25 June 2021 Vol 20 Dates for Your Diary Dear Parents, Caregivers, Friends, Staff and Students June This week has seen the end of term and some days of PD for staff including the Berry St Wellbeing Refresher Course – the latter is based on Trauma Informed practices and works well for all students. 24-25 Qld Schools Futsal Cup Student progress reports are being finalised at present. 26-29 Gold Coast Invitational Basketball Tournament CQU QISSN Carnival – Starts Sunday with Opening Ceremony – we are on countdown! 27-2 July CQU QISSN and Confraternity RL Carnivals Nissan Arena is the venue and we will welcome 69 teams on Sunday which will be one of the biggest school Carnivals in Australai! July At the same time CQU QISSRL Carnival will also have its Opening Ceremony at Iona College. Please 4-16 NAIDOC Week feel welcome to come on Sunday at 3pm to Nissan Arena – our students will be performing in the 11 Bunnings Fundraiser BBQ ceremony and there will be much excitement! If you are unable to attend the Opening Ceremony and 12 Student Free Day whole Carnival will be livestreamed on https://jta.live/. I would suggest downloading the QISSN App 13 Term 3 commences and QISSRL APP or go to websites to see times and draw. 15 Interhouse T&F Carnival 16 Year 12 Senior Formal We are very grateful to our staff and other helpers including students, and to our sponsors EREA, 19 Enrolment Information Higgins Coatings, ITEL7 Pty Ltd, Catholic School Parents Qld, SB Quality Cleaning, Struddy’s, Macksey Evening 6pm College Library Rush Architects, McInnes Wilson Lawyers. 20 Yr 11/12 Career Day We have received wonderful support and if you would like to help further please contact Ms Hannah White or Ms Yolanda Cano. St James Girls QISSN Netball Team with Ms Romelda Aiken. St James Boys QISSN Netball Teams 1 & 2 with Ms Romelda Aiken. We are also proud of our commissioned design by Kulkarawa Meeanjinu which will be the theme design of our clothing at the Carnival and thank Struddys for their support in this art. The artwork denotes communities coming together as one. The hand symbolises Mirir (Turrbal word for God) reaching down to embrace and bring people, represented by the U shapes, together from different walks of life. The spiritual essence of this artwork is unity with Mirir imparting blessings upon each individual and the gathering of the community. We were thrilled to have Firebird Player Ms Romelda Aiken come and watch, meet and work with our three Teams on Monday along side Ms Tracey Bruce, past Australian Player. Students were very inspired by Romelda and her background. Romelda was impressed with the skills of our students. Ms Romelda Aiken with Vicky Wilberforce (left) and Cheyenne Pickering (right). The Jamaican born athlete Romalda Aiken (6’6”, 1.98 metres) reached Australian shores in 2008 and has since won three ANZ Championship ‘Player of The Year’ titles, as well as representing Jamaica in multiple international tournaments. Not to mention playing a major role in leading the Queensland Firebirds to three premierships across her Australian career to date. The unique 2020 season was notable for Romelda, where she finished first in the league for offensive rebounds (110) and second for goals scored (583) across the whole league. Determined to add another premiership to her resume, the return of her dynamic partner in crime, Gretel Bueta, might just help her do so as she enters her 14th season with the Firebirds. Off the court Romelda has completed a course in both hairdressing and IT, however, has favoured her passion for coaching in the recent years. Above L-R: Ms Ann Rebgetz, Ms Romelda Aiken and Ms Tracy Bruce. Below L-R: Ms Romelda Aiken, Blessing Tukumbane, Baraka Ruhirika and Mr Atem Atem. ONE IN FOUR CHILDREN Gala Event at St James College – A Great Success! Congratulations to Stephen Kamal, and his team, and thanks to the many who assisted - it was a wonderful evening last Saturday night and our students were very impressive! Well done to Samuel Silver as MC for the evening! Since its foundation by Stephen Kamal (a former refugee from then war torn Nuba Mountains area in Sudan) in October 2019, One in Four, has managed to deliver 50,000 books to Papua New Guinea and Sudan, as well as deliver 20 packs to Papua New Guinea that were generously delivered by the QUT Vice Chancellor. Overall, the foundation has set up 15 schools with books and have affected 750,000 lives. Professor Margaret Sheil Vice Chanceller QUT and QUT Faculty Heads attended and were strongly supportive! Stephen and friends (other Jimmies graduates) graduated from QUT. The other guests involved a range of supporters, but all were impressed by the very entertaining focussed evening