The end of year countdown has begun! With only a little over two weeks of term remaining, staff are maximising every available minute they have with their students. It is such a joy to have students back onsite and to hear the sounds of learning and laughter echo through the corridors.

With this issue of The Vine being my last, I wish to firstly take this opportunity to thank students, parents and the incredible Junior School staff for their support since my arrival at the College in 2014. Oxley is very dear to me and the memories I shall carry in my heart will bring me much joy in the days ahead. I appreciate the fact that God knows the plans He has for us all. His plans give us a future full of hope. (Jeremiah 29:11) I praise God that serving at Oxley was part of His excellent plan for me. It has indeed been a time of personal, spiritual and professional growth. I know you will welcome the new Head of Junior School, Amy Liddle, with as much warmth, generosity and support as I have received. I have every confidence that the College is in good hands and will always be in my heartfelt prayers.

Lights, camera, action! What a joy it was for the students, after months of hard work, to perform in Annie JR. We take our hats off to Jeffrey Clarke, who directed the show with such grace and patience. With students participating in many rehearsals online, it was indeed an accomplishment to see the students so engaged, in character and performing with such gusto together! A hard-working team busily prepared sets, props and costumes, with Mrs Skurrie and her team of knitters providing many wonderful red Annie wigs! We thank parents for their support in providing costumes. As soon as the recording is ready, we will provide a link to parents so that you can enjoy this wonderful show at home with family and friends.

A highpoint of this week was a full return of students to Chapel at LMC. Led by our College Chaplain, Pastor Matt Daly, students and staff eagerly participated in worship. Student of the Week certificates and ribbons were presented, and an engaging message was shared by Mr Dan Rodgers, who shared of how God’s creativity is on display in the story of Jesus’ birth, life and resurrection. This is what Christmas is all about!

In the week to come, we will celebrate the Prep Nativity and the Year 6 Graduation. Over the past weeks, students and teachers have been planning these events. Please join us in praying for and congratulating our Year 6 students as they prepare for their upcoming transition to Year 7. On Friday 3 December, students will visit their 2022 classrooms and meet their new teachers! What a wonderful opportunity this provides to instil a sense of hope and anticipation for the year ahead. Thank you to our Junior School staff for preparing such a positive experience!

As the end of the year fast approaches, there are several key dates to add to your diary:

Final Assembly, LMC – Tuesday 7 December. Please ensure students are dressed in immaculate full summer uniform for this event, with jumper, as they will be presented on stage. A separate note will be sent home regarding expectations, with a link to join the livestream. Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate parents at this event due to density limits.
Last day of Term 4 – Tuesday 7 December at 3.30pm (please note the normal school dismissal time).
First Day of Term 1 – Monday 31 January 2022.

Reports will be distributed to students on Tuesday 7 December, at the end of the school day at 3.30pm. If your child will be absent on this day, the report will be mailed to parents. Reports cannot be collected earlier than this date.

It is our prayer that you and your family will have a safe and blessed Christmas. We look forward to 2022 and witnessing God’s continued presence and favour at Oxley Christian College. Merry Christmas to all!

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

Sharee Gaiser

Head of Junior School

What Did You Do at School Today?

Prep

Wow! What a great time we have had at school. We have enjoyed completing our very first Multi Genre Writing Project where we showcased the incredible puppets we have made this term. We are also very excited for the Prep Nativity and have been working hard to learn our lines and songs. Our first year of school has been full of excitement and we cannot wait to see what Year 1 holds!

Year 1

Which Australian coin am I?

I am silver in colour,
I have a picture of a mammal on me and their habitat is a river,
I can buy a frozen orange from the canteen.

If you guessed twenty cents, then you are CORRECT!

We have been reviewing Australian coins by their attributes and value this week. In Integrated Studies, we put our creativity to play, inventing new chair designs, a door knocker, and objects to help solve everyday problems. We have learnt the importance of drawing our designs with precision, and accurately labelling each part, as this helps us to write clear instructions for others to follow. Last week we filmed Annie JR. and we loved wearing our orphan outfits and remembering to give our big smiles when performing.

Year 2

What a fabulous end to Year 2! We have loved creating memories together and learning new skills throughout our creative Integrated Studies unit. It was exciting to use our 3D object knowledge to build a robot out of paper. This activity tested our fine motor and problem solving skills! This term, we enjoyed writing about a topic that we are passionate about for our Multi Genre Writing Project. We have embraced the opportunity to challenge ourselves to write in different genres and it has been fascinating to experiment with various presentation formats. We are beyond excited to share our final product with our buddies and peers.

Year 3

It was wonderful to see each other again and take part in face to face learning. We have eagerly immersed ourselves in the Multi Genre Writing Project on our chosen topic. What a wonderful time we had on Thursday sharing our finished product with our class and buddy classes. We have also designed characters, sets and a storyline to create a stop-motion animation. We had a fabulous time capturing hundreds of images and editing our own masterpiece.

Stopmotion video by Shia Want (3A)

Year 4

We have recently delved into the world of animation. From creating stories to developing sets and props, we have been extremely industrious in our endeavours. We have refined our design and evaluation skills using T-charts and tools, such as SCAMPER (ask us about this), and now have a greater understanding of the multi-faceted steps there are in any production. We experimented with the use of sound effects, music, titles, credits and speech bubbles. It was a very engaging activity and we had a lot of fun – as well as tears if photos were accidently erased!

Year 5

A stand out activity in the past two weeks has been our Leadership Course with Mrs Gaiser. It was an amazing experience to learn about the traits of leaders and what it means to lead. We gained an understanding that a badge does not define a leader, but rather it is our behaviour. It is exciting to look forward to 2022 and think about how we will lead the Junior School through our actions. We have been practising our leadership and teamwork skills as we prepare for the Bizarre Bazaar market. Working in teams, we have busily produced a new item using repurposed materials. A big part of the process was to make modifications to improve the end product. It has been a fantastic learning experience, not developing our creativity but our negotiation skills when working in a team.

Year 6

What a very busy few weeks we have had! We are excited to share our hard work and practice that we have put in so that Annie JR. could be the best. As we rehearsed and filmed this wonderful play, we loved seeing it come together with props, lighting and costumes. We are so grateful for Mr Clarke’s preparation, coordinating online rehearsals for us. What a joy it was to finally sing and dance together in character.

As we approach the end of this year, we are excited to turn our focus to Graduation and transition into secondary school. We look forward to the next few weeks being filled with rehearsals for Graduation, designing decorations for our wonderful dinner and practising upcoming speeches as we reflect on our primary school life.

Annie JR.