News

Legal Studies

Last month was action-packed for our Legal Studies classes.  We enjoyed learning more about Parliament and gained useful insights from Senator Claire Chandler who visited our school.  Her Law degree has equipped the Senator well for her role representing the State of Tasmania.  Students asked a range of questions from the Senator’s views on the proposed Voice to Parliament, to the role of the Monarchy in our system of government and about her decision-making process when voting in the Senate. 

A 6.30 am departure recently took us to the Tasmanian State Parliament for Question time where we heard several questions about Health, Planning, Forestry, and the AFL High-Performance Team location proposal. The Premier personally welcomed our school to Parliament, from the Hansard:

“I welcome the Launceston Christian School to see democracy in action here this morning in question time.  I hope you enjoy proceedings and engage with members of parliament and learn  

about the people’s House representing the community's views.” (Tasmanian House of Assembly Official Hansard, 24.5.23)

Students and staff were able to meet briefly with Bass Members Hon Deputy Premier Michael Ferguson, Simon Wood, and Janie Finlay. Our time in Parliament concluded after a visit to the Legislative Council where we met briefly with the President, Hon Craig Farrell, and Member for Rosevears, Jo Palmer.  

After this we toured the Old Hobart Penitentiary (1828) where students were able to see how the Justice system of Tasmania’s past used a range of harsh deterrents and Christian teaching to try to reform prisoners.  The site was the home of the Supreme and Magistrates Court until 1983 and was still housing prisoners in the 1960s. The onsite chapel was used by residents and convicts since 1833. Students were able to experience what life was like for people awaiting trial when we toured the dark, cold tunnels underground.  The stories shared by our guide were a frightening reminder of how cruel and even biased criminal trials once were. The number of death penalties, complex social problems that were rife in the 1800s, and the onsite gallows were challenging for us to hear and see. 

After a brief lunch at Salamanca, students were then hosted by members of the Supreme Court staff who explained aspects of our contemporary justice system.  We were able to view Justice Wood and barristers discussing technical matters in a civil case and we learned about the courts in Australia. The functional and design aspects of the Hobart Supreme Court were a surprise for all – the stunning Tasmanian timber and acoustics in the circular court were impressive.   

Finally, senior students also spent time in Launceston’s Supreme Court and were able to observe one hour of the current Shane Barker murder trial. It was surreal seeing the fate of the accused couple in the hands of 12 peers who will decide if there’s proof beyond a reasonable doubt to convict them. 

It has been made clear to all Legal Studies students, that the issues and problems our Parliament and Courts deal with are complex, often sad, and evocative.  We did need to ponder and reflect on all we learned about our sinful nature that makes people do evil and harm others. Our various learning experiences have also reminded us that Governments in Australia are scrutinised and held accountable for their decisions because we have systems, policies, rules, and laws in place that disallow the abuse of power.  While most will agree there are plenty of imperfections and challenging issues that need better solutions, we do have much to be grateful for.

LCS Legal Studies students listened and observed well and their exceptional conduct during all the learning experiences deserves recognition. 

Mrs Julie Ferguson

Launceston Competitions

Launceston Competitions Results - Secondary School Students

Adjudicators choice; Excellence as senior instrumentalist for the competitions; Joshua Dean

Launceston Competitions Results - Junior School Students

Year 3 /4 Choir 1st place ( 90 + students) 

Year 5/ 6 Choir 1st place ( 90+ students) 

Year 1/2  Choir 1st place ( 80+ students) 

Junior School Vocal Ensemble competed in the same section as 5/ 6 choir and came 3rd place (28 students) 

Small Singing Group 1st Place (12 students) 

Junior School Recorder Group (6 students) 3rd Place

Junior School Xylophone/Percussion Group (7 students) 1st Place

Elsa Parsons – played her own composition in a composition section 1st place

Elsa Parsons and Jacqui Cook Piano duet 1st place

Caitlyn-Rose Graham Romantic Piano Solo Highly Commended

Caitlyn-Rose Graham Modern Piano solo 3rd place

Other LCS students also entered in solo and duet sections and have performed well. 

Last week, our Junior School choirs and small groups achieved outstanding success in the Launceston Competitions. Congratulations to the students for representing the school so well in singing and musical items. The competitions have not been held at the Princess Theatre since 2019, so for many of our students, it was a unique experience to perform on such a stage. Not only was the singing of high standard, it was really encouraging to see our students wearing the new school uniform on masse, and it was indeed quite striking. 

