Verbis - Term 2, Edition 2 2023 Verbis - Term 2, Edition 2 2023
11 May 2023
Year of Simplicity - Travelling Lightly
From our College Leadership Team
Principal - Mrs Dale Morrow
Dear Parents/Carers
It has been lovely to return from long service leave to such a warm welcome from the staff and students. Already, lunchtimes are alive with music as all the Houses prepare their dances for House Heroics. So much energy and excitement as we lead into St Rita’s day.
I would like to thank Ms Catherine Allen who has fulfilled the role of acting Principal in my absence, Ms Simmone Irvine for taking up the position of Acting Deputy Principal – Students and Mr Joel Negline for Acting as the Head of House for Kildare.
At this week's Assembly I relayed this story to the students in an attempt to get them to think about their usage of mobile phones and to address the issue of vaping. I have included this address for your interest and hope that it may spark some further discussions on these topics with your children.
The story goes that researchers wanted to find out how a cold-blooded animal reacted to its surrounding temperature. So, they put a frog in a pan of boiling water, the frog just quickly jumped out. Then they put a frog in cold water and heated the water very, very slowly and raised its temperature to boiling point over a long period of time. The reaction of the frog to this very slow rise in water temperature? Well, the frog boiled to death, slowly without realising or noticing he was fading away.
The hypothesis was that the change in temperature was so gradual, the frog did not realise it was boiling to death. While it’s doubtful that this experiment was ever carried out, it presents a good metaphor for areas in life, whether it be how you use your time at school, relationships with others, or any life situation that you find yourself in that is not serving you or others well. We can find ourselves in a situation that we are unhappy with and we wonder “how did I get here?” We don’t even feel it coming. Or we can find ourselves in a situation that feels like it’s too late… just like the boiling frog. We sit there and allow the boiling water to take over and never jump out.
There are two issues that I would like to raise with you now and I ask that you consider how this metaphor of the boiling frog experiment could give us an insight into how we could think differently about our approach to them.
The first of these is the prevalence of the use of our mobile phones and the way social apps can take up an inordinate amount of our time. As a consequence, our self-image and how we relate to others can be sorely affected. There is wide growing concern about this, even to the point that the NSW government is intending to ban mobile phones in all schools. Politicians too have been banned from using TikTok on government supplied devices. How has it come to this? Newspaper reports on the matter give worrying examples of how peoples’ lives have been adversely affected by the over use of these devices. I quote the situation of one young student, Lane, in a newspaper article written recently:
Lane told the reporter last month how she’d had a smartphone since age 11 but saw her use balloon out of control during the COVID pandemic. During this time, Lane posted her entire life on social media. With obsession came depression. “I could not sleep. My sleep schedule was terrible. It was not regulated, and I would stay up late most nights. I also developed this indent on my fingers, where I would be holding my phone because I was just so frequently scrolling with my hands in a particular position that my fingers started shifting.” Emotionally, “I was blatantly unsatisfied with myself. I was constantly seeing something better that I could be, someone prettier, someone more artistic, and I developed this level of shame about who I wasn’t.
Looking at this young girl’s predicament from the outside, it’s obvious that the acceptance and non-thinking approach of her use of her smart phone meant she fell deeper and deeper into its addictive grip, and so, like that frog, before she knew it, she was in a situation which was doing her great harm. The good news about this story, however, is that she did stop the spiral when she realised her overall unhappiness and loss of self-esteem was directly linked to her phone use. She did do something about it – she changed from a smart phone to a flip phone. She discovered time to do things she liked. When she was doing them, she was no longer distracted by other tasks. She found the focus to read. She enjoyed eating as she was more present to the joy of conversation and good company over a meal. She consolidated her real friendships and was not involved in the “online drama”. She learnt how to sleep again. And she began to like her life and herself.
So, ask yourself these questions: How is my use of a smart phone affecting my life? Is its use something I control, or am I controlled by it? Am I slowly being cooked by the negative effects that the use of social media apps and the like can have on one’s self image and overall happiness? Is it right that I have unfettered access to my phone or should I take some responsibility about how I should best use my phone? Do I need to take stock of the negative effect the use of my phone can have on me and self-regulate its use? I encourage you all to think about this issue with your welfare at the core.
