For more information please following the Link

On Friday, Students at TMC, from Prep to Year 12, were out of this world in order to raise funds for TM Universe and their efforts to build a State-of-the-Art facility here on Tamborine Mountain focused on exploring our Universe. Students came dressed in spaced themed free dress from NASA to Star Wars and all stops in between. Students brought a gold coin donation to help support the construction of a space observatory on Tamborine Mountain to help the local astronomical club Spaced Out. Currently, they need to travel to Brisbane to make observations. By having one on the mountain it will not only be more convenient but also have less light pollution. In addition to the gold coin donations, Year 12 and SRC held a sausage sizzle and "moon rocks" sale to help raise funds. It was great to see all the amazing costumes at lunch time. All together, TMC raised $805.25. Well done, TMC!

By Cassi Brownlee Year 5

Saturday the 15th of May marked the return of Open Day here at TMC. Open Day was one of the many casualties of 2020 and the school community as a whole was keen and excited for the opportunity to let the shining light, that is TMC, burn bright. 

Open Day is a day in which students, teachers, parents and the local community can all come together to celebrate the school, what it offers and its achievements. After last year, the school was extremely fortunate to be able to bring this tradition back and in the words of the school principal, Mrs Melbourne,

“Last year was a disappointment but this year is rewarding. We’re thankful to be able to do this again.”

 The Heads of Primary and Secondary, Mr and Mrs Stevens reciprocated her sentiments stating,

“We’re [the school] so fortunate here to have the ability to have Open Day and the day is lovely and the weather is looking great. I’m very grateful to the wonderful staff and students for their hard work,” said Mrs Stevens. “It’s great seeing the excitement on the children's’ faces. Open Day is really important and the school gets to engage with families who can’t be here during the school week.”

Clear skies and a fun event weren’t the only thing the school can be fortunate for as according to Mrs Melbourne, enrollments for Year 7 2022 have already reached full capacity! This is an exciting time for the school, and the progress seen can no doubt be attributed to the incredible effort of the heads of school, staff and students in doing these kinds of events.

On the day, there were a variety of exciting activities to do and tasty treats to enjoy with your family and friends. There were food trucks, rock climbing, a blow up obstacle course, mini petting zoo, face painting, basketball games, drama performances, mock debates, public speaking, art shows and the senior school  band. 

The most popular activity for the kids on the day was the inflatable obstacle course. It was a massive blow up course that looked so engaging to play in. The children had a lot of fun going around, through and over the course and left with the biggest smiles on their young faces. It was also the best way for parents to grab a break and many were seen lining up for a delicious coffee whilst their children were so readily entertained. Another drawcard for the day was the giant climbing wall erected at the back of the campus. Parents watched on with pride as their children reached the top of the wall and pressed the button that set off a loud siren. 

The cutest activity would have to have been the mini petting zoo set up at the Early Learning Centre. Young and old alike were drawn to the cuteness of the baby farm animals. There were ducks, chickens, a baby goat, a baby sheep and a baby alpaca.  It was basically a cuteness smorgasbord that brought a smile to every face.

For families who wanted a break there were plenty of more sedate inside activities that gave a chance for a sit down. The Years 5 and 6  Debating Teams held an intense debate, arguing over which was better: a good book or a good movie. Cleah Sullivan (School Captain) gave a rendition of her Lions Youth of the Year Speech which won her the Public speaking award for 2021. In the stage area, interested folk could see a little bit of TMC’s Drama Excellence troop as they performed small snippets of their upcoming performance. Of course no Open Day would be complete without presentations of subject information and career opportunities offered here at TMC.  

Open Day Senior Band 

One of the highlights of every Open day is the opportunity to hear from the College’s Senior Band. On the day the band performed on several occasions as a whole ensemble or as duets, trios or quartets. Since the beginning of the year the band, comprised of students from years 6 to 12, has rehearsed a song called Zydeco Cajun Crawdad Dance composed by Roland Barrett. The band practiced every Tuesday at school since term one and had a workshop on the last day of the holidays. This song was the central focus of the band’s performance. The brass quartet, Jenna Tompson, Mia Bradley Scarlet Small and Mia Welshe, played the song ‘Salsa Siesta’. Ava Byrnes and Ms Jewell (our wonderful band leader) performed ‘The Flower Duet’, and Cleah Sullivan and Emily Clarke performed ‘La Rejouissance’ by Handel. Overall the Band’s performances were very impressive and shone a strong spotlight on the College’s music program. 

