Unfortunately, I have acquired the nick-name of “Drought Breaker” amongst the staff at the School.  Luckily we were able to call the carnival off very early on the day and in-hind sight, it was lucky we did, with over 50mm of rain falling at Kawana Aquatic Centre between 7am and 1pm.  Any further plans for a Caloundra City Private School Swimming Carnival have been shelved due to the Year 10, 11 and 12 students entering their assessment cycle for Term One and the District Swimming Carnival having been held last Thursday and Friday.  Our next whole of school carnival will be the Cross Country Carnival held on the last day of Term One (Friday April 3rd).  This event will be held within and around the School. District Swimming Carnivals Last Thursday and Friday, the Senior and Junior District Swimming Carnivals were held at St Andrew’s Anglican College.  Due to the School not having held our own carnival and strict qualifying times being set by SCISSA, the School only had a handful of student’s swim at the carnivals.  Despite this we had some outstanding achievements over the two days.  The School may have found a new ‘super fish’ in Sarah Huxley (Year 3).  Sarah achieve 2nd placings in the 50 metre Freestyle and Butterfly; 3rd place in the 50 metre Backstroke and 4th place in the 50 metre Breaststroke. Most impressive for Sarah was the she placed 2nd  in the  9 Years Age Championship at district level.  Disappointingly for Sarah, there is no 9 Years age group at Regional Swimming Trials. Cade Stowers (Year 11) was chosen to swim in the 100 metres Backstroke and 400 metres Freestyle at the Regional Carnival and Emma Robey (Year 10) 50 metres Breaststroke was also chosen to swim at this carnival. Caloundra City Private School was represented by the following swimmers; 13 Years – Open – Cade Stowers, Emma Robey, Sam Tanner and Keira Minahan 9 Years – 12 Years – Sarah Huxley, Hailey Paxevanos, Sianna Tarbuck, Abigail Tanner, Leila Pacheco and Mikayla Nash. Thank you to these students for the excellent way they represented their school, their family and themselves.  Thanks also to Emily Paxevanos (Caloundra City Private School 2019) and Marilyn Paxevanos (parent) for their assistance with time keeping at the carnivals. Outdoor Education At Wednesday’s whole of school assembly, the community welcomed back Tyson Kelley-Comb (Caloundra City Private School 2019).  Tyson addressed the school and spoke about his experiences on the 2019 New Zealand Expedition.  Tyson spoke from the heart informing the students that there were times when he thought he could not do it and how he attempted to make things easier but in the end they actually made it harder.  What shone through was how Tyson worked with other members of the expedition to achieve common causes such as navigation, leadership, feeling down on a day and cooking. He also spoke about how the bad weather on days Three – Six had played such a large role in what the group could and couldn’t do.  It was a wonderful, personal account of his 21 days in New Zealand.  It is hoped that this experience will again be offered to the students, staff and parents of the School at the end of 2021. To view the Caloundra City Private School New Zealand Expedition 2019 video click here, the access code is ccpsnz2019. Go gently everyone. Peter McMahon Head of Physical Education, Sport and Outdoor Education.