A TOUR REFLECTION

I write this newsletter “on tour” with our Year 6 students in Canberra. Though I have visited our Nation’s Capital more times than I can accurately recall, each time I am accompanied by students there is always an element of seeing it a certain way for the first time. They note aspects of architecture I have looked past, they display innate reverence for many of our “National treasures”, and they ask questions which ignite in me wonder of their inquisitive, curious and creative natures. I am so impressed by the depth of their knowledge and understanding of matters such as the democratic process and parliamentary procedures. It is a fine testament to their teachers and families. I am also pleased to receive feedback from our various venue-based guides regarding the maturity and depth of many of the questions our students ask. The inquiry-based approach, a cornerstone of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program, shines through with questions which are nothing short of “clever, displaying a quest and thirst to understand things more deeply.

WHAT ARE WE BUILDING NOW?

As announced variously over the past 18 months, it is now exciting to see our Centre for Creative Industries slowly rising from the dirt. A P-12 facility which will dominantly cater for Senior School classes, the Centre for Creative Industries (CCI) will provide extensive and advanced facilities for cross-curricular opportunities across Visual Art, Industrial Technology, Design, Engineering, Film Television and New Media, Robotics, Drones, Augmented Reality, Digital Solutions, Information Technology, Fashion Design, Wearable Technology, and Allied Arts. It is a wonderfully designed building, with physical and curricular links across several Key Teaching Areas. The CCI will be the largest single building on campus.

The CCI has been in the ideation and refinement phases for four years and as such it is most gratifying to see it coming alive. The “build” commenced with the demolition of some of our older facilities which could not be renovated in such a way as to provide us with the footprint for the many functions of the new Centre. As is the case with most of our building projects on campus, it is logistically complex with regard to site access and the continuity of learning in adjacent facilities. We are managing extremely well. The project will be completed in October this year. We will keep you regularly updated.

AND THOSE COURTS….

If it wasn’t for the recurring wet weather, our new multi-purpose courts would have been finished weeks ago! As it is, we are now pleased that the last of the line-marking is all but complete. These new facilities will see an additional two basketball courts, two netball courts and four volleyball courts available for physical education lessons, and junior and secondary school sport.

Our gratitude is very much extended to the P&F, whose $100,000 contribution towards construction costs enabled us to expedite the outcome by approximately two years. We will publish some photos of the finished product in the next Newsletter.

Peace and Grace

David Bliss
Principal

We are now well into Term 1 and God’s Story has moved on from creation, where ‘In the Beginning’ everything was made good to now dealing with ‘where has all the bad stuff come from?’ Over the past weeks we have engaged in the narratives of Adam and Eve in the Garden and the epic Noah adventure. Both stories are relatively well known at a basic level. Adam and Eve in the garden is synonymous with fruit, a tree and a talking snake. Noah builds an Ark, saves all the animals and the rainbow appears to conclude the adventure. Each narrative seems to be quite distinct and separate from the other but at a closer look the essence of each is identical.

God has created a perfect world but why is there so much pain, hurt and suffering within it? The Christian answer is found within these two stories. God created humankind but honoured us with the dignity of being able to choose to stay in a relationship with Him or to go our own way, thinking we can do a better job without Him. Adam and Eve were presented with this choice and they clearly chose to ‘Go their own way’ and this had disastrous results for all of humanity; where we all now instinctively choose to look after ourselves rather than stay connected with God and others. As this plays out, human selfishness wreaks havoc on God’s good world until He is so disheartened by it that He sends a flood to clean it all up! Surely this will get things back on track. If everything begins again with Noah who loves God as the ‘new Adam’, humanity will be able to triumph over the selfishness that plagues us; but, this is not the case. Genesis Chapter 9 tells how Noah is given the same task as Adam and Eve of looking after creation, but he ends up drunk in his vineyard and descending into destructive, sinful behaviour. Humanity is back to where it was before the flood.

Just before this happens, God placed the rainbow in the sky to remind Him of His absolute commitment to all of humanity. God never fails His part of the agreement with us. He is always completely committed to us but we are unable to remain completely committed to Him. Noah’s story confirms once and for all that our rebellion against God is etched deeply into our DNA. If anyone was going to overcome the self-centredness that resides in humanity, Noah would have, but he couldn’t, despite all God did for him and through him in the great rescue. Thankfully, the ultimate rescue from sin and selfishness has been achieved through Christ on the cross and this is what the rainbow points to for us whenever we are blessed to see one! Adam and Noah’s blatant failures speak very clearly of who we are as humans and through all of this, God stays committed to us as His children. This in some ways is repeated over and over again in the Bible in various contexts. Thanks be to God, that He is always faithful to us, despite our inability to remain faithful to Him!

