Junior School Bulletin issue 6, 7 June 2013

Issue 6 / 7 June 2013

From the Head of Junior School The 20th Anniversary Fete was a wonderful event that allowed staff and families of the College to get together for a day of fun filled activities. The atmosphere around the Fete was filled with joy and everybody appeared to be having a good time. I am still in the process of catching up with the students who soaked me in the super soaker to give them their extra homework. If you contributed to the Fete in any way whether it is through donation of goods or you helped out at a stall, I would like to thank you for your contribution to our Fete. I would also like to say a huge thank you to the members of the Fete Committee who have worked tirelessly for a long period of time to make this year’s Fete memorable. There are only approximately 720 days until the next Fete. (It will be upon us before we know it).

If you are parking your car in the afternoons, please meet your children at the crossing or the bus shelter. We have had a number of near misses recently and we want to make sure that your children get home safely.

The NAPLAN tests are now a memory and we look forward to getting the results. In a school, there are in essence two types of assessment. These are Summative assessment and Formative assessment. Summative assessment is “Assessment of Learning”. Formative assessment is “Assessment for Learning.” Formative assessment is a much more powerful assessment tool for helping students to grow in their understanding of a topic. It gives students instant feedback about what they can do to move onto the next step of their education. Summative evaluation is used to determine if students have mastered specific competencies to identify areas that may need additional attention. The NAPLAN test is one example of a summative assessment that we use to continually improve our academic program.

It was a real pleasure to be at church on Sunday to watch the Year 5 Family Service. They all sang beautifully, read really well and put on an entertaining drama. Thank you to all the families who were there last Sunday.

Last Friday night saw the Year 3 students attend a sleep over at the school. After an afternoon of games, a bbq and movies, the Year 3 students tucked into a night of sleep.

Thank you to the Year 3 team and parents who gave up a night’s sleep to give the children a really memorable experience.

One of our focuses for Positive Education has been the development of GRIT. Goal Setting and a Growth Mindset are two strategies critical to developing GRIT. Please take a look at the clip of Angie Duckworth from the University of Pennsylvania talking about GRIT. http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=H14bBuluwB8 What could we be doing in our homes to help our children develop Grit?

Darrin Schumacher Deputy Principal/Head of Junior School

From the Deputy Head of Junior School & PYP Coordinator As we approach the half way mark of the 2013 academic year, I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge and commend not only our fantastic students but also our passionate and dedicated teaching staff in the Junior School. I am continually impressed by the initiative to go above and beyond to ensure the best possible learning engagements are collaboratively developed for our students.

A good deal of research over recent years suggests that the most influential factor in improving student learning is the class teacher!

Below is a wonderful example of how one of our PSPE teachers, Mrs Catherine Walker, has collaboratively worked with the Prep team to develop a significant, challenging, relevant and engaging unit of inquiry for our youngest students:

The Prep students were curious about why indigenous children played games. They knew from other aspects of the inquiry that hunting skills and physical fitness were needed for survival. They realized that many of the games involved practical hunting skills learnt in an enjoyable, competitive setting. The Prep students decided that Indigenous games had a purpose as well as being enjoyable and we made comparisons to the reasons we have for playing sport in 2013.

Although the historical games were different in many ways from our own games of 2013, they are also interconnected.

Just as in history, games today have variety of purposes including learning skills, improving physical fitness as well as being lots and lots of fun. Excited by this discovery the Prep students decided to take action by playing the new games at break. Just like the Indigenous children of the past, they too were learning skills, keeping fit and having a load of fun along the way!”

Unit of Inquiry Transdisciplinary Theme – Where We Are in Place and Time Central Idea - Inquiring into the Indigenous way of life gives us an appreciation of cultural differences.

“Through the eyes of a brand new Prep student the world has the potential to be a place of wonder, excitement and delight. Our beautiful Prep students bound feet first into the inquiry process with their own un-spoilt curiosity and enthusiasm ready to soak up new discoveries. It is with this in mind that I delight in sharing the experiences of our own Prep students in their UOI from the Transdisiplinary theme ‘Where We Are in Place and Time’. We follow them as they inquire into Indigenous ways of life and gain an appreciation of cultural difference and interconnectedness.

