294 Redbank Rd Kurrajong NSW 2758

T 02 4573 2999 E admin@kuyper.nsw.edu.au W www.kuyper.nsw.edu.au

Thursday 28 June 2018 Dear Parents & Friends of Kuyper,

Homework: do we need it? It’s a contentious issue and online discussion is often vehement, to the point of hatred – not just of homework, but of schools and teachers in general. Current research suggests that most homework does not advance student learning, with the exception of 30 minutes literacy and numeracy for Years 7 and 8. Before that, research shows that reading to and with younger children, starting well before school age, is of the most benefit. Yet many parents worry about homework, preferring none at all, or worrying about too much or too little. Views about homework often reflect cultural values. When I visited schools in India, meeting parents and teachers, I found it was standard for students from primary through secondary to undertake six hours of homework after school each day. Their future depended on their educational achievements, in a very competitive market. Many students who come to Australia from other regions bring this work ethic with them. You may respect this approach, as I do, while not choosing it for your own children. One thing I am certain of, homework that creates a hatred of learning is defeating its purpose. At Kuyper, one of our goals is to create life-long learners, that is, to maintain an attitude of teachability. We aim to skill all our students to continue their learning journey, to the best of their God-given ability, at school, in further education, in the workplace, in the home and at church. God’s Word encourages us all to be students of His Word, the Bible, and to study it throughout our lives. As it says in 2 Timothy 2:15 “You must study and show yourself approved, becoming a worker who has no need to be ashamed, because you are able to rightly handle the word of truth.” In Secondary, we have addressed study skills, such as note-taking, summarizing and essay writing, throughout the subject areas. Now we will formalize that process with Study Skills lessons from Years 7 to 10. The students will cope better with their learning tasks at any level, as these skills become automatic. That is, students start to free up their conscious mind to focus on the content of their learning. They begin to learn with their hearts, not just their heads. For the majority of students who continue to Stage 6, there is often quite a shock when Preliminary courses start. Stage 5 students need some homework to help them prepare, as there is a big jump in expectations and workload. The best preparation is to have the skills in place. Trying to manage an increased workload while learning the necessary study skills is difficult.

Thursday 28 June 2018

Study Skills go Online Our school has recently subscribed to the ELES Study Skills Handbook. This is a great online resource for parents and students to address all their study skills issues and concerns as well as learn new ways to improve students’ results at school. The handbook has a huge amount of information for both students and parents as well as lots of interactive activities, multimedia experiences and useful resources. Feel free to have a browse before we begin classes next term. To access the handbook, go to www.studyskillshandbook.com.au and login as a subscriber with the details on the front page of this email. Secondary students There are units of work on topics such as improving time management skills, how to study, research skills, summarizing, technology use, brain and memory. Basically everything you need to know about developing your skills for your education can be found on this site. For example, learn how the colour of your room affects your ability to study, what the best study techniques are for your type of brain, how to improve your handwriting and useful software and apps to block yourself from technology distractions. You will also see lots of useful handouts, grids and planners at the bottom of the Things to Print page. The more of this website you can work through the more you will set yourself up for success with your work, now and in the future. Next semester, Study Skills classes will begin, so you will not have to do it all yourself, at home. Attached is a sheet where you can record the login details as well as your personal tracking details when you set them up for the quizzes. Please note, the above user name and password is for the use of the parents and students AT OUR SCHOOL ONLY – please do not pass our school’s details onto students or parents from other schools or other individuals or organisations as this is a prosecutable breach of copyright and also will result in frequent password changes for our school. Please also ensure you read through the terms of use the first time you access the handbook. We encourage all parents and students to take advantage of this opportunity to further develop their students’ study skills abilities through this great online resource. Parents and Secondary students might like to peruse the Study Skills course. I would be pleased to receive your feedback. Yours in Christ, Jen Scanlan Secondary Teacher

Going from doing to being: In layman’s terms, it’s about having your heart line up with what you know in your head.

Thursday 28 June 2018

Thursday 28 June 2018

June

Fri 29 Western Sydney Careers Expo

Fri 29 3—6 Gym excursion

Sat 30 Family Bonfire Night, 5—9pm

July

Mon 2 K/1 Japanese Day 11:30—1pm

Tue 3 Year 7/8 Aqua Golf Sport Excursion

Tue 3 Primary Assembly, Library 2:50pm

Wed 4 K—2 Gym excursion

Thur 5 Piano Recital, 7pm in the Library

Fri 6 Vanuatu Fundraiser BBQ lunch

Fri 6 Whole School Celebration, 2:30pm

Fri 6 Last Day of Term 2

Wed 18 Board Meeting, 7:30pm

Sat 21 Vanuatu Campers leave

Mon 23 Curriculum Week begins

Fri 27 Vanuatu Campers return

Mon 30 First Day of Term 3

August

Mon 6 Primary Zone Athletics Carnival

Tue 7 Year 10 Bible Society Masterclass

Tue 7 Stage 6 Information Night, 7pm

Wed 8 Year 5/6 Campers depart

Fri 10 Year 10 Gymnastics excursion

Fri 10 Year 5/6 Campers return

Sat 11 Term 3 Working Bee

Wed 15 Secondary Zone Athletics Carnival

Wed 15 Prayer & Board Meetings, 7pm

Thur 16 Band Festival Campers depart

Fri 17 Year 10 Gymnastics excursion

Fri 17 Primary State Athletics Carnival

Sat 18 Japanese Students arrive

Sat 18 Band Festival Campers return

Reminders Entries for the Colouring part of the Kuyper Colouring & Design competition were sent to classrooms today. We look forward to seeing all your beautiful sheets by Friday 6 July (last day of term). Winning entries will be published in the Newsletter next term. We are looking for some donations for our scarecrows: they need some suitable “farming” outfits. Contact the Office if you can help.

