From the Principal

30 October 2014

Term 4 Issue 3

Newsletter

St Peters Lutheran School Blackwood

Principal: Mr Mark Rathjen

God in all things

Happy Reformation Day!

If you ask the average person in the street what is special about October 31st,

most people would probably tell you it is Halloween. I would prefer that

everyone knew that tomorrow is a day of much more importance than dressing

up spooky-like and ‘trick or treating’. October 31st is in

fact Reformation Day. The day in 1517 when Martin

Luther blogged 95 tweets on his Facebook wall to

provoke discussion in the church about what he saw as

wrongs that were being perpetrated by the Roman

Catholic Church of the time. Luther’s provocative

statements set in motion incredible change, not only in

Christendom, but around the world in many ways (eg

The Renaissance).

In essence Luther helped the church

rediscover what God’s love and grace was all

about. Sadly the heart of the Gospel message

had been hidden and lost to the common

man. Simply put, the church of the day

appeared more concerned about what people

were required to do to win God’s favour.

The central message of the church, Luther

said, should be seen the other way around – it

is all about what God has already done for us

through Jesus’ death and resurrection. We

are not saved by what we do, we are saved

ONLY through what Jesus has done for us; free, gratis, no strings attached. By

faith we receive that.

Luther himself once said. “God doesn’t love us because of

our worth, we are of worth because God loves us.” Our

lives therefore can be lived out of thanksgiving for this

amazing gift (grace). This grace then is freeing rather than

binding, bringing joy rather than fear and anxiety. We are

free to live and love and yes, even make mistakes.

“For it is by grace that you have been saved, through

faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of

God.” Ephesians 2:8

The reformation message is as relevant today as it was 497

years ago and it is well worth reflecting on while you keep

the ‘trick and treaters’ at bay tomorrow night!

Mark Rathjen

Principal

Inside this issue... Page Parents & Friends ........... 2 StPetersfest! 2015........... 2

Last Day of Term— Christmas Lunch .......... 2 SMS Test Message .......... 2

Working Bee ................... 2 SPLASH Day Reminder . 2 Choir ................................. 2

PYP:

Concepts—Function ... 3 Evaluation....................... 3 Staff Changes ................... 4

BYOD Info Night ............ 4 OSH Sport Photos for Yearbook ....................... 4

Principal’s Tour ............... 4 Blackwood Christmas Parade ............................. 4

Playgroup .......................... 4 St Peters Sporting Super Stars .................... 5

Church News .................. 6 Diary Dates ...................... 6

Insert:

Breastscreen

Invigor8

Ride for Faith

Aussie T-Ball

Special points of

interest:

Friday 31/10

Choir singing—

after Chapel

Second Hand

Uniform Shop

Open—after Chapel

Monday 3/11—

Friday 7/11

Junior Primary

Swimming

Tuesday 4/11

Principal’s Tour—

9am

Playgroup—9am

Page 2 Newsletter

The St Peters Lutheran Parents and Friends

Annual General Meeting will be held on

Wednesday 26 November 2014 at the

School at 7pm. We would like to strongly

encourage all interested persons to attend this

meeting.

Nomination forms for executive committee

positions are available at the front office and

any enquires can be directed to Narelle Adams

at stpeterslutheranpandf@gmail.com, or

0408 089 947.

Come along and have your say in the activities

and events the Parents & Friends will hold in

2015 and beyond.

We look forward to seeing many of you there.

StPetersfest! 2015

Planning for St Petersfest 2015 is underway but

we NEED YOUR HELP.

If you are interested in serving on the

StPetersfest 2015 organising sub

committee please contact Nicky Hart on

0402 422 832.

Our first meeting will be held NEXT WEEK

on Tuesday 4 November 2014.

Last Day of Term

Xmas Lunch

Advance Notice:

A shared special food day lunch will again be

held in 2014 on the last day of the school year,

Tuesday 9 December. Order forms with

further information will go out shortly and we

would like to encourage all students and

families to join us in this special event.

Parents and Friends

Reminder... Please remember to return the tear-off slip

regarding SPLASH day ASAP. Another copy

was sent home today to those families we

haven’t yet received responses from.

Thank you to all who have replied.

Thank you.

Working Bee The Term 4 Working Bee

will be held on

Saturday 15 November

Rostered families this time are from Rooms 7

and 8, together with others who have been

unable to attend their previously rostered

working bee.

Working bee reply slips coming home soon!

