The changing of the guard is well and truly underway with our Senior College leaders for 2025 announced on Monday at their final assembly for the term. Congratulations to Bella Edwards and Harry Allsop on being announced as our Senior College Captains for 2025. We look forward to supporting all of our 2025 leaders and playing a part in their growth along the way.

This term has seen students from across our College participate in an extraordinary number of curricular and extra-curricular activities, through which they have demonstrated outstanding levels of engagement, creativity and resilience. This would not have been possible without the generous support of parents, families and school staff. 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 leadership teams this term. Our school community continually shows great energy for learning and care for each other, and I thank you for this.

Concordia’s Vision Statement says that we are Inspiring Lifelong Learners, critical thinkers and caring citizens in a Christian community. Term 3 has seen this continue to be the foundation on which we do learning and living at Concordia. This term has again seen size is no barrier to success as we continue to punch above our weight in all areas of school life. Concordia has had many Sports successes, Musical and Arts successes, authentic learning experiences, camps, excursions and incursions, Naidoc Day celebrations and Effort Awards recognition assemblies to acknowledge those students who bring their best effort to their learning programs every day – well done and thank you to our students for being such wonderful ambassadors for Concordia. A sporting highlight this term has seen Concordia wrap up a clean sweep of all the QCIS trophies in the same year, a first for any school in the competition’s 10-year history. It was also fantastic to hear this week that a cast of 145 students will be part of next year’s Musical, Anastasia. This is a remarkable number of students given the Year 5 -12 student numbers and a true testimony of the strength of the Arts Program at Concordia Lutheran College.

Thank you to those families who continue to use our strong open-door policy across all 3 campuses as we partner to ensure the best outcomes for every student in our care. As they say, it takes a village to raise a child, and together we continue to achieve great outcomes!

What are you doing as a family in the upcoming holidays? I am looking forward to spending some quality time with my wife, away in the caravan at the beach – our happy place! I hope that you also make time to step away from the routines and busyness of the school term.

Wishing everyone a safe and relaxing term break. We look forward to seeing you back again on Tuesday 1 October for the start of Term 4.

Yours in Christ.

Mr Anton Prinsloo
Head of College

Quote of the week:

If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. [African Proverb]

The reformer Martin Luther, from whom the Lutheran Church takes its name, was not only a keen theologian but also an accomplished musician and apart from translating the services from Latin into German he wrote many hymns, often using common folk tunes. He once wrote this:

“I would certainly like to praise music with all my heart as the excellent gift of God which it is and to commend it to everyone. But I am so overwhelmed by the diversity and magnitude of its virtue and benefits that I can find neither beginning nor end or method for my discourse. As much as I want to commend it, my praise is bound to be wanting and inadequate. For who can comprehend it all? And even if you wanted to encompass all of it, you would appear to have grasped nothing at all.” Martin Luther, “Preface to Georg Rhau’s Symphoniae iucundae,” in Luther’s Works, vol. 53, pp. 321-322.

At a recent performance by a student at assembly, it dawned on me that just as the Psalms of the bible were written in response to people’s experience of life and their encounters with God along the way, and they express all sorts of emotions and reflect many circumstances – inviting the reader into these emotions and circumstances, much music today also reflects the emotions and circumstances of the authors and invites others to share these. In this way, music creates community and connections.

And I guess that is what we seek to do here at Concordia – create a community that enables people to connect with one another, a place where everyone is welcome and where God’s love can be experienced.

As you come to the end of this very busy term, I pray that you will find time to reflect on that gift of community, how each of you contribute, and where you can connect within the community – it may well be a choir or music group. Perhaps you can join the Psalmist in praise: Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits… (Psalm 103:2)

Have a restful break!

God bless,

Thomas Böhmert
College Pastor

Not only is this a time look back and celebrate achievements, but it is also a time to begin looking forward to new adventures and challenges that lay ahead for Term 4. This past week we have had our Musical cast announced to the community and these students will begin their preparations next term. This comes with a mix of excitement and nerves as students look to be part of an experience that brings our college community together.

When faced with new challenges or events, it is normal for us to experience a combination of excitement and anxiety. Scientifically speaking, anxiety and excitement have a lot in common. The racing heart, stomach butterflies and sweaty palms we feel when anxiety hits are all physical symptoms from the nervous system activation. These are normal reactions our body takes in anticipation for specific events.