Thanks especially to Lyndle for her passion and effort to bring our choirs to such a high standard so that we could blitz the Launceston Competitions today. 

Special thanks also to Mrs Robyn Wilson (past parent and piano accompanist) who supported all of our choirs. 

Mrs Niebuur, Head of Junior School

SATIS Carnival

At the end of last term, we were welcomed with a warm, sunny day, as nine Secondary students headed off to participate in the SATIS Athletics Carnival. 

A huge congratulations to the following students for volunteering to participate: Chloe Harper (Year 7), Riley Powell (Year 7), Christero Crampsie-Yussof (Year 7), Scarlett Wise (Year 8), Caleb Lade (Year 8), Keona Hayes (Year 9), Sadie Armstrong (Year 10), Ethan Rose-Nel (Year 10), and Toby Kamphuis (Year 12).

Toby Kamphuis walked away with 1st place and the State Champion Title in the Boys Open 100m and 200m. Congratulations Toby!

A huge shout out to Riley Powell for placing 3rd in Boys Under 13 Shot Put, Keona Hayes for placing 2nd in Girls Under 15 High Jump, Sadie Armstrong for placing 3rd in Girls Under 16 800m and 1500m, and Ethan Rose-Nel for placing 3rd in Boys Under 16 Javelin. 

Thankyou so much to all who participated, and congratulations again! 

Mr Bosker and Miss Connors, PE Dept. 

Secondary Cross Country: Barrow Win in a Thriller!

Last year, we witnessed our closest ever Cross-Country carnival finish, with Melaleuca edging out their rivals, Barrow, by only 25 points and Tamar finishing in 3rd place.

The rivalry continued this year with Barrow turning the tables to clinch victory over Melaleuca, by only 20 points. (Barrow 2225, Melaleuca 2205 and Tamar 1935).

To put the closeness of the results into perspective, the scoring system awards 100 points for 1st place, 90 for 2nd right through to 10 points for 10th place and 5 points for every place after 10th! A truly remarkable couple of years of Cross-Country results!

Although Barrow are yet to win an Athletics Carnival, they have won 2/3 carnivals in 2023. Taking out the Swimming and Cross Country titles!

We were blessed with fine, breezy conditions and it was great to see a good contingent of students out on the course participating in the event. Every student who crossed the line was rewarded with a refreshing lemonade icypole and students were able to earn spot prizes throughout the afternoon by sinking 2 consecutive netball shots. 

Thanks to all the staff who helped make the event possible as well as the crew who helped set up the event.

Our top 6 runners in each age group are off to the Tasmanian All-Schools Cross Country @ Symmons Plains on Tuesday 20th June. This event doubles as the NSATIS Cross Country Carnival (results from the All-Schools race are used to calculate the NSATIS carnival results).

Mr Bosker, PE Dept. 

Junior School NIJSSA Report

On Wednesday the 7th of June 2023 we had our junior school NIJSSA cross country at Windsor Park.

First up we had a walkthrough of the track starting with the year 3’s and then 4’s then the 5’s and 6’s went together. 

 After the walkthroughs, the year threes started to line up for the race.  Then they started we (LCS) were doing well, they all got good places.

Then it was the grade four turn to line up they were patiently waiting for the whistle to blow for them to start running. They all got amazing places they were enormously proud of their places.

Next up was the year fives and we were nervously waiting for the whistle to blow, and the race was on. All the year fives got great placings and were proud of themselves.

The year sixes had a great race as well. They had a powerful finish and they all contributed to the final score. They all did a great race. 

After all the races we found out the results and our school did well. Some of our standout students were; Solomon Rowlings came 2nd out of the year threes, Gisele Huizenga came 3rd out of the year fours, Kasey Lade came 3rd out of the year 5’s and lastly Vienna Dingemanse came 3rd out of the year sixes. We came 5th out of nine schools. The year 5 girls from LCS were awarded the winning team across grade 5 from all schools. 

We want to give a huge thanks to Mr Narcowicz, Mrs Niebur, Mrs Stokes, and Mr van Ryn

Written by: Emmeline Blok, Esther Streets, Liliane Lee, Lucee Neibur, Chelsea Geskus, and Kasey Lade

Congratulations to the students who represented the Junior School in the NIJSSA Cross Country Carnival this past week. The effort, commitment, team spirit and positive attitude demonstrated by all of the team is to be commended. LCS came a close 5th behind Grammar in the overall scores. 

