From the Principal Term 2 Issue 8
Newsletter
St Peters Lutheran School Blackwood
Principal: Mr Mark Rathjen
God in all things
Gardeners for God
Jesus went on to say, 'The Kingdom of God is like this. A man
scatters seed in his paddock. He sleeps at night, is up and about
during the day, and all the while the seeds are sprouting and
growing. Yet he does not know how it happens. The soil itself makes
the plants grow and bear fruit; first the tender stalk appears, then
the head, and finally the head full of grain. When the grain is ripe,
the man starts cutting it with his sickle, because harvest time has
come.' (verses 26-29)
(read Mark 4:26-34)
As a keen gardener I can really relate to this parable. I can prepare the soil and
plant the seeds. I can water them and fertilise them, but I cannot make them
grow. I can give the seeds all the care they need and make sure the conditions
for growing are right, but I cannot actually make my seeds germinate.
As spiritual gardeners we can spread the 'seed' of God's word. We can take as
much care as possible in preparing for the sowing of the 'seed', but we cannot
make the 'seed' germinate, take root and begin to grow. That is something we
must prayerfully leave to the Holy Spirit to attend to.
We are gardeners for God wherever we are in life. We can sow the seeds and
care for the plants as they grow, but we cannot take credit for the actual life of
the plant. The credit for that belongs to God.
Pray that the Holy Spirit will make many plants spring up and grow from the
seed that you sow in God's name.
Help me to be a conscientious gardener for you, Lord Jesus. Please send your Holy
Spirit to help the seed planted in your name to grow and flourish. Amen.
(adapted by Lutheran Media, from a devotion written by Grace Bock in the LCA book
“God’s Peace for each day”. LCA Devotions: http://www.lca.org.au/gardeners-for-god--
---mark-426-34.html )
Mark Rathjen, Principal
Inside this issue... Page
Parents and Friends ... 2
Rice and Rolls Special
Food Day................. 2
School Directory ..... 2
Staff News .................... 2
PYP Evaluation
Completed ................ 2
Indonesian .................... 2 Lost Property .............. 2
PYP—Evaluation ......... 3
Microcredit Market ... 3
SPLOSHC News ........ 4
Traffic Matters ............ 4
Novar Music—
Term 3 ........................ 4
Entertainment Books 4
Congratulations—
Baby News ................ 4
“Children of the World”
Painting ELC .............. 5
Sporting Schools ......... 6
SAPSASA News .......... 6
OSH Sport News ....... 7
Pedal Prix ..................... 7
Church News .............. 8
Diary Dates.................. 8
The Inside Story ......... 8
Attachments
Taking Faith Home
(28 June 2015)
Special Food Day Order
Form
Special points of
interest:
Next week—recess
and lunch times
(from Mon 22 June)
Year 7’s Microcredit
Market (see page 3
for details)
Rice and Rolls Special Food Day
On Wednesday 1st July we are holding another special food day – Spring Rolls and Chinese Style Rice.
Complete your order form (copy sent home with all students this week—and attached to today’s newsletter)
and send via your child’s class box. We need some rice cookers for the day so if you have one we can borrow
please contact us. Also, if you are able to help on the day WE NEED YOU. Contact Narelle Adams at
[email protected] or on 0408089947 for any offers or queries.
School Directory
Just a reminder the whole school directory is still available upon request. Ask for yours now by emailing the
parents and friends association at [email protected] to get those all important contact
details for potential school holiday catch-ups and play-dates. If your details aren’t in the directory already but
you’d like them to be, please contact us. Our aim is to have the ‘whole school’ included in the directory.
Parents and Friends
We are excited for our new Business Manager,
Karen Noble who is to be married tomorrow.
Congratulations to her and Brenton as they begin
a new life together. Like a trooper, she will be
back at work on Monday!
Staff News
As highlighted over the past few weeks in the
newsletter, the school completed the PYP
evaluation process on Friday. I am pleased to
report that we received a very positive initial
report from the evaluators although we do not
get the written report for some months.
I would once again like to express my thanks to
everyone involved in the process. A special
shout out to Bronwyn Wilson, our PYP
Coordinator, who has diligently walked us
through the process with calmness, efficiency and
positivity. The significant amount of work
required behind the scenes is an additional
challenge which has required much of her time
outside of hours and during the holiday breaks. It
is no small thing to have someone look over your
shoulder for three days. Well done
Bronwyn. Indeed, thank you, well done and
congratulations to everyone.
