By Mrs Liisa Hammond, Principal

Gospel Reflection – Luke 6: 17, 20-26

In Luke’s Gospel, we find Jesus delivering the Sermon on the Plain, where he speaks directly to the hearts of his followers. This passage powerfully reflects the values that we hold to be true within our Assumption College community – Justice, Wisdom, Generosity and Compassion.

Jesus begins by blessing those who are often overlooked or marginalised: the poor, the hungry, those who weep, and those who are persecuted for their faith. His blessings of compassion, empathy, and support for people who are struggling remind us of our call to action for 2025, to be lanterns of hope and guidance, to be an up-stander for justice not a by-stander for mediocrity or worse, unkindness. As members of a Catholic community, we are called to uphold these values and ensure that everyone feels valued and respected.

Conversely, Jesus also warns those who are rich, well-fed, and comfortable, reminding them that their current state is not permanent. This serves as a caution against complacency and self-centeredness. It encourages us to use our resources and privileges to help others rather than solely for our own benefit.

In our college community, we can live out these teachings by being mindful of the needs of others, standing up against injustice, and fostering an environment where everyone feels included and respected. Whether it's through acts of kindness, volunteering, or simply being a friend to someone in need, we can make a difference. By embracing our college motto of Truth and Love, and living out our values of Justice, Wisdom, Generosity, and Compassion, we can truly be a lantern for those on the margins and build a community that honours the dignity and worth of every individual.

P&F Executive Announcement

On Monday, 10 February 2025, our Annual General Meeting was held for Assumption College’s P&F Association. It is with great pleasure that we announce the following holders of office positions.

President: Georgie Stewart
Vice President: Rosie Corney
Treasurer: Ali Collins
Secretary: Melinda Gale

I would like to thank these individuals who have so graciously gifted the College, and in particular our students, with the gift of their time and passion to ensure that the needs of all in our community are met.

One of those needs is the postponement of the P&F and Assumption College Alumni Long Lunch. One of the reasons for the postponement is due to the closeness of the P&F election and the timing of the Long Lunch. Please note that this is not a cancellation, but rather the opportunity to find a more appropriate time.

Welcome to Mr Malachy Gill and Mr Robbie Brown

It is with great excitement that we announce the arrival of Mr Malachy Gill, an expert Economics and Humanities teacher and Mr Robbie Brown, School Officer: Classroom Support for one day a week in Hospitality.

Student Representative Council

On Wednesday, 12 February 2025, the Student Representative Council for 2025 held their first meeting.

Congratulations to the following students on their roles:

Year 8: Payton Ganly and Jackson McCosker
Year 9: Rose Walsh and Chris Booth
Year 10: Jada Rossiter and Ethan Steadman
Year 11: Caitlin Patterson and Reece McConnell
Year 12: TBC

Please note that our Year 7 representatives will be selected in Term 2.

May our Mother Mary grant her blessings upon our College Community. 

By Mrs Anna Hardy, Assistant Principal Curriculum 

Canvas Access

Parents will have received an email from Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office with their username and password to access their child’s class resources, assessment dates, feedback on drafts and final results in Canvas.  If you are having difficulties with the Canvas link, that was on your email, please try this one: Canvas Login.  If you still cannot log in, reset your password, with the forgot password link.

If you have any further difficulties in accessing Canvas, please contact the college office.

You will find all of your child’s assessment due dates in the Canvas calendar.  An email will also be sent to all parents with an overview document of assessment.

Tutoring Program

Our tutoring program resumes this year, every Thursday afternoon from 3:15 pm to 4:15 pm. This invaluable opportunity provides students with support across various subjects.

Assessment Policy

We urge all students and parents to familiarise themselves with this document to ensure a fair and just assessment process. It can be found on the college website Assumption College Website or in the student diary.