The second issue I would like to raise is that of vaping. This is another practice that is becoming very prevalent amongst young people. Most of you would be unaware of the past history of cigarette smoking in Australia. Some 30 years ago nearly a third of Australia’s adult population smoked. Today, thankfully, the rates of smoking among adults have fallen to about 10% due to the fact that people are more educated and aware of the major health damage it causes and the addictiveness of nicotine.
It was only a few years ago that, as a way to help those still overly addicted to nicotine, the government allowed the marketing of vapes because they were promoted as less harmful than cigarettes and could help those addicted to cigarettes to give up smoking. However, the marketing of vapes has been clearly aimed at young people with an apparent aim to get a new generation of users addicted to the product. Make no mistake, these vapes, regardless of their cool look and exotic flavours, do contain nicotine and will cause addiction. The growing prevalence of the use of vapes among young people is a concern. Whether a young person takes it up because they like the smell or taste of the vape, or because it’s done at social gatherings and it’s cool to be seen vaping, the fact remains it’s another one of those cases when involvement in the activity gets you in deeper and deeper until you realise too late that you are addicted to nicotine. This is how it happened with traditional cigarettes and there were thousands upon thousands who suffered serious health issues down the line because of it.
No doubt there are numbers of you who vape at present. Don’t be the frog in that cold water thinking that things are fine at present, because slipping further and further into the use of vapes will get you into hot water until maybe you can’t hop out. As you know, the government has now banned vapes and their reason is based on public health information. It is a shame that we have to rely on a government ban to help us make good decisions about our own health.
To finish, let me just say that the great thing about life is that it’s never too late to jump out and change the situation we are in. We don’t have to be like the frog. I want you to think about that frog when you feel you are in a situation that you would rather not be in, e.g. a chat group treating someone meanly. You do have the power to disconnect; you just have to be brave enough to follow it through. So, if you don’t like what you see… JUMP!
I look forward to connecting with all of you at the various activities and functions that lay ahead of us this term.
God bless
Mrs Dale Morrow
Deputy Principal - Studies, Mrs Maree Trims
Year 11 2024 Parent and Student Meeting
There is a compulsory Year 10 parent and student meeting on Monday 15 May at 6:00pm to outline the subject selection process for Year 11 2024. Parents can either attend in person in the Trinity Auditorium or attend via Zoom. This meeting will provide an opportunity for parents and students to ask questions about the events in the coming months as students lead up to choosing their subjects for Year 11 in 2024.
The Zoom link for this meeting can be found on the Year 11 2024 Subject Selection MySRC page by clicking here.
Assessment and pedagogical practices in the world of AI
Congratulations to our Head of Library, Ms Noni Harrison, on the publication of her article ‘Cultures of deep thinking and ethical practice in the age of AI’. The article was published with the Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia last week and I invite you to read it: https://www.agsa.org.au/news/cultures-of-deep-thinking-and-ethical-practice-in-the-age-of-ai/
In the last edition of Verbis, Martin Lobb discussed what the use of AI means for our students and what you can do as parents to support your daughter in the ethical use of AI platforms.
Technology classroom visits
This week I had the opportunity to visit the Year 6 Technology class and they were using the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime Set, part of the LEGO® Learning System. These kits contain colourful LEGO building elements, which the students were using to build a tracking system to simulate tracking a package in real time. After the students have built their tracking system, they will then be using the drag-and-drop coding blocks based on Scratch, to load a printout of a city map into the tracking system and program the tracking system to follow the route. It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm and engagement of the Year 6 students, thinking critically to solve the problems they were encountering with their building project.
A visit to Year 10 DTE classes saw one class watching a cooking demonstration by Mrs Snaith on the preparation and cooking process for Meatballs and Beef and Chorizo Balls. This demonstration related to their unit on Science of Food and looked at the role of food ingredients in recipes, the Maillard reaction and coagulation. Another Year 10 DTE class were completing their textiles unit. Some students were embroidering their hoodie, after designing their logo using Adobe Illustrator. Some students were sewing their hoodie, making swimwear or bags, whilst others were making period costumes for an upcoming festival they are attending. The students were engaged in this elective subject which I could see brought a lot of joy to the classroom learning experience.
