God’s Story has focused on leaders over the past couple of weeks. The Israelites were led by a group of people referred to as ‘Judges’ between 1350 and 1020 BC. During this time God was calling His people to be His presence amongst the nations, exhibiting His truth and love, which stood in stark contrast to the practices and customs of those about them. Unfortunately, the Israelites regularly failed in their task. As they turned away from God and His ways of truth and love they would be overrun by the Canaanites or Midianites and eventually, the Philistines. This would lead them to recognise their sin and ultimately, in despair they would turn back to God and He would deliver them out of the hands of their enemies. This cycle is recorded 12 times in the book of Judges – the seventh book of the Bible. 

Our School Captains explored this in the Our Story chapel in Week 2 and connected it together really well with God’s Story as He brought deliverance into the lives of the Israelites. The Captains did this through exploring the question ‘What do you do when caught in a negative cycle’. They arrived at the realisation that it is so beneficial to reach out to other people for help when ‘caught’ in bad habits. The fact that a ‘change of heart’, not just external actions is what is needed for lasting change in our lives, was also highlighted. This led beautifully into how our loving God is in the business of changing hearts and as we share our lives with Him, He can deliver us out of cycles of destructive behaviour to a place of hope and peace. This is encapsulated in the words of Psalm 51 - “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me… Grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” 

Our God orchestrates this deep within us as we share our life with Him. It is a great blessing to us personally and to those around us as He works change within us from the ‘inside out’. 

As the Israelites struggled in the period of ‘the Judges’ they demanded God would give them a King. This came to be in 1020 BC when King Saul was appointed ruler of their nation. He was closely followed by the amazing fellow – David and then Solomon. These men were somewhat successful in leading the Israelites, but in the end, their leadership did little more than point towards the need of an ultimate leader and this was fulfilled in Jesus 1000 years later. God’s Story in the Bible continues on pointing to this truth and we will continue to investigate this through the remainder of Term 2.

This month we have been focusing on both kindness and being mindful in May. Mindfulness, taking a pause and a few deep breaths to simply check in on the present moment and our internal dialogue, is a wonderful technique for handling stress. It also enhances our wellbeing, our brain’s ability to process information, and our relationships. This week our Year 7 and Year 9 students sat their NAPLAN tests and used some mindful techniques to optimise their performance. As we head into the latter part of Term 2 and workloads begin to mount across the College please encourage your son/daughter to practice mindfulness, to eat and sleep well and to seek support when it is needed. 

Performing Arts Music Gala

Last Saturday’s, ‘Night at the Movies’ was a fantastic musical celebration and such a wonderful opportunity to see the hard work and musical talent of so many students.  At St Andrews we are blessed with such an array of talent in the Arts and an incredibly capable co-curricular music staff, committed to developing and extending our students further. Particular thanks to Miss Cilla Scott and Mr Paul Oakley-Grant for their passion of the Arts, hard work and massive commitment to execute such a successful evening.

Year 8 Camp

On Tuesday, our Year 8 students headed to Camp Kokoda at Maroon Dam for a four-day wilderness experience. Our students spent three days hiking and camped out at different locations each night.  They also experienced abseiling, canoeing, a giant swing and flying fox, a high ropes course and team building and initiative games. These activities really developed the students’ independence and got them out of their comfort zones. It is always a valuable experience for young people to get outside and enjoy all that the great outdoors has to offer. I commend our Year 8 students on the way they engaged with the camp program and conducted themselves on camp.  May I also thank Mr Brendan Smith (Year 8 Coordinator) and our incredible Year 8 teachers who supported and cared for our students during their camping experience. 

Year 9 GOOGA 

On Monday our Year 9 boys depart for their GOOGA experience. This is a transformative, shared experience for our cohort who have been well-prepared to face the challenges and opportunities for growth that GOOGA will bring. I look forward to following their progress via the Blog before heading out to visit the boys. Please contact Mrs Roper lisar@salc.qld.edu.au or Mr Tanguy christ@salc.qld.edu.au if you need any assistance or further information.

