One simple initiative the school takes each year in this regard is our parent engagement evenings. I encourage our parents to come along to these evenings so they can get to know teachers and each other.

At the parent engagement evenings I choose a different theme each year that will be a particular focus which teachers, parents and students can hopefully work together to try and achieve. This year's theme is successful learning: how can data help?

Our teachers show a lot of excellent intuitive judgement on how best to help children learn. They are also very perceptive in tapping into the emotional, social and spiritual needs of their students. However, sometimes intuition and perception alone isn't enough. In some circumstances it can be like playing blindfold darts. You know that the dartboard is just over 2 meters in front of you at roughly your head height; however, it would be helpful if you could see the bull's-eye circle.

There are a lot of statistics generated about student performance, particularly in the HSC. Schools have a responsibility to interpret and use at least some of this data for the benefit of their students. Student academic data isn't just about crunching numbers. Written notes about how students learn is often invaluable in helping students to perform better academically.

I trust that our parents will find the engagement evenings a helpful way to connect with the school community and also keep you informed about the practical initiatives we are taking to help our students to learn.

Mr Brett Hartley
Principal 

I visited all classes and spoke about how to ensure we use the devices responsibly, safely and respectfully. Mr Bluhdorn has been able to launch the devices in each classroom and get learning underway. Teachers will be using Google Classroom to set the learning tasks for their students to guide and monitor their progress. Chromebooks use the Apps contained in the Google Suite and as the year progresses we will be able to use the device more widely to create documents, slideshows and video presentations. 

If you would like to know more about how we will use this device in the Junior School, come along to the 6.30pm session at the Engagement Evening in the IRC.

Engagement Evening

We are looking forward to meeting with parents at the Junior School Parent Engagement Evening on Wednesday 4th March beginning at 6.30pm.

Whether you are a new family to the school or have been here for several years, the night will be extremely worthwhile for all. It will be a great opportunity to meet your child’s teacher, hear from them about the year ahead, engage with other parents and learn how we use data to care for your child and improve their learning.

Please note that this is an event for parents and that we will not be able to supervise any school-aged children during the evening.

Mr Paul Carter
Head of Junior School

Could you please tell us a bit about yourself?

I belong to the family of St John's Anglican church at Sutherland. I have been part of this church for my whole life and attend with my husband Stuart and 3 children Ella, Jonah and Luka. I look after the music at church and feel happiest when singing praise and worship to God. I am loud, I squeal and laugh. I am very affectionate, am sensitive and what you see is what you get.

What inspires you?

I am a creative spirit so I am inspired by God's creation, the natural world and people. I love making music, creating music, collecting nature and making art. People inspire me. I love people. I love how they think and work and operate and treat one another.

What are you looking forward to about teaching at Shire Christian?

Getting to know each of the students I teach and bringing out the best in them. I'm looking forward to learning from them and also teaching them not just music but about living and loving life.

Where have you studied and worked?

I graduated with a Bachelor of Primary Education from the University of Wollongong a number of years ago, and before working here, I worked in Government Schools, both in the Sutherland Shire and outside. I feel as though those years working outside a Christian environment helped shape my teaching practice and allowed me to show my personal faith in Jesus in implicit ways. I still hope to this day that the students I interacted with saw a difference in me, and the way I responded to the various school experiences reflected the actions and works of Jesus.

What are you looking forward to about teaching at Shire Christian?

I am looking forward to sharing the Bible with my students here at Shire Christian School, and relating learning areas back to God and how He created the world. It is a real joy to sing His praises of a morning with my class. I also look forward to developing strong positive relationships with my students so that they feel emotionally safe and cared for within our learning environment.

I was proud of the way they conducted themselves throughout the proceedings. With the help of staff and parents, and the expertise of the Menai Swimming Academy coach, David, we were able to smoothly and efficiently power through around 40 races!

Well done to all the students who participated, especially those who competed in every event! Congratulations to our Zone team qualifiers who will head to Prairiewood Leisure Centre on Monday 24 February to compete in the South Met Zone Swimming Carnival.

Mrs Sonja Whitaker
Primary Sports Coordinator

Unfortunately, they conceded two early goals and just couldn't quite put away their many chances and went down 2-0.

They can hold their heads high after such an impressive performance and look forward to the upcoming gala day with increased confidence.

Mr Peter Richardson
Head of Sport

All are welcome to attend; you just need to return a permission note (primary & secondary). 

The Shire Runners shirts were also out in full force looking great! If you missed out on this order last year, there will be another one in the coming weeks.

Mr Peter Richardson
Head of Sport

This has nothing to do with the quality or eloquence of our prayers, or how well we are performing in our daily lives, how well we’ve managed to ‘get it all together’; it only has to do with how desperate we are and how great our need is as we cry out to him. 