House Basketball 2021

On Open Day, students who had been previously selected from various grades, participated in the inaugural TMC House Basketball Tournament. This tournament pitted the best of TMC against each other in a gladiatorial combat of hoops and balls. It was most pleasing to see the best basketballers in the school go head to head with a large crowd watching. After a great final, Walton House were declared champions! Kyle house finished as runners up and Nicolls House was third. Congratulations to all involved and thankyou to iPlay Coomera Westfield for donating the vouchers awarded to all players and coaches.

A World of Amazing Food

One of the most popular aspects of Open day was the amazing array of food trucks and food vendors. Whether you were hankering for pizza or Thai/Vietnamese street food, or perhaps you had a taste for a German Bratwurst, some hot chips or a Greek Kebab, or maybe you just wanted to indulge in some delicious ice cream or a fresh coffee, the TMC Open Day had it all. You could basically eat your way around the world in a single morning.  Everyone who tried some of the foods were very pleased with the standard of food provided, saying the only downside was the price, but it was well worth it.

By Journalism Club members Zoe Close, Emily Clarke, Portia Ilaoa, Hayley Kach and Lily Parker

Stress is different for everyone and whether it is at home, at work or at school, we all suffer from it at different times in our lives. However, it isn’t whether you have stress that is important, it’s how we deal with it that determines its effect on us as individuals. 

On average, 67% of Australian students suffer from school related stress and anxiety, but each student deals with it differently. Some students deal with stress by studying more, some by taking mock assessments, others watch their diet and ensure they are getting enough sleep whilst another group may focus on exercising regularly and better time management. All these “stress reducers” are a great help, but sometimes we need a little more to help take the load off our shoulders and that’s where the teachers at TMC come in.  

Here at TMC we have many diverse and realistic outlets for the stress that our daily school lives creates. These outlets provide everyone with the opportunity to rid themselves of anxiety. Three examples of these outlets include Art Club, run by Ms Radley, The Heavy Metal Club, run by Mr Talati and the Year 12’s Vibe Sesh, run by Mr Sabapathy. All three of these clubs provide students with the support, relief, assistance and guidance they need to help them feel at ease in a stressful world. 

Specifically, when asked, Ms Radley believes that Art Club is a good alternative to other types of stress and anxiety relief as art provides good social contact, opens up valuable lines of communication and can therefore be the place where people find their “tribe”. Similarly, Mr Talati thinks the Heavy Metal Club to be a good alternative to relieve stress and anxiety also. This was because “... a lot of the time the artists [we listen to] themselves feel the same things we do, so it's something you can relate while listening to [heavy metal/rock music]”. 

Mr Sabapathy added to this by saying that “Mindfulness helps greatly”. He then shared with us other examples of things he finds are a good alternative for relieving stress and anxiety. He said, “Physical activities also help take the mind of the "immediate" pressing problem. Exercise is a great way to remove the problem from the mind because participants have to concentrate on the current activity. Exercise also helps with sleep and releases endorphins. Sharing or Journaling also helps to release suppressed emotion that could explode if unattended.” 

Mr Talati, Ms Radley and Mr Sabapathy all share a passion for encouraging students to experience new ways to relieve stress; focusing on the fact that stress and anxiety decreases when people do what they love. For Ms Radley, “Art is [her] life." She loves the process of making art and how it feels. She loves it when she starts to plan what she is going to make, drawing it and then completing the artwork. For Mr Talati, he likes heavy metal because it relieves stress, helps him with his mental health and also just makes him feel good. He finds that it is a really good balance of skill and emotion and that it has so much variety. Finally, for Mr Sabapathy, it’s fun. He believes it’s beneficial for both himself and the large amount of students that partake in the vibe sessions. 

Overall, it is amazing to hear about the wonderful things that each of these different clubs are doing. Opportunities, such as these, provide a different avenue for students.

Specifically for Year 10 student Elijah Fern, attending art club has been more than worthwhile. It has given him a place to just go to get away from the pressures of life, which he believes are common and normal. Elijah also added that a lot of these pressures can be mentally and physically draining, but things such as attending Art Club has provided a spot for him to release all of the built up negative energy. He loves that the Art Club is a creative outlet and brings a different option for things to do at lunch. He ended by saying, “I am so grateful for teachers like Mrs Radley, and I think she deserves all the thanks she can get.” 