Adele Ramsay 
Deputy Principal Head of Secondary School 

VIRTUE OF HUMANITY

In our recent Assemblies the Senior School students have been reflecting on the Virtue of Humanity (love, kindness and social intelligence). Questions they were asked to ponder included:

• Who do you need to repair a relationship with or be kinder to?
• Have you donated money, food, clothes or blood – how did it make you feel?
• What are your strengths and do you think you understand what makes people tick?

While we are working on Meaningful May I would also like to remind families of the importance of mindfulness. This week I watched with interest a Year 10 class practising this superpower at the start of their lesson. The teacher reflected that as a result of this standard practice in the class, the students are more focused and energised, and as a result get more done in the lesson. Mastering our thoughts and emotions is a positive outcome of mindfulness leaving us in the moment – whatever that might be. I also challenged our Senior School students to be more mindful around social and digital media. The questions below are a good way of reflecting whether our use of digital media is helping or hindering our wellbeing and worthwhile for us all to reflect on. To assist our young people, I also shared how to set limits on our phones and increase sleep time (see instructions below) which is a huge concern for the wellbeing of young people. For example, when I asked the Year 12’s how many went to bed with their phones 100% put up their hands. Ouch! 

Congratulations to:

• Mrs Myles, Ms Yeo and Mr Edwards who were part of the QCAA confirmation process for the new ATAR system. This is wonderful professional development that benefits our teachers and their students, as well as the system that drives the senior process. 
• The Year 12’s who have approximately 100 days left before they graduate. Time flies when you are having fun.
• Our Captains and Senior leaders who visit the Junior School each week to build connections with our younger students. Apparently, they are like rock stars. The students love spending time with them as you can see from the photos of Jett, Amber and Elijah in full flight

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

The Middle School has hit the ground running in Term 2. All year levels have their camp experience during this term. 

YEAR 7

The recent Year 7 camp was an experience all will remember. Kokoda Park was a new venue for the College. The students really enjoyed the activities and the tent experience. Many students showed huge amounts of courage to overcome fears that they may have had leading into the camp. Sleeping away from home, unsure about heights or sleeping in a tent were all personal victories for some of the cohort.

A massive thank you to Mr Harris for organising the camp. I would also like to acknowledge and thank the Year 7 team: Mr McGilveray, Ms Slavin, Mrs Thorpe, Ms Pett, Mr Dart, Mrs Hamilton and Mr Tanguy for giving their time to go away with the group.

YEAR 8

Tuesday morning saw Year 8 head off to their camp at Camp Kokoda. This camp was run last year, and the current Year 9 students visited the classes during the week to share their stories. The Year 8 cohort did feel more confident after this visit. The camp involves small groups, single gender, hiking near Mt Barney and Lake Maroon. This camp is an important pathway for our students towards their Year 9 GOOGA experience.

YEAR 9

The Year 9's have been very busy during the first 3 weeks of term. In their classes they have been working towards assessment pieces before they leave for their camp. This group will also sit the NAPLAN exams this week.

An activity day was held last Thursday as part of final preparations for GOOGA (outdoor education). Mr Tanguy has been busy working out dorms and activity groups, which is always a massive job. The activity day was facilitated by the director of GOOGA, Mrs Andrea Newton. Each team went through a series of challenges that signalled the start of their journey of personal growth and group formation.

Lisa Roper 
Head of Middle School 

The Inclusive Practices Department has had some changes occur over the past couple of months.  We are streamlining the department across the College from Prep to Year 12.  We have many support staff who make up the Inclusive Practices Team.  Our Inclusive Practices Teachers are:

Mrs Candice Kelly:  Prep to Year 2

Mrs Shelly Pratt: Year 3 to Year 5

Mrs Ruth Duffy:  Year 3 to Year 6 (one day a week)  

Mrs Beth Forbes: Year 6 to Year 8

Together with these wonderful teachers, we also have our outstanding, dedicated Learning Assistants (previously named Teacher Aides) supporting our students across the College. We make a great team and support the academic and learning needs of students. Additionally, the College Counsellors, Mrs Mardi Frost and Ms Kate Bowyer work closely with the Inclusive Practices Department. If you would like additional information regarding our Inclusive Practices Department, please do not hesitate to contact me at sandia@salc.qld.edu.au.