Academic Week
Thank you to our Academic Captains Charlotte Low and Lauren Stewart, for leading the Academic Week activities. Congratulations to our Primary Spelling Bee winners Paige Chaytors (Year 5) and Imogen Martens-Edridge (Year 6). The Kahoot competition had some technical difficulties but X3 were the winners on the day with 5.1 winning the consolation lucky draw prize. Both classes will receive donuts. Our inaugural scavenger hunt was won by a group of Year 5 students and the staff were the winners of the Staff V Student debate, confidently arguing for the negative side that teachers should not cut the Pantry line. There were many excellent reasons provided by Mr Amiss, Mr Negline and Mrs Adams and the debate was clearly taken by the teachers. Thank you to all students and staff for their participation.
Assistant Principal - Mission, Mrs Erica Qureshi
This week at our Assembly, I spent some time talking to our students about The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, also known as the Indigenous Voice to Parliament or the Voice, and how such a Voice effects all of us. I also spoke of the effect of having no voice and the moral imperative we have as a Catholic community with a Presentation charism to involve ourselves in such debate.
Later this year, Australia faces a momentous opportunity to take a significant step forward for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander justice. In February, the Catholic Church joined other churches and religious organisations signing an open letter calling on parliamentarians “to find ways to collaborate constructively across political divides” to support the Indigenous Voice to parliament.
“As leaders of Australia’s major religious and ethno-religious organisations, we call on Australia’s political leaders and all federal parliamentarians to support the voice, called for by First Nations Australians through the Uluru Statement from the Heart,” the letter says. “Future generations of Australians will not forgive us if we fail to grasp the historical moment, and ‘advance Australia’ further along the path of justice.”
Archbishop Coleridge publicly endorsed the Uluru Statement from the Heart and made an historic commitment on behalf of the Catholic Church to back First Nation leaders demanding a constitutional Voice. His endorsement was founded on Scripture and a history of dispossession of First Nations peoples.
He said, “What has been done to the Indigenous peoples of this land could only have been done by denying that they were in fact human – they were at best perhaps subhuman.”
“God is going to take out of us that heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh – the heart of Jesus… that recognises the other as a human being."
The hopefulness of the Easter season should propel us all at this time. The experience of the Apostles on the road to Emmaus tells us that we too should feel emboldened to set free the Holy Spirit within us to carry out the mission of Jesus with our words and our actions. This scriptural image of voice and action will help us understand what the Spirit may be saying to each of us when it comes time to vote and participate in the listening to what the First Nations leaders at Uluru are asking of us and how we are invited to respond as followers of Jesus and as a nation.
At our assembly, in light of the above, we concluded the liturgy by praying our Gathering Prayer:
Dear God
Help us to be people of listening and welcoming hearts.
Strengthen us to follow the examples of Mary, Mother of Jesus, St Rita and Venerable Nano Nagle, to have courage, determination, passion and integrity.
May our words, actions and love become our lantern flame.
We ask this through Christ our Lord,
Amen.
Primary Years
Head of Primary, Ms Georgina Howard
We are looking forward to a busy and exciting few weeks in our Primary Years.
Next week, our Year 5 students will attend Year 5 Camp at QCCC Mapleton. The focus of this camp will be developing confidence, independence and resilience. The Outdoor Education activities will ensure the camp is a challenging and exciting experience. We are looking forward to Year 5 Camp and to sharing our stories and experiences.
In Week 6, our Year 6 students are embarking on an excursion to Canberra. We have a full and exciting itinerary and are looking forward to exploring Jindabyne and our nation's capital. The excursion aligns with the Australian Curriculum for Year 6 and will expand on the HaSS - Civics and Citizenship focus this term. We are excited to share our adventures in Canberra on our return!
I am also looking forward to seeing many of our Years 5 and 6 students and their mothers/carers this Friday night at our special Primary Mother Daughter Evening!
