The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves. Steven Spielberg

Our teaching staff at St Peters Springfield have supported a range of Universities over recent years in the Professional Placement of students completing their Education qualifications. This has ranged from students in their First Year of University to final Internship placements. Our staff enthusiastically take on the role as mentors in these Professional Placements, modelling best teaching practices, supporting planning and delivery methods as well as providing positive effective feedback. It is a role we value, in supporting the next generation of high quality teachers.

This year for the first time we were approached by Lutheran Education Queensland to take a student from Concordia Lutheran College, Nebraska, USA.  We were delighted to welcome Miss Sarah Brutlag, a final year Music student, to our school to work with Mrs Grennan in our Music classes.  Sarah has a 9-week placement with us at St Peters Springfield, to expand her knowledge, experience and confidence in teaching music across a range of year levels. Home stays were also organised for her time here so she could learn more about the way of life in Australia. We know that her time with us at St Peters has been a valuable experience both professionally and personally and we wish her God’s blessings as she completes her studies and moves into her teaching career.

Upcoming Events

Ipswich Show Holiday – a reminder that Friday May 17 is a Pupil Free Day. Primary Staff will be taking part in a Professional Development day focusing on spelling strategies to enhance the programs we already use. 

National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) is being held on May 22 and is organised by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country.  

Prep – Year 2 will be meeting in the Hub to join thousands of other students across Australia for the reading of Alpacas with Maraca, which is written and Illustrated by Matt Cosgrove.

By facilitating NSS we aim to: promote the value of reading and literacy, promote the value and fun of books and promote an Australian writer and publisher.

Under 8s Week 

Under 8s Week is an important event in our calendar where we celebrate the importance of early childhood development and learning. St Peters Springfield will be celebrating Under 8s week at the end of Term 2 instead of the nominated week in May. Holding our event at the end of term will allow the Prep and Year 1 students more time to explore the theme ‘Children Exploring Language and Culture’. Information will be sent out closer to the event.

Debbie West-McInnes
Head of Primary

The Christian teaching of God as three persons in one - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - is honoured yearly on Trinity Sunday (this year 16 June) and the abstract, dull preaching I heard as a child never got me excited. But what didn’t grab me then is vital and life-giving now. I treasure the opportunity to share with Year 7 Christian Studies classes about this complex God who is the beginning of true community, because that is the loving heart of this three-in-one God. 

In the Greek Christian tradition, one of the early descriptions for the Trinity was perichoresis – literally dancing around, a circle dance of three. If you’ve been to a Greek festival or the Greek Club, you’ve seen such a dance, and may have joined in. When a Year 7 student tells me that they were just brought into the dance at Paniyiri I tell them, ‘Well, that was a God moment, and I believe that is what God is doing with each one of us all the time – inviting us to join in.’ We are invited to trust that at the heart of creation there is this beautiful dance going on, and we are welcomed in, whether we know the steps or not.

Survival dance or sacred dance? We all experience immense pressures and demands from within and without. Life becomes a complicated survival dance. As we learn to trust that God catches us when we fall, that there is more than enough to go round, that grace is stronger than shame, that we are all dearly loved, then there is the freedom and bravery for the huge shift. In the safety net and wisdom of God’s new life and forgiveness, trusting in God’s promises - we start to delight in who we are, and our dance moves change from being forced desperate and ungainly, to faithful, sacred and life-giving. Keep discovering what your sacred dance is and enjoy it.

Pastor Michael Mayer
St Peters Lutheran College Indooroopilly

On the mornings of Tuesday 14 May to Thursday 16 May, Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 students will be involved in National Testing for literacy and numeracy as part of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN).

NAPLAN tests provide an indication of student knowledge and skills in Writing, Reading, Language Conventions (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation) and Numeracy. The timetable for NAPLAN is below.

As NAPLAN will commence each morning following Pastoral Care, it is important that students arrive at school on time. In the event of absence there will be catch-up sessions conducted on Wednesday May 15, Thursday May 16 and Monday May 20. 

NAPLAN is aligned to the Australian Curriculum: English and the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics. Questions are multiple choice or require a short written response. This year, the Writing task will require students to write either a narrative or a persuasive text. This will be evident from the stimulus they are given and we will not know what it is until the day of the Writing test. There will be one Writing prompt for students in Years 3 and 5, and a different prompt for students in Years 7 and 9.

NAPLAN data helps us support our school improvement processes by enabling us to monitor students’ progress over time against a national measure. NAPLAN data, used in combination with school-based assessments, provides us with diagnostic information that shapes our teaching programs and guides and supports our students’ learning journey.