One way to combat anxiety is to reframe our nervousness by calling it what it is – another kind of “excitement.” This reframing of mindset can drastically affect our confidence levels. Excitement is a positive emotion and by focusing on “what could go well” instead of “what could go wrong,” this leads to more confidence, reassurance and activation of calming signals in the nervous system. The first steps to battling early stages of anxiety, is by changing our perspective and focusing on the positive emotions, like excitement.

It is important to know that there is a difference between “good” and “bad” anxiety. There are times when rushes of anxiety can help to improve performance for example before a sporting event or getting ready for an exam. However, experiencing too much anxiety, over long periods of time, can be damaging to health and wellbeing.

For most adolescents some primary areas of concern that can trigger anxiety include stress, study, body image and friendships. It is important to be aware of the “bad” anxiety signs and try to implement actions to prevent these from becoming overwhelming. This includes behaviour signs such as avoidance of social situations, unable to relax or struggling with stresses of school life. There can also be physical signs such as experiencing panic attacks, appearing constantly tired or trouble sleeping, or frequent somatic/body complaints (i.e. nausea).

There are preventative measures that we as adults can make to help our kids build the necessary skills to cope more effectively with anxiety. To help with this, see below the following SchoolTV resources that may assist your child when they are feeling anxiety in the lead up to important events. Resources also help families to detect when anxiety because more than just feeling worried and provides strategies on how to address this.

SchoolTV – Anxiety Resources

As a college we want to be able to support all our families in times of struggle. If you notice that your child is experiencing anxiety related concerns, then please reach out to a member of our Pastoral Care Team. We would like to wish all our families a restful and safe school holiday break. We look forward to seeing you again at the beginning of Term 4.

Take care!

Mr Tony Manteufel
Director of Pastoral Care and Wellbeing

As we prepare to say goodbye early next term to all of our Year 12s, a reminder to graduating students and their families that this is really “see you soon.” Once a Concordian, always a Concordian. To stay connected and be a part of future Old Scholar events and general invitations, we encourage all Year 12 parents and students to ensure we have your updated contact details. We look forward to seeing you at future gatherings, where we will continue to celebrate the legacy of our Concordian family.

I was privileged to attend the Year 12 Boarder Recognition Dinner, an evening that displayed the spirit of our boarding community. Students and parents spoke from the heart, sharing memories and expressing gratitude for the friendships and experiences that have shaped them. Our Year 12 boarders are ready to take on the world, but they will always have a place here and we look forward to seeing them when they visit. We were honoured to welcome families who travelled long distances to be part of this special occasion.

In other exciting news, in 2025, we will be expanding our school bus services—and they will be free for all new and continuing parents! Please be on the lookout for an email survey to ensure you can take advantage of this fantastic transport offer. We are working hard to make your life easier when it comes to getting your children to and from our campuses.

We wish all our students, staff, and families a wonderful holiday. We hope you have the opportunity to spend time celebrating Toowoomba through the Carnival of Flowers. Mostly importantly, take time to recharge, enjoy the company of loved ones, and reflect on all that we have achieved together so far this year. We look forward to welcoming everyone back refreshed and ready for a new term.

The marketing team, maintenance and business office will be working over the holidays to make sure that everything is ready for our student's return in Term 4.

Mark your calendars for our next big whole-of-college event, Oktoberfest on October 19th! It promises to be a fantastic celebration with food, music, and plenty of fun for the whole family. Please invite your friends and neighbours! Tickets are available now on our website.

We thank all our families for their continued support and look forward to seeing you all again in Term 4.

Warm regards,

Ms Belinda Sanders
Director of Marketing & Community Engagement

As we move into the holidays and a well-earned rest, I encourage you and your family to put aside some time to explore books together! Reading is obviously fantastic for our vocabulary and grammar skills, but did you also know it has great benefits for our mental and even physical well-being? It can help to lower heart rate, lessen anxiety, create new neural pathways, and aid in preventing mental decline as we age.

Our page-turner kits are a fantastic way to encourage reading at home. Reading together as a family is also a great way to help young people become interested in books and to see reading as a pleasurable experience. Research (Gagen-Spriggs, 2023) shows that young people enjoy the social aspects of reading and take their reading cues from people they look up to.

Kits available for these holidays are as follows. Each kit includes activities to do together as a family, discussion questions for lively dinner-time chats, and delicious recipes to really get into the mood of the book:

· Two Ways Strong: Written by the Deadly Mob at Concordia with the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. This is the story of Jaz, who comes to Concordia from Palm Island. Suitable for independent readers Year 4+.

· Tommy Bell, Bushranger Boy: Written by local author Jane Smith, this book is a great adventure story for all ages. Suitable for independent readers Year 4+.

· Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: A classic! Lots of adventure, chocolate, and crazy words.

Kits are available to collect in the first week of the holidays from SSC reception. Please email Heidi (Heidi.edwards@concordia.qld.edu.au) for more information

Twilight Showcase
On Wednesday night our Junior college classrooms were opened to all parents, grandparents and special friends. This was a fantastic occasion for everyone to witness the incredible learning journey that has occurred this term. Students took the lead throughout the evening as they shared their learning about things such as Australian animal habitats, Great Barrier Reef Revival designs and flood warning systems for houses. A special highlight for the WSC Year 4 students was the presentation of the Individuals of Eminence. These students embraced the personas of their chosen eminent person and enjoyed sharing their knowledge with all our visitors.

Year 6 Cairns trip
Last week our Year 6 students embarked on their annual trip to Cairns. This adventure enabled them to explore the Great Barrier Reef and even engage with our resident marine biologist, affectionately known as Scuba Phil. They also had the opportunity to present their reef revival solutions after learning about the importance of marine conservation.
We must congratulate the students on the way they carried themselves throughout the trip. The staff received many positive comments from members of the public about how respectful our Concordia students were throughout the week. We must also thank Mr Baker, Mrs Scouller and Mrs Paynter for the huge amount of organising that goes into a trip such as this, as well as the many parents who gave up their time to attend.

CLCers
Our values of Courage, Learning, Compassion, Excellence, Respect and Service have been a focus for both Junior Campuses this term. These are now affectionately known as CLCers. We have focused on one of these values each week and have been rewarding students for this through our Valuing our Values competition. Yesterday, the Year 2 class at WSC enjoyed their pizza party for being the winning class. We now look forward to hearing who the winning class will be at HSC early next term.

Prepping for Prep
Over the last two weeks we have enjoyed welcoming our 2025 Prep students to our Prepping for Prep sessions. These sessions are instrumental in assisting these little people in familiarising themselves with their new school environments. We look forward to continuing these sessions next term, ensuring a smooth transition of our newest members of Concordia.

As we are now at the end of the term, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone in our school community - students, parents, and staff. Your support and enthusiasm have made this term truly special. From sporting events, excursions and choral and instrumental showcases there has been much to celebrate.

We wish you all a safe and happy holiday and look forward to welcoming you back for another exciting and busy Term 4.

Click here to view HSC's Events for Term 4 2024, Week 1.
Click here to view WSC's Events for Term 4 2024, Week 1.

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

AFL “Auskick” Programs

Another program offered to our students recently, was the ever-popular “Auskick” program held at both campuses after school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays respectively. This is an initiative by AFL targeting grassroots development and participation of Primary-aged students and runs for 6 weeks. Both campuses have recorded very strong numbers in attendance at these programs.

It has been fantastic hearing glowing reports about the student’s involvement in these sessions and their competitiveness in a host of modified games and challenging drills. Well done!

South West Qld Touch “Swans Cup”

Recently our Junior College Touch Boys and Mixed teams were competing in the “Swans Cup”.  This is a fantastic initiative by the South West Qld Touch development staff which is growing every year.  It provides an opportunity for our students to play in a 6-week competition against other schools in the region on a Monday night at the Kearney Springs Touch complex, improving their skills and learning about a great game.

Many of our players are relatively new to the game of touch, but the improvement each week is encouraging, and what this competition is about. It is helping to develop grassroots touch players in our schools and community.

Next on the list is, hopefully, competing in the annual South West Qld All Schools Championships next term in the mixed division if there is enough interest. An EOI has been sent out for this to families.

Jump Rope for Heart

This term our year three and four students have participated in the JRFH program which is a national skipping and fundraising event that has been around for over 40 years. It aims to encourage students to be physically active, leading them to a future of better health outcomes and reducing their risk of heart disease in adulthood. Part of their skipping journey has been to raise funds that will go towards powerful new research to help end heart disease. It has been inspiring to watch the students each week with their efforts not only in class, but at lunch times and before and after school pick up the skipping “bug”. In week 9 to conclude this program, a” Jump off day” was held at each campus where the students showcased their newfound skills to their peers and teachers. Congratulations to these amazing students on their success, raising over $5250 for this worthy cause. Well done!

Track and Field

Our Central Zone and QCIS Track and Field Team have been busy in training for a host of events. Full credit to these athletes who have continued to show up to sessions over the past 6 weeks in sometimes less than favourable conditions before and after school at the respective campuses. As has been highlighted in our community, our Concordia athletes competed at the annual QCIS Track and Field Carnival held for the first time at Concordia College and came away with some amazing achievements across the team. Our Junior College students were brave in their efforts on a freezing cold day, recording some strong performances. Congratulations to our team on taking out both trophies on the day!

