This week has demonstrated what an incredible and inspiring community we have at A.B. Paterson College with the enormous support shown at the College’s inaugural Giving Day. It was not only overwhelming to witness the generosity of our community but also to have the opportunity to showcase the incredible talents of our students within the Performing Arts faculty. It was wonderful for our community to be able to see our students perform in person after such a long time and to raise awareness for such a worthy cause.

The final week of term has also seen the College celebrate Book Week with author visits, parades and the entire College collectively coming together to Drop Everything and Read – Outside! Our Year 10 and 11 cohorts had the privilege of hearing from guest author and internationally and nationally awarded singer/songwriter Nadia Sunde, who presented on the Art of Creative Confidence. Whilst our Year 7 – 9 cohorts had the opportunity to hear from author and motivational speaker Tim Baker about how he uses surfing as a portal through which to interest young people in history, national identity and our relationship with the coast and the beach. Each presentation was very well received by our students and provided a glimpse into the world and lives of authors. The week of events concluded on Thursday morning with the College’s first Drop Everything and Read – Outside. Each student from Prep to Year 12 brought a book to the Taylor- Dostal Oval to simultaneously drop everything and immerse themselves in a good read.

With such an exciting end to a term, our students and College community can look forward to a well-deserved rest over the holidays. The break is an opportunity to refresh, recharge and look ahead to prepare for Term 4. Students are encouraged to use this time to ensure that their uniform and presentation meets the high standards that are set at the College by checking that skirts are of the appropriate length to the calf, haircuts are in line with the College standards - short hair for boys ensuring the length does not touch the collar, eyebrows or ears (with no undercuts), and for girls, hair up and pinned back with College approved accessories where needed.

I hope you all have a wonderful break over the holidays and wish our Year 12 cohort and Year 11 accelerated students good luck in their preparations for the external examinations commencing in Week 3.

Charlotte Brook
Head of Senior School 

CONGRATULATIONS to our amazing A.B. Community! We smashed it!

Together we exceeded our target and raised over $200,000 to ensure our A.B. Paterson College Foundation can continue to support families in need.

It was a wonderful day of community with our incredible Performing Arts faculty keeping the crowds entertained on the Village Green at Giving Day HQ. With enormous thanks to all our very talented performers - Intermediate Concert Band, Intermediate Big Band and Senior Rock Band; dance troupes, Senior School Choirs and all our adorable performers in the Years Prep – 6 choirs!

With heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported our inaugural Giving Day, and a special thank you to Computer Alliance, our Foundation event sponsor.

Way to go A.B.!

Book Week was another fantastic week of fun and learning and celebrating literacy at its finest. The CBCA theme this year was ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds’ – and we can safely say the week was OUT OF THIS WORLD!

Our Prep to Year 3 students were impressed by presenters from Perform! Education who wowed students through music and dance surrounding the CBCA shortlisted titles.

Year 4 enjoyed a Harry Potter inspired show by Nadia Sunde, who also spoke to Year 10 and Year 11 about the ‘Art of Creative Confidence’.

Our Year 5 to Year 9 students were fortunate to meet author Tim Baker. Tim, a surf writer, presented himself as a laidback, genuine and authentic person who inspired students to follow their dreams and make it happen. He discussed how everyone is a story teller and how the media we use has changed over the decades. Our students related to him and loved the fact they surf the same waves as him, being that Tim resides on the Gold Coast.

Book Week had some engaging contests. Prep to Year 3 students could engage in STEAM Worldly Creations and their worlds became part of the décor of our Character Parades.

Year 4 to Year 12 also had the opportunity to create digital posters to mark the theme this year. In another contest, Year 4 to Year 12 could take part in a poetry and short story competition. The winning entries can be found as a digital book in our A.B. Paterson Library Catalogue. Congratulations to the winners listed in the photo gallery below.

Our Prep to Year 3 students had the opportunity to write Picture Books, and these winning entries can be found in our Library Catalogue and borrowed from the Lilly Pilly Learning Centre. 

Our Character Parades are always a highlight on the College social calendar. Such incredible effort was put into amazing costumes and students enjoyed their few moments of fame as they walked the ‘read’ carpet and introduced themselves to the camera. The parades, in their entirety, have been filmed and will be available for viewing on our Library Catalogue.

This was the first year we have invited our Year 4 to Year 6 students to dress up in book-related costumes and they made great use of this opportunity donning wonderfully creative costumes and taking part in exciting Book Week inspired tasks in class.

