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Congratulations to Mrs Simone Mitchell who has been appointed Head of P–6 Curriculum. It is with mixed feelings that the Exceptional Learners Department farewells Mrs Mitchell as she takes up her new role. Mrs Mitchell has worked to build curricular provisions for gifted and academically talented students in the Primary Years, with an emphasis on collaborating with teachers who support these students in their classroom daily. Her exceptional knowledge of diverse students, curriculum and PYP have been an asset to our department and the students with whom she works. As such, Mrs Mitchell’s skills will transfer exceptionally well to a role that relies on data and coordinating curricular instruction for a diverse range of students within the PYP framework. The process to source a replacement Teacher of Gifted and Academically Talented Students (Primary) has begun and it is anticipated the successful replacement will begin in Term 3. Mrs Mitchell’s extensive work with teachers to date, and her comprehensive resources on Firefly, will continue to be available. Also, her da Vinci Decathlon team will be supported by her until the competition at the end of May. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Mrs Kimberley Jefferd - Head of Exceptional Learners, or Mr Peter MacDonald - Director of Teaching and Learning Innovation. Mr Peter MacDonald, Director of Teaching and Learning Innovation read more

‘Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.’ – Helen Keller. Community connection is an important strategic intention at St Peters. In our 2016–20 Strategic Vision document it states: ‘We aspire to enrich our partnership with parents and the wider community’. Over the past eleven years, strong relationships have been formed within our local community and it is through these connections that we have gained opportunities to enrich our teaching and learning program. A few recent connections… Ipswich City Council Over the past five years we have been involved in a range of excellent programs with the Ipswich City Council. This week, our Year 3 students will be attending a Nature Play day in Ipswich linking to key learning areas in the Year 3 curriculum. Our Years 5–6 students will soon be joining in Story Sports, supported by the Ipswich City Council library team. An ongoing program that has helped develop our students’ poetry skills has been the Ipswich Library Poetry Feast program. It started with a poet hosting a workshop at St Peters presenting creative ways to write poems; which then led to students taking part in weekly lunch clubs, to finally sending in a poetry entry to the Ipswich Poetry Feast competition. Congratulations to Arabella G, Year 6 student, who won third place in the 8–10 years’ competition. Well done, Arabella. Springfield Community Over the coming weeks, our choirs and bands will be visiting local organisations to share their love of music. There will be visits to AVEO, the Mater Hospital, Petit Learning Centre, Kindy Patch and our own St Peters Kindergarten. We will also continue our connections with James Ommaney Village at Jindalee, where our Years 2–3 choir will present a range of Christmas items. Local Lutheran Schools Connections We continued to develop collegial relationships with our two closest Lutheran schools, Bethany Lutheran School and Good News Lutheran school, by attending a professional development day with staff on Monday 22 October. This day focused on Innovation in Learning and how we best provide future-focused learning to meet the needs of our students. Throughout the day, teachers used the 21st century skills of collaboration, creativity, communication and critical thinking to design a curriculum unit for 2019. The unit encompasses the knowledge, skills and capabilities that students will need to thrive in an increasingly-interconnected, highly-dynamic world. Debbie West-McInnes, Head of Primary read more

The 2018 Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) and bid to find the St Peters Lower Primary reading House  Champions is up and running! The PRC is an annual state-wide event for students from Prep - Year 7. The reading period spans 14 May to 31 August. All students are expected to participate. This initiative is a way to encourage students to develop a love of reading for life. Students are encouraged to explore and enjoy a wide range of literary texts, both fiction and non-fiction, suited to their reading ability. For a student to successfully complete the PRC they must read a minimum of twenty books and record these on their Reading Record Form. Students in Prep–Year 2 are also able to record books that they have ‘experienced’ in the classroom or at home via shared reading, listening and reading along with a text. This week, all Lower Primary students will be issued with a PRC Reading Record Form and instructed on its use. It is suggested that students keep their PRC Form in their Library bag, so they will always have it with them when we ask to see it. While it is acceptable for parents to record their child’s reading on the PRC Form, students are encouraged to have a go at doing this themselves, as this process not only gives them valid writing practice but also enhances their ability to locate and scribe the basic details of a bibliographic record. On a weekly basis throughout the challenge period, on the day of their Library Borrowing class, students are requested to hand in their Reading Record Form to Library staff so we can monitor their progress, reward them with stickers and allocate one point per book read to their school house. Forms are returned to students the same day and the House Reading Champions’ bar graph is updated. This graph, displayed in the Library and electronically on Firefly, is closely monitored on a daily basis by students eager to see which house is in the lead! While the completion of a single Reading Record Form (20–40 books) will earn the student a Certificate of Achievement signed by the Premier, St Peters students are encouraged to continue to record all their reading until the end of the challenge. Additional Reading Record Forms are available from the Library as required, however a plain lined sheet of paper attached to the original form will suffice. Who will be the top reading House this year: Mitchell, Leichhardt or Cunningham? Which house will get their name on the trophy for a third time? Robyn McGlade, Teacher Librarian read more