As the Apostle Paul wrote, “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. …  In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” (Romans 8:23, 26-27). 

Jesus, as Man, was desperate as he stared in the face of the purpose of his coming to Earth: “Then he said [to his disciples], ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’ Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’” (Matthew 26:38-39).

In Gethsemane, Jesus taught us that it’s OK to be desperate. As Tim Keller has said, “Depend on God in trouble is a spiritual skill that can be learned only IN trouble.” (‘The Way of Wisdom’, February 11).

In Gethsemane, Jesus taught us the value of shared prayer. It was important to him to have his disciples with him when he prayed - even though they let him down big-time by going to sleep!

In Gethsemane, Jesus taught us the value of repeated prayer. He gave us permission to keep on praying for the same thing. In fact, the form of the Greek verbs in Jesus’ command to “Ask, seek, knock” (Matthew 7:7) is such that it would be more accurately translated, “Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking”. Jesus teaches the same thing in the Parable of the Persistent Widow in Luke 18:1-8.

In Gethsemane, Jesus taught us the importance of not only crying out to God in desperation with our deepest, heartfelt, intolerable needs, but to leave the way he answers our cries in God’s hands in an attitude of humble submission to his will because we know it is best, even if it might seem to us at the time that there ought to be a better way!

Do we cry out to God in desperation when we’re in a mess and our coping mechanism is shot to pieces, or do we want to wait till we’re a bit more on top of things and feel more ‘worthy’ of God’s blessing? Do we look for, and take, opportunities for shared prayer with fellow-believers? Are we persistent in our prayers? Is our attitude in prayer expressed in the words, “Yet not as I will, but as you will”?

Rev Bruce Christian

The quiet space that is provided is suitable for finishing homework, studying, working on assignments or perhaps even a group work task that needs completing. 

Students are required to sign in straight after school and abide by school policies as per the normal school day. Parents are no longer required to register their children in advance.

Please log in to your webmail account online (Bigpond customers can use this link) and follow the steps below as shown on the attached image to make Shire Christian School a ‘safe sender’.

1)   Once you are logged in to webmail click on the settings icon

2)    Click Mail on the left panel

3)    Click Safe senders

4)    Enter contact@shirechristian.nsw.edu.au into the box

5)    Click +Add to make Shire Christian a Safe sender

Please make sure you have followed this process to ensure future emails are received.

If you click on the junk folder inside your webmail you should be able to see previous emails from the school. You can right-click on these emails and click ‘this is not spam’ to move these emails into your inbox.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused and hope that this process will resolve the problem.

If you require further assistance, please phone the school on 8525 5111 or email communication@shirechristian.nsw.edu.au

Edstart helps make it easy for you to manage school fees by providing flexible payment plans.  You can reduce your annual school fee spend by extending payments over a longer period.

With Edstart, you can fund tuition fees, additional charges such as uniforms, extra-curricular activities as well as amounts in arrears.

To find out more, visit edstart.com.au.

Please note that in providing information about Edstart, the school is not providing any recommendation, brokering or advice services. The school does not receive referral fees, commissions or any other remuneration from Edstart.

Careers is about connections, joining the dots between interest (What do I like?), opportunity (What’s out there?), aptitude (What am I good at?) and information (How do I find out?) All that constantly happens in our regular programme through things like Year 12 fortnightly pastoral sessions, student interviews and in Year 10 and 11 Pastoral Care. 

There are also special events which help us fill out the Careers programme; tertiary events such as Wollongong Uni Discovery Day, specialised days in specific areas such as hospitality, trades or engineering, TAFE days and other excursions. On site, incursions like the Young and Confident MyStrengths programme has helped Year 10 not simply in careers choices but in seeing and celebrating their strengths and talents and those of their classmates.

I continue to attend a wide variety of Career Advisor Days which make connections not only to training providers, unis and colleges, but foster an important and unique network of Careers Advisors across public and independent schools sharing their information, contacts and experience.

Careers is never “Business As Usual”! Hold on as we head off on an exciting ride into 2020 - and beyond!