The Central Zone Track and Field Carnival has also been held recently at the O’Quinn Street venue, where our students competed against 9 other schools, vying for selection into the Central Zone Track and Field Team. Congratulations to the following students on their selection to compete at the Darling Downs trials on the 20^th of August at Harristown SHS Oval.

• William Spoelder, Thomas Richards, Harrison Stokes, Beau Ramia, Alistair Pukallus, Ajah Ayii and Georgia Cavanagh
• Special mention to both Thomas Richards and Ajah Ayii who have been selected in the Darling Downs Team in their respective events to compete at the State Titles in Brisbane soon. Also, well done to Ajah Ayii who set a new 10-years Central Zone Girls 1500m record with a run of 5.43.14 eclipsing the old record of 5.52.60.
• Thomas Richards recently also competed at the National State Cross Country Championships in Tasmania, where he mixed it with the best runners in the Country in less than favourable conditions.  Well done, Thomas, you have done Concordia proud!

CENTRAL ZONE TRACK AND FIELD TEAM 2024

The announcement of our 2025 Musical, "Anastasia," has generated much excitement. Congratulations to all the students who have been selected for the cast and crew. Your hard work and dedication will undoubtedly make this production a memorable one. Auditions for the musical were highly competitive, and the students who were chosen demonstrated exceptional talent and commitment. We are confident that they will bring the story of Anastasia to life in a captivating way in 2025.

Tonight, we celebrate the achievements of our Year 12 students at their Arrivals and Valedictory evening. As they make their red carpet-style entrances, we'll witness a beautiful culmination of their CLC journey. This is a special occasion for students, families, and staff to come together and celebrate their accomplishments and honour these remarkable young adults.

Looking ahead to Term 4, our Year 9 students will embark on their four-week Googa camp. This transformative experience will provide them with a unique opportunity to develop independence and resilience as part of the Rite Journey program. The Googa Camp is a challenging but rewarding experience that helps students build character, develop leadership skills, and learn to appreciate the simple life. We are confident that our Year 9 students will return from camp with a renewed sense of purpose and a greater understanding of themselves and others.

Term 4 will also be a time of celebration as we honour our Year 12 graduates and recognise the achievements of our students at our Graduation and Recognition Evening, as well as our Concordia Lutheran College Presentation Evening.

As our Year 12 students prepare for their External Exams, we wish them all the best in their final academic challenge. Our teaching staff will be working tirelessly to prepare students for this final hurdle.

We are also excited to welcome our new incoming 2025 students to Concordia Lutheran College on Orientation Day – 14 October. This event will provide students with a chance to get to know each other and experience life as a Concordian.

As we enter spring break, I encourage all families to relax, recharge, and enjoy quality time together. We look forward to a productive and exciting Term 4 as I am sure we will finish the year on a high.

Yours in faith

Mr Jamie Pukallus
Director of Campus

Week-to-week Sports

Our Touch program continued to grow, culminating in us entering a record number of teams into the Swans Schools Cup Touch Football competition, including a U13 boys' team, 2 x U15 boys and girls' teams and a U18 mixed team. Congratulations to our U15 boys who made the Grand final and went down narrowly against St Mary’s finishing runners up for the season.

Our Volleyball teams continued to succeed in the third instalment of the Premier League competition, with our intermediate girls' teams qualifying for the Gold medal match and our senior boys for the Bronze medal match. All teams played nail-biting games but were unfortunately on the wrong end of the result. Our junior and senior girls' teams also had fantastic seasons with much improvement and growth seen in both teams, placing all teams and our Volleyball program in good stead for 2025.

We continue our Rugby relationship with across-town rivals TAS, joining forces again in 2024 to enter teams into the Darling Downs Super Schools Cup Rugby competition. All teams were dominant through the regular season matches with the U15 and Open boys going undefeated. The U13 faced a full-strength St Mary’s in the semis and unfortunately did not progress to the Grand Final, however our U15 and Opens kept on their winning way defeating SCOTS and Faith Lutheran. The U15s could not get over the final hump though going down very narrowly to St Mary’s in the Grand Final, whilst our Open boys had a convincing win against Mary Mackillop to claim back-to-back championships. Congratulations to Patrick Malone who was named in the team of the tournament.

Our Wednesday night Netball teams continued to fight hard in every match throughout the term and showed true Concordia spirit to the very end. Well done to all our Netball players on what was a very tough first season. We look forward to seeing our Netball program grow and develop further over the coming years.

