College Chaplain
We are excited to announce that our new College Chaplain, Reilly Brown, will begin with us next Tuesday. Reilly has previously worked with Lutheran Youth of Queensland (LYQ) in camp ministries at Luther Heights, spent several years in a chaplaincy role at Grace Lutheran College, along with several years in an outreach Church setting. Reilly and his wife have just very recently moved into the local area. We look forward to welcoming Reilly to the Prince of Peace community and I ask that you keep him in your prayers as he looks to support our students and our community, sharing God’s gift of grace with all.
NAPLAN Testing
Most people would be aware that students across Australia in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit for national tests every year. This year, for the first time, the tests are in Term One from Wednesday 15 March (today) to Monday 27 March. This decision was made by the Education Ministers to give teachers the additional information they need about student performance earlier in the year and students and staff have been busy preparing for these national tests. This preparation is around ensuring the smooth running of these tests, which are now almost all online, with the exception of writing for Year 3. This means a great deal of system testing and checking, so the tests themselves run smoothly.
The NAPLAN (or National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) test has occurred in Australian schools since 2008 and has traditionally been held in May each year. NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy skills to give families and schools an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the test. It is also designed to serve as a “barometer” to examine trends in a student’s achievement over time: are they continuing to build their skills in a certain area over the seven years of the test, or are they needing more help understanding key concepts?
As a school, we use many different styles of assessment to gain understanding of the progress of a child, both in the short-term and long-term. NAPLAN testing is one such standardised tool, (as is PAT – Progressive Achievement Testing, which the College chooses to do in several areas every year, beginning at Year 2 and eventually through to Year 10). These tools, amongst many, are all designed to give us a point-in-time overview of both the individual student, and sometimes (like NAPLAN) a big-picture view of even our curriculum and longer-term trends at specific year levels. We always want our students to do and achieve their best, but it is always important to ensure that no additional pressure or expectation is placed on them for these kinds of tests. A great day, or a terrible day, for a student in a NAPLAN test does not ever define them.
Enrolment Documents
As we cycle through updating various policies, changes to laws and other legislation mean sometimes we add, change or merge what we have in place. Recently we have been reviewing our package of enrolment documents, and have been updating, along with adding, some Code of Conduct expectations for not only staff, but students and parents as well as members of our community. All of these exist to help form a combined understanding of how we look to interact with one another together in community. Some updated terms and conditions have also been reviewed, though I promise they are nowhere as long as those we regularly receive from Google or Apple. In the not-too-distant future we will add these to our documents inside SEQTA and make you aware of their presence.
Every blessing for the week ahead.
Simon Hughes
Head of College
Collection notice for parents/guardians
2023 Student Residential Address and Other Information
The Australian Government Department of Education (the department) would like to notify you that we have requested for your child’s school to provide residential address and other information.
Under the Australian Education Regulation 2013, the school is required to provide the department with the following information about each student at the school:
- Names and residential addresses of student’s parent(s) and/or guardian(s)
- Student residential address (excluding student names)
- Whether the student is a primary or secondary student (education level)
- Whether the student is boarding or a day student (boarding status).
The school collects the above information by generating a unique and unidentifiable – student reference number (SRN) for each student record. The school only uses the SRN for this collection. It is not allowed to be used for any other purpose. The number only indicates to the department that each record provided is for one student.
2023 Next Step Year 12 completers survey
All our students who completed Year 12 last year will soon receive an invitation to complete the Next Step survey. The short five-minute survey asks graduates about the study and work they have been doing since finishing school. The results from the survey help our school improve our senior programs and prepare students for work and further study.
We ask parents, siblings and friends to encourage our graduates to complete the survey. If their contact details have changed, please assist survey interviewers with their updated details or forward the survey to their new address so they can participate. Graduates may receive an invitation by mail, email or phone. The survey can be completed online or by phone.
For more information about Next Step, including previous results, visit www.qld.gov.au/nextstep.
