School of Leadership

News from the School of Leadership

A very warm welcome back to all parents, carers and students - particularly those families new to the College or new to the School of Leadership! We trust you enjoyed a renewing and recharging break with family and friends.

The beginning of a new school year is a timely opportunity to reflect on the very purpose of education and ultimately, learning. Education is not merely about acquiring knowledge, but also about learning how to think and make the most of our abilities. With this in mind, let us strive to encourage the children in our care to not just absorb information, but to actively engage with it, question it, challenge it and use it to better themselves and the world around us.

As educators, we understand that the beginning of the school year may come with a mix of emotions for both students and parents. We also understand that as a parent, you play a vital role in your child's education and we encourage you to stay involved and informed throughout the year. We invite you to communicate with your child's teachers regularly and to attend Student-Led Conferences and Parent Learning Walks. Student-Led Conferences are a vitally important part of the teaching and learning cycle as they provide an opportunity for students to reflect on their growth and make goals for continuous improvement. I look forward to joining students, families and teachers in Student-Led Conferences at the end of Semester 1.

Year 7 have hit the ground running in 2024, starting off with a successful first day, Welcome Week, Opening liturgy and the first week of classes. The students have adapted well through the transition from Year 6 to Year 7 and are starting to settle into the high school routine. Expectations have been set high for the cohort and so far, students are meeting the mark, showing great respect in their conduct at liturgies and assemblies, in their interactions with peers and teachers and through sustained and commendable application to their learning. Indeed, there has been very encouraging feedback from classroom teachers regarding engagement in lessons. We hope this work ethic and attitude keeps up throughout their time in the School of Leadership allowing them to grow into successful students and creative contributors.

At the first School of Leadership assembly in Week 2, we shared with students the plethora of opportunities available to them to experience new things or become involved in the life of the College. We welcome parent partnership in encouraging your child/ren to step out of their comfort zones and try something new!

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.

2024 College Goals

School of Leadership students and teachers will be

Year 5 and 7 Discovery Evening

What a pleasure it was to spend Wednesday evening with Year 5 and 7 parents and carers as we showcased the learning, extra-curricular opportunities and learning spaces in the School of Leadership. We look forward to other opportunities to invite families to see, first hand, what it means to be a student at St Luke’s.

Welcome to our new members of staff

This year we are delighted to be joined by several new teachers across the School of Leadership. A special welcome to:

Mrs Karen Thoms: Year 6 Freeman teacher
Miss Maddie Tucker: Year 5 Acutis teacher
Miss Rebecca McMillan: Year 5 Malala teacher
Mr Nick Miller: -7-12 Maths teacher
Mr David Fisher - Life Design teacher

Mrs Kate Kelly - Head of School, School of Leadership

A Note from The SOL Assistant Principal

We want to warmly welcome back all of our School of Leadership students and families of St Luke’s. To ensure that we all have an incredible start to this new academic year, please make note of the following reminders:

Students in the School of Leadership will consistently be asked “How are you leading yourself and others?” St Luke’s offers many opportunities for students to be involved in our College through:

Thursday afternoon representative sports (Years 7 and 8)
Sports Gala Days
Harmony Day
SOL Choir
Excursions and Incursions
Book Week
St. Luke’s Day
Art Competition and Exhibition
Guest Speakers and workshops
World Poetry Day - poetry competition
Clubs - Chess, E-sports, debating, dance, Drama Club
STEM Immersion Day

Students are asked to check their emails each day with more information about these opportunities when they arise.

Mrs Michelle Zorzo - Assistant Principal, School of Leadership

Mr Scott Carroll - Stage 3 Instructional Leader

Year 5 and 6 have had a great start to the year with a great deal of excitement. Year 5 are learning what it means to lead ourselves and lead others. For the first time our newest School of Leadership students are learning how to use Canvas, Maths Pathways and their diary, all while getting to know new people and teachers in their new class spaces. They are also able to now access The Hub during break times and many of them have been enjoying the space with friends while playing a quiet game, using their devices or reading a book from the library.

At this time of year it is normal for our children to have all kinds of feelings and responses to their new situations. The staff in our School of Leadership aimed to anticipate many of these challenges with our Step Up Into Leadership program for Year 5. This program included setting of expectations for the new class, and an introduction to apps and programs used in SOL. Similarly, students who are new to St Luke’s took part in the New Kids on the Block induction where they learned who’s who at St Luke’s and had a tour of the facilities.

There will be more new things along the way, but our teachers have worked hard to ensure that students are as well supported as possible with this transition. I would like to thank all of our teachers, support staff and leadership team for such a cohesive plan and a successful start to 2024.

