Two key themes for 2019 are active learning and building community. In the week before school started our teachers were working together to develop strategies to help ensure that students are learning actively and enthusiastically. These teaching approaches are designed to maximise learning opportunities for students and ultimately help them to achieve strong academic results. 

For students to be able to learn actively and enthusiastically, it is important that they have a sense of belonging in a community. While I appreciate that there may be odd days where a Shire Prep girl doesn't want to leave Mum, or a Year 9 boy would prefer to go surfing than come to school, I trust that all of our students have felt a sense of belonging in the first couple of weeks of 2019.

Creating a climate of belonging in a Christian school community relies on teachers and students treating each other as God has taught us in the Bible. Our teachers recently spent time on their own reflecting on verses from the Bible and how these verses can shape and influence how they live their lives and relate to their students. Two passages I asked our teachers to reflect on were:

But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 2 Peter 3:13, 14

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idol, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seeks to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5: 14-18 

As the passage above indicates some of our students can, at times, be faint hearted or weak. Therefore, as a Christian school community we desire to help those students to develop resilience.

Part of living in a sinful, fallen world is that people don't always treat each other as they should, and sadly our school is not immune from this. In most instances when our students don't treat each other as they should they are reconciled quite quickly either by their own initiative or through the thoughtful intervention of a teacher. On a handful of occasions students mistreating others can become ongoing and targeted, needing more thorough intervention by the school to ensure that every child has a sense of belonging and is emotionally safe.

With this in mind, the focus of the plenary session at the 2019 Parent Engagement Evenings will be resilience and bullying. Our guest speakers will be our school psychologists, Mr Jair Graham and Mrs Karlie Carroll. I trust that you will be able to come to either the Secondary or Junior School evenings to hear Karlie and Jair speak on this important topic. Parents will receive a separate email with more information about the parent engagement nights.

As I close, I would like to recognise Mr Michael Knight, who has been a long term member of our school community and currently has grandchildren at the school. Michael is an Emeritus Professor and was recognised this year as a Member In The General Division Of The Order Of Australia for significant service to scientific education, particularly to hydrogeology and groundwater management.

Mr Brett Hartley
Principal

We also welcome four new teachers to our Junior School Staff this year, Miss Elizabeth Russell (KR), Mrs Kylie Ford (1F), Miss Sylvia Wong (1W) and Mr David McDonell (5D).

We are looking forward to partnering with parents as we teach children about God, His creation and His Word. Please be part of the coming opportunities to get to know your child’s teacher or communicate with them through the use of the school diary, email, or meet with them if preferred. 

If you have any further concerns or questions about our school, you may first speak with Mrs Liz Arthur (Prep - Year 2 Section Coordinator) or Mr Tim Bluhdorn (Years 3-6 Section Coordinator).

A Class Newsletter from each teacher was emailed to parents this week. We hope that you found this helpful as it highlighted some important information about Term 1.

ENGAGE

One of the exciting features in our learning management system is the ability for teachers to give immediate written feedback on class tasks to each student and parent. Parents are able to read this feedback in ENGAGE. We will be continuing to use SEQTA ENGAGE to give immediate feedback to students and parents in a variety of Curriculum areas. This will occur as the term progresses. In a couple of week’s time, you will be able to access the tasks set for your child and receive comments from the class teacher letting you know how they are going, particularly in English, Mathematics and Science.

Touch Typing

There is no doubt that touch typing is now a necessary skill for the future. Last year we began Touch Typing as a skill to be practiced at school as well as for Homework in Years 2-6. We will be using a website called typing.com. Teachers will be setting up the class using student’s school Google accounts. We would like all children to practice typing at home, as part of their homework routine for about 10 minutes on most days. We trust that you also value the learning and development of this core skill.

