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This term has seen students from across our College participate in many curricular and extra-curricular activities, through which they have demonstrated outstanding levels of engagement, creativity and resilience - congratulations students! 

I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank all students, parents, families and staff members who have supported the ongoing work of our teaching and the leadership teams this term. Our school community continually shows great energy for learning and care for each other, with school pride regularly celebrated in a range of authentic contexts.

Concordia’s Vision Statement says that we are Inspiring Lifelong Learners, Critical Thinkers and Caring Citizens in a Christian Community. So, how do we continue to make this happen at our College every day? 

Term 1 at Concordia has seen school size being no barrier to success as we continue to punch above our weight in all areas of school life. Concordia has had sport success, authentic learning experiences, camps, excursions and incursions this term. Well done to everyone!

As we come to the end of the term both the Junior and Senior Colleges will send out an Engagement Report [Prep - Year 6] or a Term 1 Progress Report [Year 7 - 12]. Please be available to read and celebrate with your student[s] their Term 1 report by acknowledging their efforts and learning behaviours, and then academic successes and growth already achieved this term. This is also the perfect time to discuss and set learning goals for Term 2.

The return to Term 2 will begin with formal Student, Parent and Teacher conferences at the Stephen Street campus for our Year 7- 12 students as well as the opportunity for our Junior College parents to ask for a conference with your child's teacher. 

At Concordia, we strongly encourage the students to attend these conferences as it provides them with a voice in their learning, the opportunity to hear the conversations firsthand, as well as taking ownership of their learning journey, goal setting and ongoing outcomes.

So, what can you expect at Student, Parent and Teacher Care Conferences at Concordia? You are your child's first and most important teacher and we are committed to working with you to make sure your child is succeeding socially, emotionally and academically.

What can you expect?

• A three-way conversation. Just as you want to learn about your child's progress at school, we want to hear from you and your child about how they think they are doing.
• Emphasis on learning. The focus of the conference will primarily be on your child's learning. We want to discuss with you and them how well they are doing and what we can do collectively to support even better learning. Come prepared with any questions.
• Opportunities and challenges. Teachers will always try to give you positive feedback about your child and areas for improvement. Together, you and the teacher[s] can explore ways to help your child with any challenges.

What will be talked about?

• Progress. How is your child coping. Is your child performing at the expected age and grade level. What are your child's strengths and where are the areas for improvement.
• Assignments and assessments. Ask to see examples of your child's work. If you do not understand any parts of the assessment piece or result, ask the teacher to explain it to you.
• Your thoughts. Let the teacher know how you feel about your child's progress and ability. We will allow you and your child to tell the teacher about anything that you feel needs extra attention.
• Learning at home. Ask what you can do at home to support your child's learning journey.
• Learning at school. Find out what services or support are available at school if your child needs more help.

Follow-up.

• Make a note of any actions which you and your child agree on with the teacher. You can use these notes for future meetings and agreed to deadlines with the teacher. Ask for your child's view on the outcomes being decided.
• Find out the best way to consistently communicate with the teacher and agree to a plan which works for you, your child and the teacher[s].
• Talk with your child about the conference afterwards. Remind them about how you and the College will be helping them with the learning journey. Reinforce the praise which was shared with you and your child at their conference.

We look forward to continuing our strong partnership and working relationship with you in the new term.

As we approach Easter, we have had the opportunity as a Christian college to reflect on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. We have set aside time to reflect on the renewal of our journey as a Christian community based on the unconditional love and sacrifices demonstrated by Jesus Christ. I hope that you as a family will also find the time to deepen your relationship with God and recommit to living out the values of love, forgiveness and compassion, themes which are consistently shown at Concordia ŮŮ��Ƶ College.

Wishing you a well-deserved rest and travel mercies during the coming term break.

Yours in Christ.

Mr Anton Prinsloo
Head of College

Reflection of the Week as we head into Easter:

He is not here;

He has risen.

Just as he said.