Year 12 student, Emma Sutherland, is a regular Vibe Sesh participant and has at times felt stressed. She dealt with this by “... kind of finding an outlet that worked for me and just used that.” She loves Vibe Sesh as it is fun to just "relax and chill and have a good conversation with everyone, especially Mr Sabapathy". 

For Ryan Butler, Year 9, Heavy Metal Club is positive because it brings “the people who love heavy metal together and gives us a space to talk.” He likes that he can talk with like minded people, listen to the music during the meetings and find out the origins of a lot of the heavy metal. 

It is fantastic that these outlets are provided at school, that they are positively benefiting everyone involved and there is no doubt that these will continue to help many. So if you are feeling stressed, why not join a club or take up a hobby, just like the students and teachers here at TMC.

 By Lily Parker - Year 9

The Third Round of the Gold Coast Secondary Debating Competition was held on Wednesday this week. All four TMC Secondary teams took part with the students spread across venues all over the Coast. The Junior teams were at AB Paterson College with TMC 1 facing off against AB Paterson 2 and TMC 2 versus Assisi College. Both teams debated to a very high standard, arguing the proposition that all students should participate in at least one extracurricular activity in school. Unfortunately both teams were unsuccessful, however the evening continued to help them build and develop their skills.

The TMC Intermediate Team competed at Trinity Lutheran College in a short prep debate focused on the topic university education is overvalued. Considering the nature of debating students, this topic was highly controversial as the affirmative teams struggled to undermine the idea of university. TMC's Intermediate team was up against the Trinity Lutheran number 1 team. Our group of Debaters, which this week included Cy De Freitas in his first ever debate and Keane Diong in his second, went down in a very close call. Again the students gained some great experience and received some insightful feedback from the adjudicator. 

The TMC Senior team also debated whether university education is overvalued. They debated Somerset at Hillcrest College. Ms Green, the team's coach, was really pleased with the progress of the students who lost by the narrowest of margins. 

All four teams will compete again in week 8 in the final preliminary round of the competition. 

Mr David Haskins

Today our Year 11s had the informative opportunity for Kula from RACQ to come and talk to them about forming good money habits that will set them up for the long term. 

Students learnt about a range of topics such as waiting before making rash financial decisions, as well as portioning income into saving, bills and spending.

Some comments from our students:

Tom: "He taught us something you don't think about everyday, like portioning income."

Elke: "It was entertaining and I learnt a lot about saving money."

Sophie: "It gave me the opportunity in advance to think about how to prepare money in different sections, like saving money for important things."

Max: "The stories he told had meaning  and helped me understand the message."

Tannaya: "He made money-saving seem less stressful and I liked the interactive elements!"

By Ms Emily McCredden Year 11 & 12 Coordinator

What might look like a simple fun activity amongst friends at playtime, is actually very important work. When children use their imaginations in play they are developing crucial capacities that help them process the world they live in. This week while on playground duty I have had the pleasure of having multiple conversations with students in the P-2 play area who were demonstrating their wonderful imaginations. From fires made from garden off-cuts and mud soups to boats, the children have created brilliant scenarios to include their friends in role-playing and to demonstrate their artistic and imaginative pursuits.

I hope you enjoy these photographs of some of the lovely creations the children have made this week.

Mrs Kelly Pavey- Learning Enhancement Specialist P-12

On Tuesday 25th May the students in Prep Val were accompanied by some amazing parent helpers and we began our long but excitable walk to Roslyn Lodge – the retirement home here on the mountain. We spent the morning meeting the residents, this included playing games, asking questions, drawing pictures and performing a song. There was laughter and smiles from the residents and we especially loved getting hugs from them. The students were amazed to discover that one of the residents was 104 years old! We thoroughly enjoyed our time with the residents and is an experience that we will always remember.

Ms Tahnee Brown

With Great Reading Skills Comes Great Power

This Tuesday evening 25/05/21, Students from Years 5 and 6 travelled with their parents to Hillcrest College to compete in the Queensland Readers Cup.  The competition involves a team of 5 students reading 5 different novels over a period of several months. The team then had to answer questions about each book in five  separate rounds on the evening of the competition. This year’s books included:

Pie In the Sky - by Remy Lai

A Great Escape - by Felice Arena

Catch a Falling Star - by Meg McKinlay

Secrets of a Schoolyard Millionaire - by Nat Amoore

A Darkness of Dragons - by S.A. Patrick

The TMC team was made up of James Haskins, Ariana Stevenson and Isobel Stevens from Year 5 and Chloe Crawford and Oliver Davenport from Year 6. The students had an amazing time working together and answering all the questions. In the end the TMC team, who were in the competition for the first time, held their heads high and although they did not place, they certainly enjoyed the experience. Well done Team. 

