What is love? Love is many things to us. Responses received from middle & senior school students and staff during last week’s chapel stated that love was: caring for someone, friendship, huggles (not a typo), Jesus, putting others first and dogs smiling. There is nothing that screams love more than a smiling dog! 

Our journey into what love is started with the words Paul wrote to the people of Corinth. In this letter, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, he states ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Those verses clearly articulate what love is and isn’t. Those statements are clear and concise and can be used as a measuring stick against how one shows love to others but that is not the only point Paul makes about love in this chapter. There is good wisdom either side of these verses but Paul ends chapter 13 by recognising that in life, when all else falls away, we are left with three things faith, hope and love with the greatest of these being love. 

Love is great. Love is so powerful. A love that is patient, kind, protects, trusts, is hopeful, perseveres, is not self-seeking or easily angered, does not keep a record of other’s wrongs and rejoices with the truth is seen in Christ and is always within our capabilities.

I am the first to acknowledge that my family should not look to me for a perfect example of ‘being love’ but I am more than happy to be one to say that by consistently looking to Christ, we can better live out what love is to those in our lives. Crudely put, connecting with Christ regularly is just good PD! Living with that lens of what love is, is good personal development.

Place these words from Paul on your fridge, phone, mirror or car dashboard as a daily reminder of what love is. Love is powerful. It can change a person for the better in a moment. Love is that important.

Yours in Christ,

Christophe Tanguy
Middle and Senior School Teacher

THE END OF YEAR IS NEAR

As you read this our Year 12 students will be on the verge of entering their final week of schooling at St Andrews. What we value most remains the priority – building strong relationships and a culture which encourages people to flourish: Celebrating the Gospel, Nurturing the Individual and Empowering Lifelong Learners.

And flourish they did! I’d like to take the opportunity to thank our 2021 graduates, one and all, for their exceptional approach to College life throughout the year. Their vibrancy and resilience are true reflections of their character and it has been an absolute privilege to walk alongside them.

Throughout the week ahead we will celebrate the class of 2021’s journey and accomplishments at significant occasions including Valedictory, our Good Goodbyes morning and Final Assembly.

For our students in Years 7 – 11 significant events and award ceremonies are but a few weeks away. Nonetheless, much work remains ahead of the students as they complete final units of work and assessments. If you or your child require any additional support at this often stressful time, please reach out to myself or a member of the College team. We are here to help.

I also want to acknowledge the dedication and commitment shown by our Teaching Staff, for their work towards coaxing, coaching and inspiring our students to strive to achieve to their true potential. The work they do in and out of classes is what keeps our students learning, growing and developing as learners and as well-rounded individuals. Non-teaching Staff, Teacher Aides, Groundsmen, Administration, Library, Tuckshop, and Uniform Shop all too also go above and beyond to ensure this is a College of flourishing and so to them we are also most grateful.

AN ARRAY OF RICH LEARNING EXPERIENCES ACROSS CURRICULUM AREAS

Last week our Year 10 students engaged in a new initiative, the Catalyst Conference. The purpose of this conference day, held here at the College, was to consider what perhaps was or would be the catalyst for determining the type of adults these young people become. The conference built on ideas about future career pathways and also challenged them to consider their character development. They were asked to think about their values, what is important to them and how that drives their choices. They were challenged to reflect on who they are becoming and what and who is contributing to their character, their work ethic and their appetite for future opportunities.   

The Catalyst Conference formed part of the Year 10 Destinations program, which took a thorough dive into professional pathways. A huge thank you to Mr James Nielson, Ms Meg Sippel, Ms Tania Stewart, Mrs Dani Goucher and Mrs Christina Wrigley for their work in preparing and delivering this program. 

Last Friday, our Year 11 Biology students studying Ecology attended an outstanding workshop at the University of Queensland. Current UQ Ecology and Zoology students conducted activities based on the deep learning required in the new Senior Biology Syllabus.