This year our U15s boys entered a team into the club Basketball competition and got better with every game they played, qualifying for the Semi-final. Unfortunately, they went down by the narrowest of margins 33-28. Well done boys on a terrific season and thank you to our senior boys who coached for the season.

Sport Events

In week 3, our boys Soccer team competed in the annual Red Lions Cup. Traditionally a senior student event, the Concordia team consisted of players from Y7-12 and showcased the talented Footballers we have right across the college. The boys played terrific on the day and were unlucky not to progress to the next round of the tournament, missing out by 1 goal differential.

Week 3 also saw our Senior Volleyball teams compete at the DD Volleyball Cup. Both teams had strong pools and had some good wins, which rounded out a great day for both teams. The boys finished the day in 8^th place and the girl’s 14^th.

In week 4, Concordia hosted the QCIS Track & Field carnival, and the home advantage proved valuable with our Track & Field team being crowned the QCIS Track & Field aggregate and percentage champions for 2024. This means we are the first-ever school to clean sweep the QCIS championship carnivals, having already claimed the swimming and cross-country aggregate and percentage championships earlier this year. Congratulations to Alex Roberts (U16) and Evie Yeatman (U14) who set new QCIS records in the 100m sprint, with Alex running a 11.68 and Evie a 12.63.

On Sunday of week 4, our U13 & U15 boys and our U15 girls Touch teams competed in the SWQ All Schools competition at Kearney Springs. Against some of the best competition in the region, all teams held their own and were unfortunate not to progress past the Quarter Finals.

In week 5, our Intermediate and Senior Cricket teams competed in the Streetsmart T20 regional final against St Mary’s. Both teams played terrific on the day and were unfortunate not to record wins and progress to the next stage.

In week 6, our Senior boys and girls competed in the annual AAG Basketball competition. The girls played awesome on the day finishing 2nd in their pool, before going down narrowly to Fairholme in the Semifinal. The boys went undefeated all day, ultimately winning the Division 2 grand final against Wilsonton SHS. That makes the boys champions three years running, an impressive feat.

In week 9, it was our Intermediate boys and girls basketball teams' turn to play their AAG Cup. Both teams had fantastic days going undefeated up until the Semi-finals but ultimately finished 3rd for the day.

On Friday of week 9, our QCIS Rugby 7s competed at Downlands in a terrific day of Rugby. We were so proud to have a boys team in every division as well as a Opens girls team compete. Our open boys and girls finished the day third after a couple of narrow defeats, whilst our U13s and U15s had slightly tougher days, both finishing fifth.

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 or have competed on behalf of Concordia and the Darling Downs at the State Championships.

A huge thank you to all our coaches for their hard work and dedication. Without our coaches, these opportunities simply aren’t possible. An extra special thank you to those coaches who are teachers, and generously give their time to support our sport program, at such a busy time in the year.

This term has been filled with exceptional performances and achievements, and our students have not only excelled in their respective sports but have also displayed true Concordia character and sportsmanship. We are so proud of all of our students and their achievements, and we are very much looking forward to the final term of sport to round out a terrific 2024. Have a safe and enjoyable break, and we look forward to seeing everyone next term to pick up where we have left off.

Best regards

Joshua Biscoe

Sports Coordinator

Thank you to Tutor Sam for showcasing his language expertise through translations. and to Tutor Hannah for her extensive cultural understanding of our international students.

Thank you Jarkara, Jyana, Malita, Damita and Zirona for your contribution to the Indigenous painting class that was offered to our visitors. Those at home could be proud of these girls as they shared their culture with pride and dignity.

Next term, our year 9’s will head off to Googa in the first week. Please make sure that they all return to school with all that is on the requirements list. No late starts as the student's head to Googa on the 1^{st of} October. The camp is great for team building, resilience, and confidence. Everyone will enjoy the outdoor experiences.

Our Boarder Captains will be named before our Year 12’s finish in Term 4 and the Captain's handover will take place over a shared meal with all boarders.

Last night we held the Boarder Recognition dinner for Khan and Kerri. A delightful evening.

Thank you to the Kitchen staff, Year 10 waiters/waitresses and our fantastic tutors who gave so much to make the evening a great success. A special acknowledgement to Daphne Cummings and Steve Stiller (both Alumni of Concordia) for their heartfelt and encouraging speeches. To Kerri and Khan – thank you for your contribution this year as Boarder Captains.

Hope you all enjoy our photo gallery this week.

Maureen and the Team