Junior School Bulletin Issue 3 / 4 March 2016
Junior School News Sydney/Canberra As you are receiving this Bulletin, the Year 6 students would have just returned from their trip to Canberra and Sydney and the Year 4 students would have returned home from their camp at Tyalgum. The students were kept very busy and had a great time. The students in Year 6 learned more about Australia’s democracy and how it works. The Year 4 students spent three days in an outdoor education facility, learning new skills, extending themselves away from the familiarity of home, developing both independence and interdependence.
Mufti Day Last Tuesday we held a Mufti Day. A total of $1462.65 was raised, which was donated to the Bush Fire appeals. Thank you to all who participated. Taking Action An important feature of the PYP is taking action. Last week I presented to the students in Year 2 the jobs that students in South Korea undertake daily having spent a number of years teaching there. One of the students of her own accord went home and wrote a story based on the information I gave her and the research that she conducted herself. Taking action like this reinforces the key messages from the presentation and encourages the students to be more involved in their learning. Traffic Safety Attendants Thank you to all the parents who have volunteered to be Traffic Safety Attendants – we certainly appreciate your time to help get the children to the cars safely and efficiently. Parents please ensure that you have your name tags visible in the front dash of your car, so that it is easily seen by the Attendants. If you need another name tag, please contact Jo-Anne Levey joannel@salc.qld.edu.au and she will make up a new one for you.
One of the benefits of being a Traffic Safety Attendant is that there is a car space reserved for them. It would be appreciated if you could honour that agreement and allow the Traffic Safety Attendants the opportunity to park in those spots designated to them so that they can carry out their duties. Darrin Schumacher Head of Junior School
From the Deputy Head of Junior School (P-3) Our Year 1 classrooms are having a most productive time as they investigate ways to maintain healthy bodies and minds through their current Unit of Inquiry. They have been actively engaged in a variety of activities that have explored aspects of Science, Maths, Christian Studies and Health as they have made observations, recorded data, predicted outcomes and communicated respectfully. What a rich journey of learning!! Students were fascinated by their “bread” experiments to show the effect of “germs.”
Students cut out pictures of healthy and unhealthy foods from supermarket catalogues and made some interesting discoveries about which ones are most represented as they sorted and classified them. This generated many student questions, and in subsequent discussions many inferences were made by the students – a valuable and rich oral language experience.
They made observations over many days to see the changes in bread touched with healthy hands/touched with dirty hands/ not touched at all. When Mikayla excitedly told her mum about the experiments her mum enthusiastically replied, “That sounds like so much fun pretending to be a scientist.” Mikayla promptly stated, “ No, Mum, we are not pretending to be scientists, we ARE scientists!!” What an amazingly authentic learning experience!! Well said, Mikayla. While exploring the healthy food cycle students made graphs showing the number of different fruit in their lunch boxes, and considered the impact that different drinks have on their teeth.
Concerned about the over representation of unhealthy food in the catalogues, students have taken action by helping their teachers to compose letters to the supermarkets expressing their concerns. They are eagerly waiting for some responses. Well done, Year 1 students and teachers!! Taste and see that the LORD is good! How blessed is the person who trusts in him. Psalm 34:8 (International Standard Version) Joy Schloss Deputy Head of Junior School
Chaplains Chat Last week the College was afloat with joy and laughter and the serious business of racing each other at both the Secondary School and Years 4-6 swimming carnivals. It was a joy to be there and take some photos on behalf of the College. It got me thinking that our spiritual life is a race, too. It is not the usual race where the objective is to beat our opponents but it is a race to the finish nonetheless and it is important that we keep our eyes on the prize.