PYP Evaluation Completed
It would appear that currently we cannot take a
trick with our Indonesian programme! As you
know Mrs Thomas is on maternity leave for the
remainder of the year. Mrs Sarah Crowder
kindly stepped in this term to keep things
going. Unfortunately, Sarah has now become ill
and is not able to continue her work with
us. Mrs Rebecca McClelland (who worked in
Rm 10 earlier this term) has agreed to complete
the term for us in this role although she will not
be teaching Indonesian as such. Rebecca will be
focusing on the transdisciplinary theme of 'Where
we are in Place and Time' and inquiring into the
world. How are we connected to the world in
time and place? What do we want to know
about the world? The children will be asking
questions and finding out answers to the
questions they have about our world. Have a
look at the display in the Resource Centre to see
how this mini inquiry is progressing! We will
make some decisions in the next weeks as to
how Indonesian will be covered for the
remainder for the year. We have advertised
extensively for a 6 month replacement but to no
avail at this point. On the bright side,
Mrs Thomas will return to St Peters in the new
year and we anticipate that Indonesian will have
some much needed stability hopefully for many
years ahead.
Indonesian
Argon Palmer from Room 7 (Mrs Derrington) has lost his sports jumper. It does have has his name in it.
Please check your child’s sports jumper in case it has been brought home inadvertently. Thank you.
Lost Property
Page 3
IB Learners strive to be Inquirers Knowledgeable Thinkers Communicators Principled Open-minded Caring Risk-takers Balanced Reflective IB Learner Profile
Primary Years Programme (PYP)
St Peters Lutheran PYP Evaluation 2015
Last week we had our PYP Evaluation to review how learning happens here at St Peters.
The main purposes of the programme evaluation was:
to assess the implementation of the programme in our school;
to assist the school in developing and maintaining dynamic programmes that reflect the
philosophy and the programme standards and practices of the IBO.
The Evaluators met with council members, leadership, parents, staff and students. They also
had the opportunity to visit classrooms and be present at whole school meeting. In addition
to this they reviewed the documentation required of every PYP school.
Although the school won’t receive the official report until early August, the Evaluators were
very impressed with what we are doing here at St Peters in regards to the community we
have and the learning and teaching we provide.
The recommendations that will make up the majority of the written report will inform our
school’s action plan for the next 5 years.
A big thank you to all who were involved!
Bronwyn Wilson PYP Coordinator
The Year Sevens are learning about microcredit and how it is used as a highly successful form
of sustainable aid in helping people break out of the poverty cycle. Next week students will
be selling various products during recess and lunch times. After the Year Sevens have paid
back their loans (with interest), all profits will be funding real microcredit loans through
ALWS for people in need to start their own businesses.
Many of our products will be food items. Ingredients will be listed at the market stall. None
involve nuts or raw egg, but some will include gluten and dairy. In an effort to be ethical in
our business dealings, consumers will only be allowed to purchase one food item per play
time.
Products available: Marshmallow Slices and Mars Bar Slices 50c
Stress Balloons $1.00 and Fudge 50c
Chocolate Covered Pretzels 5 for 50c
'European' donuts with cream 50c
Funny Face Biscuits 50c
Gingerbread Minimen 50c
Cupcakes $1.00 and Hair Braiding with beads $1.00
Cake Pops 2 for 50c
Please bring some coinage along from next Monday and help support people in poverty as
well as financial literacy!
Thank you, the Year Sevens
Microcredit Market
Page 4 Newsletter
St Peters Lutheran Church are once again making
available the Entertainment Books for
purchase. Copies of the 2015/16
Entertainment Book are available now
from the School Office at a cost of $65.
If you would like an
APP-EntertainmentBook digitally (suitable for
A n d r o i d o r I P h o n e s ) , t h e n g o
online: www.entbook.com.au/161p031.
If you wish to pay by credit card but want to pick
up a hard copy of the book you can use the
above website as well for this purpose. Show
your receipt to the school receptionist for proof
of payment when collecting a book. Otherwise,
paying by cash or credit card the traditional
method is also acceptable.