As you would be aware, as part of our Bushfire

Action Plan, we have a system of notifying

parents and caregivers by text message of

impending school closure due to catastrophic

fire day conditions, as well as sending advice

and updates in the event of reaching Phase 2

(or beyond) of the Bushfire Action Plan. This

texting system is also used to forward urgent

and important messages to families at other

times, if required.

To test this service, we are sending a ‘test text’

tomorrow (Friday 31 October) to ensure this

system is operating effectively.

Please notify the front office after

tomorrow if your family does not receive

a text message or if there are any

problems with the communication.

Thank you.

SMS Test Message

Choir

This Friday 31 October,

the St Peters Choir (Years 3-7) will

be performing a set of three songs

to the students and parents.

This will happen straight after the

chapel service (around 9:20am).

We would love you all to stay and

watch our performance!

30 October 2014 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)

Concepts

Function – How does it work?

Concepts are powerful ideas that have relevance within the subject areas but also

transcend them and that students must explore and re-explore in order to develop a

coherent, in-depth understanding.

Function is one of the eight concepts that all PYP schools use. The question related to

this concept is “How does it work?” The understanding that everything has a purpose, a

role or way of behaving that can be investigated and the ability to analyse this, is

fundamental to learning within and across all disciplines.

Teachers are able to use concept questioning to engage students’ thinking about how

things work in our world. Students use the concept to form questions that they want to

know the answer for.

The following questions may be helpful for you as parents when reinforcing the concept of

FUNCTION at home.

How does the TV work?

How is colour used in advertising?

How do you score points in the game?

How did you deal with the conflict?

How does it move?

How does it grow?

What is it used for?

How do we measure time?

What are the main elements of a story?

Bronwyn Wilson

PYP Coordinator

Primary Years Programme—Evaluation

Dear Parents

Next year (2015), we are undertaking our second Evaluation of the Primary Years

Programme (PYP). As part of this process, we are conducting a thorough review of

everything we do here at St Peters relating to the delivery of the PYP. As part of this

review, we would like your feedback. This feedback helps us reflect on the growth of

the PYP and provides valuable information about areas that need to be strengthened

and improved. This will enable us to continue to grow, so we can offer your child the

very best education possible.

We are really interested in your perceptions of the PYP at St Peters. Next week, we

will be sending out the link to the electronic survey to all parents. We would really

appreciate your feedback during this valuable and worthwhile process.

Sincere thanks for your ongoing support.

Mark Rathjen and Bronwyn Wilson

Principal and PYP Coordinator

Page 4 Newsletter

We have a few potential changes to our staff

line up for next year:

Mrs Anji Grierson, our permanent

Indonesian teacher, currently on maternity

leave, has recently resigned her position. In

addition Mrs Ali Watson will not be seeking

an extension of her current contract.

Therefore we are seeking a new Indonesian

teacher for 2015.

We are also looking for a part-time

PE teacher from the beginning of 2015 for

six months until Penny's expected return in

Term 3. Mrs Celina Read, who is currently

in that role, is unable to continue next year.

Also, as mentioned last week, we are seeking

a new Business Manager for 2015.

All of these positions have been/will be

advertised on Seek and Teachers.on.net

Please pray for our staff who are finishing

their time with us and that God would

prepare excellent and capable new people for

these roles next year.

Principal’s Tour Our Term 4 Principal’s Tour, the final one

scheduled for this year, will be held next

Tuesday 4 November, from 9am.

If you know of anyone looking for a school or

Early Learning Centre in this area, please

encourage them to contact the school to

book a place on this tour.

Staff Changes

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

Out of School Sport

Photos for Yearbook Thank you to all the coaches and

coordinators who have sent photos in for

the 2014 Yearbook. Tonight is your last

opportunity to email them to

sharon.smith@stpeterslutheran.sa.edu.au

If your team is not in the Yearbook it is because

we have not received a photo.

BYOD

Information Night

On Wednesday 12 November, we intend to

hold an Information Night around our BYOD

programme.

Although the session is intended for the

families of students moving into Year 3 next

year, it is also open for any parents to

attend.

We will meet in the School's Resource

Centre from 7.00 until about 8.00pm.

Blackwood Christmas

Parade

This year, the Blackwood Christmas Parade

will be held on Friday 5 December. We are

(once again) looking to borrow a suitable

vehicle to transport the students who will be

involved in this parade (eg a truck). If you

know of a suitable vehicle that may be

available on 5 December, please contact our

ELC Director, Diana Gaskell.

