Js bulletin 8 2015

Issue 8 / 22 May 2015

Junior School Bulletin

Junior School News College Fete Wow, what a great day at the Fete! The Fete was an extraordinary event with so many activities to immerse yourself in. I’ve never seen so many beautiful cakes and the quality of these cakes were amazing.

So many people donated goods and their time to put on an event that was enjoyed immensely by all. The buzz around the College from the students on Monday morning was priceless. Thank you to all involved in the organisation of the Fete and also thank you to everyone who helped in any way. The College is very proud of your efforts, another great example of the fantastic community that we have here at St Andrews.

Red for Daniel Morcombe Day On Tuesday 26 May we will be having our once a term Mufti Day. The theme for this mufti day is Red for Daniel.

We ask all students to wear something red and bring in a gold coin donation.

All money collected on the day will go to the Daniel Morcombe Foundation which aims to keep children safe.

Daniel’s parents Bruce and Denise Morcombe will be at our assembly on the 26 May to share their message about keeping safe. Parents are also invited to attend this special assembly. We will start with our normal awards at 1:40pm, with the presentation from 2:00pm. This special assembly will be held in the Worship Centre.

I enjoyed seeing all of the children screaming in delight at the rides. The excited laughs and empathetic looks from the parents every time a teacher got soaked were heartwarming, even if the teachers were shivering to the bone. The Haunted House scared us all and it looked like the Year 12 students had taken make up lessons from Draculas. The food and beverages were consumed with great gusto and needed to be worked off the next day. But the thing that made me feel most proud from the Fete was the sense of community that was displayed right throughout the day.

NAPLAN The NAPLAN tests have now been sent off for external marking. The students appeared to be very calm and settled before they began the tests. Through the course of good teaching and learning, students were well prepared for the test. We look forward to analyzing the data when the results are returned to us in order to help drive improvements in student learning. Please remember that these tests provide a snapshot of your child’s performance on that test for that day. For a balanced picture of your child’s overall academic performance please refer to the assessment and reporting from your child’s teacher.

ASG National Excellence in Teaching Awards We are blessed to have so many excellent teachers at St Andrews Lutheran College and the teachers really appreciate the positive affirmation that they receive from the parents in our community. Another way you can show your appreciation is by nominating a teacher for an ASG National Excellence in Teaching Award at www.asg.com.au/nominate Darrin Schumacher Head of Junior School darrins@salc.qld.edu.au

From the Deputy Head of Junior School (P - 3)

Albert Einstein once said that “Play is the highest form of research.”

Flat Out Learning Maths In Prep Early Years educators know the value of play as an essential basis for learning. The intellectual and cognitive benefits of play are well recognised. Engaging in quality play experiences supports language development, memory skills, social regulation and general well-being, in addition to conceptual development.

In P2 students showed their creativity in representing the numerals 1 to 10 : another fun way to show their understanding in Maths.

Our Prep students have been excited to learn about “measurement” through a range of active learning experiences in recent weeks. While learning about the measurement of length, they have explored how long objects are by using different everyday items.

In P3 students were challenged to make a chair to fit a bear.

These boys chose to use blocks – their chair looks just the right size – not too big and not too small!

Some students used folders to measure the length of their classroom while others worked out that the verandah was 9 Maddys long. A new level of excitement was reached when Mr Schumacher visited during Maths and became a new unit of measurement.

The children were excited to represent their learning in their own books as they showed how objects can be measured with different non-standard units.

Our Prep students are certainly being active “Inquirers” in Mathematics. Their curiosity becomes a genuine opportunity for learning as they engage in such exciting play-based activities. Thank you to our amazing Prep teachers.

“An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.”

Proverbs 18:15 Joy Schloss Deputy Head of Junior School

ELC News It’s full steam ahead in the ELC. The last few weeks have been abuzz with Mother’s Day Preparation for the High Tea and our first Mother’s Day Stall.

Chaplains Chat “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

1 Peter 4:8 (NIV) Peter spoke/wrote these words to the early Church as they struggled with persecution and hardship. In amongst all the trials and hassles of following Christ and living in community, the most important thing they could be doing is loving each other deeply!

What wonderful encouragement for us today – 2,000 years later. This particular verse speaks such great wisdom into our lives. All of us face times when we are challenged to remain positive in our relationships. Our natural human condition leads us to find fault in others and to judge others. Maybe there is even good reason for us to do this on occasions but a judgemental, ‘holier than thou’ attitude invariably fails to bring about positive outcomes in troublesome situations.

Thank you to the 8 mums that helped out across the week.

It was extremely cute watching the children purchase their gift for Mum and helping to wrap it up. We hope that their mums loved the gifts.

High Tea on Friday 8 May was a wonderful success with the children sharing some of their talents, singing and giving hand rubs and painting toenails.