[Matthew 28:6]

Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, is the key event in the Christian calendar and without it, we most likely would know nothing of this Jewish carpenter, who lived in an obscure corner of the Roman Empire some 2000 years ago. But we do know, and we do celebrate. Interestingly, even in communist East Germany, where I grew up, we had a 4-day holiday for Easter with both Good Friday and Easter Monday public holidays.

St Paul reflects in his letter to the Corinthian church, where some struggled with the concept of resurrection: And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:17-22)

Easter is both a solemn time as we remember the terrible cost as Christ carried our sins to the cross and paid with his life - so that we might have life, forgiveness and freedom - and a joyful celebration as we follow the journey of the women to the grave and find it empty, as we hear again of the risen Christ meeting his followers and sending them out with a message of love and life. And it is that message of joy, love and life we seek to share and enjoy even as we eat our chocolate eggs, hollow like the empty grave!

You are invited to Easter services at local ŮŮ��Ƶ churches:

Emmanuel (at Concordia chapel)
Maundy Thursday 7pm
Good Friday 9am
Easter Sunday 9am

Good Shepherd (Glenvale Rd, Harristown)
Maundy Thursday 7pm
Good Friday 9am
Easter Sunday 9am

Redeemer, Neil St Toowoomba
Maundy Thursday - 7:00 pm HC
Good Friday - 9:30 am
Easter Day - 9:30 am HC

May you have a restful holiday and a joyful celebration of the resurrection!

Thomas Böhmert
College Pastor

Our Open Day was a showcase of the incredible programs, facilities, and opportunities that Concordia has to offer. From interactive science experiments to captivating musical performances, prospective families had the chance to experience firsthand the vibrant and nurturing learning environment that defines our College.

There is always something exciting happening at Concordia and next week the highly anticipated Arts Tour begins. The tour promises to be an extraordinary opportunity for our talented students to immerse themselves in all things creative. 

Packed with enriching activities, workshops, and performances, those fortunate enough to be part of this tour are in for a remarkable experience. We wish them all the best and can't wait to hear about their adventures when they return home.

In the final week of Term 1, we hosted a group of high school students from Japan. It is always a wonderful experience for our visitors from overseas, and our student buddies to get to know different cultures and schooling systems. Our visitors were very impressed with the quality of our teaching staff, students and our beautiful grounds.

May this Easter be a time of reflection, renewal, and hope, as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I hope the break allows you to spend precious time with family and loved ones. The Easter Egg Hunt is always an event our family loves.

Once again, thank you to all our student, parent and staff volunteers for their dedication and hard work. Your support and selflessness are what make Concordia ŮŮ��Ƶ College the vibrant and nurturing community that it is.

Wishing you all a blessed Easter and a wonderful holiday, and we look forward to seeing bright happy faces return to campus in Term 2.

Ms Belinda Sanders
Director of Marketing & Enrolments

For those students that have only just begun their Concordia ŮŮ��Ƶ College journey, Term 1 is a time to celebrate their achievements and feel confident on making the transition to a new school. 

For those students that have been involved in an array of extra-curricular activities, this time is about gaining motivation to continue their interests and start planning for future college events. 

For our Year 12 students, it is about the completion of the first internal assessment tasks and eagerly awaiting feedback and results to know how they have progressed.

Term 1 requires students to “find their feet” and gauge what aspects of their lives they value and where energies will be invested for the remainder of the year. 

It is common for students and families to feel exhaustion at the conclusion of what has been a busy term. It is for this reason that we encourage all students and families to take the opportunity over the school holiday period to rest and reconnect with personal and family interests.

Keeping up with the frantic world can be tiring and challenging for both students and parents. Rest is crucial to wellbeing. Rest isn’t just about gaining strength but it’s also about trust. Trust in oneself to take the time to recharge physically and mentally and focus on those things that matter most in your life. But there’s more to rest than just sleep and down time. Every one of us longs for spiritual rest from the struggles of daily life. Spiritual rest is also needed to demonstrate the belief that God will provide for the details of our lives, and we don’t have to strive in every waking moment.