The Senior Dance and Music students enjoyed the Spotlight Theatre production of ‘Singin' in the Rain’ last week.  It is a wonderful experience for these students to attend and learn more of the Arts with their teachers, Mr Paul Oakley-Grant and Miss Paula Guild.

Also last week, selected Year 9 and 10 students, with a keen interest in software programming, generating and designing interactive games, competed in the ‘Capture the Flag Competition’. This was an interschool game tournament, hosted at Griffith University.  Many thanks to Mr George Maliwat who organised this opportunity for these students.

Congratulations to the Year 10 German students who recently participated in the German Pretzel Bake-Off. The Year 10 German students have made connections to the German speaking business world in Australia and were fortunate to team up with a Pretzel Bakery from Melbourne.  Mr Jochen Schaich has once again gone over and beyond to give our students another fantastic opportunity to enhance their German speaking skills, their cooking ability and German cultural awareness.  

Furthermore, this week the Year 11 Hospitality students visited the Miami Marketta to experience different cooking styles and serving styles of many different countries. Without a doubt, this proved to be a wonderful hands-on experience in the food and hospitality industry. It’s a credit to Mrs Louise Riddell for providing this initiative for these keen students.  

Adele Ramsay
Deputy Principal Head of Secondary School

I would like to begin this Newsletter by acknowledging the hard work of our Year 12 cohort who have been sitting their External Exams for the still relatively new Queensland ATAR system. What a journey it has been for them. I would also like to acknowledge the efforts of their teachers in preparing them for this mammoth undertaking – 3 weeks and 3 days of scheduled exams with some students completing an exam nearly every day and sometimes two. As I have said to the students and their parents, this new process is a marathon not a sprint. It really began at the end of Year 11 when many subjects started Year 12 work.  Let that be a word of advice to our current Year 11s. Start early!

Special acknowledgement also to Mrs Wrigley and Mrs La Porta for their thorough invigilation and implementation of the external assessments. The amount of organisation, paperwork, boxes to be ticked, packed and unpacked is literally staggering. 

Our Coordinators are busy crunching the numbers on student results and we will run study tips and organisational workshops to support those students who may still be working out how to be a Senior School student. The first of those kicked off this week with the Year 11’s. On the flip side letters have been sent home to those students who have performed well but may have just missed out on Academic Honours. The message there is keep persisting and building the skills of critical thinking, organisation and time management. As I repeatedly say – Years 11 and 12 not a sprint. 

However, at the recent study tips and organisation session that I ran with the Year 10s we also discussed how important it was to work hard but be healthy and well because no amount of study tools, flashcards, blank paper retrieval pages, notes rewritten, or practice tests will work if the body and mind aren’t well. Simply our students need to exercise, eat well, sleep, do what they love so they can work hard on their job (their education). 

It was interesting to note that after the students completed an analysis of how they spend their time many were shocked at the amount of time they waste in non-productive activities that help them procrastinate (social media, phones, streaming services). It was heartening to hear that some took the advice and sent their phones out of their rooms and turned off notifications so they could study uninterrupted. They reported being so much more productive and really quite chuffed that they had taken this grown-up step. It is no surprise to the adults that every time we are distracted by a notification it takes 23 minutes to get back to productivity. So, if your child is telling you they studied for 2 hours but they sat with their study notes and phones that 2 hours was probably more like 20 minutes. Parents, feel free to put the phones on charge in your bedroom or the kitchen when your student is attempting to study. Also, a great website with so many ideas about studying smarter that I shared with the students is - http://studyexpert.online/

Congratulations to:

• The Year 10 students who experienced our first Catalyst Program in Week 5 which was developed as an extension to the Destinations Program and City XP. The Year 10’s participated in team bonding activities, study and organisation tips, jobs of the future, career planning, ways of being and enjoyed pancakes for breakfast and pizza for lunch – lucky right! However, these things don’t come together without the time and effort from dedicated staff so thank you to Ms Sippel and Mr Nelson for their work on pulling the program together which provides a stepping stone for 2022. Also, thank you to Mrs Ramsay for the keynote message of being the best person you can be and Mrs Goucher for giving up her time to run sessions for our Year 10’s.
• On that note, congratulations to Mrs Goucher on her appointment as Head of Senior School. I look forward to handing over the reins as I take on a new challenge in 2022.
• Indigo C and Kealie D who represented the College by participating in the City of Gold Coast Junior Council Program. Kealie was recognised for her commitment over 2020-21 by the Deputy Mayor and it has been a pleasure getting to know both ladies as we travelled up to Bundall together. We will be looking for two Year 10’s to take on this commitment in 2022.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• Year 10-11 Senior School Assembly – Week 7, Tuesday 16 November – the final cooking with Stewie and our traditional end of year movie.

• Year 12 Final Week – Valedictory on the evening of Thursday 18 November, Final Assembly Friday 19 November.

• Year 10-11 Award and Celebration Event – Week 8, Friday 26 November.

If you have any queries or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me on tanias@salc.qld.edu.au

Tania Stewart
Head of Senior School

CAPTURE THE FLAG COMPETITION EXCURSION

On Friday, 5 November, students from the Year 9 and 10 Digital Solutions composite class went to Griffith University Gold Coast campus to view the finals of a coding competition that they had entered. The competition was a ‘Capture The Flag’ game simulation in which the participating schools had to submit code for a set of bots that competed against opposing bots from other schools.

The day started with an academic presentation from Griffith staff about the career opportunities in coding and working with technology, and the course offerings for future students interested in this pathway. Students were then taken on a tour of the Engineering and ICT faculties where they were able to see some of the past and present projects undertaken by Griffith University students. After a short lunch break all students returned to the theatre to watch the ‘Capture The Flag’ finals screening. Six schools were involved with St Andrews Lutheran College competing for the first time in this competition. Our team were only able to achieve one win from four matches and did not progress to the Grand Final.

Even though our team achieved limited success in the finals matches, our students still gained valuable experience in coding with Python using an objected-orientated methodology, which is quite challenging. Our students also walked away with show bags from IBM, the main sponsor of the event. We are looking forward to participating in this competition again next year.

George Maliwat
Industrial Design Technology

Recently, a group of students visited Brisbane to be apart of an event called The Something School. The Something School was an event run by BOP Industries and Something Digital and was about preparing students for the future of digital technologies. During the day, students listened to many different speakers and panelists, learning about the use of technology in the Cross River Rail, and in different business cases. Students also brainstormed ideas about different inventions using technology, and how to remove hate speech online. During the day, students had the opportunity to try out Virtual Reality, and take a virtual tour of the Cross River Rail, which is yet to be built! All of this took place from ‘The Grove’, located on the rooftop of an inner-city building, leading to amazing views of the city. 

Tobias B
Year 8 Student 

FIRST LEGO LEAGUE 2021 REGIONAL TOURNAMENT

On Saturday, 6 November, four Year 7 students from our Roboshop elective class went to Merrimac State High School to represent the College in the First Lego League Regional Tournament. This competition required students to engage in research, problem-solving, coding and engineering – building and programming a LEGO robot that navigated the missions of a robot game. Teams also participated in a research project to identify and solve a relevant real-world problem in relation to this year’s theme - ‘Cargo’.

Our College entered two teams with ‘Team Magnus’ comprising of Daniel GH and Aaron T, and ‘Team Soren’ comprising of George C and Liam Z. Both teams did well presenting their innovative projects to the judges with Team Magnus speaking about a material to reduce seat vibration to improve truck driver safety, and Team Soren creating a Lego model of a courier vehicle with a mechanical arm to speed up deliveries. Our students found the Robot Game matches challenging to complete but were able to learn from their failures. 

Our teams finished in the lower half of the leader board and hence did not qualify for the national championships. However, they did have a lot of fun which was at the heart of the competition.

George Maliwat Industrial Design Technology

UQ BIOLOGY EXCURSION

On Thursday, 4 November the Biology staff at St Andrews took 51 Year 11 Biology students to the University of Queensland for the “Experience Ecology” workshops. It gave the students the opportunity to experience a university style lecture and complete some fieldwork. The day was broken up into two workshops.

