Msss bulletin 15 2017

Middle/Senior School Bulletin Issue 15 / 10 November 2017

Middle & Senior School News The Edge Last Friday the Year 9 girls returned from GOOGA and this week they worked with Mr Tanguy to reflect on their experiences. The Edge is a very powerful rite of passage for our young men and women and is often recounted as one of the fondest memories of our graduating students. It has a significant impact on students individually and as a cohort.

A considerable amount of work and care goes into planning and running the Edge program so thank you to all involved and in particular Mr Tanguy and Mr Hennessy for walking alongside our Year 9 students and their families throughout this journey.

Senior Visual Art Exhibition Last Wednesday the Year 12 Visual Art students hosted an opening night for their Graduating Exhibition in the Learning Hub. The artistic abilities and creative energy of these young people is inspiring. Thank you to the students for sharing their works and to Ms Barclay (Visual Arts Teacher Aide) and Mrs Harman (Visual Arts Coordinator) for supporting, enticing and coaxing the very best possible work out of the students.

Sports Awards Breakfast Last Tuesday week we hosted our annual Sports Award Breakfast. I’d like to acknowledge and thank our Sports Captains and Mrs Wood for a superb celebration of Secondary Sport at St Andrews.

This weekend, we have twelve students competing in the Qld All Schools Olympic Weightlifting Championships, which has been another new initiative in the area of Sport last year.

It has been wonderful to see so many training in the Gym each morning. Best wishes to all students wearing the St Andrews blue and red this weekend.

IC’17 Last Friday saw the culmination of the IC’17 program with

students pitching their ideas to an accomplished panel of judges who had the daunting task of picking the top three entrepreneurs. This entrepreneurial experience was truly ‘real world’ learning and a sensational showcase of ideas and innovation. The support from members of the wider business community and partnership with Bond University and iYouth helped to bring these ideas to life as students across Years 7–12 worked together to solve problems and develop social and business enterprises. In short, the pilot program surpassed our expectations. Thank you to Mrs Myles and all of the staff and parents who supported this program. I am looking forward to IC’18!

Senior School Presentation Night Next Tuesday 14 November is the Senior School Presentation Night for 2017. It is sure to be a wonderful celebration for our community. It will be held at The Arts Centre Gold Coast and doors open at 6.00pm for a 6.30pm start. Students in Years 10–12 are to wear formal uniform and are expected to attend. Year 12 students and families are welcome to join us for a supper after the event to celebrate their child’s journey towards graduation.

Farewell Year 12 Class of 2017 Next week is a significant week in the lives of our Year 12 students as they go through a number of final farewell events which culminate in the Final Assembly on Friday 17 November. Year 12 students, may God bless and keep you and on behalf of all of the College staff, I would like to thank you for your wonderful contributions to this community both this year and throughout your time at the College.

We Are Not There Yet! As we draw closer to the end of the year, and some students find their focus turning to the approaching vacation, it is important that we remember to “finish well.” There is still much work to be done. The classic children’s story, the tortoise and the hare, reminds us that slow and steady is the best way to approach all of the demands on our time. For students; assessments, exam study and general homework, all benefit from a slow and determined approach to producing the best possible work. Please encourage your child(ren) to continue to be the best they can be, in all that they do at the College until the end of term. It is how we finish the race that matters most!

Virginia Warner Deputy Principal Head of Secondary School

Chaplains Chat Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

– Philippians 2:4 (NLT) “It’s not about you.”

These words were made famous by the bestselling book, The Purpose Driven Life, written by Rick Warren. His book begins with these words and goes on to explain that human life is best centred around the worship of God. All too easily the human heart seeks after other things and the thing it likes to seek after the most, is itself. You don’t need to look far too see examples of this.

One way in which the College has promoted the virtue of altruism and the idea of looking beyond one’s self, has been through Operation Christmas Child. Operation Christmas Child is an international program of giving where peo-

ple from well-to-do countries put together a collection of Christmas presents, which are packed into a shoebox, and then delivered to children in developing nations at Christmas time. It is always a joy to receive Christmas presents but the greatest joy comes from giving.

As always, please contact me should you wish to discuss anything further.