Graeme Schache
Lay Chaplain and Middle Senior School Teacher

As we hit the mid-term point for Term One, I am so pleased with how students have settled into their learning routines, engaged with their studies and their co-curricular opportunities. I am also impressed with how our young people are conducting themselves around the campus, with friendly interactions and manners, well presented uniforms and tidy lunch areas.

Over the past couple of weeks, there has been so much happening with and for our students on and off the campus. Allow me to highlight just a few of the activities: a number of Year 11 students attended the Halogen National Young Leaders Day, with Mr Nelson last Wednesday; selected Year 10 and 11 students engaged with the Gold Coast City Junior Council Meetings at the GC Council Chambers with Miss Stewart; Year 10 Business students have been to James Street investigating small business marketing strategies with Mrs Myles; our Senior Sport and Rec. classes have been out Surfing; some of our Year 7 and 8 students have competed in The FUSE Cup - a national Esports competition. Also, this week, over 100 Year 8 students enjoyed either a Japanese dinner together at Wazen Japanese restaurant or a German dinner together at Bavarian Haus. What a wonderful cultural and social evening for those students.

SERVING OTHERS

In addition to all the above events and activities, many of our students have been acting with courage and a commitment towards serving in and beyond our community these past weeks. Selected Year 9 and Year 10 students have been involved in Service Learning, reading and recreation with the Currumbin Special School. Rosies Student Engagement Program – Year 12 Health Homelessness unit and service learning at Rosies Outreach, Southport also began last week. On Wednesday, 10 March we will be holding our termly Mufti-Day Fundraiser - a Gold Coin Donation for Rosies Gold Coast Branch. While on Monday, 8 March, the Middle School will engage with Clean Up Australia Day and commit to ensuring St Andrew is spotless. Again, this embraces this year’s theme – Growing within and Serving beyond.

Finally, one of my favourable bible verses is from Luke 12:48 and says

“To whom much is given, much will be required”.

If you have heard that line of wisdom, you know it means we are held responsible for what we have. If we have been blessed with talents, wealth, knowledge, time, and the like, it is expected that we use these things for the good of others. We are also so blessed to live in this part of the world and be involved in such a great school community. God has given us all different talents and opportunities, may we be reminded to use them to bless others.

Adele Ramsay
Deputy Principal Head of Secondary School

POSITIVE EDUCATION - MINDFUL MARCH

As we enter the time of term where assessments are due and exams are looming our Senior School students need to be mindful of their wellbeing, balancing academics, social life and downtime. Nothing says wellbeing more than a little bit of mindfulness. As it is Mindful March please encourage your young person to engage with a few of the activities in the monthly calendar below.

A FOCUS ON YEAR 10

After a few rounds of meetings with the Year 10 students in our Freddo Frog catch ups, I can safely say they understand what it means to be an Andrian. When asked this question I am blown away by the responses. For example, someone who tries their best, is respectful of this school and each other, a student who cares about living out our values and my favourite, someone who is a good friend, who cares about others and tries to do what they can to help the community.

A FOCUS ON ASSESSMENT

The 11 and 12 students are in a heavy assessment phase at the moment and despite best efforts a lot of tasks are due around the same time. After Term One many of our students reflect that they may not have started tasks or study early enough. It is easy in the early weeks of the term to think that there is plenty of time to complete those tasks due in Weeks 5, 6, 7… However, the reality is that if students do not start tasks early and chip away in small chunks they will struggle when those due dates come around when not only is one task due but a number of tasks across their suite of subjects. Time management and working too many hours (10+) in a part-time job are some areas to address as well as putting a stop to procrastination and prioritising social time over school work. A balance is crucial but there are just some days when it is best to say no to that social gathering, put the phone in the other room and just get on with the work at hand. We are here to help our students with their organisational priorities and much time is given in pastoral care time (LAG) in assisting students with this. If your student is really struggling please contact us so we can give some extra support.

CONGRATULATIONS TO

Anenya K, Phoebe G and Kealie D who represented the College at the recent Gold Coast City Junior Council Meeting at HOTA. They will have a great year experiencing leadership activities, learning about local issues for youth and developing communication skills.