Primary Awards
Congratulations to our recent Primary Award recipients!
Pillar Award Recipients - Ava Brodie, Simone Simpson, Isabella Kelly, Aoibhinn Murphy, Sophie De Vita, Matilda Woolmer, Lexi Jenkinson-Rock, Quinn Usher, Summer Jackson, Charlotte Patterson, Imogen Michels
Learner Quality Award Recipients - Annabelle Coburn, Isabella Burke, Caitlin Deakin
Primary Debating
Please return the expression of interest forms for Years 5 and 6 Debating by Friday 26 May.
More forms are available, please contact Mrs Lorraine Specogna.
You are also welcome to visit the QDU website at https://www.qdu.org.au/
Upcoming Events
Upcoming Dates to Note
- Thursday 11 - Friday 12 May - Queensland Youth Music Awards
- Friday 12 May - QSSST Tennis Championships
- Friday 12 May - Years 7 and 8 Humanities Extension Excursion
- Friday 12 May - Primary Mother Daughter Evening
- Monday 15 - Wednesday 17 May - Year 5 Camp
- Monday 15 May - Year 11 2024 Subject Selection Initial Meeting
- Tuesday 16 May - QC Cup Netball Carnival
- Tuesday 16 May - P & F Meeting
- Friday 19 May - St Rita's Day Mass and House Heroics, Hoots & Hiccups
- Friday 19 May - Cross Country Lead-Up Meet
- Saturday 20 May - Years 7-12 Mother Daughter Dinner
- Monday 22 - Friday 26 May - Year 6 Canberra Trip
- Tuesday 23 May - Volleyball Senior Schools Cup Trials
- Wednesday 24 May - Parenting Teenagers Event
- Wednesday 24 May - Guitar Concert
- Thursday 25 May - CaSSSA Interschool Cross Country
- Friday 26 - Sunday 28 May - Volleyball Interschools Cup
- Friday 26 May - Nudgee vs SRC Netball
- Saturday 27 May - St Rita's College Memorial Mass
- Sunday 28 May - Studio and Chamber Concerts
- Monday 29 May - Year 10 2024 Initial Subject Selection Evening
- Tuesday 30 May - Year 10 Digital Innovations 'Big Day In' at UQ
Primary Mother Daughter Evening - Friday 12 May
We look forward to welcoming our Years 5 and 6 students and their mothers/carers to the College for our Primary Mother Daughter Evening this Friday, starting at 5:30pm.
It is sure to be a fabulous night under the stars in Cove Lane spent meeting new mothers and daughters and reconnecting with old friends while enjoying fine food, and fantastic raffle prizes.
Raffle tickets and beverages will be available for purchase on the night (Eftpos only - cash not accepted).
Service Rosters
Big Brekky
Students are to meet the supervising staff member at Student Services at 5:55am. Students are to wear modest comfortable clothing.
Tuesday 16 May: Mrs Trims will accompany Bridie Jones, Emmerson Foster, Niamh Moran and Holly Simms
Tuesday 23 May: Mrs Tuite will accompany Summer Nash, Kate Taylor, Eve Cirsten and Milly Ryan
Homework Club
Students will meet their supervising staff member in classrooms S07 and S08 after school.
Tuesday 16 May: Lara Boulton, Milan Brook, Lucy Swan, Olivia Montocchio, Sarah Thambiran, Olivia Sim, Bronte Flook, Adele Dunning and Grace Mulligan
Tuesday 23 May: Te Keene Brinsdon, Olivia Sim, Lysanne Lombard, Ruby Austin, Molly Thomas, Annabelle Hartley, Kate Brandt, Ava Duggin, Phoebe Shave, Emma Powell, Abbie Barnard, Ava Taylor and Beth Taylor
Rosies School Outreach Program
Students to meet their supervising staff member at 6:00pm. Students are to wear modest comfortable clothing.
Brisbane City Thursday 11 May: Mrs Qureshi will accompany Eve Ryan, Mikayla Jebreen, Olivia West and Lauren Roberts
Ecumenical Coffee Brigade
Student to meet their supervising staff member at 5/107 Bowen St Windsor at 6.15am.