By James Haskins Year 5

Preprep families will have an opportunity in weeks 8 and 9 to meet up with Mrs Ashley and I as we conduct Parent Teacher interviews. These are not compulsory but more of an opportunity to discuss your child’s learning and have a chat.  I will create a schedule of times available next week for you to add your name to secure a booking with us.  

This week was Reconciliation week, PrePrep and Kindy participated in the making of the Torres Strait Islander flag, simple Aboriginal art and listened to a Dream time story called, ‘Biladurang The Platypus.’ You can watch it at home by following the Link

This week the story titled Zog by Julia Donaldson was enjoyed by the VAL group following on from ‘Room on a Broom’. These stories have beautiful messages exploring kindness and helping others.

Storypark

The ELC team put a lot of effort into sharing the children’s day, the  learning occurring as well as the sharing of information to families. Please feel free to contribute and communicate via this platform.    

OSHC has been focusing on every child’s sense of Agency: being able to make choices and decisions, to influence events and to have an impact on one’s world. (My Time Our Place Curriculum for School Aged Children) (MTOP) 

On the walk over to the Early Learning Centre from their day at school the children speak with Mrs Baillie about their day and what is planned next for them. Sometimes a listening ear and debrief on their day is just what's needed. Once back at the centre, the routine has changed to allow for the group to come together to make choices for the afternoon or days ahead. This provides further opportunities to develop the children's sense of agency and wellbeing during the busy arrival of the children thus creating a calm down time before venturing into activities. 

The upcoming Vacation Care Program has been having some input from the children so stay tuned next week when we publish the flyer, bookings will then open for the June/July break. A Wildlife Ranger and Indigenous experience has been booked!

Please make sure if you know your child is not attending for any reason can we have a phone call or email. Thank you for your assistance, it is greatly appreciated.

Supporting Families 

ZEN STUDIO MEDITATION FOR KIDS

EDOKI ACADEMY | FREE ($4.49 to unlock all features)

Zen studio is a unique geometric finger-painting app designed to help children relax and focus. It may be the simplest painting app ever published! Tap once for a new canvas, tap again to pick a colour, and then draw with your finger. What’s more, a calm, soothing music algorithm accompanies every swipe of a finger making it a very zen experience!

Short simple activities to get some active minutes in the day 

You have seen it on Bluey, and you have probably played your own version of balloon ball before but, did you know actively trying to keep a balloon off the floor counts for some serious active minutes. Simply blow up a balloon and keep it from touching the floor, get as tricky as you like. 

Mrs Rachael Fernandez

On Wednesday 26 May TMC hosted the annual HIA Cross Country Championships on the park run course at the Long Road Sports Centre. The day was bright and sunny with a cool breeze wafting across the course. TMC students were all a bit nervous at the start, but quickly overcame their butterflies as they got into their stride. The competition was for students from year 6-12 and the standard of running from all schools was very high. One of the highlights for the day was coming across the finish line to enjoy a celebratory sausage on bread which was kindly provided by the TMC P&F . 

The age champions were awarded HIA medals on the day and we were pleased to see Tamborine Mountain College dominate the overall pointscore!

Age Champions 2021

12 years girls - Maddison Cacciola TMC

12 years boys - Joseph Caffrey HIC

13 years girls - Amelia Chapman TMC

13 years boys - Harry Gomez HIC

14 years girls - Jakayla Au HIC

14 years boys - Alex Kirby TMC

15 years girls - Denva Best HIC

15 years boys - Julian Nicol TMC

16 years girls - Kirsten Quinn TMC

16 years boys - Seth Holmdahl TMC

17+ years girls - Electra McMilla HIC

17+ years boys - Gregory Fowlds TMC

HIA Overall Pointscore

1st Place - Tamborine Mountain College 253

2nd Place - Hills International College 187

3rd Place - Kooralbyn International School 0

by Lana Bignell Yr 12

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