Dear members of the Terrace Family,

This week, students from Years 5 to 11 will complete a survey conducted by several schools across the EREA network. The goal is to gather data about the experiences of students at Terrace to assist us with planning and responding to the contemporary needs of our students. The need to provide students with a voice and input into their education experience is important, and tools such as this survey allow us to receive meaningful feedback. The student survey is one of a suite of instruments that will be used throughout the year across the Terrace Family to help us better understand the experience of students, parents/caregivers and staff.

Next week, our Year 10 students commence their Term 3 exams after a rapid period of teaching and learning. Following this, they will take part in their much-anticipated Immersion program for the remainder of the term. There has been considerable uncertainty around the Immersion program, and I am grateful to the staff involved. Led by Mr Luke Gribble, the staff have spent significant time planning and problem-solving to reach a point where we can safely run the Immersions despite the pandemic. While there will be growing excitement about Immersions, Year 10 students need to focus on their exams over the next week. We wish our Waterford men the very best for a busy and memorable month ahead.

The rescheduling of the Exhibition holiday to 29 October has led to considerable discussion about the Year 12 External Exams scheduled for that day. The State Government has published a statement that they were aware of the clash when they chose this date, and we know they have tasked QCAA with rescheduling these exams. We have no control over this process, but we eagerly await the announcement of the revised schedule and will be sure to pass this on to Year 12 students and families as soon as the changes are made public. None of this changes our preparation, including mock exams in Weeks 8 and 9 and the associated feedback, September holiday Open Classrooms and the final weeks of preparation in Term 4. There is no cause for concern that our Year 12 students will be adversely affected by the timing of the public holiday.

Wednesday’s unexpected announcement regarding COVID restrictions by the State Government has meant we are rapidly making plans regarding co-curricular offerings. The GPS Principals and Headmasters met on Wednesday afternoon, and after consulting the Government guidelines, as well as governing bodies of particular activities, a plan was developed for this weekend. At the time of writing, the plan is as follows:

Rugby

Students are required to complete another week of training, including contact training, and will resume matches in Round 7 vs BGS. Rugby matches, external trials or internal trials are not permitted this week. Some teams will train this weekend.

Basketball

Games are permitted to resume after 4pm Friday. This weekend is our bye round, and Nudgee College is available to play. We are looking to negotiate some ‘friendly’ matches against Nudgee on Saturday.

Chess

Games are permitted to resume after 4pm Friday. This weekend is our bye round, and Nudgee College is available to play. We are looking to negotiate some ‘friendly’ matches against Nudgee on Friday.

Track and Field

The scheduled Friday evening lead-up meets will go ahead as per the calendar. A decision about whether we will take part this Friday evening will be made today.

Premierships

Given the loss of rounds, there will not be premierships decided in Basketball or Rugby in 2021. There remains a possibility that a Premiership will be awarded for Chess. The GPS Track and Field Championships will proceed as planned.

Spectators and masks

Permitted as per the State Government roadmap.

Our Sport Directors are currently working to develop plans for the weekend and will communicate with families as soon as possible. It will be nice to provide some opportunity for our young men to return to co-curricular activities a little sooner than expected. I thank those staff who are working hard on the logistics in a brief timeframe.

Finally, as I complete my last week in the position of Acting Principal, I would like to pass on my sincere thanks to all in the Terrace Family for your kindness and support over the past six weeks. I feel incredibly blessed to have been allowed the privilege of leading our community over this time and have been regularly reminded of what a fabulous community this is. On Monday, I look forward to welcoming back a refreshed and well-rested Dr Carroll as I return to the Deputy Principal role. Sincere thanks to Ms Zoe Morgan, who has been a great support and source of wisdom in the role of Acting Deputy Principal and to Mrs Loren Serafin-Huey, who has been on a very steep learning curve and has done an excellent job as Acting Dean of Communication in our new-look College Leadership Team. Thank you also to Mrs Jamie Newnham for stepping into the role of Acting Program Leader Years 11 and 12 and Mr Matt Crameri for stepping into the role of Acting Head of Faculty, Science. The flexibility and adaptability of our staff here at Terrace is greatly appreciated.

