Pride
Mr Andrew Holmes | holmesa@mbbc.qld.edu.au
As we approach the end of Term 2, we do so with a sense of pride during what has been a busy few weeks at Moreton Bay Boys’ College.
As we approach the end of Term 2, we do so with a sense of pride during what has been a busy few weeks at Moreton Bay Boys’ College.
Last Friday week was a very special day in the life of the College, as we celebrated our 18th birthday, with the Foundation Day Service and celebrations. It is always a special occasion when we can connect as a whole school community, and the morning gave me great joy and pride as it concluded with House Dunlop securing the House trophy in the annual College Dash.
Foundation Day, a day where we celebrate the official opening of the College. Of course, the College was operating before 28th May, but it was on that day in 2004 when the then State Minister for Education, Anna Bligh, officially opened the school – the newest all boys school to open in Brisbane for 60 years.
During the Service, I was given the opportunity to reflect and remind the boys that the College has been instrumental in helping shape them into wonderful young men, and the college continues to provide outstanding opportunities and experiences for them. It was also an opportunity to acknowledge the boys that started Prep in 2009, and as the class of 2021 celebrated ‘100 days to go’ last week, I’m sure they will reflect back with fond memories and a sense of pride of what they have achieved at MBBC and how far they have come.
Last Saturday evening I had the pleasure of attending the College Musical, The Wiz. It was a wonderful evening where a packed audience in the Music Centre were entertained by watching Dorothy on her journey through OZ, set to music in a dazzling, lively mixture of rock, gospel and soul.
Full of friendships, humour and adventure, The Wiz lived up to expectations and provided a creative, joyful and a wonderful opportunity for our students to showcase their incredible talents. In 25 years of teaching, I have never witnessed a musical performance of this calibre, which was simply outstanding, and I have no doubt that after watching the performance, it will be everyone’s favourite musical.
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the Music, Dance and Drama staff, support staff, actors, singers, musicians, costume and makeup artists, tech crew and support parents for their dedication and commitment in working extremely long hours throughout the rehearsal process. In particular, I would like to thank the Director: Emma Pattemore, Co-Director: Kathrine Lloyd, Producer/Choreography: Kate Fitzgerald, Costumes/Choreography: Hannah Bliss, Musical Director: Ben Langford, Voice Coach: Susan Ellis, Voice Coach: Jenna Maree Woodforth, French Horn: Melissa Barnes, Stage Manager: Robynne Schmidt, Backstage Managers: Jessica Robertson and Jana Barnier, Dressing Room Supervisors: Janet Stewart, Damien Murtagh and Paul Dack. All have done an amazing job in preparing the students for this outstanding production. And a special mention to Jacobie Titman and Ben Cunningham who did such an excellent job in their technical roles backstage.
It has been a great pleasure to witness the growth of such a talented, devoted and enthusiastic team of people who have worked tirelessly over the last six months to provide you with a wonderful showcase.
I am very proud of our students and I commend them all for their professionalism and dedication. A production such as this not only showcases their talents, but also provides an opportunity to develop valuable lessons in collaboration, self-discipline and resilience. I am sure you will agree that everyone involved in this production will cherish these fond memories for a lifetime.
Several weeks ago, I wrote to inform you that Mr Michael Holland, Head of Secondary, will be leaving the College at the end this term to take up the position of Principal at St. Alberts Residential College, Armidale next term. I am pleased to announce that Mrs Naomi Williams will step into this role as Acting Head of Secondary for the remainder of the Year and Mrs Leigh Ann Cadzow-Andreas will become Acting Deputy Head of Secondary for Teaching and Learning.
I am also pleased to announce that Mrs Sophie Norton has accepted the position as the new Year 1 teacher and will replace Mrs Caroline Fogg, who after 14 years of service at MBBC, will be returning home to England at the end of this term to be with her family. Sophie comes highly recommended with many years of Year 1 experience and there will be an opportunity for the boys to meet their new teacher during a transition period planned for the remainder of this term.
Events over the last few weeks have reminded me that the Moreton Bay Boys’ College is privileged to have such a strong, vibrant and caring community that creates a sense of opportunity and belonging for our boys. As we approach the final week of Term 2, may I take this opportunity to thank the parents for your continued support, and on behalf of the College Leadership Team may I wish you all a safe and restful mid-year break.
With Faith and Integrity,
Andrew
Please refer to the TASS Calendar for up to date information regarding school activities.
