My son told me about a video that he watched that showed how small the earth is within the universe and its surrounds. He went on to say… my problems are so irrelevant to what is going on in the universe. Literally! and… my ‘actions’ are so unbelievably irrelevant. I jumped straight in and added “Your actions may not affect the rock you live on, but your actions can affect those around you”. A Dad always knows when to impart wisdom to their children!

Reflecting on the truth contained within my wisdom to reflect on the hardships faced by our St Andrews community throughout 2021, it has been a hard year to wrap one’s head around. Plenty of loss, illness and uncertainty.

Going back to the wisdom of “our actions may not affect the rock we live on, but our actions can affect those around us”. 

I want to share a thought about how I have seen our actions, that have mirrored that of Jesus Christ, make a difference to those around us.

The disciples of Christ were told to go out into the world and share His story and make disciples of others. The disciples of Christ were taught that before he ascended they would go out into the world and would find trouble when sharing what we now call the Gospel. 

Sharing God’s word and Christ’s actions and teachings affects those we share it with and not always in a positive way. Some College students, families and staff have struggled with marrying God’s word, the reassurance of Christ’s teaching and his ultimate victory over death with what hardship or torment they were experiencing. Understandably, at a time when death, illness, uncertainty or insecurity has entered into our lives, some of us find God’s word or Christ’s teachings hard to accept. Recognising the truth of this - what I did see accepted or appreciated over past months were words and actions from the people within the St Andrews Community. Words and actions that were founded in God’s word and Christ’s teachings but delivered in a different way. Walking alongside, sitting quietly with, listening to or sharing time with people in need. 

God’s word or Christ’s teachings were not directly quoted or shared but God’s desire and Christ’s command were being played out by those who walked, sat, listened or shared with those struggling. I have witnessed many of our St Andrews community members do this. Humbly and quietly being Christ to others has provided support, confidence, encouragement and a safe place countless times for many students, families or staff throughout 2021. 

When we as St Andrews sit in God’s space and allow ourselves to be reminded of the peace, guidance and grace that being a disciple of Christ can bring about in ourselves and the lives of others, we can’t not affect those around us if we mirror His love and willingness to connect. Spending time with God’s word can provide a lens in which we can see and interact with the world. It can provide the inspiration and guidance to love others deeply and sincerely.

We may be a very, very, very, very small part of this universe but our actions can have a massive effect on those around us. Please continue to walk humbly with your God.

May the peace of Christ be with you today.

God bless you.

Christophe Tanguy
Middle/Senior School Teacher

DEVELOPING RESILIENT YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN

Resilience has been somewhat of a buzz word for the past decade.  For some time now, Australia’s leading psychologists have spoken of the importance of resilience in our young people.  More and more we hear of students feeling stressed, anxious, depressed or just not coping.  As parents and educators, we want our students to overcome or be exempt from these conditions.  Resilience is a good place to start.

What is resilience?

It’s the ability to overcome adversity and obstacles, the ability to land on your feet or more simply, it’s the ability to bounce back.

“Resilience is the happy knack of being able to bungy jump through the pitfalls of life. It is the strongest antidote we know of for self-harm, depression and drug abuse and it’s built on our sense of belonging.” Andrew Fuller (Psychologist.)

How can we help our young people build resilience? (Largely adapted from a conference I attended by Andrew Fuller – also visit: https://andrewfuller.com.au/resilience-an-update/

Develop a sense of belonging and connectedness.  Ideally, this ought to happen at a number of levels.  When one feels connected into their family, a community, church group, surf club, their school, perhaps their year level, class, sports team, orchestra, choir, debating team, friendship group, whatever it may me, they feel valued.  When one is valued, one naturally feels more positive, more confident, stronger, happier and more able to handle knocks and disappointments in life.

Encourage a diversity of friends.  If all fails with friends at school, having youth group friends, surf club friends, childhood friends to spend time with helps.