As a Single Subject PSPE Teacher there is nothing more rewarding that being involved in a UOI where there is a real authentic link. Nothing compares to witnessing the light bulb come on in the eyes of a child when they make connections and further their inquiry in a Single Subject setting. Through close collaboration we planned part of the inquiry take place in PSPE. Children made discoveries about the history, differences and interconnectedness of historical Indigenous games and the sport of our present day culture.

Each PSPE lesson began with the tale of an Indigenous game where links were made to The Dreaming and Australian animals from the classroom Inquiry. One of the games was Battendi. Indigenous children from the Lake Murray region of South Australia would play this game using spears made from the natural environment to practise their aim.

Our Prep children had the chance to play Battendi, using equipment such as soft javelins and standing targets.

Children were then encouraged to explore the natural environment in search of equipment used in times gone by.

We then compared our equipment to that found in nature.

Children identified the expected differences but were surprised by some similarities in our equipment and theirs.

It is such a privilege and blessing to work in an environment where such learning is encountered on a daily basis!

May I encourage you to celebrate with your child the improvements they have accomplished over the semester when you have the opportunity to look through their Learning Portfolio when it is sent home on the last day of Term Two! “I will teach all your citizens, and their prosperity will be great.” Isaiah 54:13 NLT Jacqueline Faulkner Deputy Head of Junior School PYP Coordinator

learning and most of all self belief. The influence of Dads and other positive male role models in the lives of girls can never be underestimated.

From the Chaplain Grace Two young fish swimming down stream encounter an older fish who says: ”Good morning! How’s the water?”

Being polite fish they smile and say : “Good Morning!”

Swimming on a little further the one young fish turns to the other and says: “What water?”

We are so surrounded by grace that we don’t often recognize it. Sometimes it is only in losing the gift that we discover its grace. For all of life and life itself is a grace. It is important to be aware and to be grateful.

For the remainder of the term our focus in chapel worship will particularly on the grace and the goodness of God. A Labyrinth We are undertaking a special project in our anniversary year. We will be building a labyrinth. A labyrinth is not a maze, mazes are designed with many false trails to confuse.

Labyrinths are a single spiraling path into the central area and the same path is followed on the way out – you can’t get lost or confused. Labyrinths are for quiet reflection and are an aid to meditation.

Recently in Christian studies the Year Twelves walked a labyrinth, one of the students commented. “That was so good I had so much thinking to do.” Next term all students and staff will have the opportunity to create personalized bricks which will be used in construction of the labyrinth.

An invitation Every Friday morning Holy Communion is celebrated in the Little Chapel at 7.50 am. This short reflective worship (1012 minutes) is currently attended by some staff from the College and is open to senior students wishing to attend.

Parents are warmly invited to participate in this intimate worship time.

Pastor Terry Unger

Counselling Update Last week I had the opportunity to attend a Youth Mental Health Conference at Bond University. One of the speakers was author and family therapist Steve Biddulph. His books include “Raising Boys” and his latest is “Raising Girls”, both books are must reads for parents. Many of the speakers focused on girls and the possible reasons behind the increased rise in mental health issues among girls. The book “Raising Girls” looks closely at the different stages of development in girls and helps parents and caregivers to encourage their girls to become strong, independent and confident by equipping her with skills for friendships,

When daddy blogger and clinical psychologist Kelly Flanagan posted a letter to his young daughter about picking Mr Right, he was bowled over by the public response.

Entitled A Daddy’s Letter To His Little Girl (About Her Future Husband), Dr Flanagan’s letter has received thousands of Facebook likes since appearing on a popular blog called The Good Men Project.

Below is Dr. Flanagan’s letter in full.

Dear Cutie-Pie, Recently, your mother and I were searching for an answer on Google. Halfway through entering the question, Google returned a list of the most popular searches in the world.

Perched at the top of the list was ‘How to keep him interested’.