Monday 15 May: Mr Brown will accompany Jessica Duffy, Sophie Duffy, Lucia Coney, Josie Kropp, Tara Mercer and Jordan Eriksen
Mother Daughter Dinner - Final days to purchase tickets
Friday 12 May is your final chance to secure your seat at the 2023 Mother Daughter Dinner.
An evening of dinner, dancing and prizes galore await Mums and Daughters from Years 7-12 on Saturday 20 May from 6.00pm at the Royal International Convention Centre.
Don’t miss out!
Click here to book tickets now.
Parenting Teenagers Presentation - Wednesday 24 May
Parenting Teenagers - presented by Dr Justin Coulson
Dr Justin Coulson is the co-host and parenting expert on Channel Nine’s Parental Guidance, the founder of happyfamilies.com.au, and one of Australia’s most trusted parenting, relationships and wellbeing experts.
At this event, Dr Coulson will offer practical, evidence-based tools for parents/carers, that will nurture positive wellbeing and relationships; the ‘little’ things that can make life more enjoyable and relationships more positive and confident.
- Date: Wednesday 24 May
- Time: 5:30pm – 7:00pm
- Venue: St Rita’s College Eirene Centre
To register your attendance, please CLICK HERE.
Guitar Concert with Special Guests - Wednesday 24 May
Memorial Mass - Saturday 27 May
The College’s Annual memorial Mass will be held on Saturday 27 May at 10:00am in the College Chapel. The Mass remains a special time of remembrance for relatives and classmates of deceased Past Students of the College and for remembering the Presentation Sisters and staff of the College who have also passed.
If you know of a deceased Past Student who the College may not be aware of, please email Maggie Ryan at mryan@stritas.qld.edu.au with the student’s name and date of death. The grade and year they finished at St Rita’s is also helpful.
Rita's Longest Lunch - Sunday 11 June - SOLD OUT
After opening our ticket sales to 100 more attendees than previous years, the 2023 Rita’s Longest Lunch has SOLD OUT in record time! We are looking forward to a wonderful afternoon in June. If you missed out this year, be sure to get in early next year.
Faculty News
Science
Year 10 Brain Bee Competition
Congratulations to Samantha R and Samantha C (Year 10), who have been selected to represent St Rita’s in the State Final of the Australian Brain Bee Challenge in July.
The Brain Bee Challenge is a competition for Year 10 students to learn about the brain and its functions, neuroscience research, careers in neuroscience and to dispel misconceptions about neurological and mental illnesses.
These students will now be learning even more about the brain, including researching a variety of diseases in preparation for the next stage of the competition.
Well done!
Year 7 Bunsen Burner Licence
This week was extremely exciting and a bit scary, as students learned how to use Bunsen burners safely. The students then sat a test to earn a Bunsen burner licence!
Here are some photos from 7.4 showing off their skills.
Social Science News
28th National Schools Constitutional Convention
From the 21 – 23 March St Rita’s College Student Kara Nguyen, represented Queensland as one of our state’s delegates at the 28th National Schools Constitutional Convention, in Canberra.
In her own words, Kara had, “an amazing experience and a memory that will never be forgotten. I learnt so much in three days about Australian politics, how Australia is governed, and the Constitution.”
The convention was mainly focused on the question: Is section 128 still a necessary requirement to change such an important document as the Australian Constitution?
During the convention, approximately 140 students from all over the country had the opportunity to listen to many experienced keynote speakers, who each shared their different opinions on the question. They also taught us the fundamentals of Australian politics and delved deep into the Aboriginal Voice. They were challenged to share our opinions with a small number of students from each state and were invited to participate in a Soap Box session each day, where the potential future leaders of Australia spoke about our evolving society.
Kara also had the opportunity to discuss topics about First Nation People’s voice and how having a body would impact the outcomes of Australian voting. The students also had a chance to learn about how overseas countries ran their referendums, including New Zealand, Canada, and USA.
The students also visited many wonderful places such as Old and New Parliament House, the Governor General’s house, and even got to have dinner at the High Court of Australia!