A highlight of the first few weeks has been seeing Year 6 take on their role as buddies to the newest members of our St Luke’s community: Kindergarten! Year 6 have helped Kindergarten students learn where to hang up their bags, where to eat lunch and how to clean up after themselves. The Kindergarten teachers have expressed their thanks for the assistance of our leaders in making Kindergarten feel welcome and safe as they transition into big school! Keep up the great work Year 6!

Stage 3 Stories…

What’s new in SOL? - Student responses

Program Launch

Week 2 marked the exciting launch of the 2024 R3 program for two new groups of selected Stage 3 students! R3 is a CSPD literacy initiative dedicated to nurturing a love of reading for students, equipping them with the skills necessary to become confident, resourceful readers.

“I’m excited to see my grades get higher because I know R3 will help me learn new things. It will help us feel more confident when we read.” - Sheema Shanemougham

“Something I am excited to learn is how to find key words and learn more about the story I am reading” - Jamaior Whitney

The launch saw students gather to name their groups and share their current reading habits and interests. Both our Year 5 and 6 students embraced being 'reading detectives’, with Year 5 naming themselves "The Reading Spies," and Year 6 choosing "Clue Crushers!"

Students created their own ‘agent case files’, complete with their fingerprints to support them in setting personalised goals and crafting a ‘mission objective’, laying the foundation for an engaging and purposeful learning journey.

“I thought it was really cool how we got to name our group and how this is helping me read and understand things better.” - Jayden Ali

“ I am finding reading fun and it doesn’t feel too challenging for us. It was really exciting to get to make our agent profiles and how we could do our finger prints. I know this is going to make me a fluent reader!” -

Olivia Smith

Students actively contributed to planning the design of their ideal learning environment, where we will meet for one hour daily to explore a variety of texts tailored to their interests. In this time, we will focus on learning various skills that are carefully selected based on data insights.

Here is what some of our R3 students already have to say about the program:

“R3 will help me with my literacy and reading with how to recall what I have read and solve new words.” - J

“R3 is helping me because when I am in real class when I do reading, it is helping me a lot.” - L

In the loop…. Seesaw

Year 5 Discovery Evening

Specialist Science

We are delighted to continue to offer specialist Science lessons to our Year 6 students who very excitedly await their first lessons with Miss Rees this week!

English

Settling in….

Year 5 students have made a smooth transition to learning and life in Stage 3 in the School of Leadership. They’ve taken advantage of the new play areas and are keenly getting to know their new peers and teachers.

Introduzione all'italiano

This year at St Luke’s, all Year 5 students will have the opportunity to experience Language instruction via the Introduction to Italian Language course prepared and delivered by our specialist secondary Languages teacher, Ms Gallo. Students had the pleasure of their very first lesson this week!

Students have created their Italian title page, drawing items and writing words that would remind them of Italy! Some students included la gondola of Venice, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, some typical Italian food such as pizza, pasta, gelato, and also the meaning of the Italian flag!

To slowly be able to write the entire date in Italian, students have learnt the days of the week in Italian, numbers from 0 to 31 and i mesi (the months)!

We are excited to start with l’alfabeto!

From Year 7…

Year 7 Welcome Week!

Our new Year 7s arrived at the College fresh faced and ready for all that the high school experience might throw at them! Day 1 was January 31 and saw Year 7 engage in a 2 session induction program facilitated by House Leaders and Year 7 teaching staff. This was an important facet of the “Welcome to the School Leadership” program and was successful in putting students at ease. Year 7 have since participated in a Google-suite Bootcamp and House Meetings and are quickly learning how to navigate their timetables!

Year 7 Leadership Day

On Friday 9th of February, Year 7 had the opportunity to engage in a formative experience on being a leader. This was an experience designed to give insights into being a student in the School of Leadership and provide a space for students to form new bonds. The day was closed off with a beautiful spiritual moment- a liturgy aligned to our theme of Bee a Leader.

Miss Chand- Year 7 Wellbeing Coordinator

Through leadership day, I have found a new sense of belonging in my school community. I have strived to believe that being a leader is not an end goal but a difference in someone else’s life. Through pain we find strength in embracing lepers in community. Through leadership we don’t change ourselves for others but explore the pulchritude in acceptance and growth.

Eliana Pasco- Year 7 Student

Through leadership day, I have learnt how to communicate with my peers more effectively, throughout the 3 sessions. I understood the definition of leadership, we got to play fun games which we had to collaboratively work together to win. I got to recognise the people in my group and made a couple of new friends.

