In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus asked the disciples what others were saying about him. Peter announced that others believed Jesus to be the Christ. The word Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word for Messiah, which means “the anointed one.” At the time of Jesus, the image of the Messiah was laden with popular expectations, most of which looked for a political leader who would free the Jewish people from Roman occupation. Interestingly, Jesus never used this term himself but preferred to be the Son of Man. Many scholars suggest that the phrase Son of Man is best understood to mean “human being.” In the reading, Jesus explained to the disciples that, whilst others may have thought that about him, he would be rejected by them, and would suffer and die at their hands, but rise again after three days. Peter’s rejection of this prediction was rebuked by Jesus and he explained that discipleship was about following in the way of the cross.

In our own lives, following our faith is a call to discipleship and following the way of the cross can be seen as each of us being true to the Gospel values that we espouse. This may mean that there will be times when others will denigrate us for our beliefs and actions, but these beliefs and actions are deeply rooted in our Catholic faith. In an everyday sense, to our young men, this will mean that there will be times when they will have to make decisions and take actions that are counter-cultural to social views or friends but true to themselves. We refer to this as having integrity.

Our young men finished their last exams today and now can take a short break to freshen up for the last term of the year. There is no formal reporting process or Parent/Teacher interviews for this term. However, if you are concerned about your son’s results, please contact the relevant teacher(s) at the beginning of the beginning of next term.

The Year 11 students and the College staff have selected the College and House Leaders for 2019. When meeting the students before the final selection, I have been most impressed with the calibre of the nominations and the passion that each young man has shown to serve the College and his House. Next year, our College Captain will be Oscar O’Brien and the Vice Captains will be Ben Evans and Morgan Prendergast. They are three very impressive young men.

The 2019 House Leaders are:

Likewise, each of these young men have shown good leadership potential especially in the last couple of years. It is important for us to also remember that the Year 11 students will be leaders of the College next year as well. Therefore, they will all participate in a Leadership Camp on 15-17 October (second week back). The camp will be held on our own campus.

There will be staff changes next term due to some staff taking leave or finishing at the College. Mr Tim Kenny will take long service leave during the term and Mr Luke Royes has been appointed to the position of Dean of Identity during this time. Mrs Lorraine O’Sullivan and Mr Aaron Kerr will also take long service leave during this time. Mr Kevin Van der Weide will return to take Lorraine’s classes and Mrs Megan McVeigh will replace Aaron. Finally, Mrs Avril Perkins has retired from working in our library. Avril has been associated with St Patrick’s as a mother from 1985 and then a Library Assistant since 1995. She has been a wonderful servant to this community and we wish her the very best in her retirement.

The final round of AIC sport took place last Saturday. The only remaining sporting commitment is the AIC Track and Field Championships to be held next term. Our Tennis and Basketball teams finished the season with strong performance against Padua College. Both these sports have enjoyed a wonderful season with the Basketball teams finishing 2nd overall and our Tennis team finished 5th overall in aggregate. I would like to thank the many students who represented the College during the term and particular thanks to Doug Locke and Steve Copping (Basketball) and Br Chris Pritchard (Tennis) for their organisation as well as all the staff, parents and old boys who assisted with the coaching. This year has been one of our most successful years in the College’s history across all sports since we started the AIC competition.

I hope that all our young men have some time to relax and refresh over the next two weeks and that they will be helpful to their parents and return ready to excel again in the last term of the year.

Live Jesus in our Hearts!

Mr Chris Mayes – College Principal

NAPLAN will move online at St Patrick’s in 2019

As part of the national transition to the NAPLAN tests moving online, in 2019 all St Patrick’s students in Years 5, 7 and 9 will complete their tests online. It is a significant move and the rationale for moving the tests online is to improve the marking capability, provide a more engaging experience for students, and better assess each student’s knowledge and skill. Part of the way this is achieved via the online test, is that the test “branches” as students move through the test, with question sections being customised to each student based on their progress. This means that all students will engage with each test in a meaningful and more accessible way.

This transition requires several stages in the lead up to the real tests in May of 2019. The first of these stages is a School Readiness Test (SRT), where we test the capabilities of our technician and Wifi systems to ensure we can implement the test online. This involves students sitting replica assessments (a Writing assessment and an Omnibus assessment – which involves a variety of literacy and numeracy questions). Our SRT will occur on Wednesday 17 October and Thursday 18 October in Periods 3-4, for students in Year 5, Year 6, Year 7A and Year 7B, and Year 8. Note that these tests are for practice purposes and are not marked in any way.