I extend my warmest regards and best wishes to all.

It was wonderful to welcome back hundreds of Terracians and the staff who have completed their home quarantine requirements this week. We have experienced so many things for the first time because of COVID, and last week’s juggle of remote and in-person learning was yet another. My thanks to the Terrace staff, whether on campus or at home, for your flexibility and determination to ensure a continuity of learning. My thanks also to the Terrace Family for your perseverance and patience as we establish another process.

Perhaps fortuitously, this year’s Queensland Catholic Music Festival (QCMF) preparations already accounted for the event to be held online. Therefore, this significant online event was a welcome highlight for people over the weekend. I would like to add my sincere and warm congratulations to the hundreds of Terracians and dedicated staff who performed virtually at QCMF. As always, this is an amazing display of diverse gifts and a celebration of commitment. I congratulate the Music staff, led and supported by Mr Derek Rose, for the additional preparation to make this event so successful.

We have well and truly entered the second half of Term 3, and we remain hopeful that several significant activities are about to commence. Next week, our Year 10 students will enter their exam block in advance of this year’s Immersion program. COVID has again forced us to reimagine these Immersion programs. As we continue to navigate uncertain levels of restrictions, staff have been working tirelessly to ensure that the gentlemen of Year 10 will experience a valuable and rewarding program. I thank Mr Luke Gribble, Ms Mandy Awabdy and the wider Waterford Place staff for their ongoing work and preparation.

Year 12 students will soon commence a block of mock external exams designed to closely replicate the external exam experience that awaits them in October and November. In the Year 12 Assembly yesterday the Seniors were spoken to about what to expect and how they might best prepare. If practice makes perfect, the next few weeks will be critical for our Seniors as they ready themselves for the external exam process.

From a planning perspective, while it feels like next year is a long way off, the creation of the 2022 calendar and timetable is well underway. With subject selections now completed, we have started building the timetable by looking at the number of classes we will be running, and the staffing required to fill our needs. The timetable is extremely complex and requires a significant amount of time and thought to get it to its final version. This year, we also have the added complexity of preparing for the Year 9 cohort move to Waterford Place. My thanks to all staff, particularly Mr Charles Brauer, Mrs Helen Kearney, our Heads of Faculty, and subject coordinators for the many hours of work that will go into the preparation of next year’s timetable.

Like many in the Terrace Family, I remain optimistic that we will continue to experience good health in the community as we return to some normality around co-curricular activities. My best wishes for the week ahead and I look forward to seeing the community at Tennyson in the coming weeks.

Faith, Hope and Love

Last Sunday, we celebrated the Assumption of the Blessed Mary. This feast day commemorates when Mary’s body and soul were assumed into Heaven at the time of her death. This is not only a special time for our Church and Terrace Family. It is also an important time for us to consider the life of Mary and the extraordinary role she played in the formation of our Church.

In my parish, Deacon Peter Devenish-Meares spoke of a priest who was a refugee to Australia who wrote:

The Feast of the Assumption always holds a special place in my heart. It takes me back to the time when I was on a boat, adrift on the vast Pacific Ocean and at the mercy of the elements. We had started out on the Feast of St Clare and on the eve of the Assumption, we were in serious trouble. Food had run out; water had run out and fuel had run out. As if that wasn’t enough, a huge storm gathered and unleashed its fury right near where we were. In desperation, we got out our rosaries and began to pray in earnest … somehow, we survived the ordeal and the day after, we were rescued from our sinking boat, just in time.

Deacon Peter Devenish-Meares suggests that prayer and tragedy are inextricably linked in the story above. He questioned if he would be able to pray, let alone remember to pray in a lonely boat fleeing persecution.

