From the Principal Excellence is Never an Accident Currently I am in the middle of reading and signing each student’s report. Whilst a very time consuming exercise, for me it is an important one, as it gives me an insight into each child’s academic growth over the previous semester. Numerous things stand out when I read the reports, but the thing that stands out the most is summed up in a quote I particularly like - “Excellence is never an accident; it is the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, skilful execution and the vision to see obstacles as opportunities.” Soon our students will be enjoying a well-deserved break and a time to recharge their batteries. Over the course of the semester our children and young people have encountered challenges, and the way they have dealt with them tells us a lot about the sort of person they will become. If they have prepared well, made a plan and stuck to it, then they have probably performed very well in terms of achieving Personal Bests. They have no doubt learnt lessons about time management, chunking or breaking big tasks down into smaller pieces and taking on one challenge at a time, and a lot about the importance of perseverance. In a sense, our students has been given an insight into what might be referred to as the ‘hidden curriculum’ or the acquisition of qualities necessary to succeed in life. Each and every day we encounter new situations and through these experiences we learn. Sometimes we try and we fail and then we need to learn from these mistakes. Sometimes we need to change course and adopt a different strategy, but we must never lose sight of our goals, of where we want to be and what we want to achieve. I would encourage parents to spend time reviewing their child’s report with their son or daughter, and discussing their goals for 2014, and the strategies, processes and work habits needed to achieve them. Without this, the reports are nothing more than words on a piece of paper. The Arts Over the past month I have had the privilege of attending numerous end of year functions and celebrations. At many of these celebrations the Arts featured prominently. This is itself not surprising when you consider we had some 500 students undertake some sort of Performing Arts lesson, outside the set curriculum, this year at St Andrews. For those of us in the audience the quality of performances at these events was uplifting. What may be surprizing to some is the strong positive benefits studying the Arts has on a person. Studies show that engagement in the Arts benefits students not just in the classroom, but also in life. Students who are involved in the Arts have higher school motivation, engagement in class, self- esteem, and life satisfaction. Findings, published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, found students who participate in Dance, Drama, Music, and Visual Arts showed more positive academic and personal wellbeing outcomes than students who were not as involved in the Arts. The Arts are not so much a result of inspiration and innate talent as they are a person’s capacity for creative thinking and imagining, problem solving, Issue 04 / 6 December 2013
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St Andrews Whole School Newsletter Issue 4, 6 December 2013
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From the Principal
Excellence is Never an AccidentCurrently I am in the middle of reading and signing each student’s report. Whilst a very time consuming exercise, for me it is an important one, as it gives me an insight into each child’s academic growth over the previous semester. Numerous things stand out when I read the reports, but the thing that stands out the most is summed up in a quote I particularly like - “Excellence is never an accident; it is the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, skilful execution and the vision to see obstacles as opportunities.”
Soon our students will be enjoying a well-deserved break and a time to recharge their batteries. Over the course of the semester our children and young people have encountered challenges, and the way they have dealt with them tells us a lot about the sort of person they will become. If they have prepared well, made a plan and stuck to it, then they have probably performed very well in terms of achieving Personal Bests. They have no doubt learnt lessons about time management, chunking or breaking big tasks down into smaller pieces and taking on one challenge at a time, and a lot about the importance of perseverance. In a sense, our students has been given an insight into what might be referred to as the ‘hidden curriculum’ or the acquisition of qualities necessary to succeed in life.
Each and every day we encounter new situations and through these experiences we learn. Sometimes we try and we fail and then we need to learn from these mistakes. Sometimes we need to change course and adopt a different strategy, but we must never lose sight of our goals, of where we want to be and what we want to achieve. I would encourage parents to
spend time reviewing their child’s report with their son or daughter, and discussing their goals for 2014, and the strategies, processes and work habits needed to achieve them. Without this, the reports are nothing more than words on a piece of paper.
The ArtsOver the past month I have had the privilege of attending numerous end of year functions and celebrations. At many of these celebrations the Arts featured prominently. This is itself not surprising when you consider we had some 500 students undertake some sort of Performing Arts lesson, outside the set curriculum, this year at St Andrews. For those of us in the audience the quality of performances at these events was uplifting. What may be surprizing to some is the strong positive benefits studying the Arts has on a person. Studies show that engagement in the Arts benefits students not just in the classroom, but also in life. Students who are involved in the Arts have higher school motivation, engagement in class, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. Findings, published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, found students who participate in Dance, Drama, Music, and Visual Arts showed more positive academic and personal wellbeing outcomes than students who were not as involved in the Arts.
