International Women’s Day

On Wednesday Miguel Galarion spoke on assembly to acknowledge all Women in our Community and those who have contributed to our Community. He spoke passionately around the need to continue to speak out when we see injustice in our world. Nagel House also held a morning tea at the College for our staff to commemorate this day. I thank all of our female staff and caregivers who contribute to our Mission.

I extend a prayer for Equity

Music Evenings

On Wednesday and Thursday evenings this week our music bands, choirs and ensembles performed for our parents and guests. This was a great showcase of talent and both evenings were most enjoyable. I thank the Music Staff and the Music Supporters Group for their work here. 

On Monday 13 March, 2023 at 7pm at St Ignatius Church we will conduct our regular Old Boy’s Concert. 

This night is one of the musical highlights of the year. It is well worthwhile attending.

AIC Swimming

On Tuesday we attended AIC Swimming at Chandler. The College was fifth overall. I congratulate St Peters Lutheran College on their achievement in winning the day. We were most happy with fifth as most boys swam personal best times on the day. I thank Mr O’Sullivan, Mr Van der Zant and the swimming coaches for their support of the boys.

Year 11 Assessment and NAPLAN

Our Year 11 students concluded their assessment block this week. This time is most valuable for the boys and sets them up for success. However, it is also a time where the students need to be self-directed and focused. All seems to have gone well for our Year 11 boys.

I wish all Year 5, 7 and 9 students well as they sit NAPLAN tests next week. The boys are well prepared and I thank Dr Herbert, Ms Harris, Ms Jordan, Ms Kentrotis and Mr Smith for their work with our students.

Manchester City Visits

On Monday and Tuesday of next week Tony Byrne (UK Operations Manager) and Andy Smith (Technical Coaching Director) will visit our School and assess the growth of our Manchester City Football School. They will meet with our coach, Mr Jamie Davies and Mr Eddie Wallace to ensure that the programme is on track and to provide further advice and assistance for us. Both will speak at our Induction for our 2023 Football Coaches. Tony and Andy are most welcome.

Year 7 Enrolments, 2025

Today we have sent our enrolment offers for students seeking enrolment for Year 7, 2025. I thank Ms McManus for organising the interviews and managing the process. I look forward to welcoming these boys to our Community.

MR CHRIS LEADBETTER

Principal

Year 10 Immersions

This week our Year 10 students from Rice, Sion, Treacy, Waterford and Xavier took part in a number of immersion opportunities that encompassed students experiencing and learning the personal stories of those living with disabilities, refugees and asylum seekers, those experiencing homelessness and First Nations people. 

Each immersion offered students a unique window through personal storytelling and experience. I was privileged to attend a Walking on Country led by Turrbul elder Uncle Joe Kirk with 31 Year 10 students through inner-city Brisbane. One of the most powerful elements was a walk through Boundary Street in West End and learning the story of Boundary Street and its meaning. As Uncle Joe led us through Boundary Street in West End, he told us how traditionally Boundary Street was a barrier to separate the First Nations people from white Australians. From Monday-Saturday First Nations people were only given permission to come into the main part of Brisbane for unpaid labour, what has become known as stolen wages. Once it hit 4pm the First Nations people were forced out and made to leave with Boundary Street marking where they could not go past. We were told that the guards and authorities would come out on horses and crack their whips to get the First Nations people back beyond the boundary. 

A visit to Orleigh Park, the site of the former Cranbrook House, told us more stories of First Nations women who were forcibly removed from their homes across Queensland and placed in the home and shipped off to different places to be servants and work unpaid. Uncle Joe showed us that while Boundary Street may not be what it was, that the same boundaries still exist in our society for First Nations people and the hurt and loss remains trauma that continues to affect generations.