Encourage a charismatic adult in their life.  Somebody outside the family that they feel connected with, trust and may have influence in their life.  It might be a teacher or that favourite ‘aunty’ your family spends time with. My children have five or six “Aunties” that I hope and pray they will seek out if they ever feel we as parents just don’t quite cut it or understand.

Tell inspiring stories of determination & resilience.  The ones about grandfathers at war, parents who left their native country to create a better life for their children elsewhere. Bible stories such as David slaying Goliath, and Daniel in the Lion’s Den.  Stories of disabled athletes who overcome. The mountain climber, Aron Ralston, who amputated his arm for survival. Also tell positive, glass half full stories. 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).  This simply means seeing one’s mind as a control centre.  Recognise what one thinks, affects how one feels and how one feels affects how one acts.   Our students can handle things so much better when they take control of their thoughts.  Remember the story of the little engine that could? ”I think I can, I think I can”.  

Identify strengths.  It is easier to build resilience when kids have successes in life.  Find something they can succeed in. Give them plenty of praise and encouragement and also teach them self-praise.  It’s great if they can say to themself “actually I was quite good in that drama play, I’m a talented actor”, “I have natural endurance, if I train hard I am likely to do very well in cross country”. 

Teach them how to problem solve.  Define the problem, brainstorm a range of possible solutions and considering the outcome for each.  Pick the best solution based on examining all consequences. Do it! ... and evaluate the outcome.

Rediscover some family rituals.  It doesn’t matter whether it is a family walk after dinner, pancakes for breakfast on birthdays, the Friday night pizza or the Saturday morning clean up, rituals are precious.   The best rituals often cost nothing. These are the activities you hope that later on your children will reminisce and say, “Mum always made sure we did” or Dad always made sure we did.” 

Take time to be.  “We live in a world that suffers from attention deficit disorder. We rush children from activity to activity, from lesson to lesson and from one organised event to another. Then we wonder why, when there is a lull that they say, “I’m bored”. Be a counter-revolutionary. Find some time each week just to be at home without anything structured happening” (Andrew Fuller 2011). 

Finally, being in relationship with God. Being confident in the knowledge that God is actively involved in our lives. Knowing He walks with us each day and guides us. Knowing He values us beyond measure.  

It is not hard to see that in nurturing the individual and building resilience we create happier, healthier children.  Young people that may continue learning and growing and go on to make a genuine difference in their world and our Global world. 

There are a number of very good ‘resilience’ programs available for children of all ages. At St Andrews, we aim to teach resilience to our students in various year levels.  If you are particularly interested in more information on specific resilience resources, please let me know. 

RECENT EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN OUR SECONDARY SCHOOL  (despite COVID restrictions)

Although all our excursions have been cancelled over the past two weeks, due to COVID restrictions, the College has still been a busy and productive place.  A dozen of our Year 11 students have presented speeches and had interviews as part of our leadership process for College Captains in 2022.  I am so encouraged by the calibre of our future leaders. The students who spoke and were interviewed are outstanding young people, a credit to their parents and a blessing to our College community. Position or not, I am excited to watch this fine cohort of students lead our school over the next year.

The ICAS Digital Technologies Competition still took place last week, as did the IC’ 21 session on Prototyping.  This program is proving to be an inspiring program and catalyst for amazing business ideas.

Well done to the Year 12 Hospitality class who hosted a Business Lunch with numerous staff and students on Monday. Their catering including menu choice, meal presentation and quality, and customer service was first class. Many thanks to them and Mrs Riddell for hosting such an exceptional event. 

Also, this week saw a great opportunity for many of our Year 9 and 10 students to be extended and engage within an Art Workshop with professional artist, Sarah Sculley. Students created designs and stencils to be used in the new CCI building.   

Finally, our Year 12 students are a week away from their Mock Exams. Schedules have been published and staff at the College are continuing to support our seniors learning and wellbeing with open doors and open hearts. Parents of Year 12 students may like to reach out to their child’s teachers if there are any questions or concerns about subject specific progress.  