Kara recommends the experience to any St Rita’s students who have an interest in Australian politics, human rights or simply wish to learn more about this amazing country, and encourages you to participate in this year’s State Constitutional Convention.
For more information on this, students should read the News Notice on MySRC or contact Mr Mundell mun@stritas.qld.edu.au
All 18 QLD delegates in front of the Governor General’s house
4 QLD delegates at the Governor General’s house
Speaking in front of the NSSC Convention
In front of the High Court of Australia
Hospitality
On Friday 21 April, the Year 12 Hospitality Practices students hosted a “High Tea” to raise awareness of “Share the Dignity”. 32 students were invited and this consisted of Year 12 students and their Year 7 little sisters. To coordinate this event, students needed to consider food and beverage menus, available resources, promotion and skills such as technical, interpersonal and teamwork. Planning an event is always challenging, but as you can see from all these smiling faces, everyone had a great time. Well done Year 12 Hospitality Practices students!
From the Library
The Think Project: Rebecca Sparrow in conversation with Allayne Webster
The Nano Nagle Library invited parents and students to read Selfie together and join Rebecca Sparrow and Allayne Webster last Wednesday, 3 May for a rich discussion on separating what’s real from the glossiness of the online world. Allayne also spoke to the Year 7 Humanities class about writing with heart and how to engage your audience using emotive writing. The Library team would like to thank everyone involved in making the event a huge success, including everyone who attended the evening.
Debating News - Mrs Lorraine Specogna, Debating Coordinator
Debating Team qualifies for Grand Final
Congratulations to the 10.2 Debating team for qualifying for the Grand Final in the Brisbane Girls Debating Association competition. Both 10.1 and 10.2 teams competed on Monday evening for a position in the top two on the topic: “We regret the narrative to succeed, at all times, in cocurricular activities.” 10.2 will debate against Brisbane Girls Grammar 10.4 in two weeks’ time. Good luck!
Music - Mr Craig Kennedy, Head of Cocurricular Music
Strings Concert and Bands Concert
Last Friday evening we held our Strings Concert in Trinity Auditorium and on Tuesday of this week our Bands Concert. For some of our new Year 5 and Year 7 students this was their first performance as a member of a St Rita’s ensemble and their first taste of a St Rita’s Concert. Each of these performances showcased the pathway that students can take through the Strings stream or through the Bands stream starting with our Prelude ensembles and journeying through to one of our senior ensembles. It was wonderful to see and hear the culmination of hours of preparation made by each of these groups and an absolute delight to have such supportive audiences to perform to. My congratulations to each of the ensemble directors who prepared the performing ensembles and to all the students who performed in these concerts. As for our newer music students, I look forward to seeing each of you progress on your own musical journey over the coming years.
Queensland Youth Music Awards
Our choral students have also been busy preparing for their performances at the Queensland Youth Music Awards at St Peters Lutheran College on Thursday and Friday night this week. Thursday night will see performances from Nano’s Voices and Chamber Chorale and Friday night performances from Chamber Voices and St Rita’s Chorale. Performances such as these are always wonderful opportunities for our ensembles to gain experience performing in a different venue than usual and to hear some excellent school choirs. I am sure that each of our choirs will represent the College proudly and perform admirably.
Studio and Chamber Concerts
On Sunday 28 May we will be holding our Studio and Chamber Concerts for instrumental and vocal students enrolled in the Music Program. This afternoon will have concurrent concerts occurring in the Trinity Centre with students scheduled to play in one of the numerous 1-hour concerts throughout the afternoon. All students learning at the College are expected to perform with instrumental teachers communicating specific performance times to students. A schedule overview will soon be available on the College App.
Upcoming Music Events in Term 2
We would like to extend an invitation to anyone in our extended community to join us for any of our upcoming performances and events. You would be most welcome. For further details to see if there is something that may interest you, please follow this link: https://linktr.ee/stritasmusic
Sport - Mr Joshua White, Director of Sport
Netball
An amazing achievement by Year 11 student Gemma, who represented Queensland at the National Netball Championships in Darwin recently. Gemma's team defeated NSW in the Final to take out the championship title!