St Laurence's College and Loretto College International Women’s Day Forum 

On Thursday evening St Laurence's College hosted Loretto College as part of an International Women’s Day Forum. Our special guests for the forum were Annie and Erin from the Lovewell foundation. Annie shared her story of leaving a violent relationship to becoming a psychologist, raising a son on her own and setting up the Lovewell Foundation. The Lovewell Foundation provides support for women from 14-67 leaving violent relationships to re-establish their lives and provide mentoring. Many of the women become employed in the Lovewell Café in Mt Gravatt going on to management positions. The cafe also provides support to help entrepreneurial women setup their own innovative businesses. 

These forums always provide a brilliant platform for our students to connect and come together to empower each other and become challenged how we can help build a more equitable world. Our students will reconnect during the month of May for domestic violence awareness month where we plan to collectively run 110km to mark the 110 lives lost to domestic violence. Our students will end their run on May 28 when Loretto and Lauries will run to the café at Mt Gravatt for the final leg of our 110km and share our stories together. We look forward to our students reconnecting to share this campaign together.

MR PAUL CORFIELD

Dean of Identity and Community

NAPLAN Online

A reminder that NAPLAN online testing will be conducted next week from Wednesday 15 March to Monday 20 March (main testing window). Year 7 and Year 9 parents have been sent an email detailing procedures and specific information.

The College NAPLAN Schedule can be found [HERE].

Year 7 students will sit their tests in Administration and Period 1 each day with Year 9 students sitting their test in Period 2 and some of Period 3 each day throughout the week. Year 5 students will be sitting their tests in the Primary classrooms in the morning. Catch up sessions for Year 7 and 9 are scheduled for Lesson 4 of each day – up until Wednesday 22 March. 

A couple of very important reminders for next week:

· All students must arrive on time (a reminder for Year 7 students to meet at ERPAC and not go to Admin period),

· Laptops must be fully charged each night,

· Please bring 2 x sharp led pencils,

· Please purchase and ask your son to bring wired ear/headphones,

· Please ask your son to bring their laptop charger. 

We wish all students the best of luck with NAPLAN.

SLConX – Tuesday 14 March 

In conjunction with the St Laurence’s Old Boys’ Association, the Careers Office will be hosting the first 2023 SLConX networking event for students in Years 10 -12 and their parents to interact with Lauries Old Boys about their career pathways.

The purpose of SLConX is to allow current students to hear about the career journeys of some of our alumni and for our current students to network and create connections with people working in industry. At this event, there will be a focus on careers across Defence and Emergency Services, with each presenter giving a brief overview of what they do and what their career journey has looked like, before moving into a less formal networking opportunity, where students and parents will liaise with presenters to ask any specific questions around their future career.

The event details are:

Date: Tuesday 14 March 2023

Time: 5.00pm – 6.30pm

Venue: ERPAC Level 5 

I encourage those interested students and parents to attend as it is a fantastic opportunity to network and build connections with people who are working in these industries.

Study Starter

A reminder to parents that Study Starter is continuing for students. It is a free tutoring service conducted in the Library every Monday and Wednesday after school until 4.30pm. The intention is to support students who need extra help with their studies, and also provide an environment where quiet study and assignment work can occur. All students are welcome.

Live Jesus in our hearts. . . Forever!

DR LIAM HERBERT

Dean of Teaching and Learning

Music at SLC

I would like to pay tribute to our Music Department who held two concert evenings this week showcasing the talents of our Intermediate Music Ensembles and the Senior Ensembles. Congratulations to all involved on two wonderful evenings. 

The talent of the students and the passion of the staff never cease to amaze me. 

Middle School Parent Meeting to Learn (M2L)

An invitation to our Middle School parents went out at the end of last week inviting parents to our first Middle School M2L for the year which features well-known clinical psychologist Andrew Fuller. 

Many parents would recognise Andrew and be familiar with his work in all things ‘teens and mental health’. He is both an entertaining and informative speaker and I am delighted to offer parents the opportunity to garner some knowledge from Andrew about ‘Building Mentally Healthy Teens’. In addition to this, Andrew will speak about ‘Resilience for Parents and Caregivers’. One of my favourite sayings is that, ‘you can’t pour from an empty cup’ and as such, I feel this second topic is also an essential one.  