In this week’s newsletter article, focus is on ‘Building Courage’. For children and teens, one of the most important things for them to know is that courage doesn’t always feel like courage. From the outside, courage often looks impressive and powerful and self-assured. On the inside sometimes, it can feel frightening and unpredictable. Courage can be tricky as it often looks different from the outside to the way you would expect it to feel on the inside.  

Here are some tips on how to build courage in children and teens:

We all want to feel safe. Here are some ways to nurture their ‘brave’:

1. Speak of their brave as though they’re already there.
2. Give permission for imperfection.
3. You won’t always feel ready. That’s why it’s brave.
4. Try something new.
5. Be the example.
6. Give them space for courage of thought.
7. Promote positive ‘self-talk’.
8. It is never too late to change.
9. The outcome doesn’t matter as much as the process.
10. Encourage their sense of adventure.
11. Brave is about doing what is right for them.

Finally, some believe that courage comes in the way of grand, big gesture, however the truth is that our children are slaying their own dragons each and every day. They’re heroes, every single one of them. The key is to help them realise this, so they can build their resilience by building their own ‘social-emotional tool box’ and to know that ‘brave will always be there when you need it’. 

For additional reading on this topic: http://www.heysigmund.com/bilding-courage-in-kids/

Written by Karen Young. 

Sandi Aleman
Head of Inclusive Practices Prep to Year 12

Year 10 School Vaccinations happening soon!

The Gold Coast Public Health’s immunisation team will be providing vaccinations to all Year 10 students on Friday, 23 July.

You should receive an email from admin.immunisegc@health.qld.gov.au  to the address you have nominated with the school (please check your junk mail folder). This email will be sent out on Wednesday, 23 June.

If you haven’t received this email you can contact Gold Coast Public Health’s immunisation team on 1800 940 750 or drop into the school office to collect a hard copy form.

Please see link to immunisation resources :

• Year 10 Meningococcal ACWY- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXpZNHuU8MI&feature=youtu.be

MOTHER’S DAY

A belated happy Mother’s Day to all of the Mums in our community. I hope that your children spoilt you with breakfast in bed. Our St Andrews’ Mums make a wonderful contribution to the College and are the reason we have a thriving community. Thank you to the Parents and Friends for the wonderful gifts that were available for purchase. There were also many beautiful trinkets made which I am sure you all treasured. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Hopefully you will never need to use it, but Ronald McDonald House is a great place for families to stay when there children are in hospital. Ronald McDonald House provides accommodation and basic meals so that parents can focus on their child’s recovery. The Parents and Friends are conducting a fundraiser called Dance for Sick Kids on Saturday 22 May. It’s a great social event for parents to catch up with each other while the children have a dance. I would love to see you there.   

LIGHT UP VANUATU 

The Junior School Student Council have heard about energy poverty and have decided that they wanted to do something to help. They are planning on conducting a campaign where they: 

1. Raise awareness of this problem
2. Raise funds to purchase solar lights
3. Put these lights together
4. Send them to Vanuatu so that children can have access to free light at night

Shortly we will send home sponsorship forms for the fun run that we will conduct at the end of the term. All students can participate in the fun run, regardless of whether they collect sponsors or not. 

Darrin Schumacher
Deputy Principal / Head of Junior School

How do our kids learn to be resilient?

Have you ever asked that question? Maybe you have just pulled up at school and your son has refused to get out of the car because he doesn’t want to be at school, or maybe your daughter doesn’t want to join her soccer team on the field. What can you do and how can you respond in a way that is going to help build your child’s resilience? Not just rescuing them from the frustration.

Psychology Today describes resilience this way:

“Resilience is that ineffable quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back stronger than ever. Rather than letting failure overcome them and drain their resolve, they find a way to rise from the ashes.”

https://positivepsychology.com...