Mrs Robyn Buchanan
Careers Advisor

The Big Meet 2019 – Save The Date Friday 3rd April, 11.00am - 2.00pm International Convention Centre Sydney, Darling Drive, Darling Harbour
The Big Meet is a free careers fair targeted at undergraduates and recent graduates from all universities in the metropolitan region. So whether you are a first year student or final year undergraduate or you've been working, studying or travelling since graduation, you are welcome to attend.   https://www.thebigmeet.com.au/sydney

Study Medicine - Deadline updates for 59 Aust. university degrees leading to medicine.
The new medicine year starts off with a bang – the excitement of medicine entry offers, university orientation and commencement. See the latest listing of deadlines detailing this information for all medical programs in Australia by going to the link below. You can find Study Medicine on Twitter, Facebook or email: admin@studymedicine.com.au https://www.studymedicine.com.au/

Medicine – Your Free Guide

Throughout the medical training pathway, medical students and doctors in training will be exposed to many different areas of medicine and then choose a speciality area that is of interest to them. Over 75% of medical students change their first career preference during medical school. https://www.myhealthcareer.com.au/medical-career/

Study Medicine Free Resource – Medicine Application Deadlines Feb 2020
Find the latest deadline information “The beginning of the 2020 year marks the end of the medicine application cycle” in Study Medicine. A fully detailed list of February university deadlines for all Australian medicine degrees and degrees leading to medicine for entry in 2020 and 2021 can be downloaded by subscribing to Study Medicine. https://www.studymedicine.com.au/deadline-info

Study Medicine Resource – Free Parent Information to Assist Your Son/Daughter Applying for Medicine. Study Medicine has helpful information for parents – including the ATAR Scaling Guide https://www.studymedicine.com.au/atar-scaling

10 Step Application Guide https://www.studymedicine.com.au/10-step- application-guide .
Parents can also understand university deadlines for medicine applications by reading the latest deadline information : https://www.studymedicine.com.au/deadline-info

Cochlear Autumn School of Engineering

20-24 April
For Year 11&12 Students studying Adv/Ext Maths; Physics/Chemistry. Engineering Studies an advantage but not compulsory. 5 Day program visiting 5 x Unis & 5 x organisations. Meet Engineers; Graduates & Uni Students & Lecturers. Learn about opportunities & career paths DETAILS: limit 4 students per school; For Regional Students. E: stemnsw@engineersaustralia.org.au
During the day the students will visit the following universities and split into smaller groups for problem solving activities that range across Engineering disciplines.

▪  University of Sydney, Western Sydney University, University of NSW, Macquarie University,                                                                  University of Technology Sydney

They will visit the following engineering organisations:- (to be confirmed)

▪ RAAF Richmond (Defence/Mechanical/Electrical/Aerospace);  Cochlear (biomed/mechatronic/mechanical/materials/sound & acoustics);   TfNSW;   ANSTO;   Thales

UNSW United Nations Workshop 27 March Or 26 June
Law Building, Kensington Campus, UNSW
Do you dream of being part of the United Nations, or making a difference in how world events play out? Join us for our UNSW Arts & Law United Nations Workshop.
In collaboration with the UNSW United Nations Society, this unique opportunity will enable you to learn about the work and operation of the United Nations through a Model UN (MUN) - a simulation of the debate and diplomacy which occurs in the UN’s real General Assembly.
If you’re in Years 10-12, come and be inspired by addressing and resolving real world issues affecting our global society – building your skills in diplomacy, negotiation and public speaking.

Sydney University

Study Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney, admissions pathway and more for 2020
At the University of Sydney, students can choose from the largest range of health degrees of any Australian university. We’re world leaders in medicine and health, and our students graduate in demand. We offer admissions pathways, including for double degree medicine and dentistry, and publish guaranteed ATARs for some of our courses. Read our updates for career advisers:
https://bit.ly/2Mg8twF

Languages at Sydney: Go Global 2020 , Friday 22 May 2020, Year 10-12 students
University of Sydney's School of Languages and Cultures
Whether you want to continue with a language or learn one from scratch, this event will give you a taste of the programs and languages that the University of Sydney has to offer. Events on the day will include an introduction to learning at the School of Languages and Cultures and the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, discussions with university language students, and two language-specific immersion sessions.
https://sydney.edu.au/arts/news-and- events/events/events-for-prospective-students.html

UTSInsearch and University of Technology

UTS Insearch Info Night -11 and 25 February
UTS Insearch - pathway provider to UTS is holding Info Night. This is a great opportunity to find out about higher education diplomas that can get students to UTS - some can fast-track to second year. Meet current students, Program Managers, the Admissions team and have questions answered. Tuesday 11th & 25th February, 5pm-7pm, UTS Insearch, 187 Thomas Street Sydney,
https://www.insearch.edu.au

UTS Girls in STEM May 2020

21 May, 2020. 8:30 am - 2:30 pm
Engineering and IT Building, Building 11 Broadway This one-day event provides an opportunity for female students to explore different areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, Design and Building. Students participate in a range of hands-on activities plus they get an inside look at life as a student and professional in the STEM. https://www.uts.edu.au/about/faculty-engineering- and-information-technology/events/uts-girls-stem- may-2020

UTAS

The University of Tasmania's Darlinghurst campus is located in Sydney's inner city and is serviced regularly by public transport. Nursing within the School of Health Sciences offers the two year fast track Bachelor of Nursing course through the Darlinghurst campus in partnership with the St Vincent's and Mater Health Services.