During the month of October, Operation Christmas Child was promoted in the College community and I am pleased to report that, together with your help, we were able to collect enough Christmas presents to fill 53 boxes and send these boxes to young children overseas. LAG groups, whole classes and year-levels got together, raised money and purchased small gifts to make this operation a success. Thank you to students and staff who got behind this initiative. Your support was gladly received. Next year, we will set our heights higher and see if we can put together 100+ boxes.

Flourishing in the Senior School

Now that Operation Christmas Child is complete for the year, this does not mean that your opportunity to bless others has stopped. What can you do to make someone’s day special this week? It is easy to think of your own needs. Spend some time today thinking of the needs of others. After all, this is what Jesus did for us when He gave up His life so that we might live.

Nathan Glover College Pastor

Middle School News Mobile Phones and Anxiety, It has been interesting working in schools through the rise of the digital era and in particular, the mobile phone. I often wonder how we coped with day-to-day organisation and the hiccups often associated with family transport arrangements before the immediacy of contact that has come with mobile phones. I stumbled across the following article on the ABC Website regarding a potential link between our lack of ‘training’ on how to cope with minor disruptions to routine and ongoing anxiety. http://www.abc.net.au/news/201710-25/smartphone-dealing-with-uncertainty-and-anxiety-indigital-age/9085194 Certainly, a big element of stress for students in the early stages of the Googa experience is their separation from digital devices; however, it also seems to be one of the elements which ultimately brings (most) students joy from this experience.

Electives for 2018 Student electives for 2018 will be circulated in the next fortnight. There will be a short period before the end of the year when some changes will be able to be completed; however, all students have an opportunity in the first two weeks of the 2018 school year to change electives if such changes can be accommodated. A reminder that the online preferences selection does a superb job of organising allocations but not all students are able to gain their first preferences.

Tom Casey Head of Middle School

The Virtue of Transcendence – the Character Strength of Spirituality Spirituality is knowing one’s place within the larger scheme of things or a higher purpose and it may include, religious belief or practice.

According to Frankl the three sources of meaning are: 1. Doing something significant, 2. Caring for another and 3. Courage in difficult times Our departing seniors, the wonderful Year 12 cohort inspired us and have shown us their enormous spirituality and sense of purpose all year. In recent weeks this sense of purpose epitomised the three sources of meaning above. They are finishing thirteen years of education - that’s significant!

They have also shown enormous care for each other and for their teachers and they most certainly have shown courage.

Thank you Year 12’s for modelling one of our College values so beautifully. As our seniors wind up the last few weeks of secondary education I hope they reflect on this and take some time to be mindful, grateful and hopeful for the future.

Congratulations to: • Madeline Hoefler, Aidan Dunn and Year 10 Wardjam LAG for organising a fundraising event for Cystic Fibrosis. They have timed this with our Ballstars Event to feed the hungry basketball players. The Year 10’s from Wardjam House have raised over $200 to contribute to the research into this very terrible illness. It is wonderful to see our young people recognising a need and coming up with an idea to contribute. Thanks also to Mr OakleyGrant and Miss Scott for supporting the students and helping to make this happen.

• The Year 11’s who are running a fabulous Ballstars – Basketball event for the Middle and Senior School students.

It is so great to see our COLA being used to its fullest capacity – 2 basketball games, lots of spectators and a great vibe. Special thanks to Zara Morrison, Bonnie Gardiner, Jordyn Bowie, Hudson Matthews & d’Artagnan Barnard for your work.

Upcoming events: Year 12’s – please be aware of your exam schedule and final week requirements so you don’t miss any important events.

If you have any queries or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me at tanias@salc.qld.edu.au Tania Stewart Head of Senior School

Performing Arts News Evening of song On Monday our End of Year Concert Series kicked off with our Evening of Songs as well as the start of our First Break Concerts.

It is such a joyful celebration of our PAT students and a wonderful way to end the year. Congratulations to all of our singers who performed and special thanks to Mrs Kristine Dennis and Mrs Linlee Ogden for all that you do to support and encourage our young vocalists.

Priscilla Scott Head of Arts

END oF Year Concert series YOU ARE INVITED

November 6th - 24th Support your friends while having fun at our concerts.