We concluded both Book Week and the end of Term 3 with DEAR-O (Drop Everything and Read – OUTSIDE). It was lovely to see our entire student body, Prep to Year 12, with their teachers, out on the Taylor-Dostal Oval, reading together in the sunshine. We did Banjo Paterson proud by sharing our combined love of literacy and making time for reading and reflecting together on an incredible Term 3.

Our library team would like to thank everyone in our community who supported Book Week. Our students were engaged, smiling and motivated to read, write and story tell.

Happy Book Week 2021!

From The Lovely Library Ladies
Stephanne Siberry, Sarah Burr, Janette Thompson and Amy Carpenter

There was certainly a party atmosphere on the final day of Term 3, and our Preps definitely know how to party!

With the help of Friends of A.B. Paterson College, who whipped up delicious snow cones and handed out packet after packet of popcorn, the Prep precinct was party central.

Mr Edgar pulled out his 'Dad moves' on the dance floor, our Prep teachers boogied to the beats of our Tech crew while our Preps were heard to scream out 'this is the best day ever' and 'I never want to leave school!'

One thing is certain, after the sugar high wears off, everyone will sleep well tonight.

The IGNITE: Ideas with Impact entrepreneurial week for Year 10 produced many impressive business models which demonstrated consideration of the environment and the recognition of our need to create positive social change in the world. Students were tasked with developing a sustainable business idea that has a compelling need, either locally or globally, and then present a clear solution to this challenge.

Each group had to consider the potential to scale their business as well as produce a well thought out budget to start up the company. Numerous mentors volunteered time out of their own businesses during the week to assist our students succeed in their own entrepreneurial journeys. It was evident that each group had worked incredibly hard throughout the week. Five groups progressed to the final round presenting their pitches to a panel of judges and their peers. The groups who receive awards were as follows:

Winners: Sea Moth
Dean Tuesley, Harry Argent, Joshua Lee, Aiden Lee and Tyson Powis

Runners Up: CAPture the Cause
Naia-Rae Fenton, Cayla Sweeney

People’s Choice Award – S Style
Scarlett Smith, Nikolina Subotic, Joy Cheng, Victoria Subero, Lulu Mathers

Student Reflections of IGNITE: Ideas with Impact:

"Looking back on my IGNITE experience, I am most proud of Cayla and I achieving the “Runners-up” award with our business CAPture the Cause. It was fulfilling knowing that our business has the real potential to support families who are affected by cancer to create happy memories together. The greatest challenge of IGNITE was the development of different business tools such as elevator pitches. Before IGNITE week, we did not consider the importance of clearly articulating our ‘Why’ within the process and what creates a successful pitch to gain support from potential investors. Each entrepreneur and mentor who helped us gave us an insight into the questions and strategies we would need in the business world. Without these mentors we would not have considered parts of our business as ‘important’, nor created a successful project that we have fallen in love with and want to continue outside the College." - Naia-Rae Fenton

"When reflecting upon our IGNITE experience, our ability to construct a well-thought-out business, S.STYLE, in only three days, and receive the IGNITE People’s Choice Award is something I am most proud of. I felt a sense of accomplishment when realising that many others believed in our vision and supported our cause which was combatting the negative effects of fast fashion on our environment. The greatest challenge of IGNITE was the incredibly small-time frame given to manufacture a business idea, create a compelling pitch and presentation, and design our trade show exhibit. Prior to IGNITE we did not take into account the amount of time needed, nor the complexities of attempting to solve an environmental issue and developing a successful social enterprise." - Nikolina Subotic

Thank you to Mrs Vanessa Baxter who facilitated the event this year. 

Charlotte Brook
Head of Senior School

While the preparation for the external exams is well underway, our fellow Year 12s are beginning to envision life beyond the gates. To help prepare us for the future, we were visited by Ronda from RACQ to give a presentation on the importance of financial stability. 

Ronda explained about a concept called the Golden Triangle of Happiness, as a way of thinking about the positive and negative consequences of spending through financial control, personal relationships, and short and long terms goals. Along with an extremely insightful presentation, we were given the opportunity to both ask and answer questions to provide our thoughts on spending habits during Year 12. We understand many of us have FOMO (fear of missing out) when it comes to experiences and events, especially in Year 12. However, Ronda opened our eyes to the prospect of developing healthy habits to ensure we are not held back by debt. 