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Primary Assemblies Each week, our Primary Assemblies showcase activities and learning which has taken place throughout the week. The last few weeks have been no exception, with our students sharing their learning, whether it be in academics, sport, or music, as well as enjoying guest appearances by a range of well-known personalities. At both assemblies, we enjoyed a visit from the Director of Sport, Mr Shaun Nodwell, and Year 12 student and Commonwealth Games’ gold medallist, Ariarne T, who shared how she sets goals and sticks to them to achieve her dreams. Thank you Ariarne for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak to us. Another swimming gold medallist, Jack Cartwright (2015), also visited the Lower Primary assembly and shared some of his experiences from the Games with us. Both young people are certainly fine ambassadors for their sport! We celebrated with a number of Year 4 students who received awards for Cross Country and Cricket. Assembly Awards Congratulations to all students who received an award last week. Well done to you all! Year 5 Camp Last week, Year 5 students completed their three-day camp at Noosa North Shore, where they were challenged and extended physically and emotionally. Highlights included the leap of faith, archery and camping overnight in a tent. Further information can be found on the Year 5 page on Firefly. Staff News Mrs Simone Mitchell has accepted the position of Head of P–6 Curriculum. This is an exciting appointment for the College, with Mrs Mitchell bringing her expertise of differentiating learning to this important role. Below is a message from Mrs Kimberley Jefferd, the Head of the Exceptional Learners Department: It is with mixed feelings that the Exceptional Learners Department farewells Mrs Simone Mitchell as she takes up the role of Head of P–6 Curriculum here at the College. Mrs Mitchell has worked to build curricular provisions for gifted and academically talented students in the Primary Years, with an emphasis on collaborating with teachers who support these students in their classroom daily. Her exceptional knowledge of diverse students, curriculum and PYP have been an asset to our department and the students with whom she works. As such, Mrs Mitchell’s skills will transfer exceptionally well to a role that relies on data and coordinating curricular instruction for a diverse range of students within the PYP framework. The process to source a replacement Teacher of Gifted and Academically Talented Students (Primary) has begun and it is anticipated the successful replacement will commence in Term 3. Mrs Mitchell’s extensive work with teachers to date, and her comprehensive resources on Firefly will continue to be available and her da Vinci Decathlon team will be supported by her until the competition at the end of May. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact me in the Exceptional Learners Department. Kimberley Jefferd, Head of Exceptional Learners Mothers' Day Mothers' Day was celebrated last weekend. I trust that all our mothers were well looked after and appreciated by their families. I recently read this article from Michael Grose, a well-respected parenting expert, who reminded me of some tips to develop independence in children to help mothers (and fathers) with giving the ultimate Mothers’ Day gift! Do less, not more, for your kids – Michael Grose With school-aged children we can find ourselves making lunches, getting kids out of bed and cleaning out schoolbags rather than giving these basic tasks of living over to them. The basic task of parenting, whether you have a two year old or a twenty-two year old, is to work yourself out of a job at the first possible chance. Redundancy should be the aim of the game! We never become redundant in a relationship sense – the emotional connection between our children and us is never severed. In a practical, physical way we need to make children less, rather than more, reliant on us. Developing independence is really about stepping back to allow children in. Doing less rather than more! We develop greater independence in our kids one job at a time. We easily take on children’s responsibilities It is easy as parents to take on the jobs and responsibilities that really should belong to our children. With toddlers, it is so easy to dress, feed and clean up after them rather than give these jobs over to them. With school-aged children we can find ourselves making lunches, getting kids out of bed and cleaning out schoolbags rather than giving these basic tasks of living over to them. Tip number one for developing independence: Be clear about who owns jobs or tasks in your family and never take on a child’s job, or part of a task, unless there is extenuating circumstances such as illness. A mother I met recently is very clear on who does what in her home. It is her job to wash the clothes of her early teenage children but it is their job to place them in the washing basket. She doesn’t check bedrooms as it is not her job to place kids’ clothes in the washing basket. Okay, I can hear your thought processes. Sounds good but what happens if kids don’t care and they don’t mind being dirty. Good point. In this case, this mum has a son who is, to say the least, fairly slack in the area of hygiene. But she didn’t become overly fussed about that. She certainly didn’t get fussed when he played a game of football in the wet, muddy jumper that lay in his sports bag for a week. And she happily showed him how to work the washing machine when he wanted his favourite shirt (that he forgot to put in the washing basket) to be washed for a special night out. Tip number two for developing independence: Never be more worried about a child’s job than they are, otherwise it becomes your job, not theirs. This mum remained very clear that it was her job to wash the clothes but not to place them in the washing basket. She would remind kids about washing night, but never nag them to put clothes in the basket. She knows that as soon as she keeps reminding them, it becomes her job rather than her children’s job to put the washing in the clothes basket. The school holidays provide a good opportunity to reflect on the whole notion of job-sharing. It’s also a good time for kids to increase their job load when they are not burdened with schoolwork and extracurricular activities. Here’s my challenge for you: Think of a job that you regularly do for your child that he or she can do for him or herself. Then step back and enable your child to do that for themselves on a full-time basis. Do less not more for your kids. If you do that, then you can congratulate yourself as you have moved one step more toward redundancy. Pam Carden, Head of Primary Years read more

