Senior School

GPS Cross Country spectating – Years 9 and 10

This Thursday 16 May, all students in Years 9 and 10 will travel to Limestone Park in Ipswich to support the Churchie runners competing at the GPS Cross Country Championships.

Buses will depart from Oaklands Parade after Headmaster’s Assembly and return to Churchie before the end of the school day.

Students must bring morning tea, lunch, a water bottle and sunscreen in a Churchie bag or backpack.

Year 9 and 10 students should wear their Blues uniform on Thursday (Whites are not required for Headmaster’s Assembly). They must also bring their Akubra, and school jumpers are also recommended.

AI-powered assessment feedback workshop

Date: Wednesday 22 May (Week 6)
Time: 3:20 to 4:15 pm
Venue: The Centenary Library (CL110)
Presenter: Ms Fiona Philip

Please note this is a student-only workshop for Years 10 to 12.

RSVP via email: Kelly.Jackson@churchie.com.au

• Learn how to use AI ethically to provide constructive and targeted feedback on your writing. From simple tips to improve spelling, grammar, and cohesion to identifying gaps and weaknesses against the marking criteria, this session will empower you to use AI ethically in your writing process. 
• The session will include strategies for writing across different subject areas, including analytical, persuasive, creative and report writing genres. 
• Please bring a digital copy of a piece of writing you would like feedback on.
• Limited spaces available.

Kelly Jackson
Senior Learning Support Coordinator

Aquila news

Churchie Literature Challenge

Over the past two weeks, 120 students from Churchie, Somerville House, St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School, Brigidine College and St Laurence’s College have participated in the 2024 Literature Challenge. Students were asked to read a range of literature within this year’s chosen theme: the Gothic. Choices included in the junior division: Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Chris Priestley’s Mr Creecher. Intermediate texts included The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Macbeth and Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black. The Senior division read works by Oscar Wilde, Mary Shelley, Emily Bronte and Angela Carter. Students competed in four rounds: creative writing, analytical writing, a discussion round and a quiz. They received a mini-lecture from Old Boy and current Ramsay Scholar Dean Burger (2021) who spoke about ‘Science and the Supernatural in Frankenstein’. Congratulations to the Year 12 team of James Aralar, Finbar Curran and Addison Edmonds, who finished third in the senior competition.

Queensland Philosothon

Head of Philosophy Thom Robertson accompanied students to the UQ Philosothon where students were invited to discuss a range of philosophical issues with students from across South East Queensland. The 2024 topics included the relative merits of happiness, the tendency to anthropomorphise animals and humans’ relationship with nature. Special congratulations go to Charles Chen, who was the winner of the Rob Hamilton Memorial Award for Most Promising Philosopher, and the junior team of Charles Chen, Darby Prabhu, Marcus Chan, Deric Zuo, Sam Zuo, Aiden Jamieson and Jonathan Vickery, who were the winning team in their division.

Grant Smith
Head of Gifted Education (Aquila)

Year 10 Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Parent Information Evening

The Senior School is hosting an Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Year 10 Parent Information Evening on Thursday 23 May from 6 to 7 pm. This is an online event, which can be viewed via the following Teams link: Year 10 Teams presentation – please click here.

Professor Con Stough, Head of Emotional Intelligence of the Swinburne University of Technology, Emotional Intelligence Research Unit, will facilitate the presentation, which is a parents-only event.

Please be reminded that Year 10 students have completed a self-assessment and peer assessment of their emotional intelligence as part of their pastoral learning curriculum. This information aims to increase student awareness of their own emotions and that of their peers as well as improve their ability to reason, be empathetic and resilient under stress.

Individual student emotional intelligence reports will be made available via myChurchie by the end of Term 2. This presentation is designed to help parents decode their son’s report.

Please contact your son’s housemaster if you require further information about this event.

Dr Alex Krzensk
Acting Head of Senior School