Netball is alive and well at St Rita’s in Term 2. We have both CaSSSA and Club Netball underway with 24 Teams taking the court each week. With several rounds to go, we are excited to see how the teams progress.
CaSSSA Team Sport
Time is flying by, and we are already approaching Round 3 for our CaSSSA Wednesday afternoon sport this week. Thanks to everyone for notifying us of their absences last week, the sick season is upon us!
It makes it much easier to manage absences when we know ahead of time who will be away. I have had some great comments from coaches notifying me of their teams' wonderful sportsmanship and attitudes.
Ultimately you can’t always win every game, but you can learn from every game! We love to see our St Rita’s players showcasing a positive and respectful attitude no matter what the result may be. Well done!
A reminder we have asked for all CaSSSA players to meet at the following spots each Wednesday to ensure boarding buses is as smooth as possible:
Netball Players: Tennis Court 1 (Middle Court)
Touch Players: Tennis Court 2 (Closest to the road)
Volleyball Players: Eirene Hall
Water Polo
The last weekend in April saw a number of St Rita's Water Polo players representing Met North at the Schools competition. Congratulations to Jemima Irvine, Matilda Morrow, Mia Hollyman, Phoebe Dobson and Tilly Hughes. Met North took out the Gold Medal in the competition – amazing win!
Special mention also goes to Emma Williams and Isabelle Langestraat who competed representing Capricornia.
Special mention goes to Jemima Irvine, Matilda Morrow and Tilly Hughes for making the QLD Schoolgirls team. Emma Williams and Mia Hollyman were recognised in the possible/probable for this team. Congratulations all.
Football – Be 23 Ready
In the lead up to the Women's World Cup and as part of Female Football Week Celebrations (19 May - 28 May), Virginia United FC are hosting a Female Football Festival to celebrate our female players and females within the local community.
The event will take place on Saturday 20 May 2023 from 2:00pm to 8:00pm, showcasing our U13 FQ girls at 2:00pm, U15 FQ girls at 3:20pm and U23's at 3:45pm, with our Women's First team kicking off at 6:00pm, all taking on Western Pride.
The day will include activities for all ages - inflatable obstacle course, jumping castles, inflatable football field, football activities and face painting. The canteen and a pop-up bar (for the parents) will be operating, with challenges, raffles, and prizes throughout the day.
Term 3 CaSSSA Registrations now open
A reminder to everyone that Term 3 CaSSSA Registrations have now opened! Please go to the link here to find out more information on which sports are available and to learn how to register for the upcoming trials.
As always if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Mrs Callanan ncallanan@stritas.qld.edu.au
Cross Country
We are just over two weeks away from the CaSSSA Cross Country Interschools Carnival. Our Team has been training hard since the start of the year and lately attending lead up meets against other schools. Wednesdays have been the favoured training session with a breakfast kindly supported by the Sports Sub Committee.
We have our last lead up meet next week hosted by Stuartholme School in readiness for the big day on Thursday 25 May.
Touch Football
The Sports Department is excited to advise that Season 2 Club Touch Football information has been released. All families can now find information and registration forms on MySRC Notices and the College App. We are looking forward to another exciting season of Touch Football. As Touch Football continues to grow at St Rita’s College, it is important for the community to understand the opportunities on offer for each division throughout Season 2.
Trials: Monday 19 June at Shaw Park, Shaw Road, Wooloowin. Times will vary pending on the division you have nominated for. (If you are unable to attend, please indicate this in the form and email sconway@stritas.qld.edu.au).
Swimming
Well done to our swimmers who attended the 2023 Australian Age Championships over the break. We had 8 swimmers from the College qualify and race. The following are some great results and achievements to be proud of. Well done to all swimmers and coaches.
Community Notices
Students With Disability Travel Rebate - Semester 1
- Does your child have a verified disability that requires transport assistance to and from school?
- Has your school’s learning support teacher assessed your child’s travel capability rating as ‘semi-independent’ or more dependent?
Visit our website to see if you qualify for financial assistance to help with the cost of transport and apply at www.schooltransport.com.au by 31 May.
Late applications cannot be accepted after 31 May.