Semester 2, 2024 Academic Awards

We recently celebrated the success of students that qualified for an Academic Award.  These awards were presented at our Academic Assembly.  We also welcomed home, Mr Alexander Newley who was our Alumni guest speaker on the day.  Alex graduated in 2023 as the Promixe Accessit, coming a close second to the College Dux.  Alex spoke to the students about being resilient with their learning and always reaching out for help when needed.  We love when our Alumni students visit and inspire the rest of the community with their words of wisdom. 

For students to receive an academic award the following criteria on their Semester 2, 2024 report was applied.  Congratulations to all the students!

Year 7, 8, 9 and 10               

Thank you for your ongoing support, and we look forward to a year filled with academic achievements and growth.

Staffing

We are looking forward to the much anticipated welome of our newest Maths teacher in the near future. Some students will have had a Mrs zzMath on their timetable for the start of this term. We are waiting for final approval of this employment and hope that we will be greeting our newest staff member very soon. We thank Mrs Hohenheim (Curriculum Leader – Mathematics) for the organisation, planning and setting of the lessons to ensure that students are consistently getting access to the Mathematics curriculum. If parents/guardians have any questions around this, please do not hesitate to contact us via the College office or through emails.

By Mrs Julie Collins, Assistant Principal Pastoral and Wellbeing

Friendship Groups 

Ten Ways You Can Support Your Son  

Dr Ian Lilico, Boys Forward Institute

By Mr Patrick Donnely, Assistant Principal Mission and Identity 

Cornerstones

Once a fortnight, our staff can engage in the program Cornerstones. This is an opportunity to look at a range of topics that help develop their spiritual formation. The first session was “The Essence of Prayer”. Each fortnight will have a different reflection from the staff who are partaking in this program.

Essence of Prayer

I have always found prayer personal; however, when I was younger, I found that I was praying to God who was in a distant place. When looking at the basics of prayer, it does remind us that we are praying with God near and with us. The “Who” of prayer calls us to be open and build our relationship with God, something that we often forget when we are in prayer. We bring our story to that exact moment in our lives and meet God. It is not about feelings, as we will miss God and lose out on the essence of prayer. As we enter the space of dialogue with God, the image of God is then presented to us. Some see a male father figure and others may see Jesus on the cross. For me I see the light breaking through the darkness and in my day to day, it is the sun, shining down on us. By having the image of God in prayer, it helps build a relationship with Them. The comment, “We don’t contain God, God contains us” challenges my younger self’s perception of God being in this distant place when praying. As I have grown, and my relationship with God has grown, I now understand that when praying I do know that God is near and with me; however, They are not going to be in the exact place I am expecting Them to be. I am not able to contain God. Prayer is daily, otherwise we lose the essence of it. The more you do it the more of a habit it becomes. Doing this in the classroom helps my students learn that just showing up and doing prayer is “success”, as we can’t fail with prayer.

Vocal prayer allows us to engage in outward expression in the community. Spontaneous prayer can seem “messy”; however, if you listen, it is the collective voice of a community in an open dialogue with God. This supports us all in the sense of belonging and community. Traditional vocal prayer engages us in ways that give us structure and commonality. In this style of rote prayer, we can just ramble without thinking about what we are truly praying for. We need to be still and know what we are praying for. When talking about prayers like ‘The Lord's Prayer’ and ‘Hail Mary’ people do hear people say it like a race. I recall being at mass with my grandparents and you would hear the older members of the congregation race each other. My sister once won the race as she said ‘Amen’ just one second faster than the nun. Through vocal prayer, it is clear that faith is a decision. We simply do not feel it and feel that God is with us, we just know it. This means that we do not just rattle them off or we have to be in ‘holy mode’ in order for us to pray. This allows us to have our relationship with God and be in an open dialogue with Them. The essence of prayer.

