| A New look for St Mary's | | http://www.smcm.qld.edu.au/News-&-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/Pages/A-New-look-for-St-Mary's.aspx | A New look for St Mary's | <h1>A chapter in the history of St Mary's Community journey recently came to a close. </h1><p>The Redesign Committee with the input of Fr George, parishioners, families, staff and Brisbane Catholic Education Design team, have decided to launch our new logo, which is the culmination of 4 years work to bring the Parish, Primary school and College together under one Logo. The elements of the new logo are contained in the previous 3 separate crests and the significance of these elements are explained in below as part of the launch.<br></p><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="/News-%26-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/SiteAssets/Pages/A-New-look-for-St-Mary%27s/St%20Mary%27s%20College%20Crest%20post.jpg" alt="St Mary's College Crest post.jpg" class="ms-rteImage-2" style="margin:5px;width:300px;" /><br></p><h2>THE LAMP OF KNOWLEDGE<br></h2><p>The Lamp of Knowledge reminds us that “His light shines out of darkness and in our hearts" (2 Corinthians 4:6) It takes Courage to trust and walk in God's light to give us knowledge of His glory.</p><h2>THE CELTIC CROSS</h2><p>The Celtic Cross reminds us of the heritage of our founding Sisters of Mercy and Christian Brothers. We are reminded to always seek to assist those in need. “The righteous care about Justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern." (Proverbs 29:7)</p><h2>OUR LADY, STAR OF THE SEA</h2><p>'Our Lady, Star of the Sea is an ancient title for the Virgin Mary. The words Star of the Sea are a translation of the Latin title Stella Maris. It came to be symbolic of Mary's role as “guiding star" on the way to Christ.' Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. (Psalm 119:105)</p><h2>THE BIBLE</h2><p>The Bible reminds us through the Gospels of the importance Jesus placed on Service to others (Mark 9: 35) “And he said to them, “if anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all."</p><h2>THE COCKEREL </h2><p>The Cockerel has significance to remind our community of the 1st Parish priest in Maryborough originally from France, Fr Paul Tissot in 1861.</p><h2>THE VALUES </h2><p><strong>Service</strong> - Seek to understand and support needs in our Community.</p><p><strong>Courage </strong>- Make a difference while staying true to our beliefs.</p><p><strong>Justice</strong> - Shape a more just and compassionate community.</p><p>These Values are common and connect our founding orders.<br></p><h2>THE WINDOW<br></h2><p>A representation of the recognisable window above the Church altar and a visible sign of the connectedness between the Parish, Primary and College within our St Mary's and wider Maryborough Catholic community.<br><br></p><p><strong>On 22 January</strong> the St Mary's Parish, Primary and College staff joined together for Mass and afterwards celebrated the launch of the new unified logo. </p><p>Mr Bob Grant - Principal of St Mary's Primary School is positive about the changes “this new logo will capture and reflect the values of the founding religious orders who offered a catholic education to children in Maryborough. Together as one St Mary's Community, we are privileged to continue this work and acknowledge their part in building this vibrant regional community".<br><br></p><p>The new logo helps symbolise the connections that already exist between the Church and Schools. It is a renewal of that recognition that we are joined not only by faith but also in the shared goal of strengthening the Maryborough Community in providing excellent learning opportunities for our young people.<br><br></p><p>Our St Mary's community would like to thank all of the members of the Redesign team and those in the community members involved in previous committees over this time, for their work to bring this part of the journey to a conclusion. We acknowledge and thank our wider community who have also been very supportive and responsive to proposal and invitation to be part of this process. <br></p><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="/News-%26-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/SiteAssets/Pages/A-New-look-for-St-Mary%27s/Web%20size%20NEW%20CREST.jpg" alt="Web size NEW CREST.jpg" style="margin:5px;" /><br></p><p><br></p> | | | | |
| Leading the region in ATAR excellence | | http://www.smcm.qld.edu.au/News-&-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/Pages/Leading-the-region-in-ATAR-excellence.aspx | Leading the region in ATAR excellence | <h1>2020 Student Year 12
Success</h1><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">The students
graduating from St Mary’s College in 2020 should feel very proud of their post
schooling options and pathways and have much to celebrate. </p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">A massive
congratulations to our fantastic class of 2020 </p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">16% received an ATAR
above 96</p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">28% received an ATAR
above 90</p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">47% received an ATAR
above 87</p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">(In approximate OP
terms, these students would have ranked OP 1-7)</p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;"> </p><h2>As the first students