Resilience develops over time by pushing through the uncomfortable feelings that are involved with a difficult situation to achieve the goal or growth needed to thrive. I enjoy the ABC show ‘Bluey’ (I often refer to it for these articles). In the latest season, the episode titled ‘The Show’ gives a great view of one way to deal with some set-backs. Bingo gets upset when she trips and believes that she has ruined the whole day for Chilli (her Mum). Chilli gives Bingo some good guidance for working through the disappointment but still doing what needs to be done. The first minute’s script goes a bit like this:

[In Chilli’s voice] When things happen, honey... I’ll tell you what I do… I have a little cry… then I pick myself up… dust myself off… and keep going. The show must go on…

As parents it can be hard to let our children sit with discomfort but research into brain development shows that by pushing through some of these uncomfortable feelings, growth will happen and resilience will build. Having a script or ‘mantra’ can be a useful tool so that when you or your children are faced with a challenge they can fall back on that wisdom. If you watch the whole episode of Bluey ‘The Show’ you can see how Bingo uses the ‘script’ to overcome her challenges.

If you want to know more about this, please contact myself or Mardi Frost via Junior School Administration.

Until next time,

Karen Koehler
Deputy Head of Junior School Pastoral

Year Two have been inquiring into how human actions impact the earth’s resource of water. We have discussed the water cycle, water conservation and water pollution. 

The students became engineers as they designed and created their own working water filters. They tested a variety of materials to see which worked best to clean dirty water. The children were also excited to visit the Senior School Science Lab where the Year 11 Science Ambassadors assisted the children as they explored different ways in attempting to clean up an oil spill.

Wendy Pearson 
Junior School Teacher

HINTERLAND CROSS COUNTRY 

Congratulations to the 62 students who competed at Hinterland Cross Country last Tuesday. It was a great day of competition with 10 students being selected into the Hinterland team to compete at the South Coast trials. A special mention to Indiana S, Shelby B & Kris H for placing top 2 in their races. 

SLAPS CROSS COUNTRY CARNIVAL 

SLAPS Cross Country was a huge success this week, with St Andrews winning the Division Aggregate Trophy for the most points on the day. Our 9 Years Girls, 10 Years Boys, 10 Year Girls and 11 & 12 Years Boys all placed first in their age group. Congratulations to all students who competed.

Casey West
Junior School PSPE Teacher / Sports Coordinator

MUSIC GALA – A NIGHT AT THE MOVIES

Last Saturday evening we hosted our first variety music concert since October 2019. It was such a joy to hear our bands and choirs, soloists and alumni sharing the gift of music to a live audience once again. I reflected with great pride on the night as to how much the College Music Ensemble and Choral program has continued to grow and thrive despite the challenges and lack of live performance opportunities in recent times. I hope it is the first of many performance opportunities for our students this year.

DRAMA FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE AFTERNOON

Last Monday saw two of our Drama Festival Plays performed in front of a live audience in The Ruth Butler Theatre. Our Middle School Drama Festival Elective presented The Seussification of a Midsummer Night’s Dream - where Shakespeare met Seuss in a kaleidoscope of colour. Our Year 9/10 Drama Class presented The One Act Play Disaster – where anything that could go wrong did go wrong in their devised production of Seabreeze 9 (Oceans 11 in 25 mins or less on a shoestring budget).

Congratulations to both casts on such wonderful performances. These performances were recorded and will be entered into the Secondary School’s Drama Festival in the coming weeks.

Our Senior Play, Letters to Lindy – based on the Lindy Chamberlain story, will be performed in Week 7.

Cilla Scott 
Head of the Arts

CLASS OF 2010 REUNION 

On Saturday, 1 May, the Class of 2010 came from all over Australia to reconnect and reminisce with each other and their old teachers at the 10 Year Reunion. It was great to welcome them back to the College and hear about career successes, be introduced to partners and meet our two newest second generation Andrians, Jagger and Jakob.  

The afternoon concluded with a College tour where they were reminded by Mr Bliss that St Andrews is and will always be their school. A huge thank you to Karissa S for helping make this reunion a great success. 

In other Alumni news, on Friday 7 May 2021, Samantha Naday Class of 2011, was the only female to be awarded a Group Bravery Citation from the Governor of Queensland. 