Pastoral Care Liturgies

Pastoral Care liturgies have started again! This is a great opportunity for PC classes to come together and celebrate through the form of a liturgy. This week we saw Romero 1 and Rice 1 start us off. This term will be Romero and Rice, and they will then have a second time in Term 3. Donovan and McAuley will be in Terms 2 and 4. It has been a privilege being welcomed into the PC classes as a guest as it allows for an open Dialogical culture. 

Donovan House Mass

On Wednesday of Week 5, Donovan will make the journey to St Mary’s Church during Wellbeing to celebrate Mass as a House. House Masses are new this year but will be something that all will love. Each House will work with me, and their House Leaders, to create the Mass. Each PC has construed a prayer for the Prayers of the Faithful and the House Leaders have selected the relevant readings. With ‘Wisdom’ being Donovan’s value, their House Mass will be around the theme of Wisdom and the overall theme for 2025 ‘Light the Lantern’. Donovan families, please keep an eye out for a letter regarding this.

Written by Alison Porter - Career Development Practitioner 

Careers News

There are lots of exciting things coming up over the next couple of terms to keep an eye out for, such as Responsible Service of Alcohol and Responsible Gambling Services Course, White Card Construction Course, Senior First aid Skillset Course, Brisbane Careers Expo excursion, Warwick Careers Expo and many more.

The Careers Department at the College offers a range of services to students, for example: work experience placement support, providing support and assistance for students seeking a school-based apprenticeship, QCE discussions, career development programs, career counselling, vocational education and training, flexible education opportunities, skill development programs and discussions around university pathways.

RSA/RGS Course

The College would like to offer Year 11 and 12 students the opportunity to participate in the Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) Course and Responsible Gambling Services (RGS) Course. The RSA course is the required course for Queensland (QLD) hospitality workers serving alcohol in a hospitality venue. This course provides nationally recognised SITHFAB002 Provide Responsible Service of Alcohol Statement of Attainment and allows successful participants to work in licensed venues. The RGS course provides nationally recognised SITHGAM001 Provide Responsible Gambling Services Statement of Attainment and to provide responsible gambling services, information to customers who require assistance with their problem gambling and successful participants can work in venues that host licensed gambling.

The course will be delivered at Assumption College through Aurora Training Institute.

Details are as follows:

Delivery: Wednesday, 2 April 2025 (9:00am – 3:00pm for two courses)
Cost: $40 per course, or $80 for both

A letter and permission slip for this course have been emailed to parents and guardians of Year 11 and 12 students. Hard copies are available at the college office. For interested students, permission forms are due by Monday, 3 March 2025.

Date Claimer: 7 May 2025, White Card Construction Course

The College would like to offer Year 10, 11 and 12 students the opportunity to participate in the Work Safely in the Construction Industry course. The course will be delivered at Assumption College through Blue Dog Training. Details are as follows:

Delivery: Wednesday, 7 May 2025 (8:30 am - until completed, or latest 3:00 pm)
Cost: $89

A letter outlining further details of the course will be emailed to parents/guardians in coming weeks.

Date Claimer: 21 May 2025, Senior First Aid Skillset Course

The College is offering a first aid course for students in Years 11 and 12. This first aid course is a cluster of units from the Certificate III in Fitness. The course may offer two (2) points towards the Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE) for eligible students. Students already undertaking the Certificate III in Fitness will not be eligible for these points. Details of the course, to date, are:

When: Wednesday, 21 May 2025 (Practical session 9am – approx. 3pm)
Cost: $100

A letter outlining these details will be emailed to parents and guardians in coming weeks.

Date Claimer: 16 – 20 June 2025, Year 10 work experience block

In Year 10, our College runs a Careers program that aims to prepare students for their senior phase of learning and assist students in making decisions around career and education pathways. As part of the Careers program, we offer Year 10 students the opportunity to participate in a week of work experience. This year the work experience program will run in Term 2, Week 9, Monday, 16 June to Friday, 20 June 2025. More information will be provided to students towards the end of Term 1.