We started the day in the Abel Smith Lecture Theatre where students learnt how to analyse and interpret Ecological Data. This workshop was run by the very entertaining Dr Gurion Ang (School of Biological Sciences) and he used an authentic sample data set to help students learn best practice in the processing of ecological data. 

The second workshop focused on Skills in Field Ecology. It was run by current UQ Ecology and Zoology students who conducted field activities around the picturesque UQ Lakes based on the three mandatory practicals in Unit 3 of the new senior Biology syllabus.

The ultimate aim of the day was to ensure the students have a solid knowledge base for their first two internal assessments (the data test and the modified student experiment), as well as experiencing life on a university campus.

Some of the students said: 

“The lecture felt as if it gave me a deeper understanding into our assessment and the work of a Biologist.” Oli W.

“It gave me an idea about what life on campus would be like.” Matt H.

A big thank you must go out to Miss Castles, Mr Hayward and Mr O’Rourke who came along and assisted the students.

Kulari Harris
Senior Biology Teacher

FAMILY VALUES

I caught a little of that show on television that compares parenting styles and asks each family to judge another family’s parenting style. Each family has its own set of values that shape how they are going to raise their children. This is true for all families. 

Recently we have been partnering with the Fathering Project to provide events for fathers and father figures to connect in with the school. Listed below are some of their tips for developing a set of family values: 

• You are a powerful influence in shaping the beliefs and values of your children, both through what you say and what you do.

• Carefully consider what is important to you and your family when establishing your family’s core values such as love, kindness, trust, honesty, respect etc.

• Your family values can form the basis of your family agreements and rules.

• Family values are important to guide children’s behaviour.

• Start to teach values to your children when they are young. Whatever you instil as family values at that age will become habit and drive their behaviour going forward.

• With older children, discuss why family values are important and how these values can help the whole family to make good decisions.

CHRISTMAS CAROLS

The College Christmas Carols are being held on Saturday 27 November beginning at 5:00pm in the MPH. It will go for about an hour and will be a great celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I hope that you can all attend and join in singing some fantastic carols. 

A WORD FROM THE DEPUTY HEAD / PYP COORDINATOR

Approaches to Learning

Approaches to learning in the PYP are an important aspect as they assist students in learning how to learn. They are a set of skills that have been categorised into five interrelated groups - Thinking, Research, Communication, Self-Management and Social skills which naturally have a growth mindset resonating within them since they cover many different behaviours, critical and creative thinking as well as emotional management and states of mind. 

Our teachers and learning assistants constantly facilitate an awareness of these skills within their learning activities as it is important that as learners, students do not only identify the skills that are incorporated within their active learning, but that they can actually highlight them when they are a using them and be able to reflect on their ability as they progress from being a ‘novice’ through to an ‘expert’ in demonstrating the skill. By embedding the skills (along with the IB Learner Profile attributes) within the learning, students can reflect on questions like:

“How did you use your research skills in that learning experience?”

“When did you use self-management skills today?”

“How could you improve your communication skills when presenting to others?”

The approaches to learning are designed to be applicable to all areas across the curriculum so these are used both within and outside of the Programme of Inquiry (POI).

When viewing the image above of the students learning collaboratively, you could identify a number of these skills without even being present in the learning environment to hear the conversations. The image highlights that there is sharing and discussion of ideas (communication), thinking of ideas and documenting these (thinking) as well as skills such as listening to the perspective of others and taking turns to speak (social) and undertaking the task at hand (self-management).

I encourage you to see if you can ask your child to identify the approaches to learning they are demonstrating when engaged in an activity at home!

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Jacqueline Faulkner
Deputy Head of Junior School & PYP Coordinator

ASCA SPEECH AND DRAMA EXAMS

We had 80 PAT Speech and Drama students complete their ASCA Exams a few weeks ago. The Australian Speech and Communication Association Exams allow audiences to view the exam program so students had the chance to perform in front of their peers and parents.