A community of excited learners
After a few weeks of absence, I have bounced back into the Junior Campus and been reminded about this special PoP community. As I’ve been catching up on the events of the past few weeks, I’ve been getting out and about to see and hear about the learning and experiences that have been occurring. In case you’ve missed them, I’ll mention but just a few:
- The Prep’s making their garden grow with advice from their Bunnings excursion and working hard with their newly positioned gardens.
- The Year 4 students using Makey Makey’s to create controllers for playing the games that they made using the ‘Scratch” coding program.
- Seriously engaging science lessons in Year 5 (Solids, Liquids and Gases) and Year 6 (Chemical Changes).
- Problem solving, collaboration and plenty of challenge as students engage in Robotics and solving challenges.
- The thoughtful chapel message on Forgiveness shared by 3BA this past Friday.
- Some super cool extended mathematics tasks involving place value in Year 2.
I am impressed by the enthusiasm, excitement and collaboration of the children as well as the dedication of the teachers to plan and organise these learning experiences. If there is one thing that has stood out on my return to campus, it would be that the people at PoP are just amazing!
NAPLAN
If you have a child in Year 3, 5, 7 or 9, you will have already received and seen information about the NAPLAN tests that started Wednesday. I know that the NAPLAN assessments may be causing some anxiety and stress, but please remember that your child is capable and prepared for this challenge. NAPLAN is simply a way to demonstrate the skills and knowledge that have been developing throughout their education in the areas of reading, writing, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and numeracy.
Your child has worked hard and come a long way in their academic journey, and this assessment is just one step along the way. It does not define who they are as a person or their worth as a student or show their ability in a range of skills beyond these tests.
You can support your child through these tests by
- Speaking positively to your child about their ability to tackle difficult tasks
- Ensuring that their laptop and headphones are charged and ready to use
- Avoiding last minute cramming
- Encouraging good nutrition and rest
- Being active and limiting screen time
- Celebrating effort!
Continuous Feedback (Progressive Reporting) and Parent/Teacher/Conversations
As part of building powerful partnerships with parents, this year we have focused on furthering the progressive reporting and continuous feedback to students and parents on learning. As the Junior Campus becomes more proficient in the giving of feedback, we have set ourselves the following goal:
- In English and Mathematics, you will receive feedback on your child’s progress twice a term.
- For other subjects including the Inquiry Unit, you will receive one piece of feedback each term.
- Feedback will be sent via SEQTA for learning in real time. As parents you will gain a notification through SEQTA that feedback has been updated and you can check the feedback teachers have given.
An end of Semester 1 report will be issued in Week 10 Term 2. This will report on the following:
- An overall grade for subjects for the semester
- Social and Emotional Capabilities
- Ratings for key focus skills as part of the Inquiry Unit
- Pastoral Care and Class teacher comment on work habits, English and Mathematics
We also have Parent Teacher Conversations which will be on Wednesday 29 March from 3:30pm-7:30pm and Thursday 20 April 3:30pm-7:30pm.
The focus on these conversation times is for parents to be present with teachers and for teachers to discuss student progress. Bookings for these sessions will come out via SEQTA on Direct Message and we use an online booking system called SOBS.
In Term 3, the Junior Campus will have an opportunity to form powerful partnerships with students joining the Parent Teacher Conversations.
At any time should you wish to communicate with a teacher about your child’s learning please do not hesitate to contact individual class teachers via SEQTA to make a time.
Learning Expo – Thursday 11 May 2023 3:15PM to 6:00PM
Another way that we form powerful partnerships with students and parents is through exploring learning. Thursday 11 May will see the inaugural Learning Expo on the Junior Campus.
This is time for all students to share with parents and significant others, their learning journey that has occurred particularly in their first Inquiry Unit. We know that when students share with a purposeful audience beyond their peers and class teacher, the engagement and learning is deeper and more authentic.
We have much to plan and organise in the next few weeks – students working hard on their learning tasks, refining and completing various aspects, Admin staff organising some food trucks to fill those hungry tummies and teaching staff monitoring, teaching, giving feedback and refining.
So stay tuned and keep this date free to come together as community and celebrate learning at the Junior Campus Expo.
