Principal’s Message | Dr Michael Carroll

Dear Members of the Terrace Family,

It would be fair to say that there is a reasonable amount of illness around at the moment with large numbers of staff and students absent. Make sure that students are looking after themselves. There are a number of assignments pending and exams not too far away, so it is very important that the boys are taking care of themselves through plenty of sleep, warm clothing, drinking water and good hygiene. The Department of Health advises that schools can help prevent the flu spreading by:

• promoting flu vaccinations (any person aged six months and over can be vaccinated)
• encouraging staff and students with flu-like symptoms to stay at home
• sending home staff and children who arrive with flu-like symptoms
• encouraging children, staff and visitors to cover coughs and sneezes and having tissues and rubbish bins readily available
• ensuring children and staff wash their hands regularly

Last Friday evening I had the opportunity to attend the Year 12 Drama production. The students presented three Shakespearian plays – Hamlet, Othello and Macbeth. The performances were extraordinary and I congratulate the 16 students involved, the sound and lighting students from Year 11 and Mr Michael Beh. The quality of performance was the highest I have seen since arriving at Terrace. Well done to all involved.

Last week the College held an ATAR Information Night, whilst this week the Year 11 Subject Selection Evening was held on Monday followed by interviews later in the week. There will be a number of subject related information evenings over the coming weeks. All of these information evenings are designed to assist parents and students to navigate the curriculum landscape and I thank the large number of staff who are involved in coordinating and presenting at these evenings.

During last week the Courier Mail published some data relating to NAPLAN results. Whist I acknowledge that NAPLAN is only one measure of student performance, it does provide some comparison of school results across Queensland. It was pleasing to see that Terrace was placed in the top 10 Queensland schools for Year 7 and Year 9 and one of only two boys’ schools on the list. These results again reflect the hard work of our students and their teachers and the strong partnership with parents. Well done.

The co-curricular program continues with sound results being recorded in Debating, Chess, Basketball and Rugby. We continue to have large numbers of boys involved in these programs and the strong results reflect the quality of the programs. This week we have home games for Chess, Basketball and Rugby. I encourage the community to come along to the various venues to support our teams. My thanks to the many families who travelled to Toowoomba last weekend for games. Team numbers were strong and this was reflected very well through the commitment of the Terrace community. Thank you.

Finally, this week, preparation for the Mt Sion building project is progressing and I hope that construction will commence by the start of Term 4. This will necessitate some changes with regard to access to the College, drop-off and pick-up, playground areas for the students and the presence of trucks in and around the College. I will keep the College community informed as the date for the start of construction is finalised.

Have a great week and stay healthy.

God Bless,

Dr Michael Carroll

College Principal