It is the second year we have put students through these exams and again received exceptional results with all participants receiving a Distinction and above.

Special mention to the following students who received the highest results on the day:

Lexi G- Speech and Communication Junior Grade 4 - 96

Paddy D- Speech and Communication Senior Grade 1 - 94

Lucas B - Speech and Communication Senior Grade 1 - 94

Portia T - Speech and Communication Senior Grade 1 - 93

SINGING IN THE RAIN PERFORMING ARTS EXCURSION

There is no better way to learn about theatre than to see it. Last week Music and Dance Classes got to sit in the “splash zone” at Spotlight Theatre to see their production of Singing in The Rain. Students were also treated to meeting the cast and director Clay English as well as a backstage tour.

MAKING MINI MUSIC ANNUAL CONCERT

Last Monday the youngest of our PAT Students had their concert for their classes and their parents. This program is a wonderful introduction to music and was a joy to watch.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND PANTOMIME

Our MS Drama Elective, Pantomime Production got to perform to an excited audience of P- 3 students. This elective provided the opportunity to audition, rehearse and perform in front of a formal audience, developing their skills and understanding of what goes into staging a show. Well done to the cast on such a fantastic performance.

JUNIOR SCHOOL COMBINED CONCERT BAND REHEARSAL

As we reach the end of the year our Mini Musos have been invited to come and play with the JS Concert Band. It was wonderful to see so many young players together on stage enjoying making music together.

PAT (PERFORMING ARTS TUITION) 2022

A few things to note regarding our PAT Program for 2022

• With the exception of Mini Musos (Year 4) and Year 3 Strings students, all PAT enrolments will roll over into 2022. Students in these programs will receive separate correspondence regarding next steps in their child’s musical journey.
• Should you not intend for your child to continue their PAT lesson in 2022 you need to complete a cancellation form on the College Website.

https://www.salc.qld.edu.au/cocurricular/the-arts/pat-cancellation-form   

• We are now taking new enrolments into the program. Applications can be found on the College Website.
• Our Fee structure for 2022 is as follows

https://www.salc.qld.edu.au/cocurricular/the-arts/pat-application-form

• Individual - $37 (30 min lesson)
• Pair - $25 (30 min lesson)
• Group (subject to availability) - $12 (30 min lesson)

Any enquiries regarding the PAT program can be emailed to performingarts@salc.qld.edu.au

ORMEAU TOUCH – 2021/sport/Junior School/Touch/Group photo

It was a fantastic day for our students at the recent Ormeau Touch Tournaments. With previous Tournaments being cancelled, this was the first time our teams could test themselves against other schools. Both teams played well, with our Girls Team making it to the semi-finals. This was excellent preparation for the upcoming State Championships.

Our 12 Years Girls Futsal Team competed in the Australasians Championships last weekend, coming Runner’s Up in the Tournament. It’s been a long season of futsal for the girls, with our first training session starting in Week 2 of Term 1. The team have been so successful this year, winning the Gold Coast Titles, the Champions of Champions Competition, Inter-Lutheran Tournament and now placing 2^nd at Australasians. Congratulations girls on a fantastic year.  

Our 12 Years Boys and Girls Representative Touch Teams competed at the Queensland Championships last weekend. Both teams played incredibly well and qualified for the Division 1 Finals. Congratulations to all students and coaches involved. 

Casey West
Junior School PSPE Teacher / Sports Coordinator

NOVEMBER
Monday 15

JS PAT Vocal Concert 3:30pm   

Tuesday 16 
Year 12 Visual Art Exhibition 5:00pm

Thursday 18
Valedictory Dinner 6:00pm

Friday 19
Year 12 Final Assembly
Year 12 Last day

Monday 22
Year 10 and 11 Exam Block

Wednesday 24
Year 6 Celebration Dinner

Thursday 25
Sneak Peek Tour of the CCI 

Friday 26
Years 10-11 Awards Assembly
Years 10-11 Last day
Year 4 Bike excursion

Saturday 27
St Andrews Community Christmas Carols