CONCERT SERIES When

Concert

Time

Venue

Monday 6th Nov Monday 6th Nov Monday 6th Nov

Evening of Song Evening of Song JS Vocal Concert (Kristine A Group) JS Vocal Concert (Kristine B Group) JS Vocal Concert (Linlee A Group) JS Vocal Concert (Linlee B Group) Animi Dance Concert

4:00 – 5.30pm 6:00 – 7.30pm 11.00am

Ruth Butler Theatre Ruth Butler Theatre JS Music Room

11.00am

JS Music Room

11.00am

JS Music Room

11.00am

JS Music Room

4pm (Years 1 - 4) 6:30pm (Years 5 - 12) 11.00am

Ruth Butler Theatre

11.00am 3:15pm and 4pm 11.00am 4:00pm

JS Music Room MPH JS Music Room Ruth Butler Theatre

4:00pm 4:00pm

JS Music Room JS Music Room

Wednesday 8th Nov Thursday 9th Nov Friday 10th Nov Saturday 11th Nov Monday 13th Nov Wednesday 15th Nov Thursday 16th Nov Thursday 16th Nov Tuesday 21st Nov Tuesday 21st Nov

Keep an eye on the flyer for the details of our remaining Concerts

Wednesday 22nd Nov Friday 24th Nov

JS Guitar Concert Piano Concert (John) Piano Soiree (Learne) Year 4 Speech and Drama Year 5 – 11 Speech and Drama Year 3 Speech and Drama Year 1 & 2 Speech and Drama

JS Music Room

Science News Recently our Griffith Biology students, alongside Mrs Twine and I, conducted our final Crab Island Seagrass survey on the Broadwater.

After collecting biotic and abiotic data along a 150 metre transect, students enjoyed a well-earned BBQ lunch to celebrate this final survey.

Throughout the year, students have noticed a decline in the health of the Crab Island transect area. It is for this reason that St Andrews has become involved in a seagrass propagation trial. It is envisaged that seagrass grown can be re-planted into sites, like Crab Island, that show significant seagrass bed decline.

Every Physics Lesson Pays Off In The Pool https://youtu.be/o0VP4RWvOtI Cam McEvoy is obsessed with Isaac Newton’s Scientific Method.

The method involves coming up with an idea and testing it to find out whether the theory is true or false.

“My technique in the water, my dive, my turns, my race strategies, everything I do with swimming, I run it through the scientific method,” he said.

Using this method to tweak his performance in the pool, Cam earned six medals at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and is looking to recreate his success at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

A current Bachelor of Science Advanced (Honours) student at Griffith University, Cam gained a lot of attention in 2016 when he qualified for the Rio Olympics, recording the world’s fastest 100m freestyle in a textile suit. But after jumping out of the water, journalists were more interested in the signature on his swimming cap than his performance in the pool.

The signature was the detection signal for gravitational waves, which proved Albert Einstein’s 100-year-old Theory of Relativity, observed only months before.

Shooting the scientific discovery into sports articles around the world, the scientific community has championed Cam for bringing his passion for physics to a wider audience.

As Griffith’s Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Ambassador, Cam looks to inspire a new generation of swimmers and scientists.

“I can’t wait for the next wave of sporting stars from the Commonwealth to experience our Games, the Gold Coast and Australia.”

- Courtesy of Griffith University Inserted By Dr Naidoo - Senior Physics Teacher

David Wyatt Head of Science

Friday 24 Year 10 Exams

Dates to Remember

Year 11 Exams 13 Boys Australasian Futsal Championships (Selected Students)

NOVEMBER Saturday 11 Years 7-12 Qld All Schools Weightlifting (Selected Students) Year 5-11 Animi Concert (Selected Students) Sunday 12 Years 7-12 Qld All Schools Weightlifting (Selected Students) FIRST® LEGO® League Brisbane (Selected Students) Tuesday 14 Year 11 Halogen Leadership Development (Selected Students)

Lutheran Youth Queensland School Holiday Camps Escape the boredom these school holidays on an LYQ Summer Camp! 6 epic week-long camps across December and January covering Years 3-12. Check out lyq.org.au/summercamps to book your Summer of Fun!

SS Presentation Night Rehearsals (Selected Students) Years 7 & 8 Fishing Excursion (Selected Students) Year 10 Surfing (Selected Students) SS Presentation Night, 6:00pm, The Arts Centre Gold Coast Wednesday 15 East Timor Tour Info Afternoon (Selected Students) Thursday 16 New Year 7 Students Orientation Morning 8:45 10:00am Piano Soiree (Selected Students) Valedictory Dinner for Yr 12’s at Bond University

Uniform Shop News If you have more than two new students to fit our for new uniforms for next year please ring or email the Uniform Shop to make an appointment.