Anenya K, Indigo C, Quinn S (Year 10) and Charlotte R, Eliza T, Lilah T (Year 11) who will represent the College at the upcoming Bond University Mock United Nations experience later in the year.
Lilah T who has been selected in the Train-on Squad for the Qld State Debating team. She is super excited, as are we and will train in preparation for the experience in our Capital over 3 consecutive weekends. Great work and good luck Lilah.
The Year 12 Health class who has developed and implemented a range of actions during ‘Help the Homeless’ Week to support those experiencing homelessness. This is all part of their assessment but they are passionate about strengthening community action and enabling the students of St Andrews (who are so fortunate) by:
- challenging their perceptions of homelessness (many of which are incorrect),
- raising money for the Rosie’s charity organisation which we have been supporting since 2015 and,
- donating much needed food, clothing and personal items to Gold Coast Youth Services (on the GC for 30 years). We are collecting over Week 7 and 8 - Please send your donations to Senior School Administration.

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

Thursday 4 March saw J Block a hype of activities with the Hospitality students having the official opening of their Café. With music provided by 'The Saints', there was a wonderful ambiance for customers to enjoy while they ate and drank.

The Café is located in the Hospitality kitchen and is open on a Tuesday and Thursday morning before school - 7:15am until 8:15am.

The Café buzzed with excited energy as the customers queued to order their coffees and milkshakes. They had an opening special which was well received by staff and students alike. Mr Luxton is a regular at the Café, he commented “today’s cappuccino was the best yet!” He also loved his bacon and egg roll.

The pricing in the Café is very reasonable - Coffees are $3 and $4, Milkshakes start at $3 and then there is the food, something different every week. Mrs Riddell runs a Monday afternoon Cooking Club from 3:15pm and it is open to all students Year 7 to 12. Each week they prepare muffins, cakes, slices, and biscuits to be sold in the Café that week. They are open to any suggestions and are keen to keep the customers happy by providing amazing food to complement the drinks. Just email Mrs Riddell if you are interested in joining.

Students in Year 10, 11 and 12 Hospitality classes volunteer their time to work in the Café. Kate B in Year 12 is heading up the training, so all the students will be experienced enough to obtain jobs as Baristas in the future. They are also learning how to take orders, use the EFTPOS machine, prepare food, make milkshakes and iced drinks. The Café will increase its menu as the students get proficient in each aspect. The Hospitality students would like to thank all of the staff and students for their support so far. The Business faculty ran a competition to pick a name and we had three people who suggested 'Deja Brew' which then became our name, they were Jordyn H, Sarah S and Mrs Bennett. Thank you to the hundreds of others who offered ideas. We have also had so many positive reviews from customers. They have been amazing to read so please keep them coming. We would also like to thank the Music Faculty - Mr OG and the band for the fantastic show they put on at the opening.

YEAR 6 TRIP TO CANBERRA

Students from our school have just returned from an educational tour of the National Capital. Students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the National Capital as part of their civics and citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding of $90 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate Program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

I have been watching the blog and it looks like the students had a wonderful time down in Canberra. I look forward to hearing all of the stories upon their return to school next week.

YEAR 4 CAMP TO LAKE AINSWORTH

The Year 4 students had three fun filled days at Lake Ainsworth last week. There were lots of water sports, adventure games and team building activities. They all looked exhausted when they returned to school.

The Outdoor Education Program allows us the opportunity to develop lifelong skills that aren’t easily taught in the classroom. While the students certainly enjoy their trips away with their friends, it is of great benefit to them socially and emotionally.

Please also acknowledge the hard work of our staff who freely give up time with their own families so that the students can have these camp experiences.

COVID SYMPTOMS

Over the past few weeks there have been a number of students who have shown signs of sickness. While there are no recorded cases of COVID-19 in Queensland we all still need to do our bit to keep our community safe. If your child is sick, please keep them home and follow Queensland Health recommendations around COVID testing.

TRAFFIC

The pick up and drop offs are flowing well and cars are in and out of the campus quickly and smoothly. Please be mindful of pedestrian crossings and stop well before the crossing rather than on the crossing when traffic builds. Thank you all for taking the time to look out for our children on school site.

Darrin Schumacher
Deputy Principal Head of Junior School

THE POWER OF SELF REGULATION

I’m writing this article from Canberra while on ‘camp’ (insert 'pilgrimage') with our wonderful Year 6 students and staff. It is such a privilege to come to the nations capital and be amongst the leaders of our country. But even more of a privilege for me is to spend time with our Year 6 students.