to complete the new QCE system, they have done significantly well across all
areas.</h2><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">2020 Graduates
Post-Schooling Summary:</p><ul style="margin-left:0.375in;direction:ltr;unicode-bidi:embed;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0in;"><li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">100% of students received their
QCE/VET qualifications across a variety of areas</span></li><li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">47% of students received an
ATAR or 87 or above (In approximate OP terms, these students would have
ranked OP 1-7)</span></li><li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">Over 90% of University-bound
students received their first preference of course and institution across
a range of Science, Engineering, Health, Law, Education, and Design.</span></li><li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">Students have received
apprenticeships in a range of areas in Maryborough</span></li><li style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;vertical-align:middle;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">Others have applied for the
armed forces and taken up employment locally</span></li></ul><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;"> </p><h2 style="text-align:center;">Special
acknowledgement goes to our MANY students who received 90 and above! <br></h2><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;text-align:center;"><img src="/News-%26-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/SiteAssets/Pages/Leading-the-region-in-ATAR-excellence/millie.jpg" alt="millie.jpg" style="margin:5px;width:150px;" /> <img src="/News-%26-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/SiteAssets/Pages/Leading-the-region-in-ATAR-excellence/matthew.jpg" alt="matthew.jpg" style="margin:5px;width:150px;height:150px;" /> <img src="/News-%26-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/SiteAssets/Pages/Leading-the-region-in-ATAR-excellence/jack%20m.jpg" alt="jack m.jpg" style="margin:5px;width:150px;height:150px;" /><br></p><div style="text-align:center;"><img src="/News-%26-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/SiteAssets/Pages/Leading-the-region-in-ATAR-excellence/jack%20at.jpg" alt="jack at.jpg" style="margin:5px;width:150px;height:150px;" /> <img src="/News-%26-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/SiteAssets/Pages/Leading-the-region-in-ATAR-excellence/archie.jpg" alt="archie.jpg" style="margin:5px;width:150px;height:150px;" /> <img src="/News-%26-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/SiteAssets/Pages/Leading-the-region-in-ATAR-excellence/emma.jpg" alt="emma.jpg" style="margin:5px;width:150px;height:150px;" /></div><div><div style="text-align:center;"><img src="/News-%26-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/SiteAssets/Pages/Leading-the-region-in-ATAR-excellence/alyssa.jpg" alt="alyssa.jpg" style="margin:5px;width:150px;height:150px;" /> <img src="/News-%26-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/SiteAssets/Pages/Leading-the-region-in-ATAR-excellence/ellie.jpg" alt="ellie.jpg" style="margin:5px;width:150px;height:150px;" /> <img src="/News-%26-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/SiteAssets/Pages/Leading-the-region-in-ATAR-excellence/jordan.jpg" alt="jordan.jpg" style="margin:5px;width:150px;height:150px;" /></div><br><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">We look forward to
hearing their stories over future years as they will always be a part of our St
Mary’s Community. We wish them well in all endeavours.</span><p><br></p></div> | | | | |
| Premiers Coding Challenge Winners | | http://www.smcm.qld.edu.au/News-&-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/Pages/Premiers-Coding-Challenge-Winners.aspx | Premiers Coding Challenge Winners | <p><img src="/News-%26-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/SiteAssets/Pages/Premiers-Coding-Challenge-Winners/Premier%27s%20Coding%20Challenge%20Finalists%20Ava%20Smith%20and%20Skyla%20Birch.jpg" alt="Premier's Coding Challenge Finalists Ava Smith and Skyla Birch.jpg" style="margin:5px;width:634px;" /><br></p><p>AVA
Smith and Skyla Birch from St Mary’s College recently won the Queensland
Premiers Coding Challenge. They competed in the Year 7-8 Python/JavaScript/
HTML Pairs Category. The Premier’s Coding Challenge is an annual state-wide
initiative open to all Queensland students in Year 3 to Year 10, to encourage
and foster a love of technology, coding and development. The Virtual
presentation was live streamed across the state and was broadcast at the
College assembly. </p><p>St Mary’s College always encourages interested students to
participate in the competition with the 2020 challenge set to code an
interactive and innovative digital solution to raise awareness of
cybersecurity. From explaining the importance of cybersecurity, to planning a
digital solution for a specific audience, writing an algorithm, turning the
algorithm into visual block code using Scratch or text-based code using HTML or
Python, all the way through to supporting a self-evaluation of the prototype
and filming a video explanation of their design. Ava, Skyla and other students
were encouraged to enter as part of the College Makerspace (The CITADEL). “We
would like to thank Ms Patterson and Mrs T for helping in the setup, the
recommendations and coding advice” To enter the challenge, the students began
