CLASS OF 2020 - VALEDICTORY EVENING

YEAR 6 GRADUATES!

On Wednesday 2nd December we had the privilege of celebrating our wonderful Year 6 students in a special Year 6 Graduation Ceremony!

Students came dressed up and enjoyed a ceremony with awards, speakers and certificates for all, followed by a pizza dinner. Although parents sadly couldn't attend, they were with us on Zoom, and the students got to give them a wave after getting presented with their certificate!

We are really proud of this group of students and the way that they have handled a challenging year with resilience and maturity. It was an honour to celebrate them in this way. We wish them all the best for secondary school and pray huge blessings over each of them!

Natalie Nheu and Chelsea Christelow

Year 6 Teachers

2020 PRESENTATION NIGHT

It was a night like no other this year as St Andrews Presentation Night was delivered via a Live Stream into the homes of our St Andrews families. Thank you for joining us and for the hard work of all those involved in organising and delivering this special night of thanksgiving and celebration in an entirely new way.

2021 STUDENT CAPTAINS

St Andrews proudly present the 2021 Student Captains:

School Captains: Harry Rowland and Hannah Collis

Barton House Captain: Julia Pajor

Parkes House Captain: Andrea Chai

Deakin House Captain: Caleb Manners

Wellbeing Captain: Caitlyn Smith

Mission Service Learning Captain: Isabelle Baxter

Music Captain: Evan Hughes

Performing Arts Captain: Bryan Chin

Visual Arts Captain: Sophia Tran

Sports Captain: Brendan Lam

THEME POSTER COMPETITION FOR 2021

All budding artists, photographers and designers take note: We are inviting all students and staff to submit a poster which depicts our school theme for 2021, “Trust in the Lord”.

Our Bible verse for 2021 is:

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8

Entrants are encouraged to submit a creative design/photograph/painting that visually displays this fantastic theme.

All entries will be displayed and the winning poster will be used as our theme poster throughout 2021.

Criteria:

Must submit entry to Mrs Dekker by Wednesday morning 10th February, 2021
Be on A4 sized paper
Have your name, contact details, and/or year level on the back of your entry
Clearly display the following words on the photo/painting/design:
1. Trust in the Lord
2. Jeremiah 17:7-8
3. St Andrews Christian College
4. 2021

Many blessings,

Catriona Wansbrough

Principal

FROM THE LEARNING SUPPORT TEAM

Success is not what I’ve done compared to what others have done.

Success is what I’ve done compared to what God has called me to do (Lecrae).

What a year! It has certainly had its fair share of challenges for all, including the Learning Support Team, and yet we have so much to be grateful for. Learning Support teachers and Learning Assistants have expanded their repertoire of skills and developed stronger relationships with students, while they supervised some students at school during online learning and Zoomed others. It has been wonderful to be back on campus and learning together again.

Each student is made in the image of God and carries unique gifts, abilities, and sometimes challenges; but we have been so encouraged to again witness the wonder of learning and the faithfulness of students to apply themselves. The ‘job’ of students is learning, and it is our job as teachers to make the learning accessible to our students; to recognize their uniqueness and style of learning so that each student is able to grow and flourish, being faithful to who God has called them to be.

We endeavour to not just fill students with knowledge, but to play our part in helping them become who God has called them to be. This is something that we are continually working towards as we, not only grow our own skills, but faithfully do what each one of us has been called to do.

It has been a pleasure working with so many parents and students this year and we look forward to continuing this partnership as we move forward.

May this time of celebrating the birth of Jesus be a chance to reflect, rest, be refreshed and rejuvenated. Have a safe and happy holiday break. We look forward to seeing you next year!

Blessings,

Shirley Gillie

Head of Learning Support

ICAS COMPETITION

Three of our St Andrews Junior School students have won a medal for their ICAS competition this year.