Learning Groups commence in the Junior School

Our Literacy, Numeracy and Enrichment Groups commence next week.  These groups help us to further differentiate and cater for the various needs across the Junior School. Literacy Groups are targeted programs for those students who need specific support with Reading, Writing or Spelling. Numeracy Groups provide learning activities for those students in the grade who would benefit from enrichment in Mathematics. Students have completed a range of assessments that help us determine which students will participate in the various programs. All groups are carefully considered and decisions are based on teachers observations and student data that we have collected via assessments such as Dibels, PAT Maths, AGAT and MYATT. Each of these groups are fluid and students may transition in and out of the them each term or semester.

Mr Paul Carter
Head of Junior School

Both Secondary School art rooms were given a complete makeover, transforming them to fresh spaces that will be an engaging learning environment for many years to come. The Junior Art Room was also renovated and relocated to make way for an extra Kindergarten class in the Junior School.

Head of Visual Arts, Mrs Libby Jackson, said that the newly renovated art rooms were amazing.

"The overall layout, storage spaces and cupboards, furniture and colour scheme has made the rooms a truly pleasant workable space for students to learn in," she said.

Renovation work has also begun in the hall, which will substantially improve lighting, ventilation, access and acoustics. As part of the project tiered retractable seating will be installed. This substantial upgrade will benefit the growing sports and live production needs of the school. It is expected that the newly renovated hall will be ready for use in early Term 2.

School Principal, Mr Brett Hartley, said he was thankful for the members of the school community who, 40 years ago, invested a great deal of thought, time and effort into constructing the school.

“The buildings have served us well; however, over time it is important that we refresh and renovate our facilities to meet the contemporary needs of students,” he said.

“Over the last few years when I have taken school tours into our hall, several people have commented positively on it being a very large and functional space. However, the hall did get very hot in summer, the entrance was quite small and the acoustics needed to be improved.”

“I am thankful that the school had money set aside so that we could complete this important renovation,” said Mr Hartley.

Further renovations were completed in the Year 5 classrooms, with new paint and carpet fitted, and two new classrooms assembled on the old tennis court area to help relieve the space needs of the Secondary School. 

Upon their return to school students and teachers were elated to find air-conditioning installed in all classrooms, finished just in time for one of the hottest starts to the year in a long time.

A member of teaching staff was heard to remark, "the air conditioning has made the classrooms much more comfortable and the students are better focussed, especially after lunch on a hot day. They settle more quickly and engage much better with the learning opportunities presented to them. It is worth noting that many students have also expressed their gratitude too...which is nice to hear."

The Secondary Library has also received a facelift in recent weeks, with a new colour scheme and better lighting installed to help students focus and learn in a creative environment.

Other changes to the campus over the break include new signage installed at the front of the school to help make visitors feel welcome, and a large map provided to help navigate the site. 

The school continues to work hard to ensure that high quality facilities are accessible to all students so that they will have every opportunity to learn and thrive.

The change has already seen great benefits to the administration of the school in saving time and improving processes, as well as improving the accuracy and security of information of parents and students.

However, according to Evan Hughes, Head of ICT at the school, the real benefits are seen in the classroom. 

“The focus is getting the support work done well so that teachers can focus on teaching and helping students to learn.”

“The more we can streamline things on the backend of the administration of the school, the more we can support teachers. Teaching and learning is the focus here,” said Mr Hughes.

Synergetic is a core database that stores parent and student details, medical information and financial records. Synergetic feeds student information into SEQTA, the school learning management system. The migration to Synergetic has seen over 3000 man hours of work put into the project, in matching, combining and verifying data from multiple systems and training staff in new processes.

Further benefits to the change have included increased multilayer security for parent and student data, with measures in place to prevent data breaches with all changes being logged.

The next step, once processes are running smoothly, will involve passing the benefits of Synergetic directly on to parents.

“Handling of medical and personal information and data privacy is big on our agenda. We are looking to allow parents to access an online portal to update and verify their details and fill in permission forms online in the near future,” said Mr Hughes. 

The school continues to push towards cloud centric education using Google and Microsoft 365 products.   

