Middle/Senior School Bulletin Issue 3 / 2 March 2018
Middle & Senior School News Courage and Wisdom are our themes for Term 1. On Monday our College Captains led chapel and I’d like to share with you the wisdom they shared with students about courage. ‘The old saying not all hero’s wear capes is certainly true. Ordinary Australian’s perform acts of bravery not because they want to receive a medal, because it was the right thing to do. The courage doesn’t find them, they find the courage.’ Hudson Matthews – College Vice Captain ‘Bravery is a very personal thing and being brave is different for every single person. For some people, their bravery is shown through large acts of courage while for others being brave can simply be voicing their opinion.’ Lilli MacDonald – College Captain ‘Performing is something that I used to struggle with. I used to find that standing in front of a bunch of people scared me. It wasn’t until someone told me this quote by Andrew Murphy, that I understood that I was the one that needed to change and be brave, he said, ‘you are confined only by the walls you build.’ Yes, I could make mistakes, but sometimes I could perform perfectly. Yes, I could fail miserably, but sometimes I can ace it. In order to be brave, I changed my mindset, which helped me to get up and confidently perform in front of people.’ Abbey Schumacher - College Vice Captain ‘At the start of our 96km Kokoda training in 2017 I kept on thinking to myself, “what have I got myself into, I’m going to let the team down,” and I believe that it was this negative mindset which at the start, limited my potential. After having a few conversations, I came to the understanding that I was chosen for this team because the team believed that I could achieve their expectations. From this point on, my mindset went from negative to positive, and training became a lot easier. During the event, we realised that when the going got tough, we had to show bravery, take on the weather and stay focused to achieve our goals. Due to our bravery and teamwork, we were able to cross that finish line as a team, in record time, which helped me realise that saying yes to being a part of this team all those months ago was most definitely worth it. I think an accurate representation of how God can help us through times of need is depicted in Isaiah 41:13. Harrison Craig-Ward – College Captain. I’d also like to share glimpses of why I have the best job in the world with you.
Mariel U’Ren, Clare Verschuure and Peter Thomas attended the UN Youth Queensland’s State conference last weekend. The theme: Power, Influence and Diplomacy sparked inspiring discussions about global affairs and these three Andrians will share their insights at our Years 7-12 Assembly next week. Year 8 students, Sophie Crouch, Sienna Dalby, Mya Dunn, Georgie Hacker, Holly Rodway and Sarah Sutherland recently spent two weekends making scrunchies to sell to raise funds for Cancer research. The ‘scrunchie bunch’ sold out and raised $650 with plans to hold a future stall in the Senior School.
Last weekend a number of students joined two teachers; Kerry Forrest and Tony Carter, to support the Surfing for Disabled program.
Madeline Hoefler and the Year 11 Wardjam group have been showing their support for a classmate by raising awareness and funds to support research into Cystic Fibrosis.
Our 7am rush hour and active participation in a multitude of co-curricular activities continues to inspire me. This semester our Sports program has been altered (due to the Commonwealth Games) and it has been wonderful to see students participating in Club Sport, high levels of competitive sport, social sport and fitness as well as some new extra-curricular clubs like ‘Engineering club’.
cast of Peter Pan, the musical teeming out of the theatre. Two afternoons a week, (Tuesdays and Thursdays) our senior students offer their time to support younger students with their learning by tutoring in the library.
So I stand by my claim, I have the best job in the world because I get to spend my days amongst these inspiring young people. Virginia Warner Deputy Principal Head of Secondary School
Chaplains Chat The Lord has kept every promise He ever made to you. Not one of them has been broken. – Joshua 23:14 (CEV) Has someone ever made a promise to you that they failed to keep? I assume the answer is “yes” because when it comes to promises human beings have a bad track record. We make promises all the time to ourselves or to others but keeping them is not always easy. So many things get in the way – the demands of work or life and our own weaknesses, mistakes and habits, to name a few. Last Sunday the St Andrews community gathered together in our first Community Worship Service for the year to explore the topic of God’s promises and how these differ in quality and nature to our own. God’s promises are something that you can trust and hold onto even, or especially, in times of difficulty. To my knowledge, God has fulfilled every promise He has ever made, as recorded in the Bible – and there is no indication this is going to change.