Anne-Marie Schmidt
Head of Campus – Junior
R.E.S.P.E.C.T – Find Out What it Means to PoP
This year we embarked on a journey to further enhance the powerful partnerships we have across the College with staff, students, and their families. Our primary goal is to create a supportive learning environment where our children can learn and flourish. We want our children to be kind, compassionate, well-educated contributors to society and graduate our College with values and skills that will ensure their success.
When delving into our Teaching and Learning Framework and Relational Management Policy it became clear that our areas of focus sat within four main values: Respect, Responsibility, Relationships and Restoration. These 4R’s or PoP R’s underpin what we expect of a learner and community member at Prince of Peace. Over the next few Popcorn articles, we will look at each of these values and how they apply to daily life at our College.
Our staff had undertaken professional development in establishing and nurturing these values in the classroom and the playground. They have worked with the students in their class to see how these values can be shown at school and in the community. Our students have been so enthusiastic about developing their own expectations around these values and are already showing how they play out within our community.
The first value we will examine is respect. Teaching children about respect can be a lifelong process, but here are some general strategies that parents, and caregivers can use to help young children learn about respect:
- Model respect: Children learn a lot from observing the behaviour of adults around them. Make sure to model respectful behaviour in your interactions with others, including your child.
Use positive language: When speaking with your child, use positive language that encourages respect. For example, say “please” and “thank you” when making requests or receiving something from your child.- Teach empathy: Help your child understand how their actions can affect others by encouraging empathy. Talk to them about how they would feel if someone treated them poorly or disrespected them.
- Set boundaries: Teach your child about personal boundaries and how to respect other people’s boundaries. Explain that everyone has the right to be treated with respect and that it is important to listen to other people’s opinions.
- Encourage teamwork: Encourage your child to work with others and help them understand that everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. Encourage them to be supportive of their peers and help build each other up.
- Practice active listening: Teach your child to listen actively when someone else is speaking. Encourage them to pay attention and ask questions to show that they are interested in what the other person is saying.
- Praise respectful behaviour: When your child demonstrates respectful behaviour, make sure to praise them and let them know that you appreciate their efforts to be respectful.
Remember, teaching children about respect is an ongoing process. Be patient and consistent in your efforts and remember that children learn best through positive reinforcement and modelling.
Blessings,
Coreta Lennon
Deputy Head of Campus – Junior
Imagine… Instil… Inspire…
Children who have books and stories as part of their everyday lives often have vivid and creative imaginations, are instilled with a love of books and words and are inspired to want to read for pleasure and for learning.
Some ideas when sharing books…
Observing
Start a story time by talking about what you both notice about the book, the cover, the picture, the title. Make sure this is a discussion not a quiz. Take time to observe and talk about the details.
Predicting
At the beginning of a story and then at different points during the story, talk about what might be going to happen, how the story might continue, and then what the different endings there could be. Have fun seeing who had a good guess or whose idea was as a good as or even better than the author’s!
Talking
Books can often be more about talking than they are about reading, children like to point out things and talk about the pictures. There are often favourite pages that have to be discussed over and over! This is all very enriching for language development and enjoyment of books.
With Kindergarten children and older, books are a fantastic way to start discussions about a wide range of topics. Books provide a starting point for children to share things that have happened to them, make comments and engage with you about new ideas and issues. Friendships, families, and every issue from life to death has been written about in a children’s book, so make the most of these stories for helping your child’s understanding of themselves and their lives.
Angela Irving
Early Years Learning Coach
Code Camp Term 2
Code Camp have booked Prince of Peace in again for Term 2 for those who missed out for this current term. Code Camp will be running the same program as Term 1; please visit https://www.codecamp.com.au/poplc to enrol in Term 2.
Next semester Code Camp will return again in Term 3 for an all-new follow-up program.
Seeing hope in the now and the future
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven, Ecclesiastes 3:1
God cares for every one of his people and creations from the littlest bird to the mightiest lion. He gives us all a unique purpose in this life. We can rest assured in any time of happiness or uncertainty that His love and provision for us will never fail.