Further queries: contact Olive Fairclough
0414794704 OR Liz Laynes 0417874632
SPLOSHC News SPLOSHC is again offering care on the pupil free days at the end of this term (Friday 3 July) and the beginning
of next term (Monday 20 July). Vacation care will also be available during the two-week holiday period, from
Monday 6 July—Friday 17 July. Programs and the booking grid were attached to last week’s newsletter.
Please complete and return the booking grid by Friday 26 June 2015.
Traffic Matters
There is some ongoing concern regarding traffic
speeds around the local area, particularly on
Brighton Parade and Cumming Street (and
especially on the steep downhill sections). The
council are monitoring it and we have previously
been advised that the police may be paying close
attention to this area also.
I would ask that we all keep within the 40km/h
limits in the area as we consider the local
residents and the safety of everyone as well as
avoiding a possible nasty fine.
A reminder also that the speed limit in all
driveways and car parking areas within the
church and school grounds is 10km/h.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Darcy (Room 5), Charlie
(Room 7), Amelie (ELC)
and Sally and Matt—on the safe arrival of your
baby brother and son,
Louis William (pronounced Lou-ee)
on Friday 12 June.
What wonderful news!
Entertainment Books
2015/16
St Peters Lutheran School
Enrol now Term 3!
Piano, Singing, Violin and Guitar lesson slots available!
Lessons available after-school and on-campus!
Lessons are for beginners through to advanced students and are available to
both students of St Peters and members of the St Peters community.
On-campus, convenient, individual music tuition.
To enquire contact Carly McDonald at [email protected]
0413 853 490 Visit us at www.novarmusic.com
Page 5 Newsletter
Children of the World Painted by Mel Hawkins
Have you visited our ELC lately? You are welcome any time.
Come and view the latest addition to our outside play environment.
Mel Hawkins and her son Oliver (in Reception) attended our ELC last year...however, the bond and
connection is never lost.
As part of our outside learning environment, we have a creative play platform which is enjoyed by all
children attending. There are 3 panels which are interchangeable. Sometimes we display Noah’s Arc
(designed and painted by Mel Hawkins when Oliver attended our ELC) or maybe a fire engine
(designed and painted by Ruth Cameron-Kingdon when her children (Lucas and Amelie) were in the
ELC several years ago).
Currently displayed for all to enjoy is our third and newest addition, called “Children of the World”.
All children, parents and educators from the ELC would like to say a sincere THANK YOU to
Mel Hawkins for her kindness, generosity and spirit for gifting us our latest addition.
We also acknowledge and thank Ian and Oliver for supporting her.
We appreciate your talent, heart and all the time and efforts you put in on the project.
THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS….YOU ARE A TRUE TREASURE!
Page 6 Newsletter
Sporting Schools
It has been great to see so many students in Years R-2 participating each week in the Sporting Schools
Programme at St Peters. The final sessions are as follows:
Soccer (Wednesday 24th June – Week 9)
Hockey (Thursday 25th June)
Tennis (Monday 29th June – Week 10).
We hope students are enjoying these sessions and we look forward to providing students with more sporting
opportunities like these in the future.
In week 5 we participated in a SAPSASA footy carnival. We had
played 9 games and we won all of them.
So we won the carnival for 2015.
Henry Smith & Harrison Parsons (Year 7)
SAPSASA Football Carnival 2015
SAPSASA State Cross Country Championship
Congratulations to Lauren Gillies who competed in the 2015 State Cross Country Championships on
Thursday 4 June at Oakbank race course as part of the Southern Heights SAPSASA Team. It is a great
achievement to have been selected in the team. Well done Lauren!
On Friday 12 June the St Peters Girls Year 6/7
Knockout Netball Team played Blackwood Primary
School. The girls had been training hard over the past
few weeks and it was great to see them putting their
best efforts in on the day. Well done girls!
SAPSASA
Knockout Netball
Page 7 Newsletter
St Peters Out of School Hours Sport News
Overdue
OSH Sport Fees
All OSH Sport fees are now overdue.
Invoices were sent home last week.
Unfortunately we have had to proceed with
invoices as a significant amount was still
outstanding at the end of May.
NB: A further surcharge will be added at the end
of term if fees are not paid, and end-of-season
trophies will not be able to be purchased.