Due to Andrew’s experience and expertise, we have decided to extend the Middle School M2L to our parents in Primary. We know that our primary parents are on the verge of navigating the teen years and feel that this opportunity would be beneficial to them also.

Please see the invitation below and RSVP as soon as possible to secure your seat. 

NAPLAN

Ms Zofia Kentrotis and her team have our Year 7 and 9 students as ready as possible for this coming week’s testing. 

Laptop checks and practice sessions have hopefully readied our students and familiarised them with the procedures in place for the testing. Communicating absences this week is essential as there will be some catch-up sessions held. 

Could I also ask you to ensure that your son has the basic materials required for each day; which include:

• A fully-charged laptop
• A pencil
• A set of wired headphones (these are inexpensive and can be bought at supermarkets)

Laptops

Our laptop program provides an extremely valuable service to our students in order to assist with and enhance their learning. Students are entrusted with the care of a device and we have some very straightforward and common-sense requirements.  

Laptops are required to be:

• Used only indoors
• Transported or carried in the ‘Tank’
• Stored in the student’s locker when not in use
• Not left unattended 

Please partner with us to remind your son that the device he has been issued is not inexpensive and requires careful handling and treatment.

Vaping

Vaping continues to be a concern in our society and it is essential to educate our students about the dangers and risks involved with vaping or the use of e-cigarettes. An e-cigarette, also known as a ‘vape’, is a battery-powered device containing liquid, that when heated, produces vapour that is inhaled. Whilst the Australian Government Institute of Health and Welfare figures indicate a significant decline in adolescents smoking cigarettes, the concern now has turned to the use of e-cigarettes among young people. Companies producing vapes have made their product attractive to young people through the use of colourful packaging and appealing flavourings. Strawberry ice cream, bubble-gum, chocolate, mixed berry, peach and even Long Island Iced Tea are just some of the flavours used to lure young people into experimenting with this potentially dangerous and addictive practice. Students were made aware of the fact that they do not know exactly what chemicals they are inhaling. Some vapes claim to be fruit juice, giving young people the notion that vaping is harmless. However, many contain dangerous chemicals, nicotine and in some instances, THC oil, one of the most common cannabinoids found in cannabis.

The safety of our students is paramount and I sincerely hope that they took heed of the messages given about the danger of vaping. In addition to the health risks, we spoke about other dangers such as exploding devices, the impact on brain development, the addictive nature of nicotine and the likelihood of this practice leading to experimenting with other substances in the future. Finally, students were reminded of the dangers of the transfer of saliva through the sharing vapes. Just as students no longer share water bottles at sport, vapes should not be shared as poses the same risk.  

Should you wish to further educate yourself on the dangers of this growing trend a good starting point is the Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia (DARTA). This site has useful fact sheets which are aimed at each target audience, be it young people, parents and teachers. 

http://darta.net.au/factsheets/ 

http://darta.net.au/recommended-reading-for-parents/ 

Somerville House Netball

On Wednesday afternoon, our Lauries men headed down the hill to take on Somerville House in a competitive game of netball! Despite their courageous efforts, our Lauries men went down 21 - 23. Congratulations and thank you to Somerville House on their win and for hosting! We can't wait for the rematch!

Best wishes for the coming week!

MS VANESSA BELL

Dean of Middle School

An audience of family and friends enjoyed our first two concerts for 2023 this week from our Intermediate Ensembles on Wednesday evening and our Senior Ensembles on Thursday evening. Students should be proud of their performances, a wonderful start to our Lauries music year.

Special thanks to our Senior Music Leaders for compering the events, and to the parents and members of the Lauries Music Support Group who assisted with both events. 

At the whole school Assembly this week, Big Band 1 presented a very exciting performance of ‘Brass Machine’ featuring our amazing trumpet players.

