Welcome to the final stretch of your child's educational journey — Senior School! As your child transitions from Primary School and Junior High to Senior School, it's natural to feel a mix of excitement and apprehension. This phase marks a significant milestone, where our children begin to assert their independence, explore their interests and lay the groundwork for their future. As parents, our role evolves from guiding them every step of the way to supporting them as they step out and navigate the challenges and opportunities that Senior School presents. In this article, Senior School Student Counsellor, Sharon Pankhurst, shares how to guide your child through their Senior years.

The start of a new school year is an exciting time for many children, as they are reunited with old friends from the previous year and anticipate the prospect of making new friends in their new class and year level. However, for some children, re-establishing friendships can feel challenging after a lengthy summer holiday and fewer social catchups outside of school due to COVID-19. Student Counsellor Jackie Yorke shares some helpful suggestions for making new friends and re-establishing connections with old ones at the start of the school year.

Summer holidays, for students, are a magical time—endless days free from routine, where learning is a distant memory erased by playdates with friends, trips to the beach, movies, and activities galore. The problem with holidays, however, is that they come to an end. So, what can you do to ease your children back into structured school life? Take a look at our top tips now!

The impacts of screen time have been discussed for years, but, in the wake of recent COVID-19 Lockdowns (and a subsequent move to online learning), we wanted to know whether opinions have changed at all. In this blog post, we look at the findings from a recent University of Queensland-led study. The verdict? Perhaps it’s time to encourage your children to ditch the holiday screen time and head outside!

It’s nearing that time of year, when the days shorten, the weather gets cooler and enthusiasm starts to dwindle. With student motivation in mind, St Peters School Counsellor, Jess Young, has devised these top 5 tips for managing the midyear blues. Read on to find out how you can help your children this winter.

Cooking, exercise classes, trivia, pet appreciation, drama club and more—whoever said At Home Learning meant being alone didn’t know our St Peters community! Over the last month, staff and students from all year-levels have banded together after school hours to participate in a range of Zoom Extra-Curricular Activities. While many of these activities have wrapped up (with students now back on campus), the glowing reports are still rolling in. We caught up with Mrs Maynard to find out more about the innovative initiative that ensured St Peters maintained connections at home.

Mental health awareness is important at the best of times. In the midst of COVID-19 social distancing restrictions, it’s even more crucial that we take measures to ensure good mental health, especially given our teachers and students have started At Home Learning this week. This article presents a few top tips for maintaining good mental health while online learning. Read on to find out more.

COVID-19 has caused a lot of uncertainty everywhere but, at St Peters, it's encouraged our College community to band together. Read how St Peters is keeping Care, Dignity & Respect at the forefront during the Coronavirus.

Approximately fifty Year 8 students volunteered to attend the ‘Leadershift Day’ last term, along with the Year 9 Student Leadership team who attended as peer mentors.

We are all different; individual gifts and talents, diverse backgrounds. We represent different countries, languages, faiths and spiritualties, traditions and customs. Community is a gift. Without the uniqueness in individuals, the community would miss out on your special gifts and talents and on your unique personality.

Established at St Peters in 2018, The Rite Journey creates a self development journey for Year 10 students over the course of the year. Using a framework incorporating ceremonies and celebrations, these events help transform teens into self-aware, responsible and resourceful adults. Events are crafted for individual, unique experiences to best suit the resources and geography of the school. The program was developed over a decade ago by Andrew Lines—Teacher, Educational Consultant and co-developer of The Rite Journey.

St Peters Lutheran College Year 5 students raised $8,000 in donations for the ongoing flood relief effort in Townsville. The Lutheran Church of Australia Queensland Division (LCAQD) will help distribute the money through the Australia DisasterRelief Fund. Donations will go towards targeted funding areas such as playground equipment for an Early Learning Centre, clothing and household goods.

Australian Adventurer and Mountaineer, Alyssa Azar, was our inspirational guest this week for the St Peters Father Daughter breakfast. Crossing the Kokoda Track at 8-years-old was just the beginning, she has also climbed the highest mountains in Australia, South America, Africa, Russia and Nepal. At 19-years-old, Alyssa was the youngest Australian, and youngest woman, to summit Mount Everest. During breakfast the adventurer discussed her incredible journey to Mount Everest, including the planning and goals she had to make for herself to keep mentally and physically prepared.

The St Peters community works hard to be an inclusive and welcoming community, a place where people from different backgrounds can learn and work together, get to know each other and so overcome prejudices and stereotypes. College Senior Pastor, Thomas Böhmert, reflects on how we can move forward with our families in the shadow of the Christchurch tragedy.

The successful Adopt-a-Boarder Program has begun with over 60 St Peters staff and teachers being involved and adopting boarders.

William Farmer, Managing Director, Dale Carnegie Australia, writes about the advantages for teenagers in learning communication methods to connect with others.

At St Peters we provide goals for children to enhance their lives—whether it’s physical, spiritual or mental—we ensure a holistic approach through the programs we offer. One such program is the acclaimed Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, Australia (DoE).

At St Peters we strongly believe in learning experiences for our school community, encouraging all to participate in the opportunities we host throughout the year. The St Peters Soloists String Orchestra embarked on an international music tour of epic proportions, visiting six countries in 20 days. Heather, our St Peters Year 12 student, talks about the remarkable benefits while travelling with her peers.

Building a greenhouse... Breathtaking architecture... Caring for others... Read about this extraordinary trip of a lifetime as Ella, our Year 12 Captain, describes the experience of travelling to Cambodia and Vietnam with her peers.

The holidays are a great way to prepare for the positive challenges of the year. Read about how our St Peters students and staff traveled through their holidays with a snapshot of their incredible experiences.