St Andrews Christian College Newsletter 2023

Keep Informed

PARENTING IDEAS

Recently the College initiated a subscription to 'Parenting Ideas' https://www.parentingideas.com.au/ an organisation dedicated help parents successfully raise confident, happy and resilient kids.

 

“We connect parents and educators to our expert child development knowledge through first class digital channels and accompany it with a genuine human interface to make parenting support more accessible and impactful.”

 

They provide

  • Regular parenting blogs
  • Online courses for parents
  • Parenting guides and resources
  • Books from our founder and best-selling author, Michael Grose
  • Memberships for schools to help support effective school and parent relationships
  • Videos, articles and resources for schools to share on their school website, social media and communications
  • Professional Learning programs for teachers
  • Presentations, keynote speaking, workshops and conferences for parents and educators

You may find one of their recent articles “Maintaining kids’ mental health during the coronavirus pandemic” useful. Check out other useful articles on the website.

 

Here is a 'Parenting Ideas Insights' article below.

Parenting Ideas Insights - Expect more from kids in these difficult times.pdf

 

Michael Swanborough

Head of Learning and Teaching

 

PARENTS BE ENCOURAGED! 

 

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up,
just in fact you are doing..” - 1 Thessalonians 5:11

 

I want to encourage you! God is good. He is our salvation, our strength and our delight, and He has our College in the palm of His hands. It has been so encouraging to hear the way that families are supporting one another, offering help and certainly praying for each other during our time of Continuous Online Learning.

 

Well done, Parents! I have seen and heard some of the wonderful learning that is taking place in your homes. You are providing a safe and consistent learning environment which will help your child thrive. You are opening links, downloads, PDF’s, watching videos, printing worksheets. I have seen parents join in with PE, Art and Music lessons! It’s our joy to facilitate the learning and we continue to need you to provide the shelter, food, love and hugs! We are a team. Our goal is to provide timely information so that your household can manage this time effectively. Please communicate early with your Classroom/Homeroom teacher of any needs.

 

Maintaining balance in online learning is very important. We are partnering with you to educate the whole child. So, with that in mind please remember the importance of PE, Sport, Health and Media, IT, Visual Art and Performing Arts in the timetable. The skills learned in the ‘specialist’ subjects are transferrable into many contexts and will add value to your child’s ability to process current events. Just as the world is using playfulness, humour, drama, song, dance and creativity to help communicate our joy, fears and celebrations, so too do children need to develop skills in these areas.

 

Michael Grose, gives great help in Parenting Ideas, stating how “sufficient sleep, good nutrition and exercise are essential for anxious kids.” He suggests to “support your child to adhere to their optimal bedtime so they wake naturally each morning, reduce sugar, take care of their health through good nutrition and encourage regular exercise for optimal mental health.” The learning brain needs rest and sleep in order for any new information to be ‘taken up’ and consolidated into long term memory. This means regular breaks away from screens.

 

I saw something recently that summed up my thoughts around the process of learning. I have edited it slightly.

 

Dear Parents,
During this unusual time remember that your child is doing their best. When we return to face-to-face teaching, I will continue to support your child and, if needed, get them back on track. I am a teacher and that is my superpower. Right now, I just need you to continue to share your calm, share your strength, and share your laughter with your children. Your children are exactly where they need to be – in God’s loving hands.

 

With love,

Mrs Heading (and all the teachers on planet Earth)

Coordinator of Learning and Teaching P-6

 

CHANGE OF STRUCTURE FOR 2021

As per our time line/process in changing our structure into a Primary/Secondary model for 2021, I have an important announcement to give you all!

 

I am excited to announce that from the beginning of 2021, Mrs Yvonne Hughes will be the Head of Primary and Mr John Presant will be the Head of Secondary. Congratulations to both of these outstanding educators!

 

I want to thank Mr Dan Lee for his leadership of the Middle School, these past couple of years. Dan will be leaving St Andrews Christian College at the end of the school year. We will be excited to see how God will use Dan’s outstanding gifts in the future and he leaves with our blessing, our thanks and good wishes!

Dan is a very  generous, gracious and humble leader and has excelled at mentoring and building his team, allowing people to really grow in their giftings.

 

I thank God for our amazing leaders at St Andrews Christian College and know you will join me in my prayers for each of them.

 

Every blessing,

Catriona Wansbrough

Principal

THE HUB

Dear Parents

 

We are excited to be building towards opening up our Learning Management System, which he have affectionately named The Hub, to parents. This platform will allow you as parents to be able to see work which is due in your child(ren)’s classes as well as be a central place for all College news!

 

We are working in the background to get this platform ready for you to access, and, as I’m sure you can understand, the challenges this year has thrown at us as a school has meant we needed to delay some of the long-term projects we are working through.

 

We remain committed to getting parent access to the Hub as soon as is possible. Thank you for your patience with this process.

 

John Presant

Head of Senior School

 

UPDATE CAREMONKEY PROFILES

In order for us to be able to effectively communicate to our school community,  we need to ensure all of our parent/guardian contact information is up to date.

 

Please check your children's CareMonkey profiles to confirm their details are correct. This includes home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and emergency contacts.

When any changes are made in CareMonkey, the school will be sent an alert to update all of our databases with these changes.

 

If the children’s living/family arrangements have changed please email enquiries@standrews.vic.edu.au with the necessary information.

 

 

NBN CONNECTION

FOR LOW INCOME FAMILIES

The Independent Schools Council of Australia (ISCA) advises that NBN Co has issued an initial list of phone and internet providers participating in NBN’s $50 million offer to support low-income family households with school-aged children to access the internet for remote learning.

 

The scheme provides phone and internet providers with rebates against NBN’s wholesale charge between April and September 2020, to enable providers to create more affordable offers to connect eligible families.

 

The list of participating providers and their contact details is posted on NBN’s website at https://www1.nbnco.com.au/campaigns/covid-19/education-assistance-package, along with information on eligibility and connection. The list will be updated online as more providers join the scheme.

 

The offer is available only for low-income family households not connected to the NBN before 1 March 2020.