Ecclesiastes gives us many examples of seasons we’ll face in life: times of birth, death, weeping and joy. The Bible shows us that experiencing good and bad times in our lives is normal and to be expected. Though it’s easy to hold onto our hope in happy situations, we shouldn’t let changing circumstances cause our faith to falter. God is with us in every season of our life. When we face the unknown, we can trust that He is in control and working out every situation for our good.
I was reminded of this bible passage when staff and students visited the new Multipurpose Hall building site last week. It was a real world learning experience for our Specialist Maths and Engineering students to hear from the Building Project Manager and see the firm foundation and structures before 30 cement trucks visited the next day to lay the foundations.
This beautiful piece of architecture has been unfolding before us, changing our landscape, and thinking of how this place will bring new opportunities to grow, learn and flourish at Prince of Peace. The structure of this building reminded me of the strength of God’s love for us and firm foundations that are in our lives throughout the change of seasons.
As we move through the last few weeks of Term 1 and we live in community with each other, we encourage you to share this prayer with us:
Dear God, we give thanks for the joys and challenges that we have experienced in our lives. May each of these moments teach us more about the person you have created us to be and a hope for a future that is grounded in the firm foundation of your love for us. Amen.
Sarah Hoff-Zweck
Head of Campus – Middle and Senior
Welcome to new staff
We welcome Mr Tim Arnold, Teacher of Design Technology, Engineering, PAW and Sport to the Middle and Senior Campus.
Tim has previously been an educator at Prince of Peace, leaving four years ago to teach Health and Physical Education at St Peters Lutheran College. We are delighted that he has returned to our community and for the blessing he will be to our young people.
Continuous feedback
(Progressive Reporting) and Parent/Teacher/Student Conversations
In building powerful partnerships over the last year, we have focused on progressive reporting and continuous feedback to students and parents on learning. What this means is twice a term for each subject, students and parents will receive feedback on SEQTA on assessment for learning in real time. As parents you will gain a notification through SEQTA that feedback has been updated and you can check the feedback teachers have given.
This is our mode of reporting for this term and there will be two pieces of feedback by the end of Week 10. An end of Semester 1 report will be issued in Week 10 Term 2 that will report on overall grade for the semester, work habits for success and a pastoral care teacher comment.
We also have Parent, Teacher and Student Conversations which will be on Thursday 30 March from 3:30pm-7:30pm and Wednesday 19 April 3:30pm-7:30pm. The focus on these conversation times is for students and parents to be present with teachers. Bookings for these sessions will come out via SEQTA on Direct Message and we use an online booking system called SOBS.
At any time, you wish to communicate with teachers about your child’s learning please do not hesitate to contact individual subject teachers.
Developing Responsibility
We continue to celebrate through Worship on the Middle Senior Campus with Middle School Worship on Tuesday mornings and Senior School Worship on Friday mornings each week. As I mentioned previously it is so important to feel a strong sense of belonging in any community and especially within our Prince of Peace College community as we journey together in learning and life to nurture God-given potential.
God’s Word relating to our 4R Value of Responsibility comes from Philippians 4:4-9:
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
‘Put it into practice’ or putting words into action every day is at the heart of being responsible. Most of us can name what we are responsible for in our lives, however putting these responsibilities into practice takes time, practise, failure, mistakes, re-teaching, reminding, and trying again. Learning to be responsible in the social environment of school can be tricky for our students but our excellent teachers are the key, as responsible role-models every day.
Responsible use of technology is a significant focus for all Middle & Senior School students, starting with three important mobile phone rules in place since the beginning of the year:
If you bring a mobile phone to school, you have a responsibility to follow these rules:
- Mobile phones must stay in lockers from first bell (8.20am) to last bell (3.05pm) every day.
- Mobile phones must not be brought to classrooms. Mobile phones must not be taken into the yard or be out of lockers at break times.
- Students must not photograph or film themselves, other students, teachers, or school staff at school at any time.