The title of my article speaks of the power of self-regulation (or self-management) and I have been surrounded by ‘powerful self-regulation’ these past days (I’m not talking about the staff - although they are fine examples). When we are thrown into unknown situations we need the skills of self-regulation to navigate the challenges.

CASEL (casel.org) defines “Self-management: The abilities to manage one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations. This includes the capacities to delay gratification, manage stress, and feel motivation and agency to accomplish personal and collective goals.”

The Canberra trip is such a lived experience of this that I cannot but share some of the insights our Year 6 students have shown me about self-regulation/management.

As we boarded our plane, I noticed a student looking rather uncomfortable. When I enquired about that student’s emotional state I was impressed to hear the student tell me the strategies they could use to calm their emotions and get through the flight.

When students were tired mid afternoon and energy was flagging, rather than sitting and feeling even more tired, some students chose to go for a run to re-energise. Before going to bed a group of students were concerned that they were feeling ‘wired’ and may not be able to go to sleep. One of these students suggested they try a ‘progressive muscle relaxation’ technique to help them wind down.

These are just a few examples, but in each there was a pathway to self-regulation. Each situation needed students to identify their body cues, use these to decide what their body was telling them about their emotions, and then formulating a plan using a strategy to regulate their reactions or behaviour. It can sound such a simple process but it is actually a learnt process that needs to be repeated over and over again.

Many activities can give our students opportunity to practice this process of self-regulation, camps are just one avenue as we continue to educate the whole child.

Oh yes, and self-regulation is also necessary for increased and sustained engagement in learning!

Karen Koehler
Deputy Head of Junior School Pastoral

FUTSAL

Next week the College is going to be represented by 9 Futsal teams ranging from Years 7-12. This year they will compete in the Brisbane Metro Titles to try and qualify for the mid- year Champion of Champions Competition. In 2021 we have had some specific goal keeping training by Declan Wenzel, a current Queensland Keeper. Hopefully this will increase our defence and opportunities to further progress. Good luck to all the teams and coaches.

OCEANIC CUP 2021

We have commenced our preparations for All Schools Touch in Term 1. This has included training on Thursday mornings to improve speed, fitness and Touch specific movement patterns. In Term 2 and 3 we will enter teams in the Oceanic Cup. This is a School competition held on Thursday afternoons between 5:00pm-6:30pm down at Palm Beach. I hope to enter teams in all divisions to aid our preparation for our major tournament in Term 4. If you have not registered your interest so far please complete the survey link below:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=pf6J2awAUkq8ODMkhRhHLFIC8opI6JhOrlVOYvLpgjJUQU5VNzAwUUlGRkEyNFhUSDNWRkU0NjROSi4u

HOUSE SHIELD

The competition to win the coveted House Shield commenced with a win for Jubi House at the recent Swimming Carnival. However, Weeks 7, 8 and 9 will provide opportunity for all Houses to gain precious points. On Wednesday of each of these weeks the House which can get the most participants will give themselves the best chance of taking out 1000 points in total. The Wednesdays on offer include:

Wednesday Week 7 – Tug of War on the oval
Wednesday Week 8 – Dodgeball on the oval
Wednesday Week 9 – Volleyball on our new oval courts

HINTERLAND SWIMMING

It was a fantastic day for our students at the recent Hinterland Swimming Trials. We had 39 students from Year 4 to 12 compete and 11 students were selected from the Hinterland team to go through to the South Coast Trials this week. Congratulations to all students, we look forward to hearing how you go.

Libby Wood
Head of Sport – Secondary School

Casey West
Head of sport - Junior School

Contact Us

Follow Us on Twitter

Like Us On facebook

Download App

Issue 3, Friday 5 March 2021

In This Newsletter

Principal's Pen

From the Principal

Chaplain's Chat

Graeme Schache

Secondary School

From the Deputy Principal Head of Secondary School

From the Head of Senior School

Science News

Service Learning

Grand Opening of Deja Brew

Secondary Library News

Junior School

From the Deputy Principal Head of Junior School

From the Deputy Head of Junior School Pastoral​

Year 4 Camp Review

The Arts

Arts Report

Sports

Sports Report

Community

What's on in the Middle School

Parents and Friends Association

Uniform Shop

Important Dates from 7 March - 21 March 2021

Principal's Pen

Chaplain's Chat

Secondary School

Junior School

The Arts

Sports

Community

Principal's Pen

Chaplain's Chat

Secondary School

Junior School

The Arts

Sports

Community

From the Deputy Head of Junior School Pastoral