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Parents can now login to Firefly via SAML. The benefits of SAML include: SAML uses the portal ID number and password;No activation of an account is required; andOnly one identity is needed across the College systems.To get started using SAML, go to the St Peters website and select the Firefly icon. Select the option 'SAML'. For more detailed instructions, refer to the image. read more

This week sees three Senior School students undertaking valuable work experience, in order to make the best decisions regarding their pathways, post school. Hobby Turned Work Experience Xander J – Xander is currently in Year 11 and this year he has started work experience in Taxidermy. While an interesting hobby – some might say… strange – sometimes it is these hobbies that can turn into careers. Xander has learnt a lot about this world of work through his experience, and has also picked up many job skill sets, right down to ordering supplies. Xander took up this self-directed work experience as a way to see if this pathway was something of interest to him. He has undertaken this study in close supervision and with the support of the school, as he does this one day a week on a reduced Year 11 load. Xander has discovered that he would like to continue with this hobby; but he has realised, in undertaking this experience, that there isn’t the amount of work in this career pathway to pay the bills. However, he is planning on using some of these skills to assist him, as he now undertakes a pathway to film and television, post school. Defence Force Work Experience Ben Y – Ben is in Year 10. Part of the Year 10 journey is making decisions about subject selections and sitting with Mrs Johnson and student families to work through a SET Plan. As part of Ben’s SET Plan he has decided to pursue a pathway to the Defence Force. Last week, as part of this he undertook Defence Force Work Experience at the Brisbane Barracks. Ben found it to be an exciting experience – he said it was fun and he learnt lots of new things. In particular, Ben found it interesting to watch the way the Defence Force operates, especially the lifestyle; it was interesting to see what they do on a daily basis and how they all work together, like family. ‘From doing the Defence Force work experience, I am now more keen to join the army – but am now thinking about what role that would be in.’ Our First Year 12 Recruit Shay M – one of our amazing Year 12 students – has secured a place with ENERGEX! She is going to undertake an apprenticeship in one of these few coveted positions for 2019. Such great news! Sarah Johnson, Guidance and Careers Counsellor read more

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