It startled me. I scanned several of the countless articles about how to be sexy and sexual, when to bring him a beer versus a sandwich, and the ways to make him feel smart and superior.

And I got angry.

Little One, it is not, has never been, and never will be your job to ‘keep him interested’.

Little One, your only task is to know deeply in your soul — in that unshakeable place that isn’t rattled by rejection and loss and ego — that you are worthy of interest. (If you can remember that everyone else is worthy of interest also, the battle of your life will be mostly won. But that is a letter for another day.)

If you can trust your worth in this way, you will be attractive in the most important sense of the word: you will attract a boy who is both capable of interest and who wants to spend his one life investing all of his interest in you.

Little One, I want to tell you about the boy who doesn’t need to be kept interested, because he knows you are interesting: I don’t care if he puts his elbows on the dinner table — as long as he puts his eyes on the way your nose scrunches when you smile. And then can’t stop looking.

I don’t care if he can’t play a bit of golf with me — as long as he can play with the children you give him and revel in all the glorious and frustrating ways they are just like you.

I don’t care if he doesn’t follow his wallet — as long as he follows his heart and it always leads him back to you.

I don’t care if he is strong — as long as he gives you the space to exercise the strength that is in your heart.

I couldn’t care less how he votes — as long as he wakes up every morning and daily elects you to a place of honor in your home and a place of reverence in his heart.

I don’t care about the color of his skin — as long as he paints the canvas of your lives with brushstrokes of pa-

tience, and sacrifice, and vulnerability, and tenderness.

I don’t care if he was raised in this religion or that religion or no religion — as long as he was raised to value the sacred and to know every moment of life, and every moment of life with you, is deeply sacred.

In the end, Little One, if you stumble across a man like that and he and I have nothing else in common, we will have the most important thing in common: You. Because in the end, Little One, the only thing you should have to do to ‘keep him interested’ is to be you.

Your eternally interested guy, Daddy

Art News Seussical Tickets - SOLD OUT! To be placed on a waitlist please visit the College Website.

Fete Performances Special thanks to all students who provided entertainment for the Fete Stage. It was such a fantastic day watching our talented young musicians and dancers sharing their gifts. Special thanks also to Paul Oakleigh-Grant, Gendi Moore, Paula Guild, Mardi Frost and Kim Reynolds for assisting the students

Mardi Frost School Counselling Team

Japanese News Last week my Japanese class and I had the privilege of teaching a Prep class Japanese house items and direction words in Japanese. The children enjoyed learning the words and listened attentively to our instructions. My group included class mates Darby and Maddi and our little Preps were delightful. They learnt the direction words quickly such as massugu (straight ahead) and tomatte (stop). We made this into a fun action game where the Preps could interact with us and with each other. The students also loved drawing their own bonsai trees and took pride in their colouring in skills. It was a pleasure to teach the Preps and I was very impressed how engaged they were at all times throughout the activity.

By Liana Hargreaves 9D

“I liked teaching the Preps, they were really cute and listened well! It was fun to work with them”.

By Maddi Good 9D “It was a great experience to teach the Preps as it gives us the opportunity to get a feel for what it’s like to be a teacher in Japanese. I would love to do it again”.

By Darby Kenyon 9C

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

Sport News Noosa Ultimate Sports Festival Abbie Hawkins had a great run in the Noosa Ultimate Sports Festival 10 Km Event on Sunday 28th April. She won the under 15 Female category with a time of 44min 20 sec.

Running Club Run Club continues for Years 4-12 students with coaches JK Faulkner and Ms West. So now at Running Club you can train for events such as Long Jump, Shot Put, Discus, and maybe even some High Jump, as well as doing some running.

Slaps Cross Country Our best cross country runners went to Rivermount College recently to compete at the Junior Lutheran Schools Carnival. They did a fantastic job and St Andrews finished 3rd overall.

In teams events our Boys and Girls 12/13 teams and our Boys 10 years teams finished 2nd. Girls 10 years and Boys and Girls 11 years teams finished 3rd. We now have more Cross Country Teams Award plaques to add to our shield.