A special mention goes to the Year 5 girls' team who won  first place as a school team. (Our team of 6 girls managed to be placed 3rd, 4th, 5th, 15th, 18th and 26th in a filed of 45 runners) 

Thank you to Mrs Stokes who helped support the team throughout the carnival. 

Mrs Niebuur, Head of Junior School

TRJ Girls Sleepover

On Monday and Tuesday, 5th and 6th of June, the TRJ girls headed away on the much loved, fun filled, TRJ girls Sleepover. It was a great chance for the girls to continue building positive relationships, experience a Pilates lesson, Just Dance, op-shopping, an Aqua Fit class at the Aquatic Centre, some delicious food, cake, beauty treatments and so much more! The girls got to hear from Mrs Jarvela and Miss Connors who unpacked their life journeys and testimony of faith. The two days spent together was a time of laughter, learning, growing, and connecting. 

Boys TRJ Winter Camp

Our year 9 boys enjoyed an overnight camp at Carnacoo earlier this week. They spent time learning bushcraft, building shelters and bonding through a series of challenges. 

Monday started with students building fire pits and shelters to sleep in.  They were introduced to their year 12 group leaders, Caleb, Liam, Clint, David and Jayden, who were all incredible support to the boys and the staff as we headed into the annual Carnacoo Challenge. The day culminated in a ‘Survivor’ inspired fire-making challenge and dinner cooked at the campfire. 

The students hunkered down into their shelters for the night, which was peaceful with the exception of Mr A sending some watchless ‘early-birds’ back to bed at 4am! 

Tuesday was another great day, after an efficient pack up, bacon and egg muffins and some Up&Go’s, the boys did a workout and ran down to the beach for ‘The Plunge’. After a quick stop in Exeter for a Hot Chip lunch, we all headed to our local pocket of native fern forest at Notley Fern Gorge. 

A massive thanks goes out to the boys for embracing the camp with such positivity. Thanks to the year 12’s for being so supportive and generous with yourselves. And lastly, thanks to the staff for taking time away from family and lessons to invest in our year 9 students. 

Mr McGeachy

Year 9 Bridge Pressure Test

Our Year 9 Design & Technology: Materials students tested their bridges in the infamous pressure test. Students had spent many weeks planning and building their models and the time had finally come to see whose bridge could hold up the longest. The winning bridge was able to withstand up to 150 kilograms!! What an outstanding result!

In the Model Bridge Unit, students research industrial bridge design, generate bridge design ideas, draft concept sketches and scale drawings, construct the bridge, test, and then evaluate the performance of their bridges after the pressure test. This subject is one of the many options we offer our Year 9 and 10 students and is always a popular choice after students have enjoyed working in the workshop in Year 7 and 8.

Tech Display

Next time you are in the library please take a glance at the amazing Wooden Mallets our year 11/12 student made for one of their minor projects this year.  If you see one you like, why not mention it to the student who made it if you see them around?

Mallets were custom designed and made from Tasmanian Timbers for either functional or aesthetic purposes (or both!).

We hope to have these on display for about 2 weeks.

Mr Lichtendonk and Mr Gracie

From the Wellbeing Unit

From time to time we become aware of excellent resources we can recommend to you.

Currently the government eSafety Commission is promoting their Parent Information around Respectful Relationships. You can access both student and parent resources/videos at esafetynews@esafety.gov.au and follow the links to topics such as; 

• Setting up parental controls
• Digital technologies and mental health
• Cyberbullying and online drama
• Online sexual harassment and image-based abuse

As always Wellbeing staff, Michael and Angela can be contacted through the school office or email

walkerm@lcs.tas.edu.au

curtisa@lcs.tas.edu.au

2023 Tuition Fees 

Fee notices were emailed to parents before students commenced, with payment due by the end of February.  If you haven’t already done so, please pay your family’s fees by Bpay or to the School office.  If you would like to pay in instalments and haven’t already arranged a Direct Debit or other payment plan, please contact Jenny on 63272854 or hepherj@lcs.tas.edu.au.

A reminder that all new uniform purchases must be paid in full prior to collection, and are no longer permitted to be added to School Fee accounts.