The Arts are not so much a result of inspiration and innate talent as they are a person’s capacity for creative thinking and imagining, problem solving,
Issue 04 / 6 December 2013
creative judgement and a host of other mental processes. The Arts represent forms of cognition every bit as potent as the verbal and logical/mathematical forms of cognition that have been the traditional focus of education.
We should also note that the Arts complement the Sciences because they nurture different modes of reasoning. The British aesthetician, Herbert Read, went so far as to say, “Art is the representation, Science is the explanation … of the same reality.” The Arts are able to teach divergent rather than convergent thinking and encourage children to come up with different, rather than similar solutions, because the solutions to artistic problems are multiple. The Arts break through the black-and-white, true-false, memorise-that, name-this that cause concern. In his music advocacy speech at the 1996 Grammy Awards, the actor Richard Dreyfuss announced, “It is from creativity and imagination that, … the solutions to our political and social problems will come. We need that Well Rounded Mind, now. Without it, we will simply make more difficult the problems we face.” When we involve students in creative problem solving, we invite their participation as partners in the learning process. Yes, listening to our students play a beautiful piece of music is uplifting, but educationally it is much, much more.
Building Projects 2014In 2014 the College will be undertaking two significant building projects. The first is the development of a Kindergarten on the land overlooking the Junior School Oval. It will be a 3 unit Kindergarten, with one room operating for 2.5 to 3.5 year olds, and two rooms for 3.5 to 4.5 year olds. The Kindergarten will operate educational programs staffed by qualified Early Childhood teachers. The programs will link in with the Junior School, particularly the PYP, and students will have access to specialist LOTE, Music and PE lessons. Construction is expected to begin in late February next year, and to be completed in time for a 2015 opening. Through the wonders of modern technology people can take a virtual tour of the Kindergarten to gain an impression of what it will be like. Go to the College Website and click on the Quick Links section.
The second project is the lower CRC Project. Construction is expected to begin shortly, and will be completed by the end of Semester 1 next year. The lower CRC project will involve the construction of a Flexible Learning Space, consolidated Student Services, two Learning classrooms and a new Tuckshop with indoor/outdoor eating areas. By going to the College Website you can take a Virtual Tour of the Lower CRC Project to gain an insight into this exciting project.This project will also enable the refurbishment of G Block to create classrooms for Years 9 and 10 in their
core subjects, and in doing so create greater synergy between Learning Spaces, Pedagogy, and Student Learning. The refurbishment of G Block is expected to be completed in time for the start of the new school year. 2014 will be an exciting year as we watch the construction of these two important developments take shape.
Strategic Plan 2014-2017The College Tagline - More Than a Good Education…..An Education for Good is in many respects the articulation and promotion of the College’s Educational Philosophy. The More Than a Good Education…..An Education for Good philosophy has in many ways become our overarching framework for focusing on student learning, growth and development, at St Andrews. It reflects our beliefs and values and our educational priorities and distinctive in a manner that encourages and focuses student learning and development. It also serves to integrate all academic, sporting, co-curricular, service and outdoor activities into a meaningful whole – a holistic experience that embraces the validity of spirituality, others centredness and service, belonging to community, servant leadership, lifelong and life wide learning, critical and creative thinking, and compassionate humanity within a student’s personalised expression of the quest for personal bests. It defines who we are, what we are seeking to do, and where we hope to go. It provides both our context and our motivation.
Bearing this in mind, as announced at Presentation Night, the College has, for the past 6 months, been planning and charting its’ course for the future with the development of our Strategic Plan for the next 4 years. With the overarching Strategic Theme of ‘Educating Hearts, Minds and Hands’; the St Andrews Strategic Plan 2014-2017 has 5 key Strategic Intents:• Spiritual Formation/Celebrating the Gospel
- Continue to develop St Andrews as a Christ-centred Learning Community.
• Community, Culture & Ethos - Develop a strong sense of community and belonging within and amongst all members of the St Andrews Community and build a culture based on the pursuit of Personal Bests, mutual care and support, service and others-centredness, and embracing a culture ’where everyone is someone’.
• Pastoral Care & Relationships - Continue to develop a safe, nurturing and supportive environment in which each student is known, valued and cared for, whilst proactively developing student well-being, character and resilience.
• Teaching & Learning - Empower students as lifelong and life-wide learners who strive to achieve their academic personal best through
Junior School News
Proud parentI remember the days when my children were born like it was only yesterday. Those moments when they entered the world were the happiest moments of my life. That time when you hold your children in your arms for the first time is something very special. Since those days I have watched my children grow and mature, celebrating with them through the highs and comforting them through the lows. It’s been a magical journey.
I have been really proud of all of their achievements no matter how big or small. Like kicking a goal in a soccer match, winning a netball final, practicing hard to learn a music piece, doing a job without being asked, trying their best on an assignment or simply getting ready for school without being asked. I love
the provision of a challenging, connected and engaging curriculum, underpinned by visible teaching and learning.
