At the very end of 2022, we were notified that Pastor Mark would be finishing his time with us at the College.  During his time of service here Pastor Mark made many positive connections with our students and families, supporting them pastorally in a number of ways.  We thank him for his service to our community and wish him God’s blessings in his future ministry.  We are currently advertising for a Chaplain to join the College in that pastoral support role and hope to see the commencement of that position later this term.

Settling into School

For new students who have commenced at the College and, in fact for continuing students who may be undertaking new subjects or have different teachers, the new year always has the possibility of creating a degree of anxiety and uncertainty.  If you feel your child is experiencing difficulty with settling in this year, I encourage you to contact your child’s Class or Pastoral Care teacher early – even just to touch base.  The sooner we can respond to any concerns, the less anxious a child will be.  Hopefully you are able, or have been able to make it to your child’s information evening this week and I really encourage you to come along to these sessions if you can.  Our Junior School classes will also be touching base with families as a way to get to know about your child in the coming weeks.

NISSA – Northern Independent Schools Sporting Association

For the past few years our Junior School have been part of NISSA, which has seen our students out several times a year enjoying different forms of sport and fun competition with several other schools in our northern-Brisbane neighbourhood.  Over the past two years, these schools have been working towards the commencement of a new competition for our Year 7 – Year 10 students, initially. This will see us returning to weekly sport on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons for several seasons across the year.

To celebrate the beginning of this new competition, and to further embed the relationships between our schools that have been established over the past few years, a representation of our students from Junior, Middle and Senior years were part of the Commencement Worship Service, held at The Lakes College on Tuesday 31 January.  Around 10-15 students each from Prince of Peace, Grace Lutheran College, Grace Lutheran Primary School, The Lakes College and Genesis College (who are the current and founding NISSA schools) were able to meet as community together, all taking part in the service and sharing lunch together afterwards.

2022 – Year 12

It was wonderful to see another strong year of academic results for our 2022 cohort of Year 12s, and we are really proud of the achievements and results they received through their hard work and effort across many years.  From the data we received, we can see we had 6 students achieve ATARs above 95 and around 28% of the cohort with an ATAR above 90.  Nearly half of the cohort received an ATAR above 80.  A wonderful achievement!

The destinations change from year to year: this year we see 18 students being offered a place at QUT, and the areas of Health and Natural/Physical Sciences highly sought, with 16 offered spots in those areas.  We wish them all the best as they begin the next phase of life and learning this year.

Every blessing for the week ahead.

Simon Hughes
Head of College

Prep 2024 interviews starting soon

If you wish to enrol your child for Prep 2024 and haven’t lodged your application as yet, please do as interviews are starting late February and will continue throughout Semester One, 2023.

Applications are to be completed online via our website.

If you have any questions, please contact Donna Cook at enrolments@princeofpeace.qld.edu.au or email dcook@princeofpeace.qld.edu.au

Scholastic Bookclub Issue 1

The Scholastic Bookclub is for Kindy-Year 9.

Orders are due in next Wednesday 8 February.  Take advantage of the free book giveaway, spend:

• $30- 1 free book
• $50- 2 free books
• $70- 3 free books

It has been so good to see you again

I can’t express enough the joy and excitement of seeing smiling faces, shiny new shoes and hearing about the wonderful times that occurred during the holidays.  Our Junior Campus comes to life with a hum of learning, chatter amongst friends and the sound of basketball, handball and soccer.  While the staff were super busy leading up to the first day, it is never quite the same until the children arrive.  School is back and we love it!

After a few years of COVID starts, lockdowns and even last year when we began the year with learning at home, I am grateful for the noise, excitement and opportunity to gather with each other.  School life feels more normal as we enjoy being together, playing sport, planning for swimming lessons and excursions.

Simon Hughes has welcomed our new staff to the Junior Campus, who are simply amazing and I too welcome then to our community. I know you will make them feel welcome also.

Reach Out and Say Hello! Let’s Check in on Each Other

Every year Prince of Peace is blessed with a growing number of new families. It is a privilege to welcome them all into our community officially. My encouragement to all families is to ‘reach out and say hello to someone you may not know.’ You never know when your smile, quick check in, or offer to assist with the car door, may spark just the light that someone needed in their day.

The Parent Information Nights that have been occurring this week have been an excellent time to hear about learning but also connect with other families. The format this year was designed to foster connection with each other and build community especially after the COVID years.  As the weeks and months begin to tick by, let me encourage you to check in on one another, and our staff.

This simple act helps to shine Christ’s love into our community and beyond.

Grounds and Facilities Update on the Junior Campus

Leading up to and during the holiday period our Facilities Team have been busy scheduling work and completing tasks across the College.  Whether it is relocating furniture, shifting lockers, assembling the new basketball hoop or tending to the gardens, I can’t thank them enough for their hard work and dedication to their work.   On the Junior Campus you may have noticed a few of the big things:

• New Instrumental Music Rooms. These look fabulous and installation will be completed with new decking and paths in the next few weeks.
• Painting of the Year 1 classroom block.
• The Lower Car Park Ring Road completed on time. While we are adjusting to the new procedures I ask for a patience as we strive to keep children safe.
• The Playground received its fair share of work during the holidays and I was expecting that it would be open at the start of the year. Unfortunately, there was a delay from the Playground Inspector’s end and now the subsequent report has indicated a couple of things that need addressing. Disappointed doesn’t adequately describe how I feel about this delay but know that student safety always takes precedent in these matters.  I am hopeful that the next time I am talking about the playground, I will include images of kids having fun and Mrs Schmidt using the slide.

Join us for Chapel this Friday

This Friday, our new staff members will be installed at our chapel service beginning at 8:35 AM in the Prince of Peace church. Families are most welcome to join us as we pray for them and all staff at the College.

At our chapel we will also take some time to farewell a long serving teacher of the Junior Campus – Mrs Amanda Langdon. Just before Christmas, Mrs Langdon submitted her resignation to take up a positon supporting Hearing Impaired students with Queensland Education. She will be greatly missed at the College and after 23 years as a teacher at POP, I know many of you will join me in congratulating her on the next steps.

Anne-Marie Schmidt
Head of Campus – Junior

Code Camp

We are so excited to have the Code Camp team come and work with our students on Tuesday afternoons! Our students are having so much fun working through challenges, functions, algorithms, branching, variables, game logic, user experience and maths.

Coding after-school is an 8-week program working on a new project each week—and the fun doesn’t have to stop after class! The students are provided with their very own Code Camp World account which they can use to continue creating at home and to share their projects with family and friends.

If your child missed out on a place for this program, they will be able to register for Term 2; stay tuned later this term for further information on how to register. For more information regarding holiday programs visit https://www.codecamp.com.au/

Worship

Sunday 5 February

9am Worship

Youth@PoP — 3:30 to 5pm

5pm Together@5 

Please keep an eye on the Prince of Peace Church Facebook page for service updates.

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