The University's Darlinghurst campus is co-located on the site of the St Vincent's Hospital Darlinghurst campus. St Vincent's Hospital is Australia's second oldest hospital and has a long history as a premier teaching hospital. A major public and principal referral hospital, it specialises in heart/lung transplantation, bone marrow transplantation, cardiology, cancer, HIV medicine, respiratory medicine, mental health as well as drug and alcohol services.

The University of Tasmania's Rozelle campus is located in the inner western suburbs of Sydney, in close proximity to the Sydney central business district and regularly serviced by public transport. The Rozelle campus is part of the Callan Park Precinct, which is known as the old Rozelle Psychiatric Hospital, now no longer used for this purpose. There are numerous government organisations within the precinct including Ambulance Service of New South Wales headquarters and community education departments. The University's School of Medicine offers
the Bachelor of Paramedic Practice through the Rozelle campus and this course is supported by
the Ambulance Service of New South Wales. The School of Medicine at the Rozelle campus aims to provide the community with sound, comprehensive out-of-hospital care through the development of paramedic students conversant in the field of paramedic practice.
The University's School of Health Sciences offers the fast track two year Bachelor of Nursing course through the Rozelle campus in partnership with the Sydney Local Health District, South Western Sydney Local Health District , South Eastern Sydney Local Health District and Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY

International Summer In Oxford offers high school students between the ages of 14 to 19 an exclusive opportunity to catch a glimpse of studying at prestigious universities in the United Kingdom. Participants spend part of their summer in an academically renowned city, studying a subject of their choice, and attending workshops focusing on the university preparation and application process. Summer I: 5 July – 18 July 2020

Summer II: 19 July – 1 August 2020
Summer III: 2 August – 15 August 2020
Summer IV: 16 August – 29 August 2020
To apply, simply fill out the application form online. You can also download our PDF application form, fill it out and mail it back to us.

To apply: https://summerinoxford.com/

TAFE
TAFE NSW Credit Transfer Pathways to University

If you want to go to University via a TAFE qualification, check out your great options here and get credit for what you studied at TAFE.
This credit transfer website is a guide to credits available for completed TAFE NSW qualifications to articulate into a University or Higher Education Provider degree. It is designed to help you tailor your study journey. How much credit you are eligible for varies depending on course, institution chosen and the grades achieved. As credit arrangements are updated regularly, you should always confirm your eligibility with the offering institution. You can e-mail TAFE NSW if you need more information. https://credittransfer.tafensw.edu.au/

COLLEGES
AIE Information Evening –Games Design and Animation
19 March. 6.00pm to 8.00pm
Level 2, Wentworth Park Grandstand, Wattle Street, Ultimo

Discover the courses designed to get you started in game development, 3D animation and visual effects at the AIE Information Evening on Thu 19th March, 2020. Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide campuses will be opening their doors to visitors to find out about upcoming full-time and part-time courses.
The evening will include presentations on different areas of industry to get into as well as information about AIE full-time and part-time courses and entry requirements. Student work will be on display and our teachers will speak with you one on one about our courses and how to get you into a creative career.
P: +61 2 8514 8800 E: sydney@aie.edu.au https://aie.edu.au/aie_event/information-evening/

GENERAL

2021 UK Gap Year Program Paid Position In UK Boarding School - LETZ LIVE
UK Gap Year program for 2021 placements closes 20th March. An amazing opportunity to travel, make new friends & work in a respected boarding school. All positions are paid positions. Receive full accommodation, food & all training. All support from our Australian & UK offices. Students to apply online via the link below or contact n.hare@letzlive.org for more information.
https://www.letzlive.org

The Sydney US & UK University Expo March 14 1pm to 5pm SMC Conference & Function Centre, 66 Goulburn Street, Sydney
Crimson’s biggest event for the year. Get crucial advice from recent student admits and speak with world leading admission experts at the US & UK University Expo!

Put the world's top universities like Harvard, Yale, Oxford and Stanford within your reach!

Perfect for students in Years 7-12, parents and teachers, this will be a day that could dramatically change your future. The link to the event is here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-sydney-us-uk- university-expo-tickets-93446239217?discount=JOBJUMP

Don’t miss out on cutting edge Science - Science Alert – CSIRO Events
A one stop shop for some of the best science events in the country if not the world! There’s something for almost everyone here. Go to:
https://events.csiro.au/

Formula 1 and Logistics

Formula 1 requires some of the most complex levels of logistics planning you’ll find in any sport. It’s a good reminder that without top level logistics and planning solution, one of the world's most spectacular sports would come to a screeching halt. Consider a career in logistics.
https://www.atbnsw.com.au/