ELC News The days are going extremely fast in the ELC with lots of play focussing on the construction under the ELC with a strong interest in trucks forming. The children have also in Pre Prep 2 been learning about the world, setting up a travel agency and dreaming of wonderful adventures. In Pre Prep 1 they have been learning about the lifecycle of frogs and learning all about God’s creations. Junior Kindy has been bopping away to music and doing lots of art and craft. Bronwyn Waters ELC Director
Christians believe the “prize” is a daily life free from the burden of fulfilling God’s law by our own effort and, when we die, the gift of eternal life with God in heaven. The apostle Paul knew of such a race and even though he had lots of important things he could boast about, he chose to boast only about Jesus Christ and to seek after His prize. Paul said that he was a “Hebrew of the Hebrews” and in regards to God’s law and being a Pharisee, he was faultless (Philippians 3:5). In other words, Paul had a good reputation amongst his peers and an enviable list of qualifications. Yet, despite all these things in his favour, Paul said he considered it all nothing in comparison to knowing Jesus Christ and the joy it was to be forgiven and participate in the power of His resurrection. So instead of chasing after the usual suspects of power, position, prestige and perfection, Paul said the only thing he was interested in chasing – the only race he was willing to participate in – was the race involved in seeking after Jesus and gaining more and more of the wonderful things that come from Him.
Japanese News Our exchanges with Fuzoku Elementary School were recently recognized in The Japan Times. Subject: Developing confidence in English through Skype and scarecrows | The Japan Times www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2016/02/17/issues/ developing-confidence-english-skype-scarecrows/#.VsS7_ N1BbKF.mailto Mia Cuffe’s scarecrow design also made the front page.
Paul wrote: I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:12b-14 (NIV) Paul’s attitude and determination to seek after the Christian prize is a wonderful example to us all. Like Paul, many of us have qualifications, experiences or other things that count in our favour but the one thing that really counts, according to Paul, is our relationship with Jesus. May God help us in the race of life to keep our eye on the prize – not any prize – but the prize that matters most, Jesus. Nathan Glover College Pastor
Sharon Taki Junior School Japanese Coordinator
Sport News A fantastic day was had by all last Friday at the Years 4-6 Swimming Carnival. Below are some highlights of the day. Andrew Manion Junior School Sports Coordinator
Dates to Remember MARCH Sunday 6 Year 5 Family Service, Worship Centre – 9.00am Monday 7 ALWS Awareness Week 7-11 March Years 4-6 SLAPS Swim Carnival Little Mermaid Jr Rehearsals, RBT – 3.30pm to 5.30pm Tuesday 8 5A & Library Mentors - Somerset Celebration of Literature Excursion Chapel – 1.40pm WC Wednesday 9 Volunteers Induction, CRC Seminar Room 2 – 9am to 10.30am Chess Tournament, William Duncan State School (selected students) P & F General Meeting, CRC Seminar Room 1 – 7.00pm Friday 11 P & F Picnic in the Playground, Junior School Playground – 5.00pm Monday 14 Primary SEQ Qld Futsal (selected students) 14 & 15 March Little Mermaid Jr Rehearsals, RBT – 3.30pm to 5.30pm Tuesday 15 Junior School Assembly, Multi Purpose Hall – 1.40pm Three-Way Conferences, Junior School Classrooms – 3.00pm Wednesday 16 Three-Way Conferences, Junior School Classrooms – 3.00pm Thursday 17 Mini Muso’s Open Rehearsal, Ruth Butler Theatre – 3.30pm Friday 18 Year 1 Mums’ Dinner, ‘That’s Amore’ – 6.30pm
Volunteers Induction Our next Volunteers Induction will be held at 9am Wednesday 9 March in the Cecile Ryan Centre. Everyone who volunteers in the College is requested to have attended this workshop which covers such issues as Valuing Safe Communities, Child Protection, Privacy and Fire Evacuation. Please register with Karen Deacon either by emailing: jsadmin@salc.qld.edu.au or by phone 5568 5901. A reminder to all existing volunteers we request that you sign in and wear your name badge at all times while volunteering in the College. If you do not have a current name badge then once again, please contact Karen Deacon. This course needs to be attended every three years. We value highly the wonderful support all Volunteers offer the College in their various roles either in the classroom, on excursions, in the Library, Tuckshop, Uniform Shop or as Traffic Safety Attendants. These are just a few of the places where we find you helping out and we thank you for all you do. A welcoming cuppa and morning tea will be provided from 8.45am. Just come straight after drop-off and enjoy some social time.
