prepared and presented 8 minute speeches along with some of the best public speakers from schools across the Gold Coast. Elijah's speech tackled the topic of Silenced Voices and the way our society has stereotyped mental health. Maddy discussed the fact that The truth is not always pretty and never simple by casting a light on the continued misogyny and inequality faced by women in our society.  

Ultimately Elijah was successful in making it through to the evening's final where he achieved the amazing result of placing second in the competition. This is a brilliant result and we at the College could not be more proud of the efforts that maddy and Elijah made in representing our College. 

The competition will continue later in the year with the Year 4 to Year 11 sections and we eagerly look forward to hearing of more success from our talented TMC public speakers. 

Mr David Haskins

Year 11 and 12 students who are interested in joining the Australian Defence Forces were treated to an information session on Friday.  Two Officers from the recruitment center at Robina delivered information and answered questions for students.  Pathways for the ADF include Gap Year Programs, Australian Defence Force Academy, and general enlistment.  

Mrs Peita Parker-Browne

What an amazing day we had yesterday at the Jacobs Well Environmental Education Centre! It was an enriching experience filled with lots of excitement! (And a lot of mud!)

After we were welcomed by Lyn, Lindsay and Steve, we took part in two activities. We rode the “mud bus” to the banks of the Pimpama River where we explored the ecosystems of the wetlands.

The students really got their hands dirty digging for crabs, feeling the mud, tasting (!) the leaves and discussing whether things were living, non-living or once living.

The other activity was discovering the ‘Snake Pit’, where Lindsay guided us through various animal encounters. We closely observed a long neck turtle, a blue tongue lizard, a pink tongue lizard and a huge carpet python. The students who wanted to, even got to pet the animals!

Mrs Sands and myself are immensely proud of how well-behaved and enthusiastic our students were during the day. Their respectful behaviour towards the centre, the staff, the animals and the parent helpers was exceptional!

I also want to express our gratitude to the (many!) parent helpers who joined us on our trip! Without your help, these excursions are impossible!

Please enjoy a selection of photos of our wonderful day!

Mrs Julie Sands & Mrs Martine Kramer

Come along to our next parent workshop designed for parents of students in Years 1-3 to learn more about how we teach literacy at TMC and how you can support your child at home. Learn ways to easily integrate literacy learning at home and get some tips on setting up a successful home-reading routine. All TMC school-aged children will be minded by our teacher aides for this session, so sign up and come along! Register here: Literacy Workshop RSVP. Please email Mrs Pavey with any questions.

Mrs Pavey- Learning Enhancement Specialist P-12

kpavey@tmc.qld.edu.au

On Monday 22nd May, our Kookaburra Choir (Prep - Year 2) will be going to A B Paterson to perform at their very first ever competition for 2023.  This is part of a new choral section with QYMA (Queensland Youth Music Awards).  They will be singing "Six Little Ducks" and "Wind on the Hill".   All tickets have sold out.  Any queries can be emailed to their conductor Jai Schelbach: jschelbach@tmc.qld.edu.au

Mr Jai Schelbach

Jingeri, the ELC, have successfully grown corn in our garden!  It has sprung up from the seeds planted late last year and the tomatoes have continued to flourish from the seeds planted two years ago. We are currently working through the ‘Get Grubby’ Program provided by the Scenic Rim Council and Kids ABC TV.

Last week while learning the sound of the week ‘Aa, Aa’ the children explored parts of the apple making comparisons to how many of our plants began as seeds. We are wondering when will the crops be ready for eating?  Pre-Prep frequently measures the size of objects by how tall they are standing next to the corn we heard. “Its taller than me, or I need to water it more to make it as big as me!”   

What learning outcome is gardening? Early Years Learning Framework Outcome 2.

Gardening is educational and develops new skills including: Responsibility– from caring for plants. Understanding– as they learn about cause and effect (for example, plants die without water, weeds compete with plants) Self-confidence – from achieving their goals and enjoying the food they have grown.

Children have the chance to work scientifically as they identify and classify plants; they can   explore and consolidate mathematical skills through counting scoops of dirt, filling pots and watering cans or measuring growth.  They can be exposed to reading and writing through related stories, books and creative pursuits such as writing a gardening journal.  They can experience continued growth in social skills development by working together with other children and supported by educators consider ethical issues as they learn to nurture and care for a living thing.

Kindy class demonstrated success during recent cutting experiences while exploring the story ‘How Much do I Love you’ written by Isabel Pope and Roisin Hahessy.  In this experience, using literacy, fundamental skills were integrated providing our young children with engaging activity to support the text and fine motor skills at the same time.  

Mrs Rachael Fernandez - ELC Director

Some secondary students enjoyed visiting the Tamborine Mountain Botanical Gardens as part of Wednesday afternoon sport. With its blend of adventure, serenity and discovery, bushwalks have become a favourite for students as it combines physical activity with nature. Throughout the term, the Bushwalking students will explore the variety of walks that our beautiful Tamborine Mountain has to offer.

Ms Hanna Green

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