On Monday of this week, we welcomed Brent Sanders to talk with all of our young men in Years 10, 11 and 12. A former policeman, spending time in a riot squad, gang liaison and sex crimes unit in New Zealand before relocating to Australia, Brent has a wealth of real life experience that he shares with young people across the country to help them to take responsibility for their actions, to recognise the importance of the choices they make, to respect others and to exercise self-discipline.
The audience was captivated as he shared with them some of his professional background and the experiences he had in the line of duty, but they were particularly engaged when he shared his personal story that very nearly led to an entirely different pathway. As a young man, he made some poor choices and fell into a pattern of behaviour designed to win acceptance from his peers. Rather than suggesting the young men in front of him were at risk of heading down the same path, he used his personal story to demonstrate to them the very real consequences of choice and how his personal experience inspired him to contemplate how so many good young men could find themselves making choices that had devastating effects on their lives and the lives of others.
Brent suggested to the audiences those poor choices were often the result of a combination of factors. They include alcohol consumption, peer pressure and fear of losing face. He explained how alcohol can impair judgement and situations in which young people consume alcohol often feature the other two factors. We all know the influence peers can have, particularly in adolescent years when the approval of friends is more important than the approval of anyone else as young people search for their ‘tribe’. That peer pressure can often lead to a fear of losing face or being embarrassed in front of friends because of a failure to meet the expectations. Throw alcohol into that mix and it is no surprise decision making is not at its best.
Sanders went on to discuss issues of consent and sexual assault. Crucially, he clarified for the young men in the audience the definitions of both, after establishing that most in the audience were not entirely accurate in their understanding. This is not a slight against our boys. Sadly, it is the norm. Our young people are typically not well informed, which I suspect is one of the reasons he is so heavily booked by schools, university colleges and corporations. Our young people are entitled to this information so they can make good choices and so they can interact socially knowing very clearly where the boundaries are.
Most young people are under the impression that consent revolves around the word “yes”. From a legal point of view, the focus is actually on “free and voluntary agreement”. Consent, therefore, must be freely given, without fear, threat or coercion. Brent illustrated some clear examples of when somebody might do something against their will to show how someone might say yes but consent is absent because threats or intimidation has been used. Similarly, young people, and even many adults, are not always clear on the legal definition of sexual assault so Brent provides clarity in that regard.
Importantly, he went beyond legal definitions and compelled our young men to always consider what a reasonable, moral and ethical person would do in any given situation. This resonated with me because our goal as educators, above academic achievement, is to prepare our young men to engage in our world morally and ethically and do be kind to others.
The College is supporting this important initiative to help the homeless community stay warm and dry over winter.
Students are encouraged to bring in sleeping bags, cup-of noodles and wet ones wipes, to add to the College donation.
Please bring any items to student reception.
Thank you
In November 2016, shoe company Nike launched Breaking2, a project to design a pair of running shoes that would help an elite athlete run a marathon in under two hours. The current world record at the time was a few seconds under two hours and three minutes, so breaking the two-hour barrier would be a first-time-in-history achievement. Understandably, to even get close to this goal, they would need a world-class long-distance runner, so they enlisted the reigning Olympic Champion, Eliud Kipchoge. Kipchoge took a full year away from international competition to try and achieve this goal, which is pretty phenomenal for a professional athlete. Even though they were working with the absolute best, Nike knew they couldn’t succeed with Kipchoge running by himself. Two other professional marathon runners, Zersenay Tadese and Lelisa Desisa, also temporarily gave up competing to train with Kipchoge. Ultimately, the Breaking2 attempt in May 2017 failed by just 25 seconds. Kipchoge didn’t give up though, and with sponsorship from another multinational company, two years later he eventually succeeded by running 42 km in one hour, 59 minutes and 40.2 seconds. This incredible time doesn’t count as a world record (which currently stands almost exactly two minutes slower at 2:01:39 – a mark also held by Kipchoge) as, again, Kipchoge could not achieve the feat on his own – to help him maintain his pace, he was guided by a car with a laser marker showing the ideal lap timings, along with a team of 41 rotating pacers to push him along.
Two things really interest me about this story. Firstly, even though Kipchoge is the absolute best marathon runner in the world, and despite having the backing of mega-corporations, he still could not succeed by himself – he needed the help of more than 40 other world-class runners. Secondly, those other runners were willing to help in the attempt, knowing that they weren’t going to be the ones credited with the record and that their involvement may never be remembered. But they were still willing to be there as part of the team. With so many things in our modern life all about competition, it is great to see ‘winning’ put aside and the focus instead placed on working together to achieve something amazing.