U9 Soccer
St Peters under 9s played St John the Baptist at
Cabra College. We lost 1-7. Our best players
were Oscar who scored our only goal and was
very fast in our game. Our other best players
were Benjamin who played really good defence
and goalkeepers Lucas, Josh M and Thomas. Ella
and Grace played really well . Nick did some
good kicks and Jacob did some good
crosses. Bryn and I did some awesome stops.
Even though we lost we played our best.
Patrick M
Blue Saint Pedal Prix Result—Round 2 Victoria Park What a fantastic effort for our first race (Round 2 – Vic Park).
I’m so proud of all the riders and the effort that they put in on race day, each and every one of them beat and
recorded a new Personal Best (PB) time for their fastest laps at Vic Park. I’m sure for Round 3, again at Vic Park
in July, should see us improve even more as the riders become stronger with training and are now also familiar
with race day “ADRENALIN” and the feel of race conditions.
I’m also extremely grateful for the efforts of all parents in supporting me and the team with set up for training
and race days. Thank you all for a fun day, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as the riders did.
Details for Race 1 below.
Congrats to Nikolas and Kyle in sharing joint honours for fastest lap.
Race 1 – Sunday 14th June 2015 (Lap Distance 1.354km)
Category 1 Position: 20 of 62
Overall Position: 125 of 183
Bo Gacic
Year 2/3 Netball On Saturday we played Bellevue Heights. We worked a lot better as a team.
I really had a lot of fun and enjoyed the game. Mia P-W
Rider Laps Distance Fastest Lap Ave Lap
Nik 18 24.372 2:35 2:47
Harry 3 4.062 2:40 2:54
Liam 14 18.956 3:05 3:35
Ben 7 9.478 3:05 3:24
Kyle 11 14.894 2:35 3:05
Issy 16 21.664 2:55 3:23
Will 11 14.894 2:59 3:11
Chris 11 14.894 3:23 3:46
Dustin 11 14.894 3:27 3:41
Total 102 138.108 2:35
St Peters Lutheran School,
where the message of Jesus Christ
is communicated and celebrated,
is a caring, supportive learning
community
that encourages global
consciousness, responsible action
and life-long learning.
Diary Dates Term 2
(for your calendar!)
71 Cumming Street
BLACKWOOD SA 5051
St Peters Lutheran School Blackwood
Week 8 (Monday 15/6)
Thu 18/6 School Photos
Week 9 (Monday 22/6)
Thu 25/6 School Council Meeting—7pm
Fri 26/6 Cake Stall (Room 8)
Second Hand Uniform Shop Open—
after Chapel
Sun 28/6 Family Service (Rooms 5 & 6)
Week 10 (Monday 29/6)
Wed 1/7 Special Food Day
Thu 2/7 Last Day of Term for students
Fri 3/7 Staff PD
Phone: 8278 0800
Fax: 8370 0414
Email:
We’re on the web… www.stpeterslutheran.sa.edu.au
These dates are subject to change so please make sure you check them each week.
St Peters Lutheran Church
Services each Sunday at 10.00am
ALL WELCOME!
Coming up…
19-21/6 Church Camp Aldinga Holiday Park
22/6 God For Us 7:30pm
27/6 First Communion 3-5pm
Any enquiries please contact Pastor Ben:
82782322 or [email protected]
Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed,
which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all
the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and
becomes the greatest of all shrubs” (Mark 4:31-32)
Find us on Facebook and Twitter—for all
the latest on what’s happening around
St Peters Lutheran School Blackwood
St Peters Lutheran @StPBlackwood
School Blackwood
The Inside Story As you may already know, we have begun a new
communication to all families and friends of the
school. A weekly blog, titled 'The Inside Story',
will be used to highlight and celebrate some of
the activities and learning in our school. A big
thanks to our wonderful parent Felicity Evans
who has undertaken this project and will edit this
page. We plan to send this out in couple of ways:
by email, school Facebook page and Twitter
account. In the first instance I would of course
encourage you to read it but also to use the
social media options to like, share, favourite and
retweet so that we can let others know in our
wider community some of the fabulous learning
and activity occurring in our school. Any
feedback on this initiative would be gratefully
received.
If you missed this week’s blog, you can access it
via the following link:
http://www.stpeterslutheran.sa.edu.au/new/
singersongwriter-ms-vonda-last-performs-for-st-
peters-community/