If you do not wish for your son to be involved in the SRT, please email me at tschultz@stpatricks.qld.edu.au by Monday 15 October. Separate supervision will occur while the testing occurs.

The transition to the new QCE for our Year 10 students

Please note the current Year 10 cohort is continuing to transition to the new QCE system and as such there will be ongoing differences between the way and timing of when they complete assessments. As such, there will be no exam block for Year 10 in Term 4. This allows for an extended teaching term and because of the reduced need for end of term examinations at this stage of their courses, there is no need for an extended block of time for cohort exams. For examination and assessment information, please refer to the due work tab on REALM.

Year 11 cohort

The Year 11 cohort who are intending on completing the QCS Test will move into QCS preparation within their access periods on Wednesdays in Term 4. These lessons will be used to introduce the test and start to develop strategies for completing the test. Part of the program will be practice testing so that we can identify the strengths and weaknesses for the group and design our program for next year. It is expected that students engage with the sessions with enthusiasm and high levels of effort and that they attend all times.

Students not sitting the QCS test will work in study sessions.

Mr Troy Schultz – Dean of Teaching and Learning

As Term 3 comes to an end it allows us time as a Pastoral team to reflect and plan our way forward. Looking back over the term I am very proud of the men of St Patrick’s and the way they have continued to build a positive environment around this great College. A personal highlight for Term 3 has been the increased involvement that I have had with the Year 11 cohort due to the ‘Year 11 Dinner Dance’ and ‘Year 11 Leadership Elections’.They are a wonderful group of young men and I am certainly looking forward to working with them on the rest of their journey at St Patrick’s College.

Congratulations to the elected leaders for 2019 who are listed below:

College Captain - Oscar O’Brien

College Vice Captains - Ben Evans and Morgan Prendergast

Last week also marked the final weekend of sport for 2018. To all the students who made the effort to support their fellow St Patrick’s men standing tall as members of the Paddy’s Battalion, thank you. The Paddy’s Battalion numbers continued to increase across the entire year and truly became a sight to behold.

Mr Darren Kearney – Dean of Students

Our last Trimester of team sport for 2018 wrapped up last weekend. Thanks to our coordinators Br Chris Prichard and Steve Copping for organising another successful season. Well done to all our coaches, players for participating in the AIC Competition and our ever-reliable Mum and Dad taxi drivers getting everyone to and from training and games. Your support is very much appreciated by your sons and coaching staff.

Our message to the students is to enjoy sport and winning is a bonus, learn near skills and challenge yourself to continually improve. Our 1^st Tennis team certainly had a less than successful season but were a happy bunch who didn’t stop trying, ‘Fighting the Good Fight’. Similarly, our 1^st V Basketball played strongly throughout matches but couldn’t be in front on the scoreboard at full time on many occasions. Overall our Basketball teams finished 2^nd in AIC Aggregate from all AIC Colleges. This is a fantastic result. Tennis finished in 5^th position which is also a respectable finish knowing many of our teams lacked depth of experienced players in 2018.

Big congratulations to our Premiership winning teams:

• 9A Basketball
• 3^rd V Basketball
• 11B Basketball
• 10C Basketball

Other top finishes:

• 11A Tennis 2^nd
• 11B Tennis 2^nd
• 10A Tennis 2^nd
• 8D Basketball 2^nd
• 10B Tennis 3^rd
• 9B Basketball 3^rd
• 9C Basketball 3^rd
• 9D Basketball 3^rd
• 8A Basketball 3^rd

The St Patrick’s Track and Field squad had their second meet last Friday night. Great athlete numbers participated. Track and Field coordinator Jake Jennings has organised meets and training during the holidays. Students and parents should check Realm regularly for updates on upcoming meets. Track and Field is a very short season. It is vital that students wishing to be considered for the St Patrick’s team compete at the AIC Championships on 22 and 23 October, attend and record results which will be used to select teams. Met North and Bramble Bay results are also considered in team selections.

Contacts for Trimester 4 Sport

Track and Field Jake Jennings jjennings@stpatricks.qld.edu.au

Outstanding Student Achievements

Liam Botting our climber recently had excellent results at the Queensland State Boulder Titles placing 1^st. The championships were held on the Sunshine Coast. Well done Liam.

Mr Doug Locke - Head of Sport

Chess News

Mrs Rosemary Butt - Chess Coordinator

Please find below October Tuckshop Roster

Tuckshop Roster October 2018