Adele Ramsay 
Deputy Principal Head of Secondary School 

The use of mobile phones has changed our world. Showing my age, the first one I saw was at University and it took up the whole front seat of my friend’s car! These devices are now part of our lives and I cannot imagine not having one.

Rightly or wrongly, mobile phones form part of an adolescent’s identity and can be the cause of a lot of family stress and arguments. Many parents of Year 7 students share with me the strong desire for their child to have a phone. Their child will say “but everyone else has one”, when trying to convince their parents to get a phone. I can say that not all Year 7 students have a phone. Stay strong if you have decided not to give your child a phone until a little later, if at all.

The decision to hand a phone to your child must be made carefully. My thoughts always turn to a young adult learning to drive. It now takes a 16 year old 100 hours behind the wheel of a car before getting their licence. When giving a child a mobile phone; free access to the internet etc, what learning does that young child need to use the device wisely?

I would question whether the phone needs to have internet access at all. Phones can just be for safety, which will allow a child to ring parents if needed. Whilst this would be very unpopular for children, this does allow for trust to build between parent and child in terms of using the device.

If the device does have internet access, it is important to have discussions around acceptable use of this. It might be that at sleepovers, phones are collected from the children when they arrive. This may stop inappropriate messages and websites being sent and accessed whilst all together and unsupervised.

It is recommended that young people do not have phones in their bedrooms, even when charging. Sleep is vital for young people to function, grow and mature. Have a ‘charging’ area where everyone’s phone sits, maybe in your room, is a good idea.

Recently, ABC Four Corners covered a story about the app TikTok. Whilst the first 10 mins was a little slow, the rest was eye opening. I strongly recommend you watch this episode. This app is not just a fun ‘dance’ app, where young people film themselves. Worth a look.

https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/tiktok:-data-mining,-discrimination-and-dangerous/13470700

Please contact me if you have any concerns or queries regarding your child.

Lisa Roper
Head of Middle School

LANGUAGE STUDENTS MOVING MOUNTAINS

On Sunday, 25 July, St Andrews Lutheran College language students participated in the MLTAQ Griffith University Language Competition.  Students competed in the German, Japanese and Yugambeh language competitions.  We would like to congratulate all of our students who were awarded a highly commended or placed in the competition.  We also thank all students who participated.  Special mention goes to Eliza T and Sienna Y in Year 11 Japanese who were selected to speak in the knock out State Final round at the competition.  Eliza received 1^st in the State Competition while Sienna received a distinguished Highly Commended Award.  These girls had to speak in front of an auditorium of Japanese business leaders from South East Queensland.  Finally, we would like to make another special mention in relation to three Year 7 students, Madison T, Talia S and Ellie W who placed 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd places respectively in the indigenous Yugambeh language competition.  This is the first time the College entered students into this section and we feel honoured that our students achieved such success.

Here are the fantastic results from the day at the competition.

