Secondary School News | June 2026
Middle School News
Year 8 Examinations - Term 2
The recent rollout of the first simultaneous examinations for our Year 8 cohort was a success. Administering the assessments to the entire year group at the same time was a major logistical milestone, designed to ensure academic integrity and provide a true benchmark of student progress.
Thanks to the cooperation of students, supervisors, and teachers, the initiative was a success. The written exams for Maths and Science will be taking place in Week 9, and this will also be completed in one sitting.
Fellowship and Fun: Looking Back at Our Term 2 Connection Days
What a wonderful term of fellowship it has been across our Distance Education community! We are so encouraged by the fantastic participation, laughter, and Christian community spirit that filled our Term 2 Connection Days.
Students traded the home classroom for the great outdoors, diving into action-packed day camps and regional meetups focused on teamwork and building lasting Christian friendships. At CYC Adventure Noosa, our Sunshine Coast and North Brisbane students took on hiking, canoeing, cart building, and field games, while our Gold Coast and South Brisbane group at Advancetown tried giant SUP, archery tag, and initiative games—fully embracing a little bit of classic camp mud with high energy and wonderful sportsmanship.
Our regional connect days, featured a great mix of friendly competition and discovery, from mini golf in Cairns, outdoor games at the Townsville Rockpool, and science exploration at Toowoomba's Cobb & Co Museum, to tenpin bowling, laser tag, and arcade activities in Mackay, Rockhampton, and Bundaberg. It was so good to see students catching up, encouraging one another and connecting again after quite a long time apart.
We look forward to seeing you all at our next round of Connection days!
Online clubs
Chick Chat: A standout success this term, this club has built a wonderful, tight-knit community with 15 regular attendees logging in every week. The sessions are packed with variety; the group frequently battles it out in Kahoot quizzes and other interactive games. A massive shoutout goes to Natasha, who has been sharing her talents by teaching the group how to draw different objects and characters, adding a fantastic creative spark to the weekly meetups.
Kahoot Club: The ultimate destination for students who love trivia and friendly competition. Weekly quizzes cover everything from general knowledge to pop culture and academic trivia, keeping students sharp and engaged.
Class Connects: Designed explicitly as a welcoming social and reflective space. Each session includes a dedicated time for devotions, allowing students a moment to ground themselves and share spiritual insights. Afterwards, the floor opens up for a relaxed hangout where students can chat about their week, share personal highlights, and build meaningful friendships with peers they might not otherwise interact with during regular lessons.
Why These Clubs Matter: Online learning thrives when students feel connected. These weekly clubs ensure that social development and community-building remain at the heart of our student experience.
Thank you to all the staff and students—especially our student leaders like Natasha—who bring so much energy to these sessions every single week!
Senior School
Year 10
New Unit 1/2 Courses Begin Next Term in ATAR Maths and Sciences
As part of our Year 10 program at ACC, the majority of our Year 10 Maths and Sciences courses will finish at the end of Term 2. Students will move to new Unit 1/2 courses on the other side of the break, effectively starting their journey on Year 11 content in these subjects. This means that all students will stop work in their current Canvas ATAR-pathway maths/science courses and begin work in new courses titled ‘Unit 1/2’, which appear on their Dashboard next term.
The reason for this change is so that upon reaching Year 12, the students will have plenty of time to revise for their all-important external exams - these exams are worth 50% of their Year 12 grade and cover a whole year worth of learning!! As a result, both our Year 12 and Year 11 students must start a little bit earlier to give them that head start.
Please note that while we are tackling some Year 11 content in our Year 10 program, the usual school-leaving policies still apply until the end of the Year 10 program, so make contact with our pathways team if you have any questions in this space.
What About The Other Courses?
Please note that there are some exceptions to this. Core Science students will be continuing in their Year 10 courses until the end of Term 3. Core Science students will finish their science studies and begin work on another Unit 1 elective subject as per their SET Plan.
Lastly, of course, all non-maths/science subjects will continue as per normal with their Year 10 courses in Term 3 before beginning their Unit 1 journey at a later time.
What’s the Difference?
In Unit 1 subjects, students are able to accrue QCE points towards their graduation if they pass each unit and do not miss any assessment pieces. This means that unlike our regular Year 10 subjects, the stakes are higher than just our semester report cards.
This means that all tasks must be completed, and these will contribute towards accruing the 20 credit points needed for their Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE). While only Year 12 assessment contributes to an ATAR score (e.g. 99.95), it is important that students are completing all of their assessments to a satisfactory standard for their QCE across the next two and a half years. In the coming weeks, if you feel that a subject change may be in order, these should be applied for by using the Change of Subject form in the Senior Hub, and these will be evaluated by our careers advice team alongside a SET Plan change, as needed.
Happy to chat if you get stuck or if you have any concerns. I look forward to seeing what the Year 10s can achieve as they embark on this big new step in their learning journey.
God bless,
Simon Nicholls and Joyce Hres
Year 10 Coordinator - Distance Education
Year 11
So much in education depends on communication, whether it is a teacher’s handwriting on the whiteboard or a student’s confidence to ask questions when they’re stuck. In distance education, where teachers and students rarely meet face-to-face, prompt, precise communication is even more important. This goes both ways. I am grateful for the feedback received from parents and students this semester, both positive and negative—you are allowed to complain! To hear that anyone in our college is unhappy with the service provided is concerning; it’s best we hear sooner rather than later. Every email we send and every comment we make on a student’s work can feel like a frisbee flung into an endless void … until we hear back from you.
Breakdown in communication is inevitable, but it doesn’t need to stay broken. It’s easy to get frustrated, even angry, with a teacher or member of staff you believe is responsible for your child’s distress; it’s harder to stay angry when you speak with them and hear their voice, their humanity. Yep, contrary to popular belief, teachers are people too!
On the flip side, it’s easier for a teacher to form opinions about a student—why they haven’t submitted anything all term, why they don’t show up to webinars, or why they may resort to using AI—when they haven’t put a face or a voice to a name. I’ve learned so much about the individuals in my cohort in conversations with parents and students. Some of you are doing it tough! But again, we don’t know unless we hear from you.
We understand how busy life can be for parents, balancing full-time work and supervision of their child(ren), and sometimes medical appointments or sporting commitments. I encourage you to connect with me or your child’s teachers early next term. Establish a connection, a relationship. All stakeholders benefit from understanding each other. Once you’ve crossed this initial barrier, it’s so easy to reach out by phone or email to ask what before may have felt like silly questions:
Can I get clarification on draft feedback?
Where is the exam timetable?
Does my child need to attend webinars?
Can we still swap subjects?
Are general or applied subjects better for my child?
As I often say to so many near the end of a phone call or Google Meet, “No problem; I get paid to do this.” As we come in for (maybe a crash) landing at the end of Semester 1, feel free to fire off an email or give me a call. Or maybe at the start of Semester 2? I’m a big believer in investing early in conversation, discussion, and strategy—it saves so much time later on.
God bless, and I pray you receive wisdom and comfort whenever and wherever you need it.
Caleb White
Year 11 Coordinator - Distance Education