Parents, guardians and caregivers can support their children by making them feel comfortable about the purpose and nature of the tests and encouraging them to do their best. They can also assure students that the tests will give them an opportunity to show the knowledge and skills learned in class.

For more information, please visit: http://www.nap.edu.au/home and NAPLAN on Paper: Information for Parents and Carers

If you have questions regarding the organisation of NAPLAN at St Peters, please contact Susan Levitt ( Prep – Year 6 Curriculum Leader ).

Susan Levitt
Year 5 Teacher
Prep – Year 6 Curriculum Leader

Last Monday through to Wednesday two of our Year 11 students completed a work experience with the Defence Force.

The girls had a great time and learnt a lot about the process and work within DF.

They both have aspirations to apply to the Defence Force and this was a great way to help inform this choice for them. We really encourage students to take on some work experience in regards to making clear decisions about their careers, come and see Mrs Johnson if you have any ideas in this area!

Great opportunity! Go girls!

Sarah Johnson
Guidance and Careers Counsellor

On Tuesday the 30th of April Year 10 took their first steps toward their career decision journey for 2019.

Year 10 is the year when students are mandated to produce a Student Education and Training Plan that summarises what they hope to achieve in the next two years and beyond, and they also select their courses of study for Years 11 and 12. Making such choices supposes that students have a realistic idea of their strengths, interests and preferences.

On Tuesday we began this process by undertaking career profiling with Career Avenues. This company are specialists in building comprehensive career profiles that we will utilise throughout our career program work in 2019. The testing on Tuesday was a mixture of standardised and timed tests that help to build a profile of the student. Some of these tests were about their personality and some tested their aptitudes.

In just over a month we will look at these career profiles and run a workshop dedicated to helping the students understand what these scores mean. During this workshop the Year 10s will receive feedback on this testing that will allow them to start deciding on a path to take when looking to the future. By knowing where they will be heading they will be better placed to choose subjects in Year 11 and 12 that will aide them in this endeavour and also form a prerequisite for tertiary study. 

As the career counsellor the career testing process is one I consider to be so illuminating and helps kids to see that how they are naturally and the skills they have, which may not always be shown academically, will help them to make a positive future for themselves. 

Sarah Johnson
Guidance and Careers Counsellor

The challenge was set; use your knowledge of forces and simple machines, to build a catapult capable of flinging a marshmallow a distance of half a metre. This is a complex challenge, requiring both innovation and accurate methodology, to build appropriate catapults with everyday items found at home (such as milo-tins, paddle-pop sticks, rubber bands and Mum and Dad’s wooden spoons).  Subsequently they had to write a method, test their catapults, collect reliable data, evaluate their results and reflect on the quality of their catapult design.   

All the aspects of the task provided students with the opportunity to learn about the scientific method, test scientific concepts and most importantly HAVE FUN!   

Dr Michelle Thygesen
Year 7-12 Science Coordinator

ARTS FESTIVAL

The planning for our exciting Arts Festival, in collaboration with Aveo, continues. A flier for this event is included. Please save this date. It will be a wonderful display of the talent of our Arts students, with displays from Visual Arts students, the knitting group, performances from Music and Drama ensembles and classes, together with performances and displays from Aveo groups. Food and drinks will also be available.

PRIVATE TUITION RECITALS

The Private Tuition Recitals for Semester One will be held on Thursday 6 June. Letters are being distributed to parents via the Private Tuition Tutors. Interested friends and family are most welcome to support performers with their attendance.

OPEN DAY

Open Day is being held on Saturday 1 June. Performing Arts will be manning an Information Tent, and presenting a variety of performances drawn from classroom work and private tuition. Parents and friends are most welcome to support performers through their attendance.

SING TOGETHER FESTIVAL 2019

St Peters, Indooroopilly are hosting another Sing Together Festival on Tuesday 18 June. Students from Upper Primary and Bella Voce are invited to attend this festival. The guest conductor for this event is Paul Holley OAM. Mr Holley conducts Birralee Blokes ad Resonance of Birralee, along with Gondwana Chorale, and is a frequent guest conductor and clinician throughout Australia and internationally. Students participating in this festival will be attending choral workshops during the day, followed by an evening performance by individual school choirs and the combined massed choir. It will be an exciting day!

ENSEMBLE COLLABORATION WITH PALI HIGH 

Later in the term we will be visited by an orchestra from Pali High, who will join with our ensembles for a morning of workshops, culminating in a lunchtime concert for the student population. While still in the early stages of planning, this promises to be an exciting addition to our regular Music Performance programme.

Ms Sally Grennan
Music Teacher