We are reminded of this in Matthew 11: 28-30, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” This passage reinforces that Jesus came to strip away the weight of expectation that people toiled under, so that we too may look to God to seek rest and ease our burdens. As students and families take some much-needed time for rest and rejuvenate, take some time to be in the presence of God of seek spiritual rest.

We hope all of our Concordia ŮŮ��Ƶ College families have a wonderful Easter Holiday period. We wish you all a blessed and safe break and look forward to an exciting and eventful Term 2.

Take care!

Mr Tony Manteufel
Director of Pastoral Care and Wellbeing

Earlier this week we were fortunate to be able to join several of our Junior College teaching staff on a tour of one of our sister ŮŮ��Ƶ schools in Brisbane. It was wonderful to see how another school operates and was also affirming to know that we have excellent teaching and learning at Concordia. 

Our teaching staff are a dedicated group of professionals who strive every day to refine their practices, and who consistently go that extra mile for the students to ensure that they are fully known and fully loved. As all the Junior College teaching and support staff go off on holidays today, we would like to thank them for the incredible amount of work that has been done so far this year. We hope they have a restful break.

We would also like to take the time to thank our parent community for the support you have given us throughout the course of the term. The partnership between home and school is vital and we are fortunate to have this at Concordia. We hope you can all take some time to rest and relax over the holiday break.

Finally, as we head into Easter, and you share in this time with your family and friends we wanted to share the following poem with you.

The Meaning of Easter, an Acrostic
Every year we celebrate
A day of great joy
Someone loved us so very much
That even death could not destroy
Everlasting hope now exists for everyone
Reminding us on Easter of just what Christ has done

to view HSC's Events for Term 2 2024, Week 1.
to view WSC's Events for Term 2 2024, Week 1.

Blessings for the week ahead.

Mrs Juanetta Priest - Director of Campus (Hume Street)
Mrs Jackie Minnikin - Director of Campus (Warwick Street)

Many thanks to all persons who assisted in some way this term to provide the opportunity for our students to have a game of their chosen sport. 

From all reports and watching the students each week, you can be assured some great memories were made along the way. Special mention to our team of coaches M. Paul Baker, Mr John Trappett, Mrs Elizebeth Scouller and Mrs Cathryn Owen who assisted during the term. I loved the feedback and game recounts from both staff and students each week. A big thank you to the people behind the scenes such as our administration staff and bus drivers who make sure each week students arrive on time.

Next term there is no Friday Interschool sport, as our focus will shift to preparing for our Interhouse Track and Field on Friday afternoons along with preparation for the annual Ball Games Carnival (held late in term 2).

Representative News

Congratulations to Thomas Richards and Emily Gadsby who will be competing at the State Swimming Titles in Brisbane, this will be a fantastic experience for these young swimmers representing both Darling Downs and Concordia at this meet. Good luck!

Congratulations also to William Spoelder, Emmett Merretz, and Thomas Richards for their selection in recent Darling Downs teams in Orienteering to compete at state titles in term 2.

Track and Field News

Our Junior Campus Discus pre-event trials have started this week in preparation for the Track and Field Carnival in Term 2. The Discus event will be finished hopefully in Week 1, allowing for students that have been away. These results go towards cumulative points for their houses on Track and Field Day. Full credit to all our students for their efforts in these trials, setting the scene for some fantastic competition on carnival day.

Our 800m pre-carnival events (Yrs. 8-12) will be also run on Friday Week 3 Term 2 at SSC, I encourage students to keep up their training over the holidays for this event. Times TBA!

Sporting Schools programs

This term Concordia was once again successful in gaining funding to run two programs across our campuses, AFL and Netball. 

These programs are always well received and are delivered by development staff from these sports. These six-week programs focus on grassroots development and introductory skills and games to give participants a “taste” of the sport. They also provide pathways for future involvement for our junior players.