This week the Chromebook device program was launched to Year 7 and 10, whereby each student was provided with the latest touchscreen Chromebook device, enabling easy access cloud technologies. Two specialist mobile labs for TAS and Art have also been rolled out over the Christmas break, ensuring students have access to the right technology when they need it.

In recent weeks, teaching staff have also received extensive training in Google and other ICT applications, to help provide digital resources to students and engage them in a variety of learning experiences.

Miss Beth Russell is our new Kindergarten teacher. She grew up in the Illawarra region, attending Illawarra Christian School and has been blessed to know Jesus as her Lord for as long as she can remember. Beth joins us after teaching Year 6 at Tyndale Christian School last year and is really excited about continuing to use a Christ-centred perspective to foster student curiosity and understanding.

Mrs Kylie Ford (Year 1 teacher) has been teaching for many years, most recently at St Andrew's Cathedral School. Kylie lives in the Shire and loves the beach and hiking and thinks the outdoor environment at Shire Christian is beneficial in so many ways for students and teachers alike. She is passionate about teaching literacy and numeracy and ensuring young students have a solid foundation in those areas for their future learning.

Miss Sylvia Wong (Year 1 teacher) has also spent many years working alongside children, both in ministry and at schools. She enjoys a good cup of tea or coffee, time with friends and being outdoors. Sylvia looks forward to partnering with parents throughout the year to come, and has already felt much love and support from the staff and parents at Shire Christian. 

Mr Asher Yuen is the latest addition to the Secondary School teaching team. He graduated as a teacher in 2017 and has since spent time teaching at William Carey Christian School and Thomas Hassall Anglican College. Asher is looking forward to teaching English and Christian Studies and being a light for Jesus as he teaches, encourages and helps unlock potential in students.

The prize was awarded at the opening night of the Art Rules exhibition in December and Aleisha received the award, along with a $500 cheque when she returned from family holidays in January. 

Congratulations Aleisha! 

This will take place on Friday mornings from 7:40 - 8:20am. The secondary group will continue to 'run' on Thursday mornings from 7:20 - 8:00am. If you would like to join either of the groups, then please return a permission note prior to coming:

Primary Shire Christian Runners

Secondary Shire Christian Runners

Please don't hesitate to email Mr Peter Richardson with any questions you might have.

These few extra spots will no doubt fill up quickly, so to secure your spot you will need to book online and then return the permission note to Student Services.

Information regarding the classes will be sent out to those enrolled early next week. All classes will start on Tuesday 19 February.

Please don't hesitate to contact Mr Peter Richardson if you have any questions. 

I could see a parallel between this task and the one given to the Apostle Paul as he proclaimed the eternal and powerful gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the people of Corinth nearly two thousand years ago. The demographic of that society was not unlike our own, with its gross immorality and the championing of human wisdom and competence as the hope for the future.  It would have been easy for Paul to conclude that, given the background, his task was impossible, and to just give up and walk away from it.  But God saw it differently. “One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.  For I am with you, and no-one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.’” (Acts 18:9). This last phrase jumps out at me! “… because I have many people in this city.” As Paul would later write to the Church he planted in Corinth: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.” (1 Corinthians 3:6). The ‘founding fathers’ of our school community took a giant step of faith about 50 years ago because they believed in the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation. They believed that ‘God has many people in this shire’ who would respond to, and benefit from, the ministry of people who would “keep on speaking” and “not be silent” for his sake.

Their step of faith has borne much fruit (to mix metaphors a bit)! I keep hearing reports from people who have been spiritually blessed by the faithful ministry of our school, and I am so thankful for the many staff members, past and present, who have contributed, and are contributing, so much to this blessing. A family who moved into the area and enrolled their children a couple of years ago told me that from ‘Day One’ they sensed God’s presence in the school environment.

The other thing I like about the Corinthian parallel is the way Paul reminded the Church that God chooses to do his work of reaching those whom he has chosen to be among his people by using ordinary, uncelebrated but faithful servants. “Brothers [and sisters], think of what you were when you were called.  Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no-one may boast before him.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29) and “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Corinthians 4:6-7).