Employment Opportunities

Uniform Matters

POLO EXCHANGE

Please be advised that if you have a faulty polo you have until the end of Term 2 to exchange it. 

Uniform Shop Hours:

Monday to Friday: 8.30-9.30am

Wednesday: 1.30pm-3.30pm

LCS Uniform Policy - Shoes

Designated sports shoes only.

Itinerant Music Teachers 2023

LCS has a number of instrument teachers who take students for individual lessons at school during school hours. This is an excellent way to learn an instrument and can help students make much faster progress on their instrument. It is recommended that student’s seriously contemplating studying music from grades 9 onwards definitely consider having some private instrument tuition to further their overall music advancement. Any student in grades 5 – 8 who are serious about starting an instrument should also have lessons in order to learn crucial proper technique early in their playing life.

Students continuing lessons from last year will be individually contacted by their teachers to organise lessons for the year.

If you would like your child to start having lessons this year, please email Mr Stewart (stewartp@lcs.tas.edu.au) and include the following details;

1. Students name:
2. Class:
3. Instrument to have lessons on:
4. Contact phone number:
5. Your contact details (phone and email)

This will be passed on to a relevant teacher who will contact you for further details.

We currently have teachers available for the following instruments:

• Piano/keyboard
• Clarinet/saxophone and Flute
• Guitar
• Bass
• Brass (trumpet etc)
• Voice 
• Drums 

LCS Volunteer Application Form

At LCS, we believe in the importance of fostering a positive, supportive community. We believe that parents and community members are essential partners in achieving this goal, and we would like to invite you to consider volunteering at LCS. We welcome your involvement if you have a specific skill or talent to share or simply want to lend a helping hand. 

If you are interested in volunteering, please fill out the form below and return it to the Office/email it to kibbelm@lcs.tas.edu.au together with the required documentation.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out to Monica Kibbel at kibbelm@lcs.tas.edu.au

Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to seeing you.

Notice From Food Technology Department

The Food Technology Department would like to encourage anyone with excess produce in their gardens or orchards to consider donating them to our Food Preservation Unit. 

Donating your excess produce not only helps reduce waste, but also provides a valuable learning opportunity for our students. If you would like to donate, please contact Michelle Reid at reidm@lcs.tas.edu.au

Infectious Illnesses update

Student Bus Travel Expectations

Note for the office

ABSENCES/ATTENDANCE

Communication regarding a student’s absence needs to come via the school office. This information will then be passed on to the student’s teachers. Parents are asked where possible to telephone the school or email the office in advance when a student will be absent.  If you subscribe to the mobile app, The Hub you can also lodge an electronic absentee form which will reach the office immediately.  The school telephone number is (03) 6327 2854 and email is office@lcs.tas.edu.au

Students who are late must sign in at the school office.  Students will be issued a ‘late pass’ that must be presented to their teacher.  Students who sign in ‘late’ must have a note of explanation from home.   Three unexplained late arrivals will result in a detention.

Yr11/12 students that have a study period in the morning and do not attend Class Teacher must sign in at the office as soon as they arrive at school, if students have not signed in whole day absences will be on their record. Yr 11/12 students may leave the school grounds during study periods, however they are required to sign out and back in at the office.  This is important, particularly in the case of an emergency, so students can be accounted for by the staff and emergency services.

Written permission is required to leave the school grounds during school hours (except Year 11 & 12).  Students are to meet parents at the office. All students must use the sign out folder at the student counter in the main office.  When students return to school, they should report to the student counter in the main office and sign in.  

If families intend to be absent from school due to extended holidays (3 days or more), parents need to fill out in advance an Application for Extended Leave for Travel form, found under the Parents and Students/Downloads & Policies tab on our website:  www.lcs.tas.edu.au(Please see Extended Leave Policy on next pages)

MEDICATION

Should your child need to take prescribed medication at school please inform the school office.  All medication, both prescription and over the counter medication, needs to be in original packaging and labelled with clear dosage instructions (prescription medication needs dosage instructions from a registered medical practitioner) and must be administered at the school office and students are not permitted to carry medication at school. Medical forms are sent home at the beginning of each school year and parents are able to indicate whether they give permission for paracetamol to be administered if required.

UNIFORM

Students who are not in correct uniform, wrong jacket or coloured socks etc must get a uniform pass from the office.  A note of explanation should be provided by parents.  Three uniform non compliances, without parent explanation, will result in a detention.

Parking Policy