• CoCurricular - Offer a Co-curricular Program that provides opportunities for students to participate in and develop their interests, talents, skills, values, and character beyond the classroom.
Underneath these Strategic Intents are key objectives and strategies that are aligned to the Strategic Direction of the College. A detailed copy of the College’s Strategic Intent will be sent home at the beginning of next year, with the back to school mail out. I look forward to sharing more about our Strategic Intent with the College Community and reporting against it in the passage of time.
Thank youFinally, a sincere thank you to all members of the College Community for their support of the College, its programs and our students throughout the year. St Andrews is a very special place, largely because of the people and the relationships that make up our community. It has been wonderful to witness the growth of our children and young people over the past 12 months. Their energy, enthusiasm, zest and curiosity remind us all daily of the reason for this College’s existence. I wish all members of the College Community a Happy Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Saviour Jesus, every blessing for 2014, and I look forward to the safe return of all our students in January next year.
Tim Kotzur Principal
hearing from other people what great things they have done and how they may have helped the com-munity or how they have demonstrated good man-ners. I am sure that this is the same for a lot of par-ents in our community.
In my role of Head of Junior School at St Andrews Lu-theran College, I have been very proud of the achieve-ments of the students of the College. It has been great to celebrate the gifts and talents of the students who have excelled in their areas. This year I have seen students win medals at National Level, get chosen to play lead parts in big musicals, receive academic awards that had them place in the top 5 per cent of students who sat that test and many other fantastic achievements that are too numerous to list. However, what makes me equally proud is to hear that a stu-dent has progressed to the next level of readers, they gave their very best effort in all of their assessment tasks, they have taken self-initiated action to serve the community, played with another child who was feel-ing lonely or they showed impeccable manners while publicly wearing their school uniform. This year I have received numerous phone calls, emails or verbal com-ments from anonymous people in the community that compliment the College on the wonderful students. While the College can take a small part of the credit, it comes back to the excellent work of the parents. Still, every time I receive a compliment on behalf of the College, I feel a great sense of pride to be part of a community that has such respectful students.
This Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the man who would take the burden of our sins away from us by dying on the cross. God is a very proud parent who is celebrating our achievements with us and he is also with us through our most difficult times. It is my wish and prayer that you all have a very Merry Christmas filled with wonderful memories and I look forward to seeing you in the new year. God Bless!
Darrin SchumacherDeputy Principal Head of Junior School
“This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.”At the annual Christmas Service students across Prep to Year 11 joined together to sing this simple yet powerful message which encompasses our hope for all students; that they will grow and share their light with the confidence that comes from knowing they are a loved child of God. As a Lutheran school, Christ is at the centre of all that we do and it is through growing His gifts that we share our light with the world. As a community; Love, justice, compassion, forgiveness, service, courage, humility, hope, quality and appreciation continue to be the Christian values that we aspire to live by each day. And as we watch our young people grow through their successes and failures, and persevere and persist through the times of challenge, it is the supportive and caring environment that continues to see our students flourish. With that in mind, we certainly do have much to be thankful for this year.
As the school year comes to a close and we eagerly await the celebration of the birth of Jesus, we naturally enter a time of reflection and forward planning. To that end, I thought I would highlight some of the new initiatives we’ve adopted this year and also share with you some of our plans for 2014. New initiatives of note include: • Academic Mentoring. Our senior students
working alongside younger students and assisting with homework after school in the Senior Library.
• The Good Man Project. This program for boys complements the Girls with a Purpose program and is aimed at providing meaningful opportunities for our young men to work alongside adult male role models and explore manhood.
• Strengths, Grit and Perseverance. Throughout the
Middle & Senior School News
year, students have been completing activities which encourage a positive growth mindset as well as an appreciation of one’s character strengths. This has been coupled with a focus on Personal Bests and I am delighted that most students are using their GPA and EPA scores to set goals for ongoing improvements in performance.
• The Leos Club. Ms Stewart and a dedicated group of over 50 students have been unfaltering in their service activities throughout the year and have raised money for various charities by working at a barbeque, each Saturday, outside Officeworks on Kortum Drive. This is but one of the diverse ways our students take part in Service Learning.
St Andrews teachers are committed to providing a supportive learning environment and they know and care for each individual student. As well as being supportive mentors, our teachers are continuously working towards improving their practices and to enhance the learning of each student. Next year, the Secondary School (Years 7 – 12) will be focusing on implementing a Teaching and Learning Framework called Dimensions of Learning (DoL).
