The Golden Vine

From the School Leadership Team

PYP Exhibition Success

We extend our heartfelt thanks to all our dedicated staff, with special recognition to Mrs Zadow for her exceptional work with our Year 6 students in preparing them for this week's PYP Exhibition. The quality of the student research, presentations and displays has been truly remarkable. This milestone represents the culmination of our students' journeys in the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme during their time with us, showcasing the inquiry-based learning and critical thinking skills they have developed.

Important Date Change

Please note that our Mark LeMessurier evening has been rescheduled from Thursday 4 September to Thursday 25 September. We apologise for any inconvenience this change may cause and look forward to this valuable professional development opportunity with Mark LeMessurier.

Sporting Achievements

Well done to our Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 SACSA Australian Football teams who competed with distinction this week. Huge thanks to the dedicated staff involved, especially Mr Trezona, Mrs Manocchio, Mr Napier and Mrs McCusker, for their commitment to coaching and supporting our young athletes.

We also celebrate Hugo May, Ellie Szczepaniak and William Holmes for representing our school at SAPSASA Tennis. Their participation demonstrates the breadth of sporting talent and opportunities available to our students.

Debating Excellence

Our debating team has performed strongly in the general rounds of this year's nationwide competition which demonstrates the quality of our students' critical thinking and public speaking skills. Congratulations to our talented debating team members:

  • William Holmes
  • Zara Melchels
  • Molly Corby
  • Sedani Gunasekara

Their dedication to research and teamwork has been exemplary throughout the competition.

Leadership Appreciation and Development

Our sincere thanks go to Jayne Zadow, Lauren Neumann and James Salisbury, who have all stepped into the Deputy Principal role at various times while Tim Kriewaldt is on long service leave. It's fantastic to have such depth in our staff leadership team, which enables us to maintain our high standards of educational delivery and school operations.

 

Congratulations to Lauren Neumann, who was recently accepted into Lutheran Education Australia's prestigious Leadership Development Programme. This comprehensive two-year programme includes formal study towards a Graduate Certificate in Business Enterprise at the University of Technology Queensland, along with structured mentoring opportunities. This is a wonderful achievement that will benefit both Lauren's professional development and our school community.

OWLS Visit

It was wonderful to welcome the OWLS (Once Were Principals in Lutheran Schools - retired Lutheran School Principals) to our school this week. Their visit provided an excellent opportunity to share the incredible journey and growth happening at Golden Grove Lutheran, highlighting all the great things taking place in our learning community.

Special Visitors from Papua New Guinea

We're excited to welcome some very special visitors to our school in mid-September. The Principal and several teachers from Asaroka, our link community in Papua New Guinea, will be joining us during their visit. Asaroka has a Lutheran kindergarten, primary school, and secondary school serving their community.

Our connection to Asaroka comes through the Tscharke family in our congregation. Pastor Len and his wife Claire served faithfully in this community during the 1950s and 1960s. Following their passing, their son Ken and a number of our church congregation members have continued to nurture this meaningful relationship between our communities. We look forward to learning more about their work and sharing our school with them.

STEM and Music Classroom Upgrades

You may have noticed some construction work taking place around our STEM and Music classroom block adjacent to the main courtyard. We are currently undertaking some important remediation work to address moisture issues that developed over time.

The original pavers and fill underneath were installed too high against the building slab, which unfortunately caused moisture problems. Our current work involves drying out the slab completely, carrying out any necessary internal remediation in both classroom spaces, and then reinstalling the pavers at the correct lower level. This will prevent the same issue from occurring in the future and ensure these valuable learning spaces remain in excellent condition for our students.

We appreciate your patience during this improvement work and look forward to having these spaces fully operational again soon.

Volunteering in the School 

We appreciate many families giving of their time and expertise to volunteer in the school, whether it be with our school canteen, P & F Events, school camps, GLOW Week or classroom assistance. A reminder to please ensure that your WWCC details are up to date, along with RAHN and VSC training. Further information on our volunteering requirements is available from our website. 

A few reminders

Please be reminded of some of our key events coming up: 

 

Term 3

  • Friday 12 September – SAPSASA Tennis
  • Friday 12 September – Messy Church
  • Friday 19 September – Special Person’s Afternoon
  • Thursday 25 September – Mark Le Messurier – managing anxiety and big emotions in children 7.00pm to 8.30pm in the Worship Centre

 

Our full school calendar can also be viewed on the school website. 

 

Will Wallace 

Principal 

Exhibition 2025

The Year 6 students have presented their exhibition to our community and to their families. The students began their inquiries into their roles as leaders in the school. They looked at the qualities of effective leaders. They made connections between their roles, our wider community and the world, exploring issues and opportunities within these. Each student chose a focus area to inquire deeply into so they could present their new found knowledge and understanding. The central ideas of these inquiries included:

Children learn through play and this helps develop social skills and more.

Sport teaches leadership skills

Every girl has the right to go to school.

Communication can be affected by technology.

People have changed the world through music.

Leaders in animal care help protect wildlife through conservation. 

We are so proud of the student’s ability to share their learning and challenge us to take action! Well done Year 6s! 

 

Jayne Zadow

Director of PYP, Teaching and Learning