Thank you!

Page 5 Newsletter

11 & Under Netball

Our last netball game was awesome! We

lost :( but I thought we played awesome(ly). I

would like to welcome Charlotte, Tilly and

Sarah to the team. They especially played

awesome(ly)!!

Ebonie F

13 & Under Netball

We played against St Monica's and we lost by

3 goals. All of the team played really well. The

other team were really competitive but it was

a good challenge. We could work on trying to

get in front of our player more.

Holly D

Yr 4-7 Volleyball

Last Friday we played a team called the Purple

Dinosaurs. Unfortunately we lost by 20

points or something. They won the first set

and we won the second, then during the third

set the timer went and they finished ahead of

us.

Tilly D

Yr3 Basketball

We played against Belair Strikers but lost 42 -

2. I got the only goal! We all tried our best.

Annika V

Yr5 Basketball

On Friday we played Blackwood and we lost.

The score was 9-30. The good players were

Nick and Remy.

Tyson C

Yr6 Basketball-Blue

On Thursday we played against Coro Valley

and won 19 to 36. The good players were

Liam and Nik. I was really proud of the team

and they did really good especially under

pressure.

Eduard V

Yr6 Basketball-White

On Thursday we played the other Coro

Valley team. They weren’t very good. We

won by a lot and the good players were Luke,

Harry and Henry.

Joel S

8 & Under Netball

We won 5-2. Bella was a really good player. I

was wing defence and goal attack and scored

2 goals. It was a really good game.

Zara B

St Peters Sporting Super Stars

Active After School

Volleyball & Martial

Arts The Active After School Martial Arts and

Volleyball started last week. It would be

appreciated if parents could remind their child

at the beginning of the day when they are

attending an after school activity.

Term 2/3 Sport

Uniforms must be

returned We still have some tops missing. Could

parents please ensure they are returned to

school as soon as possible.

Invoices were sent home today

Overdue Sport fees

When paying at the front office please ensure

staff know your child’s name and sport.

Invoices for non payment were sent

home today with 10% surcharge added for

accounts not paid by the end of

Term 3 2014.

Term 4 Sport fees are

now due Attention all parents of players—

Term 4 fees are now due!!

Cricket is $20 for the term

Basketball is $6 unless you have already

paid $20 for the year in Term 1 2014

Netball is $60 for the Summer Season

Payment must be in

by the end of Week 4.

We have to order trophies early Week 5 to

ensure they are here by the end of term.

Unfortunately, all non financial players will not

receive their end of year/season participation

trophy until full payment has been made.

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 4

(for your calendar!)

71 Cumming Street

BLACKWOOD SA 5051

St Peters Lutheran School Blackwood

Week 3 (Monday 27/10)

Fri 31/10 Second Hand Uniform Shop Open—

after Chapel

Week 4 (Monday 3/11)

Mon 3/11 Junior Primary Swimming

- Fri 7/11

Tue 4/11 Principal’s Tour—9am

Playgroup

Thu 6/11 School Council Meeting—7pm

Sun 9/11 Family Service (Rooms 9 & 10)

Week 5 (Monday 10/11)

Mon 10/11 PE Week

- Fri 14/11

Tue 11/11 Playgroup

Wed 12/11 BYOD Parent Information Night

Fri 14/11 St Peters SPLASH Day

Sat 15/11 Working Bee (Rooms 7 & 8)

Sun 16/11 General (Election) Meeting—11am

Phone: 8278 0800

Fax: 8370 0414

Email:

admin@stpeterslutheran.sa.edu.au

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!

Week 6 (Monday 17/11)

Tue 18/11 Playgroup

Wed 19/11 New Parent Orientation Evening

Week 7 (Monday 24/11)

Tue 25/11 Playgroup

Wed 26/11 P&F Annual General Meeting—7pm

Fri 28/11 Second Hand Uniform Shop Open—

after Chapel

Week 8 (Monday 1/12)

Tue 2/12 Playgroup

PYP Exhibition

Wed 3/12 Surf Life Saving (Years 4-7)

- Thu 4/12

Thu 4/12 Year 7 Graduation Dinner

Fri 5/12 Term 4 reports go home

Week 9 (Monday 8/12)

Mon 8/12 ELC Christmas Service

Tue 9/12 Last day of Term 4 for all students

(ELC—Year 7)

Playgroup

End of Year Service—7pm

Wed 10/12 Staff PD

- Fri 12/12

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