Jasmine Kamboj- Year 7 Student

Leadership Day was an opportunity for students to learn about the meaning of inspiration and a sense of belonging. The day was divided into three sessions. The first session, called "Thrive with the Hive", gave students a chance to meet and get to know each other. The second session, titled "What Type of Leader Do You Want to Be?", aimed to help students understand the qualities and responsibilities of a leader. Finally, the third session, "Bee the Change", involved writing a letter to our future selves.

Sandra Zahringer and Iona Eliot- Year 7 Students

Leadership Day was an opportunity for year 7 students to learn about leadership skills. We got to explore the values of a good leader and apply these values to ourselves as we start a new journey in the school of leadership. We also got to discover some famous leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr, Mary Mackillop, and St luke. Towards the end of the Day, we wrote a letter to ourselves on how we can be a leader and we will reflect on that again at the end of the year.

Nishaan Singh- Year 7 Student

Science

Entries are now open for the 2024 STEM MAD CSPD & National competitions. This is an opportunity for students to represent St Luke's, showcasing their skills and knowledge by promoting a STEM innovation that will make a difference (MAD).

The STEM MAD CSPD competition will be held at Cathwest on the 7th August. The national competition final will be held in Brisbane on the 19th of November.

Students who'd like to enter the national competition must form teams no larger than 4 and submit a 2 min 30 second video for judging by term 2, week 8. Four finalist teams from CSPD will be chosen to attend the finals in Brisbane in November.

Students who wish to compete in the CSPD competition should form teams of between 4 - 8 to present their innovation at Cathwest in August. A 2 min 30 second video is optional.

Interested students should speak with their STEM teachers and submit an entry form by 22nd March.

Mathematics

As we welcome many new students to our school, Year 7 is focusing on exploring operating with positive and negative numbers without a calculator via the Surface, Deep and Transfer levels of questioning. Giving our students the power to choose which level they begin at and how they progress downwards allows them to immediately address the gaps in their individual understanding and build upon the skills developed in class. Surface level looks at simple one-step problems. Deep is that multi-step process. Transfer is the ability to synthesise word-based problems for important information and uncover unknowns.

Music

In the music classroom for Stage 4, we are focussing on the development of foundational music skills. In year 7 music, we have begun by teaching the basics of rhythm and note placement on the musical stave. Students will learn how to play rhythm through learning the drums and focussing on basic rudiments.

Visual Arts

This term, Year 7 Visual Arts are focusing on developing their foundational skills. This includes a range of experiences in art making, the development of critical and interpretive skills within the scope of Visual Arts and artistic practice. Students will focus on using their visual arts process diaries to develop, analyse and reflect on their artistic works.

From Year 8…

Music

In year 8 music, students are learning to implement foundational skills into real world scenarios including music performance and songwriting. Students have the opportunity to learn and explore working in a group ensemble. This experience provides development in skills of collaboration, music arrangement, performance opportunities and stage etiquette.

Visual Arts

In year 8 visual arts, students are engaged with learning about food sculptures and technique behind creating three dimensional structures. Within the process, students will interact with the visual arts process diary to brainstorm, craft and develop their sculptures. This will include looking at other sculptures to gain influence and experience critical artistic practice. Students will also gather inspiration from a variety of cultures from around the world when seeking influence for their sculptures.

HSIE

Students in HSIE have been investigating the issue of livability and how to increase the livability of different places around the world. Students have had the opportunity to think about where they would like to live if they could live anywhere in the world and the some of the factors that influence livability around the world. During this unit students will be encouraged to think big in order to make the world more positive for everyone in the world, as well as focus on their local community and come up with ideas to improve the livability in their area.

Wellbeing in the School of Leadership

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Re: International Women's Day Breakfast for Year 8 Girls

We are excited to announce an upcoming event in celebration of International Women's Day on March 8th, and we would like to invite all Year 8 girls to participate in this meaningful occasion.

On International Women's Day, we aim to empower and inspire our young women to embrace their potential and celebrate the achievements of women worldwide. To commemorate this day, we have organised a special breakfast event which we would like to invite all Year 8 girls to.

The details of the event are as follows:

Date: Friday, March 8th

Time: Breakfast commences at 7:30 AM. Location: Performing Arts Hall

We ask that all girls are to be present in full school uniform (not sports uniform), and they may wish to wear a purple accessory to match the theme for International Women's Day.

We believe that this event will be a valuable opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women around the world.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the International Women's Day Breakfast, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for your continued support.