Year 7 German

1^st Place Noah R

2^nd Place Ashleigh C

Year 8 German

1^st Place Zoe R

2^nd Place Annie R

3^rd Place Marcus P

Year 9 German

Highly Commended Zoe W

Year 11 German

1^st Place Lotte R

2^nd Place Rowan T

3^rd Place Lilah T

Year 7 Japanese

1^st Place Seren C

Highly Commended Lacey H

Highly Commended Eden R

Highly Commended Claire G

Year 8 Japanese

3^rd Place Evie M

Highly Commended Amelia T

Highly Commended Maddie J

Year 9 Japanese

Highly Commended Scarlett T

Highly Commended Sophia T

Highly Commended Coco B-S

Highly Commended Asha C

Year 10 Japanese

Highly Commended Phoebe G

Highly Commended Patterson C

Year 11 Japanese  

1^st Place Eliza Thorpe

4^th Place Commended Sienna Y

Highly Commended Lilian M

Highly Commended Eadie F

Year 11 Japanese State Final Certificates

1^st Place Eliza T

Highly Commended Sienna Y

Yugambeh Language 

1st place - Madison T

2nd place - Talia S

3rd place - Ellie W

Dani Goucher
Head of International Students and Languages

MEDIA SATURATION 

With the Covid outbreak in NSW, it appears to me that there is a greater focus on reporting this in the media. Nearly every story on the news is about the Delta variant, the border closures, the vaccination rates or experts giving their opinion. It tends to dominate our discussions, I’m even writing about it in our newsletter. Our children hear all the talk and the doom and gloom in the media and it must be very confusing for them. They will react differently to the different outbreaks and the constant media attention around the outbreak. While we need to keep up to date with latest developments, it is important to not lose sight of what is important in children’s lives and that is play, connection and love. Find times to allow children to be children and let them play. Connect in with your children by spending quality time with them. Tell them that you love them and say it often. These simple steps can go a long way to helping our children deal with the constant messaging. I would like to take this opportunity to express my thoughts and prayers to all staff, students and their families impacted by the latest outbreaks. 

STUDENT AGENCY

After reading some books about space junk, the students in Year 1 have all designed rockets and robots that will assist to clean up the space junk in the atmosphere. They were carefully constructing their rockets into the shape that was drawn on the paper. The teachers didn't plan for this action at the start of the unit, it was a response to what the children were learning and asking to do. This is an excellent example of student agency. There was a buzz of excitement and enthusiasm and the learning that was going on was immeasurable. 

FUN FACT

If students who have attended Lutheran Schools in Queensland were a country, we would have come 15^th in the Olympic medal tally. Quite an amazing feat considering countries like South Korea, Spain and Hungary were awarded less Gold Medals. 

Darrin Schumacher
Deputy Principal Head of Junior School

The Exhibition is an integral part of the Primary Years Programme and is the culminating learning experience at all PYP schools. It is a rigorous, challenging and enjoyable opportunity for our Year 6 learners. Just as important, the PYP Exhibition is a wonderfully joyous community celebration of our young people’s amazing ability to collaborate, direct their own learning, and to help make a difference to the world around them.

Our Year 6 students have been involved in an inquiry process that will enable them to identify, investigate and offer solutions to real-life issues or problems whilst working collaboratively. The students have been offered several initial learning engagements to commence the inquiry process. One experience was a ‘Living Museum’ Provocation which took place over two days. A number of guests were invited to the College to share their knowledge and expertise in an area they were impassioned about. These ‘living museum’ speakers shared about various experiences and areas of passion such as marine biology, walking the Kokoda trail and other adventurous hikes, the potential of Science discoveries and fashion designing. This provocation was a way to introduce ideas, to promote wonderings and questions.

Since the provocation experiences, our learners have now selected their issue or opportunity and are now connecting with the primary sources via TEAMS meetings to seek answers to their inquiry questions with knowledgeable experts in the wider community. Some of the inquiries include: vaccine development/immunology, marine animal protection, sustainable power, preserving tribes and their cultures, genetically modified food, space exploration and prosthetics and transplants.

These student-initiated inquiries are the culmination of the student’s growth and learning during their time in the Junior School. It is with great anticipation to observe where each student’s learning journey will take them throughout the nine weeks. We are hoping that we can still proceed with the special PYP Exhibition Evening community event on Wednesday 15 September at 6:00pm in the MPH but that will depend on the Queensland Government restrictions relevant at that time. Further information will be made available once this is known closer to the date.

Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12, NLT)

Jacqueline Faulkner
Deputy Head of Junior School & PYP Coordinator

CULTURAL AWARDS

Our Cultural Awards events are an opportunity to showcase our College ensembles and to recognise and celebrate the individual achievements of our students.

Our Year 4 – 6 Cultural Awards will be held Wednesday, 13 October from 1:30pm and the Year 7 – 12 Cultural Awards will be held Friday, 15 October from 6.30pm.

How are Cultural Awards determined?