See news clip https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=199372602013968  starts at about 40 seconds

Post from Governor of Queensland FB

DR SAMANTHA NADAY, Group Bravery Citation

Dr Naday is recognised with the award of the Group Bravery Citation for her actions during the rescue of passengers and driver following a bus crash in Lamington National Park in Queensland.

On the evening of 13 January 2019, a tour bus carrying 18 passengers and driver rolled off the side of a steep embankment in Lamington National Park after a mechanical failure.

The bus came to rest on its side.

Despite the precarious position of the bus, and the danger of it rolling further down the embankment, four people assisted in the evacuation of passengers, while two others provided reassurance to the trapped and injured driver, staying with him in the bus until emergency services arrived and extricated him from the damaged vehicle.

By her actions, Dr Naday is awarded the Group Bravery Citation.

Julie La Porta
Alumni

This Term we have a few fundraisers.

• Lamington Drive 

Thank you so much to Reid Street Kitchen who generously offered their time and skill to help raise money to go towards upgrading play areas throughout the school. Thank you to everybody that purchased lamingtons, we hope you enjoyed them for Mother’s Day.

• Mother’s Day Raffle

Congratulations to our raffle winners:

1st Prize Money Tree Mack P3
2nd Prize Hamper Ebony 2B
3rd Prize Movie Voucher Indie 5C
4th Prize Maltesers Isla 4A

• Dance for Sick Kids 

Have you got your family ticket to the P&F’s Dance for Sick Kids?? It’s going to be a great afternoon of family dancing fun! Not your average disco!! Let’s band together and if we can get 250 families there, we can donate $10,000 to Ronald McDonald House!!

Book your ticket by clicking the link:
www.trybooking.com/BPWEF

We are holding a cent auction at the Dance. If you would like to donate a product to be raffled, we would be very grateful. We would like to say a massive thank you to these following businesses who have already donated amazing prizes:

Amy and Annabel Trends

Black Hops

Chipmunks Playland Robina 

Coastal Fresh

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

Doodlebugs Miami 

iFly

Karen Andrews MP

Lana Noir Photographic Studio

Lisa Foto

Mega Cheer

Polar FX air conditioning

Putt Putt Golf Mermaid 

Rock n Slide

Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, Gold Coast 

Threeworld

Wall Style

VULY

Ze Pickle

Please email us at pandf@salc.qld.edu.au

Already, our friends at Vuly have kindly donated one of their brand new kid’s bikes to the cent auction, valued up to $500. A huge thank you to them! And Sheraton Grand Mirage have donated a nights accommodation and breakfast for 2 valued at a whopping $759! But you have to be at the dance to win these prizes! 

VOLUNTEERS

If you would like to be a volunteer at the Dance for Sick Kids, please email us at pandf@salc.qld.edu.au  We really appreciate it and it makes our job a lot easier.

MEETINGS

Please note the following meeting dates in your diary for 2021, we look forward to seeing you there!  

•  Wednesday 18 August 7:00pm  
• AGM Wednesday 10 November 7:00pm

If you want to add anything to the agenda do not hesitate to email.

Enjoy your weekend and God bless from the P&F team.

MAY

Sunday 16

Syd Duncan Kokoda Session

Monday 17

NAPLAN

Tuesday 18

NAPLAN

Wednesday 19

NAPLAN

Thursday 20

NAPLAN

Friday 21

NAPLAN
Year 5 and 6 Interschool Sport

Saturday 22

Dance for Sick Kids Disco – 4:00pm to 6:00pm College’s Top Sports Oval

Monday 24

Year 11 Assessments

Tuesday 25

Year 11 Assessments
Mufti Day Fundraiser

Wednesday 26

Year 5 Camp
Gold Coast Futsal Titles

Thursday 27

Year 5 Camp
National Reconciliation Week
Year 9 and 10 Gold Coast Drama Festival

Friday 28

National Reconciliation Week
Year 5 Camp
Year 9 and 10 Gold Coast Drama Festival
Year 5 and 6 Interschool Sport

Saturday 29

National Reconciliation Week
Year 9 and 10 Gold Coast Drama Festival

Sunday 30

National Reconciliation Week