A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL…

Dear Parents, Many thanks for all the lovely welcome backs to the fold after my extended Long Service Leave. We both had a great time and after six and a half weeks of travelling and living out of a suitcase, Cath and I are still very happily married!! It is great to be back at work. Coming back to work was made a lot easier knowing that I was coming back to this place. It has been great to meet up with all staff, parents and most importantly of all, the kids. Schools throughout Brisbane will celebrate World Teacher’s Day next week on the 26th of October. No doubt you will take great pleasure in making this a special day for your child’s/ren teacher/s and I too will make public my thoughts on what I think of the entire staff at St Andrew’s and, believe you me, it is all good. However, this week, as my part of the newsletter, I would like to draw on some inspirational thoughts and comments from an article that Angela Mollard presented in one of the Brisbane papers in recent times. Angela’s article is printed in this newsletter in full and with permission. Apologies to any of you who have read the article already, but I think the message is so strong and informative that it won’t hurt to read it again. In brief, Angela refers to a great book simply titled, “Teacher” and then proceeds to give a personal commentary on the role of teachers and parents working together for the good of their kids. From my perspective, after reflecting on Angela’s article and having read some of the book referred to, the working relationship between parents and teachers can sometimes become a little blurred in the sense that parents sometimes expect too much of their teacher/s and occasionally put unfair pressure on the teacher’s personal and professional time. Of course, the help that parents give to teachers in the learning spaces with the learning process is invaluable and should be encouraged and is appreciated. Working in partnership actually doesn’t mean having to speak every day to the teacher about the child’s progress or standing in or around learning spaces and disrupting the teacher’s lesson or conversations with the kids. Likewise, the use of email, instead of being a positive productive communication method can at times become a never-ending source of frustration for teachers. I am sure you would agree with this. If we want excellence from our teachers/staff, parents need to work in tandem to assist to gain the best results for the kids, not act as lawnmower and trying to make everything in life right for the kids, so they can sail through obstacles that they should solve themselves. Perhaps the rule should be that the teachers will contact parents when there are concerns about the child’s learning and social progress. In actual fact this is something that I insist on with my staff, especially at interview time. That is, that there are to be no surprises for the parents in their child’s report. Parents must be informed of the child’s progress/concerns as soon as they arise. I know that parents would agree with me when I make the statement that I don’t want any

2018 SCHOOL NEWSLETTER – TERM FOUR, WEEK TWO

of our teachers to give up on teaching like the author of the book did out of frustration with and from the system. My final comment is a request that you read Angela’s article again and take particular notice of the last two or three paragraphs. To me it echoes the sentiments of our school culture of “Ownership” and acceptance of all to establish good and right relationships in all areas of school life. We need to work for the good of our children in tandem with our teachers and make them feel supported. Hope you have a fantastic week and weekend ahead. Zooties John

WITH JEN KOWALENKO…

Timor Leste Drive Please see the letter below sent to us from the Timor Leste Group at St William’s Parish. It is so wonderful to be able, as a school community, to actually see how our actions can support those less fortunate.

Hello to the students, parents, teachers, and staff of St. Andrew’s School. The Timor Leste Group would like to express their deep gratitude on your amazing generosity in contributing to the School4Schools initiative. The variety, quantity and quality show your deep Catholic commitment to the poor and needy of our sister parish of St John de Brito. A total of 8 pallets which consisted of 118 cartons of clothing, stationery, toys, games, footwear, sporting goods, laptops, sewing machine & printer were collected. Considering our consignment in 2015 was 3 pallets this is an amazing achievement. The children and community of St John de Brito will be truly grateful. I will forward on a number of emails showing the series of photos which were taken on Friday 5th. and Saturday 6th. October 2018 during the sorting, packing and allocation of donations for the kindergarten, 4 primary and 1 secondary schools, girls’ hostel and the convent which make up the parish in Liquica. Parishioners of St Williams rallied with the TLC Group and undertook the packing and sorting in the Mary McKillop Centre and later delivered the consignment to Wacol for delivery to Melbourne en route to Timor Leste. When the consignment arrives in Liquica, hopefully before Christmas, some photos will be taken so we will be able to witness the enjoyment of the children and their families when boxes are opened. Although the people of our sister parish have little material possessions they have a profound faith and devotion to God and the Holy Family. So even if you had not thought about it when giving, our Parish are also receiving their prayers and the St John de Brito Parish are contributing to our lives and wellbeing. Thank you so much for your kindness and charity. God bless all and keep safe. The Timor Leste Companions

Character Day What a wonderful day we had on Monday as St Andrews’ joined together as a school community to raise awareness and funds for childhood cancer. Students and teachers dressed up as nurses, vets, sports stars, farmers and all sorts of admirable people to celebrate the character traits we admire, such as persistence, resilience, determination, honesty and loyalty.