Coming Soon: Warwick Careers Expo

It is that time of year again that our College is gearing up to host the annual Warwick Careers Expo on Tuesday, 15 July 2025. Local and district secondary schools are invited to this, and we are expecting many students from Years 9, 10, 11 and 12 to attend.

Following on from last year’s success of over 30+ exhibitors and over 400+ students from schools all over Warwick, we are excited to again be hosting this event at our College. Members of the public are also welcome to attend. If you are interested in being an exhibitor at the Careers expo, please contact the Careers Department on (07) 4660 4000 or via email: careers@acwarwick.catholic.edu.au

By Mr Tom Duggan, Sports Co-Ordinator

Toowoomba Secondary Schools Sports Association

Each year, the Toowoomba Basketball Association partners with the Toowoomba. Secondary Schools Sports Association to host the Toowoomba Secondary School Basketball Championships. This exciting competition takes place at various high school venues across Toowoomba on Friday nights during Term 1. Last Friday, our two Senior Basketball Teams travelled to Toowoomba to showcase their skills and compete against other schools.

Border District Swimming Trials

Our ACW students had a fantastic day at the Border Districts competition in Stanthorpe! Ten of our talented swimmers dove into the competition, giving it their all.

Darling Downs Aquathlon Results

Assumption College is proud to share the results from the Darling Downs Aquathlon held in Hervey Bay over the weekend. Chevota Hart competed in the 11-12 years age category. From all reports, the water was beautiful on Friday, with warm temperatures and clear skies. However, when it came time for Chevota to race on Saturday, it was pouring rain, humid, and the water was very choppy.

Despite this being her first time swimming in open water and feeling very nervous, Chevota didn’t let it stop her. She finished the race 3rd overall and 1st in her age/classification, earning herself a gold medal!

Congratulations, Chevota! We are very proud of your achievement!

By Mrs Jenny Gillespie, College Counsellor

Habits Matter

As we move through Term 1 it is worthwhile thinking about habits and how, no matter which year level your student is in certain habits can help improve your teens’ high school experience and promote independence moving into adulthood.

And although the adolescent years are a time when young people take on more personal responsibility, teens will still need guidance to help them become the best versions of themselves.

Good habits in high school

The key to developing good habits, re: school, starts with consistency. If your teen wants to know how to improve study/schoolwork habits, there are basic ways to go about cultivating them:

• Take meaningful breaks from social media. Model to your teen to switch off their phone, close the apps and to tap out from social media for a while. Notifications are an easy way to lose track and deter them from starting or finishing a task.

• Set up a study/work area. Help your teen create a peaceful zone inside the house where they can focus on the tasks at hand. It should be quiet, comfortable and uncluttered with minimal distractions.

• Encourage your teen to avoid cramming for exams. Cramming can increase stress and make it more difficult to retain information.

• Outline objectives. To ensure your teen accomplishes what they need to in a practical, systematic fashion, it’s a good idea to look at their assessment calendar with them and see if they need help to plan out their assignment tasks, step by step.

Time management

Strong time management skills go together with good school habits. Whether your teen likes to wait to the last possible moment to complete their history assignment or they continually miscalculate how long it takes them to get ready for school, waiting until the last moment to complete tasks or arrive to an event will cause them issues in their adult life.

Instil in your teen the importance of managing their time effectively on their own without needing constant reminders. NB – some teens will take longer to learn this than others. A consistent but patient approach does help.

Sleep Matters

Teens are notorious for having an unpredictable sleeping schedule. With the combination of early starts, social media, online gaming, and Netflix movies, it is no surprise they might not be getting enough sleep. It is recommended by the Australian Department of Health that teens get 8-10 hours of sleep per night. Household Wi-Fi control apps can help parents and teens to establish (and maintain) a regular sleep routine which in turn, assists them to function at school to the best of their ability.

For further information or resources please contact Jenny or Brett in the College Counselling office Monday through Friday each week.