What is needed is a deep love for the other person who is causing grief for us. This does not mean simply over-looking the problem, but rather, confronting it with an attitude that seeks the best for the other person and a restoration of the relationship. This may seem beyond our ability if we have been significantly hurt but God’s love for us is able to lead us in ways that we would never be capable of on our own.

I have been blessed to witness from afar, in others’ lives, how God is able to bring healing and restoration into situations that seemed hopeless. As Peter commands us to love others deeply, he is assuming that we are attempting to do this from a position of strength and peace that we are granted

by God as we rest in his love.

Our human love is never capable of covering a multitude of sins. But God’s love – alive and active within us is able to overcome the worst of hurts and pain. This is one of the wonderful promises that come to life for us as we share our lives with Christ.

Graeme Schache Chaplain

The children have been continuing to expand their knowledge with Japanese learning colours, dressing up and hearing about the Children’s festival.

The children are continuing to play and grow and each day brings a new topic of discussion.

Bronwyn Waters Director Early Learning Centre bronwynw@salc.qld.edu.au

Performing Arts News

Junior School Japanese - Term 2

MTAQ Composers Competition We had many a budding composer from Junior and Middle School compete in the MTAQ Composers Competition on Sunday 3 May. Following are the results: 6 - 7 years

1st - Hamish Slater 3rd - Kirra Thurbon, Phoebe Bauman

8 years

3rd - Masashi Tetsuo, Angus Slater, Luca Friebel Highly Commended - Isla Slattery Commended - Cohen Powell, Claudia Mewing

9 years

3rd - Evie Kennedy, Isabella Seymour, Shae Williams

10 years

1st - Emily Martin

12 years

Commended - Soham Kale

Prep

Year One

Isabella Seymour was awarded the “Learne Faint Hands On Piano Australiana or Australian Soundscape for Juniors 4 11 Years” for her piece Changing Seasons. Congratulations to all involved and thanks to Learne Faint for her support of our piano students.

Year Two

Year Three

PAT Parent Survey Last week a survey was sent to all parents whose children are involved in the PAT Program at St Andrews. This is an opportunity for parents to provide feedback on what they feel is going well and what they would like to see improved upon within the program. Please take the time to complete this survey in the coming week. If you did not receive a survey and would like to participate in this feedback survey please email performingarts@salc.qld.edu.au

Year Four

Year Five

Student Achievements Charlee Cosgriff: Congratulations to Charlee who was recently notified that she is to receive The Barbara Sisley Award for achieving the highest result in her Trinity College, London exam. Charlee achieved an outstanding 100% on her Grade 2 Speech and Drama Exam. Well done.

Samantha Todd: Congratulations to Samantha Todd who has recently travelled to America to complete in the In10sity Dance Competition in Seattle. Samantha received a Special Adjudicators Award – Bound For Broadway, Platinum for both routines and 9th overall in the Teen Division for Acrobatics. She also made Top 15 in her Improvisation. This is an amazing result. Well done Samantha.

Fete Performance Stage Thanks to all of our performers who provided entertainment at the Fete. What an amazing showcase of the many talented students we have here at St Andrews.

Cilla Scott Head of Arts priscillas@salc.qld.edu.au

Year Six On 5 May we celebrated Japanese Children’s Day, Kodomo no hi. Students had the opportunity to put on traditional Japanese clothing. Later in the term, students from Year 4A will be visiting the ELC to sing the Children’s Day song in Japanese.

Sharon Taki & Cath Walker Junior School Japanese

Year 2 Excursion Year 2 headed off to the Hinze Dam Tuesday 5 May. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and there was a contagious air of excitement from students, parents and teachers as they all piled on to the buses.

As the buses arrived at the Dam, a consensus of ‘ohhhhhh’ was heard as we passed the spillway and saw the water gushing over. (Mrs Gibson was heard later that day taking credit for picking a day that would be both sunny and also have excess water spilling over the spillway.)

Dates to Remember - May/June MAY Tuesday 26 JS Assembly with Bruce & Denise Morcombe - WC Friday 29 Year 1 Disco Saturday 30 Jazz & Shiraz - A Gala Concert for Gendi JUNE Monday 1 Year 3 Visit Aged Care Years 5 & 6 Parent Info Evening Wednesday 3 Year 4 Excursion to David Fleays Wildlife Park ICAS Comp Science Year 5 Camp (3 - 5 June)

The Hinze Dam staff did an amazing job of educating the Year 2 students using videos, interactive learning and hands on activities. They learnt about the Hinze family, Advance town and the water cycle. Students even examined water bugs and categorized the bugs using charts to determine how clean the water was.

Lyn Gibson

le “We learnt about the water cyc le.” cyc ter wa a de and we ma - Matilda Young “This is how they ma ke fresh and clean water; the dirty rain goes to the dam then into the water treatme nt plant, then it gets purified and then to the reservoir.”