I encourage students to keep training and active over the holidays. I look forward to seeing them in Term 2.

Mr Darryl Fry
Teacher / Junior College Sports Coordinator / Head Coach, Touch

She has been a part of many classrooms over the past several years and more recently a full-time Learning Assistant in the prep room. Leticia will stay with us until we have this position replaced. We will be advertising and hope to have our next Learning Assistant for Prep by the first few weeks of Term 2.

Sport, Sport, Sport, and more Sport!

Sport hit the ground running in term 1, and to be honest, is still, well and truly, in full stride. The interhouse swimming carnival marked the first major sporting event on the calendar for 2024 and was a fantastic day of competition and house spirit. 

Stedman House walked away with first bragging rights for the year, closely followed by Altus and Kessler House. Altus took home the spirit points for the carnival and put themselves ahead of the pack for the newly developed House Spirit Trophy, which will be awarded at years end to the House with the best overall House Spirit throughout the year. 

A big Congratulations to all the age champions and special congratulations to Lisa Richards and Meg Osborne who set school records on the day.

Weekly sporting fixtures commenced in week two, and we had strong representation across a number of the major school sporting competitions in town. This included:

• U15s and Opens girls Futsal teams in the Monday night Schoolgirls competition at Glennie
• U13s, U15s and Opens Futsal teams in the Wednesday night Schoolboys competition at UniSQ
• Junior, Intermediate (year 9s), Intermediate (year 10s), and a Senior girls team in the Tuesday night Toowoomba Volleyball Premier League.
• Year 7/8/9 and Year 10/11/12 team in the Thursday afternoon independent schools T20 Cricket
• Year 7/8 Boys, Year 9/10 Girls and Boys, and Year 11/12 Girls and Boys teams in the Friday night School Basketball competition.

All of our teams played tremendously across their respective seasons and below is just some of the many highlights, achievements and results.

• Our Futsal girls had a tough season against some fierce competition but never stopped trying, and improved out of sight. They should be very proud of their efforts.
• Our Boys Futsal teams continued to build on several years of growth, with all teams having magnificent seasons. The Boys were unlucky not to take away 1^st in all 3 divisions, with the U13s placing 3^rd and the U15s and Opens both placing 2^nd. The Boys efforts didn’t go unrecognized though, as they claimed the Overall School Championship, which speaks volumes to our Futsal program and coach’s.
• The interest in Volleyball continues to grow amongst our girls, which culminated in us entering two Intermediate teams this season. All of our teams held their own throughout the season, with the Junior girls placing 4^th, Intermediate (year 9s) 8^th and Senior Girls 8^th. Our Intermediate (year 10s) retained their title as Champions from last year, winning Gold in their division, once again.
• Our Opens Cricket team got off to a flying start, winning both of their first two games, including a very impressive win over Downlands. The boys played some nail-biting games following these victories and were very unlucky to miss out on playing in the finals but had a terrific season nonetheless. Our Junior team had a tough season, recording only the one win against SCOTS. They fought hard in every game though, and learnt some valuable lessons that no doubt will only make them better next season.
• Our Basketball teams all played excellent in what is a very challenging and competitive competition. Our senior boys were very unfortunate not to make the finals with some very impressive wins against some of the premier teams. Our Year 9/10 girls were our only team to make it all the way to the grand final and went down narrowly claiming 2^nd place.

Week 6 proved to be another big week for our swimmers, with the 13-19 years Darling Downs swimming trials on Tuesday, the 10-12 years Darling Downs swimming trials on Wednesday, in Gatton, and the QCIS swimming carnival on Friday in Dalby. 

These events were a real success for our swimmers, and highlighted the high caliber of swimmers at Concordia, with ten students selected in the Darling Downs representative teams, and our QCIS swim team retaining their title as Overall and Percentage champions. 

A big thankyou to Troy and Jodie, and their team at TJs Swim, for their support of our swimming programs and mentorship to our swimmers.