By Mr John Hodder, Curriculum Leader

Celebrating Visual Arts at Assumption College

Year 9 Art Murals

Each year, Assumption College is graced with new and vibrant artworks that breathe life into our campus. These creative expressions can be found adorning walls, fences, doors, and stairwells, transforming everyday spaces into inspiring visual experiences.

We are thrilled to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Year 9 Art students from Semester 2 last year, who have outdone themselves by adding an impressive 26 new murals around the College—the largest number yet! These talented students were tasked with using their graphic design skills to create artworks that reflect various aspects of College life, ensuring each piece was thoughtfully designed for its specific location.

Under the guidance of Mrs. Cullen, each design was meticulously reviewed and refined, receiving final approval and revisions from Mrs. Hammond. This allowed students to meet the design brief of enriching the College's narrative through their art. Last year, some students faced an additional challenge, working in groups of up to four to develop cohesive themes for their murals. This collaborative effort not only fostered teamwork but also resulted in stunning, unified artworks that will remain on display for five years or more, evolving as our Year 9 students graduate and move on.

We are immensely proud of the creativity and dedication shown by our students. We would particularly like to thank the incredible effort of Mrs Cullen for her leadership of this project, and Mr. McCosker for his work in installing the murals. The efforts of all involved have significantly enhanced our College grounds, and we look forward to enjoying their work each day. Thank you for your contributions to making Assumption College a more beautiful and inspiring place for all.

David Wells Studio Day

On Wednesday, 12th of February 2025, our Senior Art students had the unique opportunity to participate in a half-day portrait workshop led by the esteemed portrait artist and art teacher, David Wells.

During this immersive workshop, students were guided through the intricate process of creating their own individual pastel portraits from photographs of their choice. Under David's expert guidance, they explored various techniques, including expression, detail, layering, and achieving likeness. This hands-on experience not only allowed students to develop their skills but also inspired them to further refine their artistic abilities throughout their studies.

The incredible results of their hard work and creativity are currently on proud display in the staff room, showcasing the remarkable talent and dedication of our Senior Art students. We are immensely grateful to David Wells for sharing his expertise and passion for portraiture with our students, and we look forward to seeing how this experience will influence their future artistic endeavours.

Thank you to everyone involved for making this workshop a resounding success, in particularly the leadership of Mrs. Cullen, and for the continuing enrichment of our vibrant artistic community at Assumption College.

By Miss Taylor Quinn, Teacher Librarian 

Welcome Year 7 Students!

We are thrilled to welcome our new Year 7 students into the library during lunch time! Our library is not just a place for books, but a hub for creativity, collaboration, and discovery. We look forward to seeing you here often!

Accessit Web Page

Our library uses the Accessit to organise our collection online. This means all students can access the library catalogue via the Assumption College website to help you easily find and borrow books. You can search for books, check their availability, and even reserve them online. Please let the Library staff know if you need any help accessing the web page.

2025 College Photos 

Celebrating the 2024 Youth Council’s Achievements

We have an exciting update from our 2024 Youth Council. Last year, during a Youth Council meeting, members raised the issue of off-leash dogs in sporting fields with Cr Windle and Cr Harslett. Their recommendation was:

Recommendation: Council assists with a signage and marketing program to highlight that Sporting Fields and public parks are not off-leash areas for dogs.

Moved: Lachlan Corney

Seconded: Eleanor Krueger

We are pleased to announce this was approved and that the signage has now been erected around several sporting fields and public parks within the Southern Downs region. This is a fantastic achievement for our Youth Council!

Yesterday, Lachlan Corney and Cr Windle met at the Warwick Hockey Fields to take a photograph with one of the new signs. It was mentioned that in Cr Windle’s time on Council (this is her 9th year), there has only been one other instance where the Youth Council was able to action something. This makes the current achievement even more remarkable!

A huge congratulations to the 2024 Youth Council Cohort for this amazing accomplishment. Keep up the great work, everyone!