As we near the End of Term 2, we remind all families that half of the school fees for 2018 should be paid. Please contact Tina in the Office Monday—Thursday if you need to discuss. If you are on SchoolEasyPay, relax! You are up to date. Would anyone be able to lend the school a large enclosed trailer for the band tour to Orange Christian School 16—18 August? Mid-Year Academic Reports are going home today with students. If your child is absent or has two households, their reports will be posted this afternoon. You may also pick reports up from the Office before 4pm today. Due to recent staffing changes, Parent/Teacher Interviews will be held during Term 3 on 20 and 25 September. You are always welcome to arrange an individual interview with staff at any time of the year if you feel the need. If you are unsure who to speak to, contact the Office.

Prayer & Praise Give thanks for the rain and God’s provision for our

land. Continue to pray for the Miller family and for Josh.

Pray for strength, peace, healing and encouragement. Pray for Vanuatu; the country and its people. Pray for

our students, staff and parents as they plan and prepare to visit and support the community.

Pray for parents and students in their relationships with those around them and each other. Pray that we will all be Wise, Happy, Obedient and Kind, always.

Thursday 28 June 2018

Charlotte McDonagh Charlotte participates in Irish dancing lessons after school, on Thursday afternoons. Charlotte loves Irish dancing because she has been doing it since she was five years old and her favourite thing about it is the competitions. Every week, Charlotte has one dancing lesson at Penrith Gaels for one hour and one Team dancing lesson for around 30 minutes. In her dancing lessons, Charlotte’s dance has up to four steps, and in her Team lessons there is around ten steps in each dance. In only one lesson, Charlotte learns a lot of different things, so she makes sure she gets there every week so that she doesn’t miss out any anything important. Charlotte started participating in competitions last year. She competes against other dancing schools at a wide range of different locations. Every Thursday, Charlotte practices her dances for her upcoming competitions. In the future, if Charlotte works really hard and is awarded first place at the Premierships, there is the possibility of going overseas to compete. Last month Charlotte was awarded third place in the Premiership. At age five, Charlotte also received an appreciation award. Due to all Charlotte’s hard work and achievements at Irish dancing, she has been awarded many prizes, including a trophy and medals for second, third, fifth and sixth place. At Irish dancing there are many beautiful costumes with sparkles and colours that dancers get the opportunity to wear. Some types of dresses Charlotte wears are 'school dresses' and 'solo dresses'. You can also customize your own dress with different themes. The dresses are hand made with beautiful materials and are therefore very expensive. In Higher Primary levels, dancers are given the opportunity to wear wigs. The wigs come in all different shapes to suit the persons hair colour and size. There are also two types of shoes Charlotte dances in which are 'hard shoes' (with heals) and 'soft shoes'. Well done Charlotte for all your excellent attitude and achievements in Irish dancing. We cant wait to see what happens in the future! by Grace Prevost, Year 10

Thursday 28 June 2018

Are you coming this Saturday 30 June, 5-9pm?

Get fired up for our Bonfire Night this Saturday 30 June. Hot food available from 5pm. Sausage sizzle, hot potatoes, hot chocolate, coffee and cakes. Gold coin prices to raise funds to subsidise the cost of our Concert & Performance Bands’ attendance at the Christian Education National (CEN) Music Festival in August. BYO chairs/rugs to sit on and torches to help keep track of your children! Donations of cakes & sweets for the Dessert Stall can be brought on the night, or to the Office on Friday. No NUTS please. Assistance with pack up at 9pm on the night would be greatly appreciated. We are looking forward to a fun night with you all.

The KukeCumber’s Bonfire Gig

The Kuyper Ukulele Group, ‘The KukeCumbers,’ will be performing at Saturday’s Family Bonfire Night. Here are the details: Date: Saturday 30 June Meet at: 6pm Where: Mr Fleming’s Shed (for tune-up, warm-up and set-up) Gig Time: 6:30pm Dress: Warm Bring: Ukulele (there will be spares to borrow) and music Music stands, light and an enthusiastic audience will be provided See you there, yours in Ukulele, Mr Weule and Mr Barnes

Japanese Student Visit 18—22 August 2018

We are looking for 2 more Kuyper families to host our Japanese visitors. The students are aged between 14 & 16 and will be at Kuyper from 18—22 August . Families will host 1 student each. You can specify whether you would prefer to host a boy or a girl. You would need to provide your student with a bed, all meals, and transport. They can share a room with your child/children. For hosting, your family will be paid $50 per night. If you have any questions, or to apply to host, contact Es Stewart in the Office or email admin@kuyper.nsw.edu.au

Thursday 28 June 2018

Kuyper

COLOURING and DESIGN

COMPETITION Congratulations to our winners of the Design part of the Competition!

Secondary: Georgia Huntington, Zoe Stewart, Keeley Stewart

Primary: Hannah Cumming, Livinia Catt, Jasmine Sorrenson-Cox Junior: Summer Allen, Miah Allen, Orlando Esposito

These lovely designs are now available for you to colour in!

Submit your Colouring to the Office

by Friday 6 July 2018 (last day of school)

Colour in one of the winning designs for your group. Use textas, coloured pencils, water colours or mixed media. Winning entries will be published in the newsletter.

Thursday 28 June 2018

When: Lunch, Friday 6 July (last day of school) Where: High School What for?: to raise money for Vanuatu schools Join us in fundraising for the schools we will visit in Vanuatu, and for a delicious end to the term! Year 11 & 12

Price List

Sausage Sandwich: $2 Juice Poppers: $1 Soft Drink (high school only): $1