Every Monday afternoon I have the pleasure of watching the
Some of the promises in the Bible were specific to a certain time or place or people. However, another subset of promises belong to all humankind – to you and to me. The greatest promise God has made to everyone is the promise of forgiveness. He has promised to forgive your sins, no matter how great, no matter how bad and help you make a new start (Luke 24:46-46; 2 Corinthians 5:17). This is good news! Some mistakes we make in life are trivial or small, but
sometimes we really make a mess of things and if we can think of moments like that then we can be grateful for God’s promise of forgiveness. At the service, I gave away paper copies of this promise so that people had something they could literally hold onto – but I hope that whether you have this promise printed or not, that you understand that this promise is for you, too. The Community Worship Services (formerly College Services) that we are holding this year have been redesigned to be a place for any member of the community (school, church, aged care) to come and experience the love of God in worship with others. Please join us on one of the Sundays this year and hear more about our amazing and promisekeeping God. Our next Community Worship Service is on Sunday 18 March at 9.00am in the Worship Centre. Nathan Glover College Pastor
Middle School News NAPLAN and Yr 8 Camp An early notice about an important week of date claiming in Term 2. Week 5 of Term 2 features the annual NAPLAN testing (Tues/Wed/Thurs 15/5 - 17/5) and Year 8 Camp (Mon/Tues/Wed 14/5 - 16/5). This is a busy and important week in the life of the College and I ask that you mark the dates in your diary for whatever activity your son/daughter will be engaged in throughout the week. Should there be any reason that your son or daughter would have difficulty in fulfilling these commitments during that week, then I ask that you get in contact with either the relevant Year Level Coordinator or myself as soon as possible. Learning to cope with pressures An important element of middle schooling is assisting young adolescents to move from the practices that have sustained them through their primary schooling to more independent routines that will carry them into the senior years of schooling. For many students this may be a matter of learning how to prioritise what is important compared to what is enjoyable. Alternatively, it may be a matter of learning how to listen to advice from a teacher and then act on that advice rather than one’s own interests/expectations. As adults, we may need to fight an automatic impulse to step in and ‘fix the problem’, be it deeper content in a Science assignment or an assignment task with looming deadlines, which baffles our children. However, it is far more valuable to be engaging with our children by guiding them in strategies that will see them develop a solid foundation of academic and coping strategies. Your child’s LAG teacher is the best person to discuss how best to support your son or daughter through these important learning stages.
Flourishing in the Senior School Academic Care The Senior School Pastoral Care team have conducted a midterm scan by asking teachers how engaged Years 10, 11 & 12 students are in their learning. This has enabled us to provide a bit of extra support to those students who need to get going, stay focused or demonstrate the expectations of learning at St Andrews. In some cases parents have been called to offer further support and alert parents to concerns. These are really valuable checks, especially as that Week 7 crunch time of exams, assignments and increased need for time management skills is upon us. I have been meeting with the Year 10’s as our newest members of the Senior School. I have asked the same three questions of all of them: What are we doing well, what could we improve and St Andrews is… I was pleased to note that the middle column is a short one and the sentiment that St Andrews is a community, family, safe place, supportive, caring, challenging and accepting came through strongly. They are loving the new spaces around J Block, having a variety of classes, their electives (areas they might pursue post-school), new teachers, the challenge, higher expectations and the fact that they are all getting along. Congratulations to: • Our teachers – They continue to go above and beyond for our students. The care, preparation, professionalism and spirit in which they go about educating our young people is inspirational. You only have to look at the number of tutorial opportunities available to see that this is a high-care environment. Uniform Expectations • Our hat policy that aligns with Education Queensland Sun Safety Policy students should wear their hat to and from school, around the College grounds and on excursions and sports events. The formal hat is to be worn with the formal uniform and sports hat/cap with sports uniform. • Girls skirts should be just above the knee • Earrings in the upper lobes of ears are not to be worn – should your child have an upper lobe piercing they must wear a clear. Academic tenacity • Our students are here to learn and should be highly engaged in classes by asking questions, bringing the correct material to class, being on time, not using social media during class, completing class and homework and where possible attending tutorials to support or extend their learning.
As always, please contact me should you wish to discuss anything further or if I can offer any assistance at tomc@ salc.qld.edu.au
If you have any queries or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me on tanias@salc.qld.edu.au
Tom Casey Head of Middle School
Tania Stewart Head of Senior School
Science News Six Year 12 Biology students are currently studying a first year university subject, Cell Biology. As a part of the course requirements, students attend a human anatomy laboratory at Griffith University. Below is Ben Allan’s account of this excursion.
We also have a very talented crew of staff and students who have assisted with the painting of the sets. A big thanks to Shirley Washington, Hannah Barclay, Suzanne Barclay, Julie Stockwell (and Stockwell kids!), Cilla Scott (and Toby!), Karen Deacon and Emma Mackenzie for painting the town black! There are several more opportunities for students and parents to assist with painting sets, so listen out for further dates! Thanks to Christina d’Assonville for her work on creating the ceramic vessel for the Commencement Service. Another very amazing lady who shares her talents with us often and willingly! The Year 11 Art students headed to Tweed River Art Gallery recently to experience Go Figure: Works from the Collection and TextaQueen exhibitions. The students are studying selfportraits and thus were able to gather inspiration for their own art making. They were able to successfully analyse selected works while we were there using Visual Thinking Skills. This was great training for them when writing about their own and other people’s art. On the Sunday after our excursion, Gabrielle McGuire, Cara Porter and Ashleigh Jablonski participated in a workshop with TextaQueen on self-portraiture and the conceptual self. They learned new skills and delved more deeply into the concept of self as subject.