On Sunday of week 7, our year 7/8/9 girls played in Division 2 of the highly touted Laura Geitz Cup, and finished 4th from 9 teams, going down narrowly in extra time of the semi-final. With 3 divisions and close to 30 schools competing this is a tremendous result for our girls and a great start to our regular Netball competitions for the year, which kick off in term 2.

In week 8, our Futsal teams competed in the SWQ School Futsal titles, and all had great tournaments. Our teams were in every match and were unlucky to not make finals against some very competitive schools from the wider South West Queensland area.

Throughout the term our U16s boys also competed in their first two Gala days of the Veto Sports School Futsal League, and more than held their own against some of the best schools in South Queensland. The boys currently sit 8^th on the ladder and depending on results from the last Gala Day in term 2, will very likely playoff for the shield on the Gold Coast later this year.

At the end of week 9, our Rugby League girls joined forces with some other local schools to compete in the Shenae Ciesiolka Gala Day. This event is a 9 a side competition with focus being placed on introducing new schools and girls to the game of Rugby League in an educational and fun environment. The girls embraced this opportunity and from all reports, we very well may have some future NRLW stars among us.

A massive thank you to all our coaches for their guidance and support of our students through their many sporting endeavors. Without our coaches these opportunities simply aren’t possible. An extra special thankyou to those coaches who are teachers, and generously give their time to support our sport program, at such a busy time in the year.

Throughout the term we had several students trial for Darling Downs School Sport Representative teams. Congratulations to the below list of students who were successful at these trials and will compete on behalf of Concordia and the Darling Downs at the State Championships. 

An extra special congratulations to Charlie Pietsch (Baseball), and Chloe and Abby Denning (Triathlon), who have already competed at the State Championships and have made the QLD team for their respective sports.

By the time this article is published our QCIS Futsal teams, and Lockyer 9s Rugby League teams would have competed in their respective competitions, which is all happening this week (week 10). These results will be posted next term.

Have a safe and happy Easter, and we look forward to seeing everyone next term to pick up where we have left off.

Best regards

Joshua Biscoe

We have recently completed NAPLAN testing for Years 7 and 9 students. Our results in NAPLAN have always been extremely pleasing, reinforcing the strong grounding students are receiving in Literacy and Numeracy. However, we uphold that this is only one aspect of our academic program, and that what students produce in class each day is of much higher significance.

Our Year 7 curriculum has undergone some changes this year, with more connections being made across learning areas to more deeply engage students in critical concepts and skills. Science and technology have this term teamed up to deliver a CO2 cars unit, where students apply both science and design principles to create the best possible mini dragster. These were raced off in our culminating activity on Wednesday afternoon. Look out for the social media highlights of this event.

This term the College has continued to show its increasing sporting strength, with a dominant display in the pool at QCIS Swimming, as well as finals appearances in a number of sports including volleyball, futsal and basketball. Many thanks to our dedicated internal and external coaching staff who have taken students to the next level in their performance.

But, with all this said, the term is still not technically over, as we have our very exciting Arts Tour to Sydney and Melbourne happening next week. The Arts Tour is a week-long, biannual tour that enables College students from Yrs. 7-12, to experience various facets of the Arts through exhibitions, concerts, workshops, musicals, plays and the like. This immersion tour provides invaluable exposure and experience for the students as to what the world has to offer in the Arts. It provides the students with an insight into not only industry and educational opportunities, but experiences that are simply not available to regional centres. We wish students and staff all the best as they set off on this adventure.

Next term we will be holding a new event subject information evening structure in preparation for our 2025 elective options. I will share more information about this early Term 2. Stephen Street Campus will also be hosting the Darling Downs Open Chess Tournament over the May long weekend. This is an international event, with some grandmaster champions on display. Our Parent Connect will be coordinating catering for the players, so we would greatly appreciate any volunteers. Please let us know if you can help.

Take care over the break, and I truly hope families can have a blessed Easter, as we celebrate the Risen Lord.

Yours in faith,

Mr Jamie Pukallus
Director of Campus