Middle Senior School Welcome Letter 2024
Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome to a new year at Calvary Christian College. If you are joining our community for the first time, I am looking forward to seeing you around the school and getting to know you at our events across the year. I hope our community had a restful break over the holiday period. I enjoyed the opportunity to have a relaxing holiday with my family on the Gold Coast over Christmas, and then I spring-cleaned and repainted much of my house – not very exciting, but I felt productive.
I am looking forward to an exciting new year in the Middle and Senior School (MSS). As usual, we have a jam-packed year of events and activities for our students. I am particularly energised about our planned renewal of our House culture which will be a predominant focus in the MSS. 2024 is a special year for the College as we are celebrating our 40th birthday. We will invite you to come and join us at different events as we celebrate 40 years of faithfully providing high quality Christian education.
I would like to encourage all our families to attend our Information Night on Monday 22 January at 6pm. There will be a short information session followed by an opportunity to come and meet your child’s teachers. This is a great opportunity to make contact with teachers, hear their expectations for class, and ask any questions you may have. The remainder of this letter includes important information about the first week back at school. Please read it carefully so that all our students can experience the best start to the schooling year. You may also wish to navigate to the Parent Information section of our website, (https://www.calvarycc.qld.edu.au/parent-information/) where you will find our updated Parent Manual and other relevant information.
Where to access essential information at Calvary:
Our key channels of communication are the College App, website, MSS Facebook page and email. Every Thursday we publish our MSS Communications on the website and College App. Communications contain important information about school life and upcoming events.
If you would like to see photos and videos of events across the year, please join our 2024 MSS Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/720895063313177 Please note, the 2023 MSS Facebook page is no longer active and will be closed in the coming weeks.
Parent Lounge (accessible via the website and App) is where you can update your details, child’s medical data, approve excursions, etc. I would like to strongly encourage parents to access the ‘Curricular Activities’ section of Parent Lounge as this is where you will find our ongoing feedback on your child’s learning progress across the semester and report cards. The Parent Information section on the website also contains useful information on daily life at Calvary.
Important dates (early Term 1):
Friday 19 January
- Student Leadership training day (Student Leaders were notified at the end of last year). 10am-2pm – lunch provided.
- Year 7 book drop off and laptop collection (optional). 9am-11am.
Monday 22 January
- First day of Term 1
- MSS Information Night 6pm in the Calvary Community Centre
Friday 26 January
- Australia Day Public Holiday
Wednesday 7 February:
- MSS Leadership Induction Service 9am in the CCC. In this service we induct our Year 12s, Year 7s, and Student Leaders.
Week 4:
- Year 7-10 Camp week (Wednesday to Friday)
Booklists:
Booklists can be found in the Parent Information section on our website. Our booklists are structured around allowing you to make choices that suit your budget and child’s personal taste. I would like to stress the need for all students to have some type of a physical notebook for every subject. Each week, some lessons in classes will require students to use a notebook and not a laptop.
Staffing Update:
We have several new staff joining the College in 2024. I would like to welcome to our team Rachel Sweasy, Laminta Brengman-Harvey, and Christelle Scholtz van der Merwe. Rachel is joining our Stage 4 team (Years 7-8), Laminta is teaching Science and Biology as Lucy Vido is on maternity leave, and Christelle will be teaching Mathematics and an exciting new elective in Year 9 called Urban Aesthetics. We are very blessed to add these passionate and competent educators to our team.
Facilities update:
We have continued to improve our facilities over the holiday break. Look out for the following changes:
Our A3 Science Lab has been completely gutted and renovated.
The Culbert Project is making progress.
- Part 1 of the Culbert Project is nearly complete, and our Stage 4 students will have 6 new classrooms and areas available from the first day of term.
- Part 2 of the Culbert Project will be completed across Term 1. Our theatre is being refurbished as part of this and the outside of the building will be covered, allowing our Stage 4 students to enjoy flexible indoor and outdoor learning spaces.
- Our entrance to the College (near the main carpark) is being remodelled to provide a beautiful open entrance to the College and enhance the work being completed on the outdoor section of the Culbert building.
- The roadside pylon sign at the College has been updated to provide better visuals for messaging and announcements.