Congratulations to Joshua Chen (4C Digital Technologies),

Junru Teng (3E English) and Zoe Almodiel (2H Spelling Bee) for the fantastic effort!

PROVIDENCE OR LUCK?

During 2020, with lots of time at home, I've spent hours reading with our youngest two children, aged 11 and 10. We've enjoyed many series of books, such as the Narnia chronicles, throughout this time. We are currently finishing off the Laura Ingalls Wilder 'Little House on the Prairie' series, with 'Farmer Boy', which Laura wrote about the childhood of her husband, Almanzo.

Yesterday, we read a chapter called 'The Strange Dog'. In it, Almanzo's father was pleased to hear that "New York horse-buyers were in the neighbourhood" as he had two four-year-old colts ready. The horse-buyer visits their farm and, after haggling over the price, they agree on $200 each. He gives Father $200 now and says that he'll give him the rest, for the second horse, when they are delivered to him in town, the next day. Father is unable to get to the bank, due to the late hour in the day, so they have to keep the money - a lot, back then - in the house overnight. Mother is worried sick, and keeps moving where the money is hidden. They comfort themselves with the thought that nobody knows they are holding it overnight.

During the evening, before bed, they are visited by a strange dog. They are unable to have a dog, on the farm, due to the fact a dog would chase chickens, dig up their vegetable garden or kill sheep. However, they take pity on the very thin, cringing dog and feed him, thinking they can drive him away, the next day. Overnight, Mother hears the dog growling and sees the dog warily walking around outside. The next morning, Father "found the tracks of two men's boots" and surmises that the horse-buyer had accomplices who would have robbed him without the dog's actions, as the sheriff later told him that a farmer in this situation had robbers visit who "tied up his wife and children, ... beat him almost to death, to make him tell where the money was hidden ... took the money and got away."

Although they never saw the homeless dog again, Mother said "she would always believe that Providence had sent the strange dog to watch over them". Almanzo feels they were rewarded for feeding him and Mother agrees, declaring that, "Maybe he was sent to try us ... Maybe the Lord was merciful to us because we were merciful to him."

Now some would say it was just luck or a coincidence. I choose to believe in Providence, which is the care and control of God. There are probably many times that we have missed seeing how God has moved in our lives. How often does our Lord orchestrate the most amazing set of circumstances to save us from harm, or help us along our way, and we just breezily write them off? He is the God of everything! All situations and people are under His control. He can more than arrange events and actions to suit His purposes. Will everything go our way? No! However, we can absolutely trust the living God with our lives and eternal futures. He sees the good we do for others, in whatever form it takes, and will reward us either in this life, or the next.

I hope this encourages you, as it did me.

Blessings,

Mrs Fiona Dobrzynski

Senior School Teacher

LIBRARY NEWS

VCE Exams

For the past three weeks the Senior Library has hosted the VCE exams. This has meant that, at times the library has been closed for borrowing and studying. The staff would like to say thank you to all students and staff for their patience during this time.

Thank You!

A very big “thank you” goes to all the parent helpers who covered books and shelved for us when they were able.

We really appreciate you giving up your time to help.

Did you know?

Pippi Longstocking is 75 years old.

November 1, 2020 marked 75 years since Astrid Lindgren introduced Pippi Longstocking to young readers. This series is still popular with our students today. To find out more about Pippi, click here.

100 years since the birth of Colin Thiele.

Colin Thiele, the author of Storm Boy, the story of a boy who befriended a Pelican was born on the 16th November, 1920. The story of his life can be read here.

A number of Colin Thiele’s books can be found in The Senior Library.

Jane Austen, born 245 years ago.

This year marks the 245th year since the birth of another very popular author, Jane Austen. She was born on the 16th December, 1775. Her novels include:

Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Emma. To find out more about her, click here.

Lynne Marks, Anita Little, Wai Peng Heath

Library Staff

Keep on Caring

THANK YOU PICNIC

WELCOMING 2021 YEAR 7s