Senior School

Year 9 Aspiring Leaders’ Summit 2024

Churchie’s Year 9 Aspiring Leaders’ Summit was hosted at The Centenary Library on Friday 10 August. Once again, the summit involved students from both Churchie and St Margaret’s, who completed a full day of workshops unpacking leadership theory and skills through emotional intelligence (EI), wellbeing, resilience, decision-making and teamwork frameworks.

Summit attendees represented each day and boarding house for this one-day extension event, based on their effort and engagement across a six-month Aspiring Leaders’ coursework programme facilitated for all Year 9 students during weekly wellbeing lessons across Term 2 and Term 3. The coursework and summit form a component of the Year 9 wellbeing programme at Churchie, having been introduced for the first time in 2020 by Natassja Thorpe and James Thorpe.

The summit involved several internal and external providers:

• Brook Monahan – Founder and Managing Director of Mosaic Property Group, reflected on his personal leadership journey and applying lessons from the Daily Stoic.
• Alison Lalieu – Certified Dare to Lead facilitator, executive neuro coach and emotional intelligence certified coach, unpacked learnings from the corporate sector.
• David Lalieu – Breathwork practitioner, provided students with mindfulness techniques to access self-awareness.
• James Thorpe – English teacher at Churchie, presented on ‘The Character Equation: Why Your Values Need Behaviours’.
• Clayton Kelly – Director of service at Churchie, presented on service-leadership programmes at schools.
• Mitch Rosenlund – Nansen housemaster at Churchie, presented on wellbeing-leadership programmes at schools.

A post-summit reflection from Alison Lalieu highlighted several key points from Brook Monahan’s opening speech: https://courageousleadershiphub.com.au/character-is-fate/

Thank you to all day and boarding housemasters for teaching the Aspiring Leaders’ wellbeing coursework across Term 2 and Term 3.

James Thorpe
Teacher

IB Languages – A Window to the World

‘One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way.’ – Frank Smith

One aspect of the IB Diploma Programme that makes it unique is that it requires students to learn another language. The IB wants its students to be internationally minded, and learning a second language helps students develop their knowledge and understanding of other cultures. In our global community, those students who can understand, speak and appreciate languages other than their own will be at a distinct advantage in their chosen career, whether it be in the world of finance, business and economics, engineering, medicine, law or the creative arts.

At Churchie, we offer four languages: French, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish. Students may continue with the language that they studied in Years 7 to 10, or they are able to select a language they haven’t studied before. The IB divides language study into two courses: ab initio (to develop basic communication skills) and Language B (to enhance communication skills).

One aspect of the language course is the individual oral. Students are given a stimulus picture and have 15 minutes to prepare for a discussion that they then undertake with their teacher. Last week, the Year 12 students completed their official assessment.

As Dean of the IB Diploma Programme, it has been wonderful to see students work collaboratively in groups, attend extra tutorial sessions on offer and diligently attend to their language study. A huge thank you to the language teachers, Mr Dyer, Madame Washington, Ms Edwards-Davis, Ms Xu and Mr Bergas Paz, for their encouragement, expertise and enthusiasm for their craft.

Catherine Prosser
Dean of IB Diploma Programme 

Aquila news

Junior Science Olympiad Spring School

Congratulations to Owen Yu in Year 9 who was the first Churchie student selected for the Junior Science Olympiad (JSO) Spring School. Since achieving a high distinction in the Junior Science Olympiad last year, Owen has been part of a 55-person nationwide training squad – he has studied several units across science disciplines and completed two progress exams. Owen is now among just 24 students invited to participate in the Spring School. A fantastic achievement.

RoboCup Junior State Championships

Six teams from Churchie participated in the RoboCup Junior state round at UQ. Teams competed in a range of robotics divisions including performance, rescue line, rescue maze, and standard and lightweight soccer. Congratulations to Team Zenith, led by Dario Lim, who won the Lightweight Soccer final for the second year in a row.

Grant Smith
Head of Gifted Education (Aquila)

Year 9 Biggs and Nansen House Outdoor Education Camp

The recent outdoor education camp for students in Biggs and Nansen offered an exciting blend of adventure and learning. Over the course of five days, participants engaged in a variety of activities designed to facilitate growth and autonomy. Hiking through the sandy trails of Cooloola National Park allowed them to connect with nature and develop group management techniques. Kayaking on the serene Upper Noosa River challenged their skills and provided a refreshing experience. Rock climbing presented both physical and mental challenges, enhancing their problem-solving abilities and self-confidence. The final camp for Term 3 was a great success despite a touch of inclement weather and it left the boys with lasting memories and newfound skills.

Tom Barton
Outdoor Education Teacher

Viking Café volunteers

We welcome mums and dads to volunteer at our tuckshops. Please contact the Tuckshop Volunteers Coordinator for more details if you can spare some time during the term to help in our busy tuckshops.

Viking Café volunteers – please contact VikingCafe.Coordinator@churchie.com.au