Uniform update:
If you have been purchasing uniform items at School Locker, you will be aware that some of our new items are not yet in stock. As communicated at the end of last year, we are asking students to wear their sports uniform only for the first week of school as there have been no changes to our sport uniform. We are working with School Locker to improve the service available to you. This is our list of unavailable items and the current information we have from School Locker on likely availability:
- Year 7 unisex formal hat
- Stock expected around the 19th of January (tbc).
- If there are further delays to stock, Year 7 students may wear a College hat (e.g. sport cap) with their formal uniform for sun safety until stock arrives (they will wear sport/house wear in Week 1 anyway). Further information will come out from the Stage 4 team to Year 7 parents when we have more information.
- Girls’ formal shorts (purple)
- Stock expected around 19th of January (tbc).
- Senior boys’ white formal shirt
- There has been a manufacturing error with the current white formal shirt for senior boys (9-12) – the new stock has the wrong logo and collar. School Locker have organised to sell the currently available shirt (new, but incorrect) until the correct stock arrives and then will provide a swap for the correct shirt when these become available.
- Black soft shell jacket
- Stock expected mid to end of Term 1. Please be assured that we will monitor the classroom temperature to ensure it stays at 24 degrees.
Our 2024 MSS Uniform Policy has been provided as an attachment to this letter to help provide any further clarity you may need around uniforms and uniform changes. If you have any further questions, please contact me.
Hair and jewellery reminder for the start of school:
Many students probably enjoyed some wild hair experiments over the holiday break. As we get back into the school year, students will need to meet the requirements of our uniform policy. The most common reminders we give students are:
- Hair colour must be a single natural-looking colour (no tips, streaks, multi-colours, etc).
- Hair can’t cover the ears and should be a good 1cm above the eyebrows and collar.
- Long hair must be tied up neatly – this applies to hair longer than the collar.
- Students are to be clean shaven – no moustaches or beards.
- Earrings can only be a plain stud or sleeper in the lower ear lobe. Hoops are unacceptable.
- Makeup is not permitted, but a light skin-coloured foundation is acceptable.
- No false nails, false eye-lashes, rings on fingers, etc.
Students who do not meet the requirements of the uniform code will be sent home until they are compliant with our uniform expectations.
What to do/bring for the first day of school, All students:
What to wear:
- On the first day (22nd Jan) please wear your House shirt
- For the remainder of Week 1, please wear your sport uniform.
What to bring:
- Please bring your stationery and books to put in your locker.
- Ensure you have a hat and food (the Mango Café is open and available that day).
Where do I go at the start of the day?
- Supervised areas in the morning include the Western Carpark hanger, the Pavilion and Café areas until 8:35am. There will be lots of teachers out and about on the first morning and at 8:35am they will direct students to their respective student areas for the start of the day.
Final thoughts – why Calvary?
This year I am becoming a Calvary parent, and my two children are joining the Calvary community. Why did I want them to come and experience life at Calvary? Because:
- curriculum content matters. We have a wide variety of subject options and I want my children to have choices and options when it comes to study. I want them to like what they are learning.
- skills development matters more than just learning content. We want deep intellectual engagement from our students which builds discernment and wisdom. We don’t want students who are just trained to ‘do school well’ – we want to develop students who think for themselves, have intellectual integrity, can make thoughtful decisions, and are both ‘problem finders’ and ‘problem solvers’. I want my children to love learning and to see the value in always questioning how we do things and seeking out a better way’.
- Exceptional Learning matters – I know we have a highly competent teaching team who can empower students to achieve excellent results (our top ATAR score in 2023 was a 99.65). I have every confidence that students can achieve high academic results at Calvary with hard work and feedback from our teaching staff.
- Vibrant Community matters. We have a myriad of co-curricular activities that adapt to student voice and choice, and I have a child who loves being involved in cultural events and another who loves sports. I want opportunities for my children to enjoy school beyond the classroom and experience the beautiful and special community we have at Calvary.
- character and faith development matters most. Our Character Virtues Framework is being integrated into every aspect of College life in 2024, and you will hear frequently from me across the year about how we are training our children to be men and women of good character.
- Authentic Discipleship matters. Ultimately, I want my children to experience a holistic Christian education where they are open to exploring their faith and mentored and guided to bring hope and light to those around them.
What I want for my children, I want for every child that walks into our school. May their time at Calvary be a blessed one. I hope you enjoy the remainder of the holiday break with your children before the school year starts. I look forward to seeing you soon.
Yours sincerely