The Griffith University Biology excursion was a highly interesting and educational experience. It was a once-in-a-life time experience that really set us up for the rest of Biology this year. The ability to get hands-on with actual human organs and to see how our bodies work was absolutely invaluable. You don’t get to hold a human brain every day. I highly recommend that any Year 11 students should consider Griffith Biology for amazing opportunities and experiences like these. David Wyatt Head of Science
Visual Art News This semester the Visual Arts department has been heavily engrossed in the set design for Peter Pan. This year we are so fortunate to have the talents of Mark Kennedy (father of Evie, Jye and Nash) available to us to assist with the artwork. Our show is going to be spectacular and many, many thanks to Mark for his assistance, talents and advice!
At the moment there are two art competitions open for entries. The QIEU Awards for Art and Design have the theme of NATURE this year. Students can use many different media to express their ideas about this theme. Please see Mrs Harman to submit your entry. ATOM have also got a photography competition on at the moment and their theme is ‘This Makes Me Happy.’ It can be a sad song that makes you happy or waking up at 3am and realising there are still four hours until the morning alarm. Explore and capture that ‘This Makes Me Happy’ moment. • • •
Take 3 original photographs that address this year’s theme; Submit your 3 photos through our online entry system at atomphotocomp.org; Write a short statement (no more than 300 words) and submit it with your entry.
Be creative with your photography, and feel free to think outside the box when addressing the theme. Your photographs can be colour or black-and-white, realistic or abstract. This is an opportunity to express yourself through your photography, each photograph is a reflection of you. Ngaire Harman Visual Arts
Performing Arts News Festival of Song – featuring Katie Noonan Thursday 15 March Ruth Butler Theatre Our MS/SS Choir has hit the ground running in 2018 working towards their first major event for the year. Following on from the success of the Combined Choir experience with The Idea of North in 2017, St Andrews is hosting The Festival of Song with Katie Noonan where our MS/SS Choir along with LORDS, Trinity, Redeemer and Faith Lutheran Colleges will participate in a workshop with Katie Noonan and will then share the stage with her that evening.
Sport News Club Indoor soccer This term we will have two teams playing in the free indoor soccer competition run down at rebound stadium. If this is successful then the competition will open up again in Term 2 and run for a longer period of time. I look forward to reporting on this new adventure and how the teams go. Hinterland Trials It has been so pleasing to have so many students attend and trial for Hinterland teams in a variety of sports. Whilst there are still many more trials to come I would like to acknowledge and congratulate students who have made a district team. I wish these students all the best as they go on to try and make South Coast Regional teams. • AFL: Zach Nussey, Darby Scott, Mya Dunn • Netball: Atlanta Horan • Hockey: Hudson Matthews, Ivy Matthews, Aimee Franklin–Platt South Coast Regional Swimming Trials It was a sensational day at Regional Swimming last Monday with incredible performances from our up and coming swimmers. With a new jam packed one day program, the students contested 13 events on a extremely hot and sunny day. 11 students have qualified for the State Championships at the end of March. Congratulations to all the students who represented the College and themselves so proudly! Libby Wood Head of Sport - Secondary
Dates to Remember MARCH Monday 5 Years 7-12 South East Qld Futsl preliminary round Year 10 Surfing Elective Year 12 Surfing Elective Tuesday 6 Year 11 PE Surfing This event is sure to sell out so be sure to book early to avoid disappointment. Priscilla Scott Head of Arts
Wednesday 7 Hinterland Netball Trials Year 12 Visual Arts Incursion
Bronzed Aussies Surfing MS Elective University Showcase Thursday 8 Year 11 Study Session ALWS Awareness Day Friday 9 Year 12 QCS Workshop Sunday 11 Kokoda Polly’s Training Session 1 Monday 12 Hinterland Touch Trials Year 11 PE Surfing Tuesday 13 Hinterland Touch Trials Year 8 It’s In The Bag Excursion Wednesday 14 Hinterland AFL Trials Year 12 PE Surfing Thursday 15 Festival of Song with Katie Noonan Friday 16 SE Qld Futsal Finals Knockout Somerset Celebration of Literature (Selected Students)
Gold Coast Oral Health Services Book your Child’s FREE* dental check. School holiday appointments are available. Phone Gold Coast Oral Health on 1300 300 850. Services may be accessed at Burleigh Heads School Dental Clinic: Lower Gold Coast Highway, Burleigh Heads 4220 *Eligibility criteria applies. For more information visit www.goldcoast.health.qld.gov.au/oral-health