May we all continue to be effective ‘jars of clay’ that God can use to display his glory through the saving power of the gospel.

Bruce Christian

• If drivers choose to navigate around stationary cars to drop off children towards the front of the drop-off zone, they should proceed cautiously. In most instances, it is preferable that they wait for the cars in front of them to drive off and then move forward into the drop-off area.
• Adults will be asked not to drop off children anywhere other than in the kiss and drop zone, unless they park on the street and bring their children in to the school. Parents are asked not to drop off their children on the concrete strip between the 2 exit driveways.
• Buses will drop off students in the exit lane closest to the oval. The middle exit gate is for cars only.

This year our in-house psychologists, Mrs Karlie Carroll and Mr Jair Graham, will be speaking on resilience and bullying. 

Junior School
As you will notice in the Junior School program there are several optional small group sessions which will give you an opportunity to hear from your child’s class teacher.

Secondary School
There are several optional sessions in the Secondary School program which will be of interest to parents. These sessions include the Year 12 student/parent/teacher interviews, a session providing information about Year 12 study and separate meetings for each year group. Information on how to make appointments will be provided to Year 12 parents closer to the date. 

Our Kindergarten to Year 11 parent teacher interviews will be on Thursday 4 April and Tuesday 9 April. Parents will be able to choose to come on one of the two nights. More information will be provided on how to book closer to the date.

We’re looking forward to what 2019 holds. All of our ensembles begin their weekly rehearsals in week 3.

We’re also excited to be relaunching our peripatetic program for 2019. Last year saw over 3,000 lessons taught to around 130 students by 12 tutors across many instruments. 

The following list includes the time that each ensemble rehearsal is taking place, the room, as well as the director or the ensemble: 

• Percussion Ensemble: Monday at lunch in Music Room 2 (with Miss Fung)
• Senior Choir: Monday after school in Music Room 2, from 2:45 to 3:30 pm (with Mrs Jones)
• Stage Band (audition required): Tuesday at lunch in Music Room 1 (with Mr Humphreys)
• Junior String Ensemble: Wednesday morning 8:20 to 9 am in Music Room 3 (with Mrs Hughes)
• Junior Choir: Wednesday lunch in Music Room 3 (with Mrs Jones)
• Junior Concert Band: Thursday Morning 8:20 to 9 am in Music Room 2 (with Mr Rohan Miller)
• Uke Group: Thursday at recess in Music Room 3 (with Mrs Stonestreet)
• GospelBand (audition required): Thursday at lunch in Music Room 1 (with Mr Humphreys)
• Senior String Ensemble: Thursday after school in Music Room 3 from 2:45 to 4:30 pm (with Mrs Hughes)
• Senior Concert Band: Thursday after school in Music Room 2 from 2:45 to 4:30 pm (with Mr Humphreys)

Students who would like to join an ensemble are welcome to come along to a rehearsal and express their interest to the ensemble director. 

Students or parents hoping to find out more information can email music@shirechristian.nsw.edu.au.

Spaces in our peripatetic lessons program are filling up fast, so if you’re interested in finding out more about our program or you’d like to enrol your child, please click here or email music@shirechristian.nsw.edu.au. 

We pray for the staff, students, upcoming events, and other points of interest or need in or school. We also pray for relevant issues facing our nation, and for many events worldwide. Although there are a faithful few who come to each prayer meeting, it would be great if more parents became involved this year. 

Come along whether you feel comfortable praying out loud in the group, or would prefer to just say ‘Amen’ at the end of other people’s prayers. 

We meet from 8:50am to 9:30 am and morning tea is provided. Younger siblings are welcome.

The dates for the prayer meetings this year are:

Term 1 - 22 Feb, 22 March
Term 2 - 24 May, 21 June
Term 3 - 16 Aug, 13 Sept
Term 4 - 08 Nov, 6 Dec

Ruth Barry
Parent