- Jenna Zietsch

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INSIGHTS Building parent-school partnerships

WORDS Michael Grose

What it means to be an emotionally intelligent parent

Ten year-old Elle liked to be active, but one weekend things got out of control. A jazz ballet concert, a game of netball, and a family visit to her cousin’s house meant no time to herself.

And she let her parents know it with constant moaning, as well as a tantrum or two.

Her father held his tongue for most of the weekend, but couldn’t help but give her some fatherly advice on Sunday night.

“You’ve spent the whole weekend moaning about how busy you are. Maybe you need to drop one of your activities, if they are stressing you out so much!”

A tantrum followed…from Elle.

Elle’s mum took a different tack. She had a hunch that something was bothering her daughter. “You sound like something is bothering you big-time. What’s up?”

her mum understood how she felt. In fact, her mum had unlocked the problem for her and reflected back how she felt.

Elle’s dad focused on her behaviour and responded in kind (with well-meaning advice about her future behaviour), while her mother focused on the feelings that acted as a possible driver to her daughter’s behaviour. She took an emotionally smart approach, which turned out to be the right one in this circumstance.

Emotionally intelligent parents don’t dismiss children’s behaviour and allow kids to do as they please. There are times that we need to focus on a child’s behaviour.

A child who is rude in public should be reminded in no uncertain terms that poor manners are inappropriate.

“I’ve got to give a talk at school on Monday in front of the whole school and I haven’t time to prepare. It’ll be awful and everyone will laugh.”

However, there are times when smart parents need to look beyond the obvious behaviours to get an good understanding of what’s happening to their child, and to help a child better understand and manage their emotions.

Her mum replied, “You sound like you might be pretty nervous. That makes sense.

Giving a talk in front others can be nervewracking.”

So what does an emotionally intelligent parent look like? And importantly what is the impact on kids, parents and families of this approach?

Elle dropped her shoulders, smiled and said, “You bet!” She was relieved because

Emotionally intelligent parents have the following five attributes in common.

They will usually: 1 Listen more and judge less There is nothing better than being understood. Parents who operate from an emotionally-smart mindset are more likely to listen to their kids when emotions are high, trying to access what may be going on, rather than clamping down their behaviour or closing them down with wellmeaning advice.

IMPACT: Better, more open relationships.

2 Accept strong emotions Anyone who lives with teenagers will know that emotions can run very high. They can say the worst possible things to each other and, at times, to you. Ten minutes after delivering a hateful tirade they can be cuddling up to the person who was the butt of their anger, frustration or anxiety.

Emotionally intelligent parents know that feelings need to expressed rather than bottled up, and allowed to fester. They also believe there is nothing so bad that a child can’t give voice to in a family, however there are behaviours that are not unacceptable.

IMPACT: A healthy expression of emotions.

more on page 2

e from Michael Grose. Join Stay one step ahead of your kids with great ideas & expert advic b.com.au. You’ll be so glad you did.

Michael’s NEW Parentingideas Club today at parentingideasclu © 2015 Michael Grose

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INSIGHTS

2

Building parent-school partnerships

... What it means to be an emotionally intelligent parent ...

3 Focus on the present

5 Develop a language

Most parents are rightfully future-focused.

We focus on the homework that needs to be handed in tomorrow; the washing that needs to be done; the meal that needs to be cooked. That’s part of everyday life.

Children generally focus on the here and now. That of course can be frustrating to a task-oriented future-focused mother or father. However when we lower our gaze we are more likely to pick up how kids are feeling, and importantly help them understand and manage their moods and emotions.

IMPACT: Happier families and less stress felt at home.

4 Use rules rather than their

moods to determine discipline Some parents discipline according to their moods. If they feel good then they give children plenty of lenience. If they are feel bad then they pick their kids up on every little thing. It’s better to stick to the family and house rules; that makes you more predictable, which kids really crave.

IMPACT: More consistent parenting

around feelings A family develops a vocabulary around the things that are important to them. Kids in a sport mad family will inevitably have a rich vocabulary around their chosen sport.

The same holds for emotional intelligence.

Families that truly value building emotional smarts will develop in kids a rich palette of words that will help them describe how they feel. This vocabulary will inevitably stay with them for life.

IMPACT: Better relationships later in life at work and in their own families.

At a time when anger and anxiety has never been so high in families, there is a massive need for a parenting approach that includes emotional intelligence.

Many parents struggle in the area of helping children understand and manage their emotions because we’ve never had any training in it. We didn’t learn it from our parents, and more than likely haven’t learned it at work. Emotional intelligent parenting can be learned. At Parentingideas emotional intelligence is central to the work we do with parents.

We know first hand that kids who have parents versed in Emotional Intelligence are more likely to raise kids with the skills to be happier, enjoy better relationships and experience more success at school.

Michael Grose e from Michael Grose. Join Stay one step ahead of your kids with great ideas & expert advic b.com.au. You’ll be so glad you did.

Michael’s NEW Parentingideas Club today at parentingideasclu

parentingideas.com.au