and its goals. (Pictured below far left, Prof Margaret Sheil, Mr Stephen Kamal & Ms Ann Rebjetz) Congratulations to Mr Andrew Ebrington, who received a special award for his role in helping drive the agenda! St James College along with Iona College (Fr Michael Twigg) received a beautiful award trophy for our support. And a big thank you and commendations to Mr Josateki Tora with the two wonderful dance troupes, Assistant Principal Identity & Global Identity Mr Isikeli Kubunameca in facilitating as well, Deputy Principal Mr Marty Wiseman running the door prizes, Ms Janet Beaman for helping with set up, Ms Louise Pope in facilitating student assistance as well, Gregory Terrace students who helped in selling tickets and catering, staff who attended the event, Mr Bruce Bitossi who organised and helped on Saturday, Mr Tony Holloway, Mr Perry Patel and team, Mr Alex Blann in planning, Mr David Cantwell with set up and AV, Ms Maria Young and administration for organising raffle and programs, Mr Atem Atem, Ms Hope Mugalihya and all others for all their support. Those others who entertained were impressive – beautiful singers. We were all inspired by the speeches of Dr Joseph Yunis, graduate of St James and now a virologist! His story of arriving on Australian shoes as a teenager and being told TAFE was the answer, but then finding St James changed his life as then he completed Year 12 and furthered his studies at UQ. Overall, the event yielded some good funds and awareness, but also saw the incredible outcomes of the Jimmies schooling and its network and the impact of these young people so grateful for their education wanting to help and eradicate the shocking statistic of one in four children world-wide who are illiterate and not receiving an education! We also thank One In Four for their donation towards our College Bursary Fund. Dr Joseph Yunis Bursary Fund Donations We thank you for your generous support of our fund and are grateful that our number of donors has doubled from last year and that total fund amount will double. We await to hear the total count! Student Achievements On Monday 30 students in Years 7-10 took part in a whole day Debating Clinic at school with external coaches led by Mr Vadim Frolov and Mr Paddy Harten. It was terrific to see the keenness of our students and for them to develop their thinking and speaking skills! Congratulations to Fund Raisers for Immersion trip, Amir Shirvani and Alireza Bagherishahkhali, who organised a Persian Dinner Experience of Cooking and Dining on Monday evening – thank you to Feizah for teaching us how to cook the beautiful meal and then enjoy it Persian style. It was a fitting acknowledgement of refugee week and the wonderful cultural contribution of refugees to Australian society. Futsal Teams are competing for two days at Coomera GCI Basketball Tournament starts tomorrow with our teams along with CQU QISSN and QISSRL on Sunday. Ms Ariel Chen’s junior classes who have entered the Chinese Public Speaking Competition – they are so impressive! Coming Events Gold Coast Invitational Basketball Tournament (26-29 June) CQU QISSN & Confraternity Rugby League Carnivals (27 June - 2 July) Bunnings Newstead BBQ Fundraiser (11 July) Student Leaders’ Inservice (12 July) Interhouse Track & Field Carnival (15 July) Year 10 Careers day QUT (16 July0 Year 12 Senior Formal (16 July) Enrolment Information Evening, 6pm. College Library (19 July) Year 11/12 Career Day (20 July) Enrolments Enrolment Interviews for 2022 and 2023 are now taking place, with limited vacancies available in all Year Levels. For all enrolment enquiries please contact Mrs Maria Young at the College on 07 3230 8600 or at [email protected]. You are warmly invited to attend our forthcoming Enrolment Information Evening on Monday 19 July commencing at 6pm in the College Library. Staff News This week we farewell Ms Gabby McCarthy who has been teaching with us over the last 18 months and thank her for valuable contribution as she returns to her home territory in New York. We also wish Ms Gemma Bates-Smith the best in her coming news as she commences Maternity Leave. In addition, congratulations to Ms Renee Thornton on her wedding to take place in the break! A special thank you to all our staff for their committed work with our students – they really work hard to ensure our students are learning to their potential. Special congratulations to Mr Jon Reuben who has been the fastest player to reach 100 tries in the Intrust Cup history. Take care and blessing for the break! Prayer “You, Wisdom, call us body, call us one, To walk together, people from many lands, under this same golden sun, together First Nations Peoples and all of us who have since come.