by learning a new language. Ava explained “We really wanted to challenge
ourselves but we first had to learn HTML code” Skyla said “I think the hardest
thing was, we had all these ideas, but we really had to limit them down and
find a general idea what we wanted. “Then we were able to adopt things and take
things away to streamline it.” The girls created their entry - a website, using
HTML code, they then utilised the College CITADEL equipment to transfer the
website onto a Raspberry Pi device which they set up as a web server. Ava said
“We got our friends and other students in the library to test it and tell us
what they thought, we could kind of tell if they found it exciting, and we
found what we had to do after that.” Ava and Skyla have a real passion for STEM
which they share with their peers. </p><p>As a duo, the girls have become regular
winners of technology based awards, in January 2020, the won the Young STEM
Award at the Fraser Coast Australia Day Awards. In 2019, the girls won the Mayor’s
Telstra Innovation Awards and won a trip to Sydney. From that they were invited
to apply to be SheEO Activators as part of a Queensland Government Initiative
that sponsored 10 women to be Activators. Ava and Skyla reviewed businesses
asking for funding from SheEO in 2020 and voted on which women-led venture
should receive the money. These sessions were held online and continued through
COVID19 lock down.<br></p><p><img src="/News-%26-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/SiteAssets/Pages/Premiers-Coding-Challenge-Winners/coding%20challenge%202.png" alt="coding challenge 2.png" style="margin:5px;width:299px;height:269px;" /> <img src="/News-%26-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/SiteAssets/Pages/Premiers-Coding-Challenge-Winners/coding%20challenge%203.png" alt="coding challenge 3.png" style="margin:5px;width:319px;height:268px;" /><br></p> | | | | |
| Top Technology Hub for our Seniors | | http://www.smcm.qld.edu.au/News-&-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/Pages/Event-back-on!-Taster-Day-5-August-2020.aspx | Top Technology Hub for our Seniors | <h1>Top
Technology Hub for our Seniors<br></h1><h2>Term 4 2020 welcomed
the launch of the newly renovated exceptional
Senior Hub</h2><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;color:#050505;"> </p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">The newly renovated
Senior Classroom Hub is dedicated to our Students advanced learning
requirements, St Mary's College is excited to have the project finished and
ready for our valued students to enjoy. </p><p lang="en-US" style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">The seniors
contributed to the internal design preferences and are very excited to now have
such an advanced space dedicated to inspiring and supporting their learning.
Discreetly jam packed with the latest technology the equipment within the rooms seamlessly
integrate with every student and staff members individual College laptop and
technology devices, the comfortable furnishings create distinctive multi-work
spaces, within the set of three unique expansive rooms. </p><p lang="en-US" style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">Our
students were given a tour of the rooms ahead of the official launch, here is
what they had to say…</p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jack Mott (Captain of College)</span> "The
comfortable furniture and collaborative learning spaces are really good, We
enjoy writing on the Whiteboard walls in groups. Working with the teacher,
being able to display and work on our projects straight from our laptops to the
touch boards and back is pretty nice."<br></p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Eyerus Dale and Elle Wilson</span> - "We like
writing on the whiteboard walls and we both like the new chairs and beanbags,
this helps us relax in learning, it's great to have collaboration spaces and
also the whiteboard tables"<br></p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;text-align:center;"><img src="/News-%26-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/SiteAssets/Pages/Event-back-on!-Taster-Day-5-August-2020/Senior%20classroom%20hub.jpg" alt="Senior classroom hub.jpg" class="ms-rteImage-2" style="margin:5px;width:285px;" /><br></p><p lang="en-US" style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;"> </p><h2>The following week St
Mary's College invited some special guests to tour our newly renovated senior
classroom hub…</h2><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">Deputy Principal Bern
Feldman hosted the group and welcomed them to explore the features designed
with the latest technology, our students will now enhance their learning with
versatile spaces combined with their fully supported laptop and IT systems. </p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:arial;font-size:11pt;">It was wonderful to be
introduced to Labor Senator for Queensland Anthony Chisholm with MP Bruce
Saunders and again see our Mayor George Seymour joined by Deputy Mayor Darren
Everard and our Division 4 Councillor Daniel Sanderson. <br></p><h2><br></h2><p style="color:#0072c6;font-size:10pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"> <img src="/News-%26-Events/SMC-Top-News-Stories/SiteAssets/Pages/Event-back-on!-Taster-Day-5-August-2020/New%20Senior%20learning%20hub.jpg" alt="New Senior learning hub.jpg" class="ms-rteImage-2" style="margin:5px;width:720px;height:477px;" /><br></p> | | | | |