CONCERT DATES – Term 1

Monday 13 March | Old Boys and Community Choir Concert | 7pm St Ignatius Church Toowong 

We look forward to everyone coming along to the Old Boys and Community Music Concert @ 7pm on Monday 13 March at St Ignatius Church, Toowong. You will enjoy performances by Old Boys String Ensemble, Old Boys Guitar Ensemble, Old Boys Choir and Community Choir. For families unable to attend, there will be a livestream of these performances via the link below here.

Tuesday 21 & Wednesday 22 March | Junior Ensembles Breakfast Concerts | ERPAC

Our informal breakfast concerts for Treblehood, Concert Band 3, Big Band 3 and String Orchestra 3 will take place in ERPAC on Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 March.

On Tuesday morning, Treblehood will provide a special performance at 7.45am, whilst all other ensembles will perform on Wednesday morning from 7.30am to 8.15am. We invite family and friends to join us before work for tea, coffee, hot cross buns, and music! What better way to start your day?

Thursday 30 March | Voices of Birralee - Mansfield State High School Concert 

Little Brotherhood has been invited to perform at a concert at Mansfield State High School. 

This concert will feature selected Brisbane schools and is organised by internationally acclaimed Voices of Birralee.

SAVE THE DATES – Term 2

• 10 May – St Joseph’s Primary School (Kangaroo Point) Combined Concert @ 2-5pm (ERPAC) – Guitar Orchestra 2 & Concert Band 3
• 18 May – Junior Ensembles Concert (ERPAC) – Concert Band 3, Big Band 3, String Orchestra 3, Treblehood, Percussion Ensemble 2/3 & Year 5 String Orchestra
• 24 May – Invitational Guitar Concert (St Rita’s College) – Guitar Orchestra 1
• 2 June – Cabaret Concert (ERPAC) – Concert Band 1, Big Band 1, String Orchestra 1, Fellowship of the String, Guitar Orchestra 1, Percussion Ensemble 1, Brotherhood, Big Brotherhood
• 25 June – Confraternity Rugby League Competition - Mass choir & musicians performing
• 7-9 July – Pemulwuy National Male Voice Festival – Brotherhood Choir

LMSG Meeting | Term 2 - Tuesday 9 May | 6pm 

Our next Lauries Music Support Group Meeting will be held in Term 2 on Tuesday 9 May in room MU1 (Top floor VAPA building). A great way to support your son at Lauries is by joining the parent’s music support group. Meetings are once a month on the second Tuesday of each month (term time). 

If you would like further information regarding any of the above, please contact the music department: music@slc.qld.edu.au or telephone 3010 1138.

Strike up the Band!

MR ROSS CAPERN

Head of Instrumental Music

AIC Swimming Championships 

On Tuesday, the AIC Swimming Championships were held. This is always a huge event on the College calendar.

Congratulations to the College Swim Team for a great performance at the carnival. To finish 5th in the secondary competition is a wonderful overall team performance when we are up against schools with on site pools and their own swimming clubs. The majority of our students achieved personal bests on the day which is another indication of a wonderful team performance. Our Seniors were exemplary leaders of the team throughout the season and congratulations need to go to all of our Open swimmers and the College Swim Captains- Benjamin Maynard and Daniel Ebzery.

Special thanks to our Director of Swimming – Mr Danny O’Sullivan, Head coach- Mr Rick van der Zant; and Primary coordinator Ms Kate Flanagan and to all of our coaches.

A huge thank you to Yeronga Park Swimming Complex for their support of Lauries Swimming along with Somerville House who allowed us to use the venue for our Gold squad each week.

Sports Lunch – Friday 5 May 

The College’s Rugby Support Group has held a successful “Rugby Lunch” for a number of years. Through the tireless work of a number of parents, this event has grown significantly each year. This year, the parents organising the event, in conjunction with the College have made the decision to transition the lunch to a “Sport Lunch”. The aim of the lunch is to bring in community members from across the College who support the huge variety of Sports that our students participate in and give them a chance to celebrate all things that are Lauries Sport. This year the organising group has assembled a wonderful lineup of special guests including Mal Meninga, Simon Black, Stephen Moore and proud St Laurence’s College Old Boy- Mark Connors. The MC for the event will be Ben “Dobbo’ Dobbins.

