Dear Father,
Give us the humility which realizes its ignorance, admits its mistakes, recognizes its need, and welcomes advice.
Help us always to praise rather than to criticize, to sympathize rather than to discourage, to build rather than to destroy, and to think of people at their best rather than at their worst.
In Your Son’s name, we pray.
Amen
Leave Requests
Families are reminded that requests for leave need to be in writing to both your class teacher and Mrs Hardke (P-6) and Mrs Kinne (Year 7-12). We strongly encourage you to talk through your request for leave with the school before you go ahead and book or plan any activities.
There are certain times of the term that are not ideal for leave in regard to the learning and teaching process. We understand that certain family circumstances may require leave (eg compassionate leave) and are understanding of these requests and will support families in these situations.
Kokoda Challenge
Congratulations to our 12 teams who crossed the finish line last weekend for the Kokoda Challenge. LORDS entered 6 x 18km teams, 5 x 30km teams, and 1 x 48km team. That's 47 students in total who all started and finished the event.
Kokoda is founded on the pillars of courage, mateship, sacrifice, and endurance and all these students displayed this and so much more.
Kokoda is also a fundraising event, raising money for the Kokoda Youth Foundation. So far this year we have raised close to $14,500. Well done to our top fundraising team of Eli M, Hannah E, and Estayah S who fundraised a total of $1,922, and Estayah S who was our top fundraiser at $766 dollars. Way to go!
A very big thank you to our staff who lead our teams today - Mr Bull, Mr Steinhardt, Ms Nell, Chappy Jez, Mr Halliday, Miss Smith, Miss Stagg, Mrs Downes, Mrs Ward, Mrs Voorhoeve, Ms Hogbin and Ms Allan. What terrific community and team spirit. Well done students and staff!
Kokoda isn't over yet. We will have 2 x 48km teams and 2 x 96 km teams participating in the Gold Coast event on 15th July. We wish them the very best of luck. Go get it teams!
Term Dates
Term 2 finishes on Friday 16th June. Term 3 commences on Monday 10th July and finishes on Friday 16th September.
Highlights of Upcoming Events in Term 2
Build your future!
'Construction' involves so much more than building. With rapidly increasing demand within industry, it may be wise considering one of the many trades in the world of construction. The following website will give you an insight into the wide range of options available.
https://www.csq.org.au/school-students-career-seekers/
What is Parent Engagement and why is it a priority for us at LORDS?
Education has changed enormously in recent years. Schools still provide professional expertise, formal education, and structured learning environments, however, we also know that learning happens everywhere, not just at school. Children spend the majority of their days with their families and in the community.
They learn from watching others around them, participating in sports and hobbies, and through play. Learning begins before birth, years before they go to school, and continues on long after they leave. Parents are there every step of the way. You know more about your child than anyone else. 50 years of research evidence tells us that when parents and families engage in their children’s learning we see positive impacts on student achievement and wellbeing outcomes.
J Goodall (2018)
The Australian Parent Engagement Network defines parent and family engagement as the capacity of families and community, in partnership with schools, to support student learning and achievement by promoting interactions with children and young people that nurture positive attitudes towards learning, confidence as learners, and the development of learning resources to support this.
There are three key “surges” in brain development in children – the early years, the middle years (around 8-11 years), and the teenage years/adolescence. For schools, this means that strategies adopted for supporting parents and families to engage in their child’s learning will look different depending on the age and developmental stage of the student. We understand the importance of developing these connections early in primary school and building on these throughout students’ high school years.
In recent years parent engagement in the Junior School has focussed heavily on one key question. How might we engage our community (parents, students, and staff) in deep and meaningful conversations about learning?
Staff worked closely with Ariel Raz (Learning Experience Designer) from Stanford University to craft the implementation of different elements of the parent engagement strategic priority.
Seesaw
We use Seesaw as a tool for learning, for communicating with parents, and as a way of giving parents a window into the classroom. Seesaw is also used to celebrate student learning and as a way of providing ongoing feedback about learning and assessment.
We provided parents with ideas on how to have conversations about learning and how to provide feedback to their students. Our next step is to continue to support and empower parents to confidently have these conversations about learning through the development of a series of resources (videos, conversation starters, and modelled responses).
Student Lead, Parent, Teacher Conferences
Teaching our students to share their learning is also a key to ongoing success. Planning is well underway to implement our first student lead, parent-teacher conferences early next year.
Showcase of Learning & Learning Walks
Opening our classrooms to parents and families is an important way of developing stronger partnerships and promoting student success. Each semester students share their learning with parents, community members, and industry professionals through showcases of learning. Learning walks are another way to provide opportunities to see learning in action across the school. Staff have been hosting learning walks for colleagues over the past six months and we look forward to engaging our parents in this experience in the near future.
Providing Parent Learning Opportunities
Providing regular workshops that link to current curriculum priorities is also an important way to engage our parents and families and helps parents to support their children at home. Face-to-face and digital workshops such as Mathematical Mindsets, VCop, Play Is The Way, PBL, and Stymie have all been offered across the school.
How families support learning in secondary school by:
(Murdoch Children and Parent Research Centre)
With this in mind, specific strategies and opportunities exist in our secondary school to support positive parent engagement.
Transitions
There are a number of key transition points across the secondary school that are planned for and supported.
Transition meetings for Year 6 students and parents are currently being offered to provide students and parents with key information about Year 7. It also provides staff with an early opportunity to get to know students' academic and well-being needs ahead of this exciting change.
Subject selection evenings are in full swing and after a very successful event held recently for students entering Year 11 in 2024, we look forward to welcoming our Year 7-12 students and parents to ‘Achieve.’ (details to come soon)
The recent senior school careers expo was also another opportunity for students and parents to explore pathways and options for future learning.
Communication
Good two-way communication between families and school is necessary for your student's success. Not surprisingly, research shows that the more parents and teachers share relevant information with each other about a student, the better equipped both will be to help that student achieve academically.
In secondary school, staff regularly communicate with parents via email parents with regard to individual student progress, upcoming assessments, and follow-up regarding work or assessment. Important reminders and areas of focus expectations are also communicated.
Assessment calendars are also available in Parent Lounge with assessment dates for Year 7-12 students.
Celebrations of Learning
Parent Teacher Interviews are coming up in Term 3. These are valuable opportunities for parents to connect with their child’s teachers and discuss progress. It is also an opportunity to engage in ways you can support your child’s learning from home.
In the middle years, students also share their learning with parents during showcases of learning. Arts Soirees are another wonderful opportunity for this.
In the future, we will continue to build and refine opportunities across the school to engage our parents and caregivers in all aspects of life and learning at LORDS. We look forward to working with you to enrich our student’s educational experience.
Mrs Kellie Hardke
Head of Junior School
As a part of our Project Based Learning Homelessness unit, the Year 3 students are helping St Vinnie’s with their annual Winter Appeal. We would love for you to help support us by bringing in hygiene items so that we can create hygiene packs for St Vinnie’s to give to the homeless people who they support.
Items we would appreciate are:
We would love the donations by Wednesday 14th June.
Alberton Lutheran Parish
Phone: 0490 456 624
St Peters (Alberton, Alberton Rd): 8.00am
Bethlehem (Stapylton-Jacobs Well Rd, Woongoolba): 9.30am
Bethesda Lutheran Church Divine Service
Phone: (07) 3807 6600
(81 City Rd, Beenleigh)
8:30am HC every Sunday
Pastor David Haak
Bethania Lutheran Church
Phone: (07) 3200 5357
(5-17 Church Rd, Bethania): 9am
Pastor Peter Laihia
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