Thank you, parents and caregivers, for supporting us and reminding your young people to be responsible, and particularly when students have not followed these rules – as with great power comes great responsibility and consequences need to be faced also. We need to teach our students how to be responsible and your commitment sends a united message between home and school – this is powerful partnerships in action!
We are all responsible to make PoP College a compassionate, connected community and together we can make a difference. Once again, the PoP Productions team certainly ‘put it into practice’ every week by providing sound, band and projection – we are grateful for the talents of our students and especially Mr Stevens to make Worship an engaging experience.
Peace to you,
Melissa Graham
Director of Wellbeing – Middle & Senior Campus
Careers @ PoP
This week we again saw the Year 10 cohort complete a ‘Morrisby Career Profile’. The Morrisby Profile has been designed to help guide students in their academic and professional pursuits. It provided students with a detailed insight into their abilities, personality preferences as well as the environment that they would work best in.
The Morrisby Profile is widely used in Australia. We at Prince of Peace have made the decision to offer this as our commitment to offering effective career development to our students. The tests were completed online with the results to be used progressively this year within the Careers subject as well as over the next three years as students prepare for their post-school decision making.
We will spend the next couple of lessons dissecting their results, so if your student is in Year 10, I would encourage you to ask them about this assessment and have a look at how accurate the reports have been.
If your student was away, we will be following up on this when they return. If you have any questions about this assessment, please contact myself or one of the other two Careers teachers, Mr Russell or Miss Collman via a SEQTA message.
Blessings,
Mrs Julie Grosas
Careers and VET Leader
Junior Campus Sport
Prep – Year 2 FUN RUN
Next Wednesday 22 March, Prince of Peace Junior Campus will host the annual Prep – Year 2 FUN RUN. Families and spectators are very welcome to attend.
The order of events are planned as follows:
Year 3 – Year 6 students will be tested in Week 10, Tuesday 28 March, at the annual Year 3 – Year 12 Cross Country Carnival. Carnival information to be sent out soon from Miss Gabrielle Collman. Students run in age groups, distances as follow:
Each student has had the necessary time to build up their fitness to give them the best chance at a positive experience at the event. Aiming be active for at least 30 minutes most days, has been encouraged during discussions in Physical Education lessons. Please ensure students know this movement doesn’t have to be limited to running. Moving in a way that gets them puffing will help their fitness. e.g. riding, swimming, skipping, jumping, walking, chasing etc. A reminder, Running Club Wednesday and Thursday first break on the oval.
Brisbane Roar Active Program
Brisbane Roar Active Program are pleased to announce they will be running two holiday clinics over the Easter break, details for both can be found here. The 3-day clinics cater to all levels and abilities, boys and girls aged 5 – 12 years old, with emphasis on improving players skills across various fun technical sessions and games.
The Brisbane Roar Active Program will be returning to PoP in Term 2. Details available in this PDF.
Congratulations Students
Special acknowledgments to Hannah McKinnon, Zeke Diver and Charlie Gilfillan competing at the 10-12 Year Old North District Touch Football competition last Wednesday. Tremendous efforts from these players,
North District Boys undefeated in the competition and Hannah selected into the Met North Team to compete in Cairns in May. Well done Hannah!
Further congratulations to Zeke (Year 7), thus far selected in the North District 10-12 Year old Boys Basketball and Rugby League Teams. Outstanding efforts Zeke and we wish you all the best in your preparations.
Well done Patrick Falk for your persistence in trialing and competing in local Cricket competitions, selected in Brisbane North Cricket team to compete later in the year.
Congratulations Katie Richardson, Mitchell Downie and Julius Oberhardt selected last Monday in the 10 -12 Year Olds Girls and Boys North District Football (Soccer) Teams. Super efforts to you both!