This framework will affirm and extend the exemplary work of our teachers and give a common language for discussing the skills or learning across all subject areas. Whilst there are 5 dimensions to DoL, next year we will focus on Dimensions 1 (Attitudes and Perceptions towards Learning) and Dimension 5 (Habits of Mind). We will then look to implement the other dimensions of the framework in the coming years. DoL complements the implementation of the Australian Curriculum. As well as pursuing excellence in all aspects of learning, St Andrews looks to provide opportunities for promoting wellbeing. To that end, our exploration of Positive Psychology will continue in 2014 and our key focus will be on the PERMA acronym (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Meaning Relationships and Accomplishment). Positive Psychology isn’t about the search for ‘happiness’ it is about promoting; a positive mindset, a focus on using our blessings and strengths more so than our weaknesses, an understanding of ourselves and others, resilience and the determination needed to
Art News
PAT 2014Unless a cancellation form is received, PAT enrolments will rollover into 2014. The only exception to this is Current Mini Musos and Year 3 Strings Players who need to complete an intention to join the PAT Pro-gram form which has been sent home.
Any enquiries regarding this can be emailed to [email protected] Students wishing to join the PAT Program in 2014 can enrol via the College Website.
Priscilla ScottHead of Arts
Sport News
Recent Sports AchievementsDarby Scott Darby was selected for 12 years Gold Coast South Dis-trict Cricket team to play in Beaudesert in the Regional Carnival in February 2014.
Charlotte Chant Charlotte competed in the Regional Little Athletics Relay Day on November 10th where she was success-ful in qualifying for the State Championships for all three events that she competed in, the 4 x100m relay, medley relay (200m leg) and long jump. Charlotte will compete in the State competition on 14th December.
Taj Varley Taj has been competing over the last 6 weeks in a “King of the Coast” BMX race. He had to ride in 24
strive for excellence. Whilst I am looking forward to the break ahead, I eagerly await the journey that 2014 holds for St Andrews.
May the many blessings of the holiday season ahead bring with it time for renewal, relaxation and joy for all of our College families. God bless.
Virginia Warner Deputy PrincipalHead of Secondary School
moto’s over 6 weeks and won 23 of the 24 moto’s. Taj is now the ‘2013 King of the Coast’ for 9yrs Nov-ice Boys in BMX.
Running Club Break UpThe final running club session for 2013 was held at North Burleigh Beach on Monday 25th November. A massive thank you to JK Faulkner and Ms Casey West for their dedication and enthusiasm in conduct-ing this year’s program. Also to the many students and parents who have participated throughout 2013. Thank you also to Mr Drew Finnigan and Brooke Chown (Student Based Traineeship) who assisted Mr and Mrs Manion with the barbecue breakfast at North Burleigh.
Andrew Manion Head of Sport
Parents and Friends Association
St Andrews P & F NewsThe P & F would like to wish all the families and staff of St Andrews a very happy and safe Christmas.
During first term next year the annual Picnic in the Park will be held, which is a good way to start the year and meet parents.
The talented students of St Andrews will perform and a jumping castle will be there for the younger children.We are still interested to hear from anyone who has any ideas for fundraising next year, as it is a non fete year. There are a number of large projects which have been sug-gested the P & F may fund, including a Grandstand on the top oval and the fit out of the new Tuckshop which will be built under the CRC in 2014.
The first meeting of 2014 will be held in Term 1 on the 12th March and we will be looking to introduce a new “terms of reference” to replace the existing Constitution. The Constitution included the business units (Uniform and Tuckshop) which the P & F is no longer responsible for. The new terms of reference are available on the website and we welcome any comments you may have at the next meeting or by emailing [email protected]
We look forward to welcoming the new parents into the school community next year.
SponsorsThe P & F would like to thank the following sponsors for their continued support of our College. Please show your support for these businesses.
Dates to remember December / January
Tuesday 24 Christmas Eve Service, Worship Centre 6:30pmWednesday 25 Christmas Day Service, Worship Centre 9:00am
January 2014Friday 24 January Middle School/Senior School New Student Orientation 9.00am in Worship Centre Monday 27 January Australia Day Public HolidayTuesday 28 January Junior School New Students Orientation 1:30pm in the MPH First day of school for all students in the Middle and Senior schools. Classes will start at 8.25 am and the first Chapel service for the year will start at 9.00am. Parents are warmly welcome to attend. During this service our new staff and College Captains will be installed. Wednesday 29 January Year 7 Cyber-Safety 6.45pm in Worship CentreWednesday 29 January School Photos - Year 7 to 12 All students are to wear formal school uniform including blazer with clean shoes and neat hair. Senior School boys are to wear winter formal uniform with grey trousers, blazers and ties. Boys may bring summer uniform to change after the photos if preferred. Long trousers are optional for Middle School boys.