2nd Hand Uniforms – A reminder to get your 2nd hand uniforms in asap if you wish to use the credit against new uniforms. Once we hit our busy period in January you may not get credits done until February. All items must be freshly washed and ironed and free of all stains and pet hair to be considered. Blazers must be freshly drycleaned with tag attached.

Friday 17 Year 12 Finish College Year 12 Students Last Day/Final Assembly 8:30am WC Tuesday 21

PAT Forms

Year 11 Exams Year 10 Surfing (Selected Students) MS Musical Theatre Performance-Jungle Book Years 5-11 Speech and Drama Concert Wednesday 22 Jungle Book Performance for Parents, 6:00pm Ruth Butler Theatre Year 11 Exams Thursday 23 Year 10 Exams Year 11 Exams MS Assembly

PAT lessons roll over from term to term. There is no need to fill in a NEW application for current PAT students. You only need to fill out a form if they are CANCELLING.

END oF Year Concert series YOU ARE INVITED

November 6th - 24th Support your friends while having fun at our concerts.

CONCERT SERIES When

Concert

Time

Venue

Monday 6th Nov Monday 6th Nov Monday 6th Nov

Evening of Song Evening of Song JS Vocal Concert (Kristine A Group) JS Vocal Concert (Kristine B Group) JS Vocal Concert (Linlee A Group) JS Vocal Concert (Linlee B Group) Animi Dance Concert

4:00 – 5.30pm 6:00 – 7.30pm 11.00am

Ruth Butler Theatre Ruth Butler Theatre JS Music Room

11.00am

JS Music Room

11.00am

JS Music Room

11.00am

JS Music Room

4pm (Years 1 - 4) 6:30pm (Years 5 - 12) 11.00am

Ruth Butler Theatre

11.00am 3:15pm and 4pm 11.00am 4:00pm

JS Music Room MPH JS Music Room Ruth Butler Theatre

4:00pm 4:00pm

JS Music Room JS Music Room

Wednesday 8th Nov Thursday 9th Nov Friday 10th Nov Saturday 11th Nov Monday 13th Nov Wednesday 15th Nov Thursday 16th Nov Thursday 16th Nov Tuesday 21st Nov Tuesday 21st Nov Wednesday 22nd Nov Friday 24th Nov

JS Guitar Concert Piano Concert (John) Piano Soiree (Learne) Year 4 Speech and Drama Year 5 – 11 Speech and Drama Year 3 Speech and Drama Year 1 & 2 Speech and Drama

JS Music Room

UNIFORM SHOP

January Opening Hours …

The Uniform Shop will close at 9.30am on Friday 1st December 2017 and will reopen for Existing Students Only JANUARY 2018 Wednesday 10th to Friday 12th Monday 15th to Friday 19th Monday 22nd January

8 am - 12pm daily 2 pm - 4 pm daily 8am - 12 pm

WEEK 1 OF TERM 1 Tuesday 23rd January Wednesday 24th Thursday 25th Friday 26th

8am – 9.30am 8am - 9.30am & 2.30-3.30pm 8am – 9.30am closed for Australia Day

NEW STUDENTS, families with 3 or more children and families unable to attend during these times are requested to phone or email to book an appointment outside these times.

_______________________________________________________________

Save Time…. Order and Pay Online at www.flexischools.com.au

Your order can be picked up from the Uniform Shop or delivered to your child’s class ____________________________________________________ Second hand clothing must be submitted before the end of term if you wish to use the credit in January. All items must be clean & ironed (not damaged, stained, faded or showing excessive wear). *Blazers will be accepted on consignment only. *Must be Dry Cleaned

_____________________________________________ Phone 5568 5933 Email: uniformshop@salc.qld.edu.au

EDUCATION/LEARNING

insights Failure! What a genius idea!

by Michael Grose

A leading Victorian independent school is actively encouraging its students to fail, which is an absoutely genius idea.

As reported in The Age (28th August 2017), Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School is holding Failure Week to teach students that making mistakes is a crucial part of learning.

