You can’t use up creativity. The more you use it, the more you have.
Maya Angelou

Our performing arts students have had a busy fortnight. On Thursday 30 May, we held our inaugural Arts and Music Soiree in conjunction with Aveo Retirement Home. Our artists hung their artworks alongside the work of older Springfield artists and our young performers shared the stage with singers, musicians and dancers many years their senior. This event brought the community together and a common interest in the Arts quickly unified the generations.

The evening gave our students the opportunity to see that creativity is not something that has to finish when their schooling does. They saw adults continuing to pursue their passions and find outlets for their talents.

Then last week, our private tuition students had the opportunity to perform in front of their families and peers at recitals held in the Performing Arts Block. Events such as this are important milestones for the young musicians and Speech and Drama students. They have the thrill of showcasing their talents and gain confidence in performing for an audience. The students also learn the etiquette of the stage by introducing themselves and acknowledging with modest pride the applause given to them.

The dedicated tutors who work with our young people, and the parents who encourage and support their children in their artistic endeavours, are laying the groundwork for lives that will be enriched by the beauty of music, the power of poetry and the joy of creating.

Sue Grotherr
Head of Secondary School

God will cover you with his wings; you will be safe in his care. (Psalm 91:4)

Kites are wonderful to watch in flight. When did you last go out to fly a kite? Have you done it recently? 

Isn’t it fun to watch the kite leap and dive – as they dip down really low until they almost ram into the ground, before suddenly swooping and climbing up higher than ever before. But have you thought about what restrains them? Rather remarkably, all that keeps them under control is a thin cord. Think of how it feels when you’re the one holding the cord. You can feel the enormous pressure that is exerted on the kite, as the cord jerks around in your hand you realise the kite is being buffeted around by all sorts of strong and maybe even destructive winds.

Sometimes, we’re a little bit like a kite. We, too, bravely strive to fly high and fast and as beautifully as we can. But large pressures can be exerted on us by all sorts of destructive or difficult situations. We can feel worried, or unable to cope with the things that are thrown at us and the situations that buffet us. Are we like a kite in that we, too, have a control line that we can rely on?

We are! God’s love for us is in Jesus Christ. God’s promise to us is that he has our safety line firmly in his hand, and he will keep a strong hold even in the dips and high swoops of our life. No matter what happens, he promises to keep a hold of us and protect us, and we know we can go to him if we’re feeling down or unable to cope.

If you feel down and unable to 'bounce back' (or swoop back up like a kite), talk to God, and let him know how you feel. Because as you talk to him, you realise that he has you safely in his hand, helping you to get up again.

Dear Jesus, Your promise to be with us is truly amazing. Thank you for always keeping a hold of us and helping us when we’re feeling down. Please help us to talk to you when things aren’t going well, and help us to look out for others around us too.

Amen

Last Playgroup for Term 2: Thursday 20 June | Playgroup resumes in Term 3: Thursday 18 July

Playgroup happens each Thursday during Term time from 8:30 - 10:30am. 
Playgroup meets in the OSHC Room (MB07).  

Parents are invited to bring your pre-school aged children to Arise Playgroup to meet other parents and little people for play and friendship. 

For more information, please contact the co-ordinator Dee, through College Reception on 3470 3888.  

The mobile blood donor centre is visiting Springfield Bunnings between Monday 8 and Saturday 13 July 2019.

St. Peters Lutheran College Springfield has joined the Blood Service’s Red25 program. Be sure to ask to join our Red25 group so that we as a school community can track how many lives we save together.

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019). 

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• year of schooling
• category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

• formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

To Book please visit the Event booking page on Eventbrite. *Tickets selling fast!

To highlight the learning of our music and drama students, 3 Private Tuition Recitals were held last week. An amazing array of instruments and ability levels were on display, but consistent to all performances was the sincerity of each performer and their desire to improve their skills. Parents and friends in attendance were treated to a feast of music, poems, monologues and speeches. Congratulations to all students. Thanks and recognition is due to the tutors – Mrs Brighton, Ms Crellin, Ms Grennan, Ms Hill, Ms Pomerenke, Ms Wasalski, Mrs Wilson and Ms Yuting whose encouragement and guidance is evident in the performances.

Classic FM recently published an article entitled “Ten Reasons to Play a Musical Instrument”. Here is a summary of that article. The skills mentioned are equally applicable to Speech and Drama.

Learning to play a musical instrument has so many benefits – whether it’s building your confidence, enhancing your memory or widening your social circle.

1. Playing an instrument makes you smarter
Learning to play an instrument stimulates the brain, improving functions like memory and abstract reasoning skills, which are essential for maths and science.

2. Your social life will improve
Playing an instrument isn’t only good for your brain, it’s also great for expanding your social circle. Joining a musical group at any age encourages you to develop relationships with new people and  builds skills in leadership and team-building.

3. Playing an instrument relieves stress
Music keeps you calm. It has a unique effect on our emotions, and has even been proven to lower heart rate and blood pressure. 

4. Playing an instrument gives you a sense of achievement
Playing and succeeding at a musical instrument gives you a huge sense of pride and achievement, especially when you manage to perfect a passage you’ve been struggling with for weeks.

5. It builds your confidence
Playing an instrument helps you get comfortable with self-expression. Playing in public can help children feel confident in presenting their work in a non-academic context.

6. Practising a musical instrument improves patience
It’s an important lesson to learn that the more effort you put into something, the better the result will be. 

7. It helps improve your memory
Learning to play a musical instrument can enhance verbal memory, spatial reasoning and literacy skills. Playing an instrument makes you use both sides of your brain, which strengthens memory power.

8. It increases discipline and time management skills
Learning to play an instrument isn’t a skill you can master overnight. It takes time and effort, and helps children understand that if they want to be good at something, they’ll need to put in the hours and organise their time effectively.

9. Playing music makes you more creative 
Practising and perfecting a piece of music does wonders for the creative side of your brain, as it is up to the player to put their own stamp on a piece, to inject some of their personality into the music.

10. Playing music is fun!
What matters most is that playing an instrument is enjoyable - music actively engages and stimulates the brain, making you feel happy and occupied.

Accompanied by Mme Morgan, M. Stott and Mme Knowles, four of our Year 10 French students spent an afternoon engaging in a range of French workshops at Stuartholme Girls School. The students, Sneha N, Saadhana K, Lucy O and Grace T enjoyed an afternoon tea followed by a variety of workshops which included an “Amazing Race” activity run by SPLC Springfield French staff, a Cluedo game, “Speed Dating” and a Virtual Reality activity. The afternoon attracted students from 7 different Brisbane schools. 

On Tuesday 28 May, our Junior High Team - Arabella G , Adam V, Toby S, Rishika J and Reuben D attended the Brisbane West Region Readers Cup Challenge, hosted by St. Mary’s College Ipswich. 

There were 20 teams participating and our MC/Compere was the author Pat Flynn who has written ‘Don’t Kiss Girls’ and ‘Tuckshop Kids’. Pat kept the pace of the competition quick moving and challenging. He was also funny and had all the students engaged coming up with story ideas. In response to the suggestion ‘Your main character loses something’, our team member Arabella said, ‘all their senses when lost out in the forest’. As her idea appealed to the judging panel, she won a book!

Our students all gained a lot from the experience and although did not gain a place, thoroughly enjoyed the books on this year’s list. There are now numerous copies available at our school library for you to enjoy too. Just ask at the desk for this year’s Readers Cup Challenge books.