Mary carried, gave birth to and raised God’s only son, Jesus. As a child, Jesus took guidance from his mother and lived under her protection. When Jesus was on the cross and everything seemed lost, Mary was there. She followed the footsteps of Jesus in giving her life in service to others, and as Mary did, the refugee priest showed unconditional faith, hope and love when all seemed lost. Deacon Peter Devenish-Meares highlighted the importance of Mary’s practical example of service and devotion in the current climate.

Mary’s assumption into Heaven is a sign of great faith, hope and love for all Christians who believe that at the end of our earthly life, we too will share in Jesus’ resurrection and be reunited with God.

FROM MARY - we learn to surrender to God’s will in all things.

FROM MARY - we learn to trust even when all hope seems gone.

FROM MARY - we learn to love Christ Her Son and the Son of God.

(Pope John Paul II)

Live Jesus in Our Hearts…Forever.

St Joseph…Pray for us.

I am pleased to report that the boys have adjusted pretty well to ‘mask to mask’ learning over the past couple of weeks. This week, we welcomed another 200 students back from home quarantine. We are looking forward to next week when students can recommence some co-curricular training, rehearsals and competitions for the remaining three weeks of Term 3. Schools always function at their best when students are actively engaging in a wide variety of activities. By in large, the boys have also been very good at wearing their masks both at school and on public transport. However, any reinforcement you can provide at home about the need to be diligent is much appreciated.

Several camps, guest speakers and retreats have been cancelled or postponed due to COVID restrictions recently. We will revise our Term 4 Outdoor Education Camp and Retreat program so that all the Year 9 students still have the opportunity to go away on camp and have a retreat with their House group in some capacity. Further information on the revised program will be placed on the College App shortly. For the second year in succession, the College has had to change the format of our Year 8 GT/AHS Respectful Relations forum. The keynote address by Rebecca Sparrow has been moved online with details and links for the 30 August event being provided shortly to parents and students in Year 8 at Terrace and All Hallows’. The Year 11 Leadership Camp has been moved to Wednesday 15 September, and will be conducted as an incursion at Terrace into the evening. And finally, the Senior Formal has been moved to Thursday 16 September at Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. Fingers crossed that we can still move forward with these significant events.

In Week 6, the reality of the term starts to kick in. Assignments are due, and exams are on the horizon (three weeks away). The workload has been steadily increasing, and the need to revise is now a reality.

Some advice for students:

• Those organised and have planned their studies will now start to reap the reward of their earlier work – keep going, be persistent and stick to your plan.
• To those students who have not planned or who have not started their revision – don’t panic! There is still time if you get to it now. The worst thing you can do is ignore your study and hope it will go away. Sorry, but it is not going to happen. Plan the rest of the term, start your revision with some extra work after homework is done, get help from a mate, your tutor, your teacher, your parents. There are lots of people here to help you, just ask.
• Attend staff tutoring sessions. Our generous teaching staff offer these sessions, and they are a great way to get assistance with that problem solving question you can’t answer or that concept you don’t understand. Tutoring times can be found on the College App.
• Be an active learner. Seek out assistance for the problems, questions, or concepts that you don’t understand.

Through the course of 2021, I have grown to recognise another essential aspect of success – persistence. It takes persistence to stick to your study plan, be consistent in your study and revision, or know when to ask for help. Consequently, the above messages are not effective unless a student is persistent.

As I mentioned to our Year 12 cohort, persistence starts as a mindset and becomes a habit. To be persistent, you need to set a target or goal, know how to work towards it, then take responsibility to move forward. To develop persistence as a habit, start small – set a goal for nightly revision, identify the actual questions or content you wish to revise, then do it without interruption, disruption, or excuse.

Practice persistence every day, and it will become a habit. A habit that will enable a student to achieve success.

Our Year 10 students commence their exams next week. They have an early exam block as the Immersion program will begin on 31 August. I wish all Year 10 students the best of luck in their upcoming exams.

Debating – Dinner

The Debating Dinner will be held in The Marquee at Victoria Park as planned next Thursday 26 August. We are excited that this celebration can proceed with minimal restrictions from Victoria Park ensuring a successful and enjoyable evening. We look forward to our Debating families joining together to celebrate the GPS season, success thus far of the QDU season, our most improved debaters and acknowledging the current Year 12 students.