Our best individuals included Team Captains Kieran Croker and Ella Atkinson who both finished second, Darby Scott and Mitchell Blackborough who also finished 2nd, Charlotte Chant who finished 4th and Saoirse Harding and Emily Braid who finished 5th. Well done to the whole team on a fantastic day of competition.

Football Events Some other events coming up this term include the Gold Coast Suns Cup for Year 6/7 AFL on June 12 and the ARL Rugby League Gala Day on June 18. Good luck to all of our players who will be representing St Andrews.

Track And Field Carnivals Our College T and F Carnivals will be held week 1 of term 3. Years 4-6 will be on Wednesday 17th July and years 7-12 on Friday 19th July. More detailed information will be emailed home soon.

We are fortunate to have 2 Griffith University students helping with the organisation of our carnivals. Ejlal Almaktoum and Sean Hynes are currently studying for their Bachelor of Business and Event Management, and are working closely with the sports department to assist with some of our upcoming events.

Equestrian Mikayla Van Kampen in Year 8 and Bianca Van Kampen in year 3, both represented St Andrews recently at the South East Queensland Regional Championships Equestrian event.

Mikayla was Reserve Champion for Years 8-12 and Bianca was Reserve Champion for Years 1-7. There were many schools competing over 3 days.

Both girls have now qualified for the State Championships coming up later in the year.

Futsal St Andrews will have the Primary Boys team coached by Mr McGilveray playing on Monday July 15th, and the 15 years Boys team coached by Mr Schache playing on Thursday July 18th, in the Southern Queensland Champion of Champions Futsal competition.

Regarding individual achievements, Shane Futcher has recently returned from Barcelona where he played in an International Futsal Competition. Great work Shane.

Andrew Manion Head of Sport

Uniform Shop News The Uniform Shop will help keep you warm at school.

We have plenty of stock of jumpers, tracksuit tops and pants, navy trousers for JS boys, grey trousers for MS & SS boys, gloves, scarves & navy tights. Come and see us - the heater is on!

Found in Uniform Shop - Adult sized red sunglasses.

Jacqui Desfosses Uniform Shop Manager uniformshop@salc.qld.edu.au

Tuckshop News Term 3 will see a new menu. This will be available to download from the college’s web site and Flexi Schools will also be updated.

Did you know that we can cater for your child’s birthday?

We have available freshly baked mini cookies and also chocolate mousse cups. Go to Flexi Schools to place your order.

There are a number of students who still have outstanding accounts from Tuckshop for supplied lunches; it would be greatly appreciated if these could be paid by end of Term.

We are still requiring volunteers for Wednesday’s, Thursday’s and Friday’s, if you are available please contact me at tuckshop@salc.qld.edu.au Trina van der Kamp Tuckshop Manager

Dates to remember June Monday 10 Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday Wednesday 12 P & F General Meeting 7.00pm CRC Year 3 Parents Night Out – Justin Lane – 6.30 – 8.30pm Thursday 13 Year 4 Parents’ Book Club, Man on the Bike Pizza, 7pm Year 2 Mums’ Dinner – Pablo Pablo – 7.00pm Sunday 16 Prep Family Church Service Monday 17 ICAS Writing Competition Year 5 Coffee Get together – Plantation House – after drop off.

Tuesday 18 ICAS Spelling Competition JS Musical Seussical Matinee Performance for P-3 1.30pm Wednesday 19 Year 6 Mums’ Coffee Morning – Zarraffa’s Reedy Creek – after drop off JS Musical Seussical – Ruth Butler Theatre – 7.00pm Thursday 20 JS Musical Seussical – Ruth Butler Theatre – 7.00pm Friday 21 End of Term 2 – Term 3 commences Monday 15 July Kids Club Years 4-6 - St Andrews Lutheran Church

YOUR BOOK HAS NOW EXPIRED!!!

Start saving money while having fun!!

Purchase your NEW ENTERTAINMENT BOOK today!!!