Teachers are sharing their personal stories of failure and students from prep to Year 12 are learning challenging activities such as abstract painting, juggling, reciting poetry and dancing. At the end of the week they’ll be displaying their new skills in front of each other with the emphasis being on stuff ups rather than perfection.

I suspect for many students making errors, stuffing up and struggling to get things right will feel uncomfortable.

But that’s the whole point.

Kids need to fail more if they are to succeed Traditionally, schools and, in recent years, parents have excelled at celebrating student success. “Top marks”, “Dux of the school” and “Perfect score!” are the types of aspirations that teachers and parents have for kids.

But to many students academic success means “Don’t stuff it up!”, “No mistakes please!” and “You’ve got to get it right!”

It’s been widely reported that Australian kids are anxious, perfectionistic and risk averse. They just don’t feel comfortable with failure. And who could blame them? We’ve hidden failure and disappointment from them for far too long. In recent years there’s been a common perception that failure damages people. Unfortunately, this is to the detriment of young people’s future success.

Failure is an integral part of learning anything significant, challenging or worthwhile. Resilient learners realise that they don’t always get things right the first or even second time but with effort and practice they will master skills, find solutions and gain the knowledge they need to succeed.

As reported in The Age, failure, if handled properly, provides kids with the feedback they need to help them achieve excellence. Yes, kids need positive feedback too … but only when it’s deserved. When we tell a child everything is wonderful when, in fact, his work is mediocre at best, we give him a false sense of achievement.

Failure takes bravery I’ve long been a fan of encouragement. What I mean by that is parents and teachers focusing their comments on

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the processes (effort, contribution, improvement) of what kids do rather than the outcomes. Encouragement places the locus of control onto the child, which is essential for resilience. That doesn’t mean that we avoid giving a child feedback if their work or behaviour isn’t up to scratch. By all means, we should inform kids when they need to lift their game, but this feedback needs to be provided respectfully and with sensitivity if we want it to be taken on board.

The real strength of encouragement is hidden in its French derivative, the verb coure: ‘to give heart’.

Encouraging teachers and parents to somehow find a way to give their kids the courage to be imperfect. It takes a brave soul to make a mistake sometimes, particularly when others may be watching.

Failure needs a supportive environment It’s all very well to encourage kids to have a go but they won’t stretch themselves unless mistakes are truly accepted by the people that matter to them. A child won’t speak up in class when he’s unsure of the answer if he knows his classmates will laugh at his errors. Similarly, if kids are to take more learning and social risks they need to know that mistakes and stuff ups won’t be thrown back in their faces at home by parents or siblings.

Five simple ways to encourage kids to fail and celebrate errors 1. Model failure: Next time you break a plate when emptying the dishwasher, avoid negative language (“What a klutz!”) or catatrophising (“This is the worst thing ever!). It’s a plate. Stuff happens.

2. Tell stories of failure: We tend to be nostalgic of the past and tell kids of the good stuff when we talk about our childhoods. But kids love to hear the warts’n’all stories of the difficulties you faced and stuff-ups you made as a kid. It makes you more human and also gives them permission to do the same.

3. Encourage them: Develop a vocabulary around effort, improvement, contribution and enjoyment. Be your child’s cheerleader but don’t avoid giving feedback when necessary.

4. Tell and show kids how to improve: Feedback is always best when it has a teaching focus. So next time you pick up a child on their poor schoolwork or untidy bedroom, make sure you remind them how to do it right.

5. Provide the time to fail and get it right: Modern teachers and parents are time poor. Crowded curricula and busy lifestyles make us less tolerant of failure. But as anyone who has taught a young child to do up his or her shoelaces will know, some things can’t be rushed. Time and patience can be your best assets when helping kids to handle learning challenges.

Failure doesn’t sit comfortably with many of us, but it’s an essential element to success. The idea of a school setting aside a week to encourage their students to fail more may challenge our perceptions of the education process. But it’s a very timely, very smart idea that should be adopted and adapted by schools and families everywhere.

Michael Grose Michael Grose, founder of Parenting Ideas, is one of Australia’s leading parenting educators. He’s the author of 10 books for parents including Thriving! and the bestselling Why First Borns Rule the World and Last Borns Want to Change It, and his latest release Spoonfed Generation: How to raise independent children.

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