Although much of this can seem quite daunting, Ronda posed the idea that “Making a decision about your money is the same as making a decision on the road”. What that means to an audience of bright-eyed, eager Year 12s is that we, as young adults, need to consider all the factors of our spending and saving much like our decisions at a roundabout or an intersection. A simple technique to manage our expenses was known as Bucketeering. It involves 4 bank accounts: 

1. Need to Breath (essential spending) 
2. Emergency Fund 
3. Bills and Savings 
4. Want/Play. 

This technique was devised to ensure our finances are distributed accordingly to the correct accounts to ensure everything is paid on time.
Once again, a big thank you to Ronda from RACQ for providing us with some useful tools to manage our finances in the future.

James Harder and Ellis Williams

The A.B. Paterson College community cannot thank Mrs Kiyo Kinja enough for the tremendous service she has given to the Year 7 Japanese cohorts over the past thirteen years.  

Each year, approximately 80 students choose to study Japanese in Year 7. In Term 3, they learn about sushi restaurants and how they have exploded in popularity around the world as a healthy 'fast food'. Whilst each country has their own varieties of fillings, the Japanese sushi rolls reflect their environment with many seafood ingredients.  

To truly understand the traditional art of making sushi with a bamboo mat and hand rolling the ingredients, the Year 7 students receive expert tuition from Mrs Kinja and her group of volunteers to ensure the students have personalised instruction. 

"Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless." – Sherry Anderson

Over the past 13 years, more than 1,000 A.B. Paterson College students have received expert sushi tuition from Mrs Kinja. Check out this photo from 2009 when Mr Trent Davis was a student of Mrs Kinja! 

Each year, Mrs Kinja spends hours preparing the rice, cutting up ingredients and making individual portions for each student. The teachers are always grateful for the freshest sushi that has been lovingly prepared for a quick lunch!

Mrs Kinja is exceptionally accommodating and has been able to work in the classrooms (2009 picture), the College kitchen (2015 picture above) or even in the Chisholm Courtyard (this year). She is priceless and we cannot possibly thank her enough. Mrs Kinja, on behalf of all of the Year 7 Japanese students you have taught over the years, we say Arigatou.

ありがとうございます。

Sue Walduck
Director of Teacher Development and Effectiveness

Many high school graduates seek to gain employment in either a part-time or full time capacity.  In the Unit 4 Languages curriculum, students are asked to consider how their language skills could be utilised in future employment. 

The JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort and Spa in Surfers Paradise is a leading hotel on the Gold Coast for international guests. When recruiting staff for the hotel, one of the key selection criteria is the languages an applicant can speak. With this in mind, an educational partnership was set up between the College and the Marriott to highlight the importance of second, third or fourth language acquisition in the tourism sector on the Gold Coast.

This week, the Year 12 Language students enjoyed a tour of the Marriott. For the Spanish students, all the hotel facilities were explained to them in Spanish with a native speaker who works at the hotel in customer relations. The Japanese students were taken on a tour by a Marriott employee who works with the VIP Japanese guests.  Over lunch, the hotel Human Resources team explained to the students (in English) how to highlight their skills on their resume and how to best present themselves when seeking future employment.

The Language faculty would like to thank the JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort and Spa for their wonderful hospitality, personalised service and meaningful education of our students.

"This experience was fun and interesting as it enabled me to understand how Japanese and other foreign languages are used in the real-world." - Ellen Jeon

Sue Walduck
Director of Teacher Development and Effectiveness

The students in Year 5 Japanese have been learning about Japan’s fascination with robots and their quest to be the most technologically advanced nation in the world. During the term, students discovered the chores and jobs that robots can do in Japan and they started to consider how life in Australia could change with robots.

The students also began to understand how the Japanese culture embraces robots from a young age and yet some people in Australia consider robots a threat to their employment or even safety. In an attempt to ensure robots are loved in Japan, many families send their children to school with their meal made into cute robot shapes.

Based on the pictures below, the students' task was to create their own obento robot. What are your thoughts? Is that a cute thing to see when you open your lunch box or is it a little alarming?!

Sue Walduck
Director of Teacher Development and Effectiveness

Join Cornerstone Chorus for their debut performance at A.B. Paterson College in the LPAC Theatre, Saturday 23 October 2021, from 7pm.

Cornerstone Chorus is directed by A.B. Paterson College HaSS teacher and A Cappella Choir Conductor, Mr Jonathan Albertini and boasts a number of Old Collegians among its members.

As current Queensland Gold Medal Champions, they will be presenting a combination of old time classics and modern interpretations of some of your favourite songs.

Featuring performances from local community groups Serotonin and the A.B. Paterson College A Cappella Girls and Boys Choirs, the night will be filled with harmonious tunes, bound to captivate all audiences.

Book now at DLPAC Bookings.

The recent Northern Gold Coast Division, Gardinar Chess Interschool Competition was a challenge well met and conquered with graciousness and teamwork. 

