It is fairly commonplace to hear someone refer to a “TED talk they have seen recently”. TED is a conference with the tagline “Ideas worth spreading” and to be a member of the audience during a TED conference usually costs thousands of dollars. It is the place where radical and world changing ideas are sometimes heard for the first time. Some of these talks have become the most watched videos on the internet. TED has an international reputation for not only being an excellent conference but one of the most important of the year.
What is not so commonplace is to hear that the high standard synonymous with the TED brand is able to translate to a school context, but this is exactly what happened this week with our second TEDx event. TEDx are like mini TED events, licensed by TED to occur around the world. There are only a limited number of licenses that are given every year so we are delighted to secure ours for the second year in a row.
The theme for our conference this year was ‘Connected’. Our prestigious line-up of speakers Dr Paula Barrett, Dr Daniel Pampuch, Dr Ryan Messmore, Mr Simon Ives, Mr Chris Boden, Mrs Amelia Lockhart and our very own Mr Rob Maguire and Mrs Fiona Cran explored ideas that change the world through our relationships with each other, the environment, work, technology and other aspects of connectivity.
Our team of students who took on the emcee responsibilities also did a fantastic job.
The event was a thoroughly entertaining, provoking, imminently relevant and surprising feast for the mind and it was great to see so many of our students there both in the audience, in the backstage crew and as emcees contributing to the success of the event.
I would also like to especially congratulate Mr Bert Kasselman on his passion for and excellent organisation of our TEDx this year. It is amazing that we are even able to execute an event of this calibre in a medium sized school in Beerwah but that is what we do.
Dance night
On Friday we had our annual Dance Night held at Tullawong High School. It was a wonderful evening that showcased the talent of all our students who participated in GCC’s dance program this year. The quality of the dancing was superb with some beautifully executed solos and group numbers. It was a thoroughly entertaining night that moved along at a cracking pace.
I would like to thank our Performing Arts Department and in particular Stacey Whyte, Sonya Kadel, James Follet and Melinda Carlson for all of their contributions and for making the night a success. I would also like to congratulate our very talented students for their dedication and skill.
Quest congratulations
Quest is an academic competition that provides opportunities for creativity, problem solving and teamwork and fosters outstanding achievement. GCC students participated in the competition Tuesday and did very well. The Year 3 team came in third and the Middle School girls, second.
All these teams qualified to compete at The Quest State Finals on Saturday 11 November. This is held at the University of Queensland. Tuesday’s competition did not have many schools there, but the finals are very well represented. In past years we have had one of our teams go on each year, so this year we have ‘tripled’ our average. The students were very excited when the winners and placegetters were announced yesterday.
The competition required the students to solve three challenges, as a team, within the disciplines of Maths, Science and the Humanities. The content is well advanced for their current year levels. Additionally, the students are judged on their teamwork, which can make or break their day. I would say that our College Values play a very important part in giving our students the right mindset needed to perform well as a team. It is pleasing to observe these principles in action, both when we succeed and when we miss out.
Parent parking grass verge Roberts Road
There has been a growing trend for parents and caregivers to park opposite the school on the grass in Roberts Road and it is causing problems. This is not a car park and when cars are arriving and leaving (particularly by reversing in) they are creating dangerous situations for both ours and Beerwah High School students who walk on the footpath behind the parked cars. Roberts Road is busy most times of the day peaking at the 3pm pick up. Our Crossing Guard Supervisors are reporting near misses with cars reversing out and nearly colliding with children or other cars.
It is also worth remembering that parking in these regions is against the law and you will be fined by the police if they choose to do a patrol. This has happened on previous occasions.
Let’s all work together to keep our children safe.
Calendar
It is a busy time of the year but we realise some families are already planning 2018. Next year’s term dates have been on our website for some time and now you can also find the 2018 calendar on the home page. Please be aware that although these dates are chosen carefully they may have to change when circumstances are beyond our control. This is especially the case for sports carnivals where the weather plays a huge role.
For those planning holidays a long way into the future, you can also find our term dates for 2019 on the homepage of our website.
Share options
Some of you may be interested in a small change we’ve made to our newsletter. You will notice at the bottom of this article (and all of the others) that you now have options to share this with friends and family via your preferred social media. Not everyone is on Facebook and sometimes photos and posts can be difficult to find when you are searching for a particular one. This way you can easily search the website for a particular article and share it from there or at the time you are reading the newsletter.
Mike Curtis, Principal