For Year 4 – 6 we use our College ensemble rolls to determine levels of involvement within the College and also request that any activities completed outside of the College (this does include those from October 2020 onwards) be emailed to priscillas@salc.qld.edu.au 

For Year 7 – 12 we use our Cultural Awards surveys. These are available on Student Notices or from the Arts Staff and are to be returned to priscillas@salc.qld.edu.au  

The deadline for this information is Friday, 3 September.

NB: Any activities scheduled for Term 4 2021 will be included in 2022 Awards.

What is the criteria?

Cultural Awards recognise individual student achievement in the performing and visual arts. 

In the area of performing arts the awards include achievements in Music, Drama (stage and screen) and Dance (achievements within College Dance Programs, Dance Schools, Professional Dance Companies, Stage Productions and RAD Examinations are included). Visual Arts include photography and filmmaking.

NB: language speaking competitions, debating, chess etc are not included in these awards.

Essential Criteria for all levels: Active Participation in school cultural activities

BRONZE AWARD 

This is awarded to students who:

• have been involved in several (3 – 4) cultural groups/activities throughout the year

     OR

• passed Grade 5 or above in Music, Dance or Speech & Drama Exam 

     OR

• are nominated for outstanding contribution to a school ensemble/activity.

SILVER AWARD

This is awarded to students who:

• Grade 5 or above in Music or Speech & Drama Exam + involvement in cultural groups/activities throughout the year

     OR

• Major Award at Regional level (GC Drama Festival / Eisteddfod Championships etc).

GOLD AWARD 

This is awarded to students who:

• Representation at State level or equivalent in chosen discipline

     OR

• Major Award (e.g. Top of State in Speech & Drama Exam).

Any questions regarding Cultural Awards can be emailed to priscillas@salc.qld.edu.au 

Cilla Scott

Head of Arts 

St Andrews Music department is excited to see a few of our students finding great success with their own original material in the triple j Unearthed competitions. Amy D (Amy Elise), Sam L (Parker) and Georgia H can all be found on the Unearthed High website even though the competition is officially over. Congratulations to all of you. 

Keep an eye out for Georgia’s song ‘17’ which is slowly creeping up the pop charts and getting some air play on unearthed radio. ’17’ will be released on all streaming networks on Friday, 17 September.  In fact, look for all of them on the major streaming providers and give them the kick along they deserve. 

triplejunearthed.com/artist/georgia-hoareau

Sam L in Year 10 has released a single and it is up on Triple J Unearthed.

Parker is the solo project of this 15 year old Gold Coaster, Sam L.

His music has elements of Indie, Rock, Pop and Surf with an appeal to teenagers. Sam loves the thrill of collaboration. He was the winner of the 2019 Mullumbimby Music Festival under 15 Youth Mentorship for his original tunes and will be performing a new track at The Songwriting Prize @listenupmusicorg Semi Finals in September, supporting mental health in the Music Industry. 

triplejunearthed.com/artist/parker-3

triplejunearthed.com/artist/amy-elise

Happy Friday!! 

Trivia Night is postponed.  

If you have paid for a table, you should have received an email about the new date. If you are unavailable to go, we will be refunding your money. 

Father’s Day stall will be held Monday, 30 and Tuesday, 31 August in the bus shelter before school. 

Back by popular demand, the Annual P&F Raffle where you could win school fees for a year will be launching soon. Ticket books will be sent home with your youngest child on Friday, 8 October.

Our next P&F meeting will be our AGM.  All positions will be vacant. If you would like to nominate please contact pandf@salc.qld.edu.au.  Please feel free to contact us for the nomination forms.

MEETINGS

We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming meetings:

• AGM Wednesday, 10 November 7:00pm.

If you would like to add an item to the Agenda, please email pandf@salc.qld.edu.au

Year 9 student, Bryce U'Ren, has been nominated for a Westfield Local Heroes award.

Here is the voting link:

https://www.westfield.com.au/coomera/news/68hBOrHvA2CnfwIL3wAoVo/local-heroes-2021

There are six nominees for three $10k local prizes. The winners are determined by how many votes each nominee receives. Please support Bryce by voting for him!