SACC Gratitude Diary

WELCOME BACK!

Junior School Joy!

“May the Lord of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him”

Romans 15:13

What a lovely joyful time we have had in the Junior School as we welcomed back our Prep to Year 2 students. It has been good for the soul to hear the laughter of the students and the excitement of being back at school with friends and teachers. The students have taken all the new procedures in their stride and have confidently embraced the new drop off and pick up arrangements. 

It has been pure a pure joy to hear them sing and say their sounds in person. We have seen the amazing growth in the students confidence and learning and are again so thankful to our hero parents who have supported their children’s learning at home during this season.

The students have enthusiastically expressed why they are glad to be back at school and I have captured just a few in a short clip for you all to enjoy. 

We are so excited for next Tuesday and have balloons, bubbles and welcome parties ready to celebrate the Year 3 & 4 students.

Let us all continue to be filled with the Joy of the Lord and the peace that is found in all who trust in Him.

God bless you all,

Yvonne Hughes

Head of Junior School

St Andrews Gratitude Diary

STACC FAMILIES ARE THANKFUL

What a lovely welcoming start to the day! Thank you to all staff who helped make it such a special welcome back. We’ve so appreciated all the efforts of St Andrews teachers & staff in this season, we’re so thankful to you all. Just thought I’d send the photo through - so lovely! 

Hi beautiful teachers,

Just wanted to shout out a massive thank you for your hard work over the last couple of months. These are challenging times and you all rose to the occasion brilliantly. 

Your commitment to our children ensured they didn’t fall behind on their education while the world hit the pause button.And thank you for the beautiful welcome you had arranged for the kids first day back at school. As parents we’re so blessed and grateful to have you wonderful teachers taking care of our kids.

Thanks again and stay safe!

Thanks for a lovely welcome back to school with balloons, banners and staff blowing bubbles for Prep-Grade 2 and Years 10-12 today. It was great to see Mrs Hughes jovially dancing, blowing bubbles and calling out “Welcome back!” on Tyner Road this morning. 

STACC STUDENTS ARE THANKFUL 

Below was the last ZOOM meeting for 10F homeroom students where they shared what they're thankful for – notice a couple are thankful for school! Thank you Shirley and the team of fantastic LAs – Cathy Lui is so happy to have been at school during this time.

I’m grateful for my friends. I love that my friends have such different personalities and we connect in different ways. They make all my worries and doubts disappear and make me laugh every day. 

I’m grateful for the opportunity of being able to connect with my family by playing cards or board games with them. When my sister and I were at school, my family and I never had much time together because my parents would have to work, and we would be busy with schoolwork. Isolation has taught me to be grateful for every second that I get to spend time with my family. Isolation has also taught me to be grateful for my sister, and I never realised how much alike we are until we started bonding during quarantine. I just hope when things get back to how they used to, I would still be able to experience these times. 

I am thankful to my brother for keeping me company at home. I am thankful for the darts and the games of poker that we have enjoyed together.  

During isolation, I got to experience and appreciate some great things, like my garden for example. I could let my chooks play outside their coop every recess and lunch. I also got to participate in a number of online musicals with professional actors. Overall, the past 2 months or so have been a great experience for me and my family as we have discovered new things that we hadn't appreciated before isolation. 

I thank my teachers for all the love and support given and time and effort you dedicate to every class.

Today was fun for me because I got to spend time with my mum playing a card game. My mum is very busy and it is hard for me to spend time with her. She is busy with housework while I am busy with homework. That is why today was a fun day.

Mr Crotty helped me with my Math so I had a better understanding of what I was doing. 

Thanks to isolation, I’ve been finding more and more joy in playing my flute and piano. I’ve improved in my personal level of perseverance in dedicating time to practise the five pieces for my Music exam. 

I am grateful that we have the opportunity to experience self-isolation and remote learning because it has made me realise how we should not take things for granted such as going out with friends, dining out at restaurants, shopping, going to the movies and much more. Through this experience I have realised how lucky we were when things were normal and we were able do these things without worrying about our health and it has made me grateful for everything I have. 

I would like to thank my sister.  She makes me laugh and shares everything with me. She helps me with my homework even if it takes a long time, always showing love and kindness.  I am very grateful for my loving sister.

I felt more accomplished and organised being able to complete tasks and achieve goals that I set for myself. I haven’t been able to do that very well before.

An Opportunity for Growth

Earlier in the year while I was preparing to move into my new house, my family and I were living with my parents for a few months.

One night, I’m sitting at the dining table at my parents’ house and I notice that my two kids, Zara (3) and Josiah (1) are suspiciously quiet in the room next door. Curious, I walk over to check on them and to my dismay, I see them COVERED in blue and green paint (I don’t know how they found it – I blame my wife). Beside them are two EMPTY bottles of paint. As I stand there in a state of shock, my kids are rubbing paint in wide circles all over my parents’ carpet with cheeky grins on their faces! The next three hours are excruciatingly painful as my wife and I figure out to lift the paint out of the carpet.

With a bit of distance from the event, I can now laugh at what happened, but the truth is, we all go through painful and stressful experiences. Since it’s inevitable, how we can successfully navigate painful and stressful times when they come our way?

One of the authors of the New Testament, James writes: “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing (James 1:2-4).”

In this passage, James encourages God’s people to reframe every troubling situation they might face as an opportunity to grow in their faith in God. What an incredible challenge!

As we navigate these uncertain times in our College community, I want to encourage us to see our challenges through the lens of James’ words: To see every problem not as a hinderance to our joy, but rather, an opportunity to grow in our faith.

Let me end with a quote from C.S Lewis from his book, Mere Christianity:

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage, but He is building up a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself.

Mr Lee

Head of Middle School