Picnic in the Playground Friday 11 March Junior School Playground
5:00pm - 7:00pm
Please come and join the College community for our Term 1 social event. sausage sizzle & drinks for sale, all profits going toWARDS THE EAST TIMOR SERVICE LEARNING TRIP. • Jumping Castle • Entertainment • Coffee Van
• Sausage Sizzle • Undercover Area • Playground
Please RSVP by Saturday 5 March pandf@salc.qld.edu.au
St Andrews Lutheran College Production of
Music by
Lyrics by
Book by
Alan Menken
Howard Ashman & Glenn Slater
Doug Wright
Based on the Hans Christian Andersen Story and the Disney Film produced by Howard Ashman & John Musker and written & directed by John Musker and Ron Clements. Licensed exclusively by Music theatre international (Australasia). All performance materials supplied by Hal Leonard Australia.
SAturDAy 16tH APriL 2016 12.30PM AnD 6.30PM tHE ArtS CEntrE GoLD CoASt 135 BunDALL rD, SurfErS PArADiSE
tiCkEtS $20 ADuLtS ALL ConCESSionS $15 tiCkEtS AvAiLABLE froM tHE BoX offiCE. PH: 5588 4000 or WWW.tHEArtSCEntrEGC.CoM.Au
INSIGHTS Building parent-school partnerships
Teasing V Bullying
WORDS Michael Grose
When speaking with parents when I present at schools, or engaging with them via our social media, bullying is always a hot topic. A recent Facebook post had one of our biggest engagement rates ever. It begged the question- “What is bullying? Do we mix it up with teasing and other forms of mean behaviour?” It’s an important topic that needs clarification. Bullying is a term that’s wrapped in emotion. For many people it’s associated with bad childhood memories. It’s been estimated that around 40 per cent of people have experienced bullying in the past. It’s something that we don’t want to happen to our kids. But I fear it’s being overused at the moment and confused with teasing and rudeness.
Rudeness refers to thoughtless behaviours and thoughtless words. Kids often do rude things to each other without thinking their actions through. Examples include breaking wind in a child’s direction; joking about the colour of a child’s hair in front of others; failing to share possessions and neglecting to acknowledge someone. Rudeness is usually about selfishness
and thoughtlessness. Taken on their own many rude behaviours can be seen as an element of bullying but when looked at in context they are more about thoughtlessness, lack of consideration and poor manners rather than a deliberate attempt to hurt someone.
Teasing refers to annoying, hurtful behaviour that is used to get a reaction from someone else. Teasing can be persistent in nature, but not always. It’s generally an attempt to get under a person’s skin. It can involve name-calling; it can be personal and hurtful in nature. It can also infringe on another person’s rights. But generally teasing doesn’t have the key ingredients that make up bullying. Bullying is the selective, uninvited, repetitive oppression of one person or group by another. It involves three elements – intent to hurt or harm; power imbalance; and repetition over time. It takes many forms and guises including physical aggression; verbal abuse; emotional aggression (or blackmail); intimidation; harassment and exclusion. The new cyber-dimension to bullying has moved the goalpost for many kids. In the past children and young people could escape bullying behaviours by being at
home. Cyber-bullying means that children can’t escape bullies like they once could.
Why the distinction? I hear the term bullying misused a great deal in the media and when talking with parents. We run the risk of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” Syndrome where we become so desensitised to the term that we (or teachers) ignore it when children really are the victims of bullying. We also run the risk of failing to skill our kids up to manage rudeness and teasing if we categorise every awful behaviour that kids experience as bullying. Our ability to be discerning about bullying is as important as the action we take when we are sure that our child is on the receiving end of bullying behaviour. These actions include: dealing with feelings; providing emotional coping skills, getting others involved; building up a child’s support networks; and building self-confidence that can take a battering. Bullying needs to be taken seriously. But we also need to be discerning about bullying behaviours.
Michael Grose
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© 2016 Michael Grose