Wisdom and positivity shone through A.B. Paterson College B Division, Team 3 students. Taysin Klopp flipped his thinking and shared that "he learnt by his mistakes." Nikita Harish confirmed the value of her courage, grit and determination following a highly contested game by stating, “You shouldn’t listen to the competitor, just ignore and take the time to play your own game”. Upon adjudication, her win was a testament to Nikita’s fortitude and emotional strength in not shrinking from a difficult situation.   

With their determination and effort, success in the B Division was evident through merit ribbon awards going to Team 3’s Emily Wong, Taysin Klopp, Sean Weng and Nikita Harish.  Team 3 went on to become the Silver Medal Team Champions in their division.

A Division player, Alana Liew gave wise counsel when she said “be proud of what you’re doing and don’t compare other players to yourself”.  Calvin Liu cautioned that “you can’t get too into your game because the clock will run out!”. Lucas Liu added, “Keep persevering, even if you lose a valuable piece”.

Victory through strong teamwork was proudly celebrated by the A.B. Paterson College A Division, Team 1 students. By recording the highest team score in the top division, Ethan McIntyre, Jonathan Wang, Alana Liew and Calvin Liu were awarded gold medals as the Northern Gold Coast Interschool Competition’s Team Champions. To further honour Team 1 accomplishments, Ethan McIntyre was presented with a bronze medal for his total individual score. Merit ribbons were additionally awarded to all Team 1 competitors.

Special mention at the award ceremony was also given to our Division A, Team 2 - Toby Zhang, Aidan McIntyre, Lucas Liu and Jason Hu - who were congratulated for their competitive spirit, but were just pipped at the post and earnt a commendable fourth team position.  

Congratulations to all the Junior Chess Club students, not only for their excellent results at the competition, but also for their outstanding attitude and conduct.

Susanne Ginnane - Chess Supervisor  

Congratulations to our 2021 Bumper Sticker Winners - Kathy Grimmer and Felicity Gay! 

Ms Sheehy was still wanting to share the love from Giving Day and insisted on drawing not one, but TWO lucky winners this year! Each of our winners have received FREE tuition for their eldest child for Term 4.

Thank you to all our weekly winners throughout Term 2 and Term 3 this year and to everyone in our community who proudly displays their A.B. Paterson College bumper sticker wherever they drive!

Look out for our annual bumper sticker competition again in 2022!

How much recyclable waste would your family generate over a two week holiday period?

Why not find out – you might be shocked to learn just how much of the plastic waste you would usually throw away can be turned into wonderful products.

Our ongoing 10c Tuesdays recycling campaign has recently been expanded to include bottle tops – check out the photo in this article to see the sorts of bottle tops we’re talking about.

Families can collect the caps, clean them and place them in a bag. When school returns next term, simply drop the bag of caps off at the big red bin in Marble Arch drop-off zone – a Planeteer should be on hand to help. If not, leave the bag of caps in the black bin, and they will be transferred later.

And don’t forget your bread tags too… collect them over the holidays and drop them into a collection box upon your return to school. You’ll find the collection boxes in some Junior School classrooms, and there’s also one at the Library desk in The Homestead.

And keep collecting your 10c bottles! We hope to be inundated with your bottles at the big red bin in Marble Arch drop off zone early next term.

Happy recycling everyone!

Netball Finals Success!

Congratulations to our two A.B. Paterson College Netball Club teams who made it to finals on Saturday.

Opal Waratahs finished Runners Up in a tough game against Saint Stephen's College whilst Topaz Magnolias took out their JID division in a strong display against Coomera Anglican College!

A brilliant finish to a very successful season!

Outstanding Eisteddfod Results

Congratulations to Year 10 student Scarlett Smith on her outstanding achievement at the recent Gold Coast Eisteddfod. Not only did Scarlett win the Vocal Solo ‘Classical Song- 15yrs & under’ but she was also awarded the ‘Most Outstanding Classical Vocalist’ from across the entire competition. What an amazing achievement – well done Scarlett!

Congratulations also to Year 4 student, Selina Yaxin Zhang, who was awarded second place for Piano, Solo, 9 years.

MLTAQ Speech Competition - Seniors

Our College Seniors gathered this week to honour their incredible MLTAQ 2021 Gold Coast Speech Competition achievements. We are immensely proud of them all. 

The Languages faculty looks forward to participating in the competition again in 2022, and we look forward to witnessing once again our students' success and proudly supporting their Languages journey. Winners and participants are pictured below - (absent) Year 10 Spanish student, Abbie Briant - Participation Certificate)