Tickets for the event have gone on sale today and from initial sales they will not last long. I encourage everyone who would like to attend to get in early and purchase their tickets.

MR EDDIE WALLACE 

Head of Sport

The College is excited to announce that Year 5 and 7 2024 Manchester City Football School trial registrations are now open. After the success of the current boys participating, we can't wait to see the continued progression for years to come. 

Find the registration form link here: https://www.slc.qld.edu.au/man...

DO YOU NEED A BLAZER, TIE OR TROUSERS FOR TERMS 2 & 3?

It is compulsory during Terms 2 and 3 that all students wear the College Blazer to and from school each day. The College tie is also to be worn all day.

It is compulsory for Years 10, 11 and 12 to wear Grey trousers during these terms as well. Grey or black socks are to be worn with trousers.

If you have any questions about St Laurence’s College uniforms, contact The Lauries Shop on (07) 3010 1100 or email uniform@slc.qld.edu.au

The Lauries Shop term-time opening hours are Monday-Friday from 7.30am-1.45pm

Students are expected to be at school and moving to class by 8.30am. If a student is going to be absent from school (for the whole day or part of the day) parents are asked to notify the College.

 Notification can be provided by:

1. Parent Lounge Attendance tab
2. Calling Pastoral Precinct on 30101130 (Secondary) or 30101142 (Primary).

Our preferred method is through the Parent Lounge Attendance tab. This tab allows you to notify us of part day, single day or extended absences.

To use this option, log into your Parent Lounge and select Attendance from the menu. From here you can select your child and complete the options regarding reason and timing of absence.  

Step-by-step instructions can be found HERE.

2023 Next Step Year 12 Completers Survey

All our students who completed Year 12 last year will soon receive an invitation to do the Next Step survey. The short five-minute survey asks graduates about the study and work they have been doing since finishing school. The results from the survey help our school improve our senior programs and prepare students for work and further study.

We ask parents, siblings and friends to encourage our graduates to complete the survey. If their contact details have changed, please assist survey interviewers with their updated details or forward the survey to their new address so they can participate. Graduates may receive an invitation by mail, email or phone. The survey can be completed online or by phone. For more information about Next Step, including previous results, visit www.qld.gov.au/nextstep

Please see attached information from Yeronga AFL Club here.

As you may be aware, the College will be proudly hosting the 2023 Confraternity Rugby League Carnival from Sunday 25 to Friday 30 June.

The Carnival presents a unique opportunity for the Lauries community to secure state-wide exposure for their businesses. We are excited to announce that Silver and Bronze Sponsorship Opportunities are still available.

If you are interested in learning more, please contact the College Director of Communication, Development and Events, Helen Turner on (07) 3010 1178 or development@slc.qld.edu.au. 

Further information regarding the carnival can be found HERE.

Enrol into our Speech and Drama Program for Term 3.

Does your son love Theatre Sports? Drama games? Acting and public performance?

More importantly do you want your son to improve his presenting skills in all their classes? Expand their debating skills?

Would you like your son to learn how to breathe properly to reduce stress, anxiety, and speak with confidence.

We also offer Trinity Guildhall and AMEB exam which improve ATAR scores, recognised practical exams that add to your university application?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, Speech and Drama is for your son! Contact the Music Department for enrolment information and forms – music@slc.qld.edu.au

Email lduggan@slc.qld.edu.au for more information.

Please see the attached flyer from The Athlete's Foot HERE.

With everyone gearing up for football and rugby next term, The Athlete's Foot has a great selection of football boots. Every purchase results in $5 being donated to the College for every footwear purchase.

Please see attached HERE a notice from the Department of Education regarding the 2023 Student Residential Address Collection