The price is $55.00 per book and $11.00 from each book goes to fundraising for the College. Books are available from Reception, Junior Administration and Uniform Shop.

Only at St Andrews: Go in the draw to win a family pass to Currummbin Wildlife sanctuary! Please contact Marg Moore at Reception for more information.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE ONLINE NOW! College Fees – Optional Instalment Arrangements Tuition Fees become due at the beginning of each Term. However, we do understand that this may at times present cashflow problems for parents.

In 2013, St Andrews Lutheran College has implemented Direct Debit facilities for parents wanting to pay for their children’s tuition fees on a weekly, fortnightly, or monthly basis through a regular deduction from your nominated bank account, credit card, or debit card. Transactions are processed through a secure Westpac facility using the latest 128-bit SSL encrypting technology which is the banking industry standard.

If you are interested in this option to help with the family budget, please express your interest to the Business Manager, Mr Stephen Cooke - stephenc@salc.qld.edu.au.

by Michael Grose -‐ No. 1 parenting educator

Resiliency Robbers All parents have the best of intentions when raising kids. Wanting what is best for kids can cause parents to make decisions that are not always in their (children’s) long-‐term best interests If you buy the line that the promotion of resilience is in the best interests of kids then check out the following common parenting mistakes that reduce children’s resilience.

Robber # 1: Fight all their battles for them Nothing wrong with going into bat when kids struggle or meet with difficulty inside or outside school but make sure this is the last resort, not the first option.

Resilience notion # 1: Give kids the opportunity to develop their own resourcefulness.

Robber # 2: Make their problem, your problem Sometimes parents can take too much responsibility for issues that are really up to children to work out or decide. Here’s a clue if you are wondering what I am talking about: a jumper is something a mother puts on her son when she is cold!

Resilience notion # 2: Make their problem, their problem.

Robber # 3: Give kids too much voice In this era of giving children a voice it is easy to go overboard and allow them too much of a say in what happens to them. Kids often take the easy option to avoid hard or unpleasant situations.

Resilience notion # 3: Make decisions for kids and expect them to adjust and cope.

Robber # 4: Put unrealistic or relentless pressure on kids to perform Expectations about success and achievement are important. Too low and kids will meet them. Too high and kids can give up. Too much and kids can experience anxiety.

Robber # 6: Neglect to develop independence Don’t wait until they are teenagers to develop the skills of independent living. Start early and promote a broad skill set so that they can look after themselves if you are not around.

Resilience notion # 6: Don’t routinely do for kids what they can do for themselves.

Robber # 7: Rescue kids from challenging or stretch situations There are many times kids are put in situations that are outside their comfort zones for a time. For instance, giving a talk, singing at the school concert or going on school camp may be challenges for some kids. They are all situations that kids usually cope with so show your confidence in them and skill them up rather than opt for avoidance.

Resilience notion # 4: Keep expectations in line with children’s abilities and don’t put excessive pressure on them.

Resilience notion # 7: Overcoming challenges enables kids to grow and improve.

Robber # 5: Let kids give in too easily Resilient learners link success with effort. They don’t give up because they don’t like a teacher or when confronted with multi-‐step or more complex activities. Similarly they don’t bail out of a sporting term half way through the season because the team is not winning or they are not enjoying it.

Sometimes the manageable hardships that children experience such as a friend moving away, not being invited to a party or completing a difficult school project are fabulous learning opportunities.

Resilience notion # 5: Encourage kids to complete what they have started even if the results aren’t perfect.

parentingideas.com.au

parentingideas.co.uk

They help kids to stretch and grow. Dealing with them effectively also teaches kids that they are capable of coping when they meet some of life’s curve balls.

And that is a huge lesson to learn at any age.

parentingideas.co.nz

Michael Grose Presentations PO Box 167 Balnarring Vic 3926 p + 61 3 5983 1798 f (03) 5983 1722 e office@parentingideas.com.au All rights reserved. For more ideas, support and advice for all your parenting challenges please visit our website.

2013 Michael Grose

facebook.com/Parentingideas.com.au twitter.com/michaelgrose