Jessica Schneider
Junior Campus PE Teacher & Sport Coordinator
Middle & Senior Campus Sport
Senior School NISSA Competition
State Athletics Championships
Grace Doyle, Jonas Forbes-Schutz, Freya Forbes-Schutz, Hannes Forbes-Schutz and Thomas Forbes-Schutz participated in the State Athletics Championships at QSAC last week. Grace ran in the 800m and 1500m events, coming 1st and 2nd respectively. Freya and Hannes ran in the 2000m steeplechase, with Hannes qualifying for Nationals and placing 3rd overall. Hannes also ran in the 1500m and 800m events, placing 5th in the 800m and only being 1sec off the national qualifying time. Jonas also ran in the 1500m and qualified for Nationals in the 3000m steeplechase. Thomas ran in the 1500m and the 800m events. Grace, Jonas and Hannes will now represent Queensland at the Australian Junior Track and Field Championships from April 13 – 16 in Brisbane. Well done to all our athletes!
Met North Swimming Carnival
Five students attended the Met North Regional Swimming Carnival on Monday 27 February at Chandler. For a lot of our students it was the first time competing in the venue which was very exciting for them to experience. Freya Forbes-Schutz, Hannes Forbes-Schutz, Thomas Forbes-Schutz, Jade Lewis and Zarah Parsons all competed in multiple events and represented the College exceptionally well.
QLD U18 Indoor Cricket
A massive congratulations to Elijah Walsh (Yr 11) for making it into the QLD U18 Indoor Cricket Team. The National Championships will be held in Ipswich from June 24th – 1st July. We wish Elijah all the best!
NISSA Sport
Our Yr 7-10s have enjoyed a fantastic start to the NISSA competition with some amazing results achieved. Students have been participating in either Futsal, Netball, Volleyball or Touch Football at multiple venues on a Wednesday or Thursday afternoons. We are certainly in the development stage of our journey but we are starting to see some really good results and improvement in the students’ skills and abilities. We will post some pictures in the next edition of Popcorn!
If you have any questions or concerns, please do get in touch with me via SEQTA message.
Gabby Collman
Sports Coordinator
HPE, Science and Mathematics Teacher
Junior Campus Music News
Shrek The Musical
Rehearsals began strong for the 20 excited Year 5 & 6 students chosen to be involved in Shrek, our College musical. It’s not too late to join—please contact myself or Mrs Gayler for further information.
Instrumental Music
There will be an instrumental evening on Monday 20 March in The Chapel, commencing at 6pm. Please let me know if you haven’t received an invitation from your child’s tutor and would like to be involved.
Classroom Music
Why learn music? I think this picture sums up the benefits of music education beautifully.
Should you have any questions about the instrumental, choral or classroom music program on the Junior Campus, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Sherree Cudney
Junior Campus Music
Middle & Senior Campus Music News
Shrek — College musical costume photo shoot
Worship
Sunday 19 March
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.
First Communion
Our First Communion class invites parents to share in their child’s journey as they learn more about holy communion, and prepare to receive this special meal for the first time. First communion will be taking place on 2 April. More info can be found at princeofpeace.org.au/firstcommunion
GROW
Our youth faith formation journey aka confirmation. Our aim is to help young people grasp the concepts and language that enables them to process their faith and trust in God in a post church world. GROW occurs within worship at Together@5 fortnightly during the school terms. More info can be found at princeofpeace.org.au/grow
Download OSHC program as a PDF: Term 1, Week 9 | Term 1, Week 10
2023 Convention of Synod Art Competition
Calling all artists and aspiring artists!
The Lutheran Lay People’s League in conjunction with the Lutheran Church of Australia Qld District will be hosting an art competition at this year’s 2023 Convention of Synod. The Lutheran Lay People’s League will be sponsoring the LCAQD Synod Art Competition with the aim to inspire and celebrate creativity in the Queensland District.
Entrants must consider the Synod theme ‘Called according to God’s purpose’ (Romans 8:28) as part of their submission. There is a selection of age group categories for entrants with cash prizes for each, so that a diverse range of category winning artworks can be displayed during the 2023 Convention of Synod.
For more information please download this PDF »
Lutheran Youth of Queensland (LYQ) Events
The Lutheran Youth of Queensland (LYQ) exists to champion young people in faith, life and learning through our holiday camps and events.
If you’d like any more information about these events, head to www.lyq.org.au or contact our office on 3511 4080…we’re more than happy to help!