Debating – QDU

With the recent lockdown and the rapid spread of COVID through our schools, the QDU executive decided to pause the finals and re-evaluate the competition for the remainder of the year.

A significant portion of the competition is still in draft or proposal format. However, we are happy to announce that the Year 11, 12 and Senior A finals and quarter finals will move online starting next week. This is a significant shift for the program and the competition, but we know our Terrace Debaters will embrace the challenge of remote debates. This round of the competition is a short preparation round that will keep all schools on an equal footing.

Good luck to our 11.1 and 12.1 teams, who will debate this week.

Emails have been sent to all Terrace Debating families. These emails must be read so that students know when they are debating.

Please keep an eye on your email, the Terrace App and our social media for any QDU finals information.

Public Speaking – Evatt competition

Congratulations to Liam Cleary and Will Ames (Year 10) who competed in the semi-finals of the Evatt competition on the weekend. Due to the COVID restrictions, this round of the competition was online.

We are pleased to announce these two young men have progressed to the finals, which will be held at the University of Queensland on Sunday 29 August.

The Evatt competition has three rounds in Queensland – preliminary rounds, semi-finals, and the Queensland Grand Final. The preliminary rounds are held in regions around Queensland. From these regional rounds, 30 teams attend the semi-finals in Brisbane. The top 15 teams from the semi-finals go on to compete in the Queensland Grand Final. The top five will represent their school and their state at the National Finals in December.

Public Speaking – Terrace competition

The Terrace Public Speaking competition will be held next week. Ms Clarke has forwarded the information to all students who have been nominated to compete. We look forward to afternoons of spirited speeches.

Chess

We would normally be having a Bye round for Chess this week, however, Nudgee has reached out and asked us to step in play them tomorrow as their opponents can not play. We look forward to this round as we should have played Nudgee in Round 4.

IsoChess

With the two week cancellation of our GPS Chess competition, our Year 12 student Charlie Macuga resurrected our IsoChess tournament during this time. We thank him for his enthusiasm and leadership by running these events for our Terrace Chess students so that they can remain competitive and keep their skills sharp.

QCMF results

As noted last week, the annual Queensland Catholic School and Colleges Music Festival (QCMF) went online for the first time, with schools submitting their entries last term.

We hope you enjoyed watching the videos of your son's section, we are awaiting our final results and will let you know as soon as we can.

Terrace Jazz Night 2021

Be the first to see the 2021 Terrace Jazz Night held at X Cargo on YouTube.

Support Group meetings

Support Group meetings will be held online if necessary. Should you wish to contact the

• Debating Support Group: DSGChair@terrace.qld.edu.au
• Terrace Performing Arts: TPAChair@terrace.qld.edu.au

Staying in touch

To keep in touch with all things Cultural, we suggest you download the Terrace App and follow us on Twitter and Instagram to ensure you don’t miss anything. If you have any photographs or videos that you would like to share, please tag us.

• TWITTER @GTCulture
• INSTAGRAM terrace_gtculture
• YOUTUBE Terrace Culture YouTube Channel

A note from our Music Captain James Krek

We perform weekly on assembly, sing at weekly Mass, lead the crowd with the Sousa Army at Basketball in the Terradome and rock Tennyson at Football and Rugby games with our Drumline and Pep Band. We march with pride and honour on Anzac Day. We bring home gold, silver and bronze medals at the yearly Queensland Catholic Colleges’ Music Festival – which is the biggest in the Asia Pacific. We have performed on a world stage at Gallipoli, Lone Pine, the Vatican and in America. And we undertake domestic, national and international tours.

As a collective group, we work tirelessly each week to ensure that the music we perform reaches the ceiling that we are capable of. Like any other activity, we train as a group week after week, practising our skills at school and at home.