I think this type of teamwork is integral to making music, where every part from featured soloist to 3rd clarinet or auxiliary percussion is required to make the music the best it can be. How often have you debated questions like “who is your favourite artist?”, “what is your favourite song?” or “who is the greatest guitarist/band/singer ever?”? I always struggle to answer these questions, because to me music is collaborative and collegial, not competitive. Not only do I find it hard to pick a single favourite, but why should we need to? Does it make Queen a greater band if they are better than INXS or Dire Straits? I know if I saw the three were to perform a combined concert, I wouldn’t book my ticket hoping one would be better than the others – I’d be hoping all three were fantastic as that would make the concert even more amazing. The best place for competition in music is when we make it about beating ourselves. Can we make each practise, each rehearsal and each performance even better than our last? At some point in the future, another runner will beat Kipchoge’s marathon time – the reality of life is that someone faster / stronger / more talented always comes along eventually. If we focus on being ‘the’ best we are always going to end up disappointed. Maybe instead, we just need to focus on being ‘our’ best, then we can celebrate each other’s successes along with our own.
A fantastic example of teamwork we have just seen is the Colleges’ musical The Wiz. Putting such a great show together required musicians, singers, artists, dancers, actors, technicians, backstage crew, wardrobe, staff supervisors, parent helpers, and more, all working together. Congratulations to all those involved in such an entertaining and enjoyable production.
This week on Primary Assembly we were treated to a piano performance of Sad Steps by Zach Ischenko. As well as playing very nicely, it was lovely to see Zach stand at the end of playing and bow to the audience. Part of the collaboration and interaction of music is the connection between audience and performer, and it is great to see appreciative applause from the audience returned by this simple yet professional acknowledgement from the musician. Well done, Zach!
Lunchtime on Monday also saw our Term Two Captain’s Concert, at which we were treated to piano performances by Brendan Switala, Zach Ischenko, Jeff Smulders, Lachlan Kirkby and Gilmat Zhang. These lunchtime recitals are an excellent opportunity for our young musicians to build confidence in public performance, so it is always a pleasure to see them take advantage of these chances to play.
Our next Co-Curricular Music Programme event is this Friday night’s (11 June) Contemporary Concert presented by our four rock bands – Rockfuse, The Recruits, the New Originals and the Bayside Boys, and hosted at the MBBC Sports Hall. A Licensed Bar will be available for drink purchases on the night. Please remember that, as is now the norm, all guests need to register their attendance by booking free tickets using our Contemporary Concert Booking Link.
I was privileged to witness a second excellent example of musical teamwork over the weekend, when I attended one of the State Honours Ensemble Program Middle School concerts. Beyond the musical quality of the event, it was inspiring to see so many different schools represented in each group, all working together to produce an excellent performance. Our students had the opportunity to play in a Concert Band of more than 90 performers, including 4 tubas, 4-5 euphoniums, 2 bassoons, 6-8 trombones and 5-6 french horns. Few individual schools would ever be able to field such a large ensemble, or one with so many of these comparatively less played instruments, making this is a unique aspect of the experience for our students who participated. And what a great sound they made! With just a day and a half rehearsal the two groups put together nine pieces of music to performance standard, which is exceptional work. Congratulations to all the students from both our Colleges who were accepted into the Middle School SHEP program and performed over the weekend.
During the holidays we will be open on Friday 9 July from 7.30am to 4.00am
The hours for Term 3 are as follows:
Monday
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7.30am to 11.30am
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Tuesday
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Midday to 4.00pm
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Wednesday
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CLOSED
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Thursday
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Midday to 4.00pm
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Friday
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7.30am to 11.30am
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We continue to ask you to observe Covid 19 guidelines during your visit to the Uniform Shop
We will be following Social Distancing practices for the foreseeable future.
These include.
Bookings can be made by following the link on the Uniform Shop page on the College website.
The Moreton Bay Colleges’ Foundation are thrilled to announce that we will be hosting our first Business Breakfast on Friday 20 August. Please see the save the date below.
Our Foundation Board directors, Katie Farley, Clarissa Lynch and Janelle Bostock were excited to support the MBC P&F High Tea on Sunday at Victoria Park. Well done to Anna Zerner, Jasmine Butler and Victoria Matthews for an incredibly successful afternoon.
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