It was wonderful as a school which embraces an MJR way of life to listen to our students articulate exactly the qualities they admire in others. We are grateful to the Dalco family for sharing with us their commitment to the Kids’ Cancer Project and we particularly enjoyed listening to Charli and Bailey speak on assembly about what the day means to them.

Parish Social Justice Morning

Last Friday our Year 6 Students joined together with the Year 6 students from St William’s Grovely and Our Lady of Dolours at Mitchelton to engage in a variety of activities around Social Justice. The student listened to Mr Michael Bruynestein, former APRE, speak about local refugee communities, sharing their stories and his volunteer work with them. There were also activities reflecting on Timor Leste Companions, sustainability, care for the aged and the Church’s Year of Youth. It was also a great opportunity for our leaders to get to know their peers in the parish and form some friendships that will continue into high school.

Jen’s prayer-share

DSTA position 2019

Please see below advertisement for the position of Defence School Mentor (formerly DSTA position) at St Andrew’s commencing Term One 2019.

FROM THE AP’S DESK…

Loud Shirt Day

This Friday students are encouraged to wear ‘loud’ clothing to school. This day will bring awareness to our community about those people who live with a hearing impairment. There is no need for a gold coin donation. Booklists 2019

This booklists for 2019 were sent home with the children last Thursday. If you did not receive one please contact the office. Cleaning

Over the holidays the school underwent an unscheduled extensive clean due to a variety of viruses that affected members of our school community at the end of last term. As parents we urge you to consider the effects of sending your child to school when they are unwell. It can be quite stressful for them and cause unnecessary risk to others in contracting the same virus.

Pick up zone

This week we fielded a number of complaints from parents regarding the aggressive nature of adults who are picking up their children from the pick-up zone. Patience is a virtue and is a prerequisite of using the pick-up zone. We stress the importance of not coming to school too early, particularly on a wet day. The pick-up zone will be more popular on these days, as expected, which means lines will be longer. To avoid this, leave home 5 or 10 minutes later. Our job is to get cars off the road, so our neighbours can continue to use Hogarth Road without it being congested. Please do not line up to get into the school, it is illegal to do so and is a cause of frustration for others. You can use either of the pick-up lines and we will get your child to whichever side you enter. If the line keeps moving, we can alleviate unnecessary stress. Pupil-Free Day

Monday 22nd October is a pupil free day. The staff will be participating in professional development related to Assistive Technology presented by Peta Ruwoldt from BCE. BCE Connect APP

Just a reminder to download the BCE Connect App if you haven’t already. It is very user friendly and will allow you to access all school related communication.

Looking ahead…

• Monday 22nd Oct - Year 6 Personal Development night

• Wednesday 24th Oct – Prep 2019 Parent Orientation 9:30am

• Thursday 25th Oct – Year 5 Mass 11:30am

ART NEWS…

The Art Room is in need of newspapers and old towels.

Any donations of these items would be gratefully accepted!

Kristen Connors Visual Arts Teacher

UNIFORM SHOP NEWS…

From January 2019, the old style sports polo (as shown in above photo) is no

longer part of the St Andrew's School uniform. Students are required to wear their house colour sports polo on sports days and at sports carnivals. These are available in the Uniform Shop in sizes 4 to adult. The Uniform Shop is open every Wednesday during term time from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

January trading hours and appointment times will be advertised on the Parent Portal later this term.

IN OTHER NEWS…

Blue-Steele Animation Digital Drawing Classes**: Please direct all questions or enquiries to about this activity to John Steele on 0438 570 400.

** Please Note: While Mr Steele is a teacher at St Andrew’s School, he is running this activity as a private provider.

TO PUT A ON YOUR DIAL…