However, music is an activity of precision. It is the intricate art of employing creative flare while still conforming to what is written on the page. Our success relies on every single individual playing their part to perfection no matter how great or minuscule it is.

I would like to thank the Music staff at Terrace who encourage and guide us to participate in this art, especially the Director of Music, Mr Rose for his knowledge and passion for music and his commitment to the program. I would also like to thank my fellow musicians for their passion and commitment throughout the year. Finally, to our parents who continually support our exploration of the art of music and attend our performances, we thank you.

QCEC update

The latest QCEC updates have allowed Music ensembles to rehearse at 100%.

We look forward to seeing you at rehearsals next week.

Term 3

• Saturday 28 August - Sousaphone Army Basketball performance
• Saturday 28 August - Red Thunder Drumline Rugby performance
• Saturday 11 September- Sousaphone Army Basketball performance
• Saturday 11 September - Red Thunder Drumline Rugby performance
• Tuesday 14 September 5.30pm - TPAmeeting

Volleyball

Jack Weeden (Year 8) has previously represented Queensland at Beach Volleyball at Under 14 and Under 15, but what he loves is indoor volleyball - with much inspiration from Terrace and his older brother Ben, Jack has been selected to represent Queensland in the Under 15 team in the Australian Youth Volleyball Championships in Bendigo on 25-30 September 2021.

We wish Jack the very best in this new challenge.

We pray for the families of the following members of the Terrace Family who have gone to their eternal rest.

Mr Romauld DENHAM – GT 1951-52

Mr Paul WREN - GT 1948-51

Terrace Debating 2021 Dinner

Details: Thursday 26 August | 6.30 - 10.30pm
Venue: The Marquee, Victoria Park Golf Complex, Herston
Cost: Adults - $65pp (+bf) Students - $45pp (+bf) | Includes two course dinner
RSVP: Please RSVP via the below link by 12 August
For further event information, please contact
Nicole Quinn | DSGChair@Terrace.qld.edu.au

BR&B Annual Lunch

Details: Friday 3 September | 12.00 - 2.00pm
Venue: Duke's Bar, Lord Alfred Hotel | 68 Petrie Terrace, Brisbane
RSVP: Please RSVP to Cathy Stacey by Monday 23 August
For further event information, please contact
Cathy Stacey | cathystacey@terrace.qld.edu.au

2021 Terrace Basketball Raffle

Details: Saturday 11 September | Entries close at 9am
Venue: Will be drawn outside the Campbell Centre before the 1st V fixture
Cost: $25 per ticket (+bf) For further event information, please contact
Angela Papacostas | angepapacostas@gmail.com

Interested in joining Team Terrace as a sponsor – or know someone who’s thinking about it?

If so, you’re invited to our Back Red & Black Lunch on Friday 3 September.

Putting your hand up to find out more will lead to a conversation about how your business priorities can be supported by sharing your brand with the Terrace Family.

You are not committing to anything by joining us for lunch.

This year, we are thrilled to welcome Susie O’Neill – fresh from her Olympic role as Deputy Chef de Mission in Tokyo – as our guest speaker. Dual Olympian, winner of eight Olympic medals, and serial record-breaker, Susie is uniquely positioned to comment on this most unusual Summer Games.

Tom Neill, an Old Boy (GT 2019) swam anchor in the 4x200m freestyle relay at the recent Summer Olympics, winning a Bronze Medal.

The event is a chance to thank our current sponsors and invite new sponsors into the Back Red & Black program (or any of our other sponsorship opportunities).

Numbers are limited and early RSVP is encouraged.

• DATE | Friday 3 September
• TIME | 12.00pm. Lunch served at 12.30pm
• VENUE | The Lord Alfred Hotel – Duke’s Bar
• RSVP | cathystacey@terrace.qld.edu.au

In an increasingly competitive schools’ market and in the context of diminishing government funding, sponsorship is an important way to diversify the College’s income streams.

Sponsorship funds ensure our boys continue to have access to the very best cultural and sporting opportunities, facilities, coaching, and development.