News

BEATRICE'S PJ FUND RAISER

GETS MEDIA WIDE ATTENTION

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=601335960381473

Year 5 student Beatrice Connolly's daily battle with severe asthma led her to do something that highlighted the prevalence of asthma in Australia and the plight of others who deal with the condition day after day such as herself. So she decided to organise a Onsie and Pyjama day at St Andrews to raise awareness and funds for the Asthma Foundation. Her wonderful efforts gained the attention of Asthma Australia, Channel 7, the Herald Sun and boutique pyjama retailer Peter Alexander who sponsored the event with a number of his companys designer PJ's.

Beatrice, her mother Penelope and father Matthew were interviewed by channel 7 about Beatrice's condition and gave very personal insights into the day to day struggle faced by Beatrice and her family. Well done Beatrice for speaking so bravely on camera.

The event raised $415, increased awareness for Asthma Australia across multiple media channels and gave everyone at St Andrews the chance to spend a day at school in their comfy PJs.

Thank you, Beatrice (and thank you Mrs Hughes, for coordinating everything)!

WELLBEING IN EXAM WEEK

Exams can be tough, so the Student Wellbeing Team decided to take steps to help reduce stress during exam week. These included making hot chocolate at lunchtime on a very chilly Monday, serving hot chips on Wednesday and baking yummy brownies and biscuits for morning tea on Thursday. Team members presented devotions which included tips for self-care and strategies for countering anxiety, as well as writing Bible verses on the board of every classroom holding an exam in Senior School. They also offered prayer for students in the Wellbeing room at recess and lunchtime.

And on Tuesday…Willow the golden retriever and his trainer Gabby visited! The benefits of animal therapy are well documented, and it was lovely to see students approach Willow and Gabby for a chat and a pat! Willow dropped in to a number of classes to provide some stress relief to hardworking students.

Thanks so much to the beautiful and fabulous Student Wellbeing Team (Mykaela, Katherine, Jade, Nicole, Isha, Georgia, Alison, Chloe, Janice, Geraldine, Emilie, Amy, Kaushal, Harry, Callum and Caleb) for showing kindness and care for your fellow students, in a week when you were all busy with SACs and exams yourselves!

Jo deMeester

Wellbeing Co-ordinator

PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION

On Monday 27th May, the whole school assembled to celebrate the finalists in the Public Speaking Competition and to hear the Junior, Middle and Senior school’s best speeches on the College’s theme for the year:

‘Jesus, the Light of the World’

Prior to this event, every student from Prep to Yr 11 had the opportunity to represent their class, their year level or their sub-school in the competition. The results of these trials were realised when Annabelle Tay from the Junior School, Melissa Yao from the Middle School and Becky Schenker from the Senior School presented their winning speeches. Each of these students gave exceptional speeches that demonstrated their unique exegesis of the Biblical text in a personal, intelligent and captivating manner.

We would like to thank Mrs Wansbrough for her vision and motivation in enabling this unique opportunity. The following finalists from Junior, Middle and Senior school received certificates from the College Principal.

Junior School Finalists

Sophia Lin
Adam Yang
Zoe Almodiel
Evie Yapp
Hannah Liu
Charlotte Cheung
Abygail Xiao
Joshua Chen
Deanna Hu
Annabelle Tay

Middle School Finalists

Gabriel Armanyous
Melissa Yao

Senior School Finalists

Caitlyn Smith
Evan Hughes
Becky Schenker

ALUMNI RETURN HOME

In May, past students Ben Spanos, Lilly Suraj (Lietz) and Lauren Mehani came back to St Andrews to visit their old school, catch up with their teachers and chat with Alumni coordinator Mrs Lim. All of them were amazed at how much things had changed since they had left St Andrews ...and for the better, they added. Not only was it an opportunity to laugh and reminisce it was a time to get down to the business of developing St Andrews Alumni Program. "It's early days" says Mrs Lim "but there are some big plans in the making that will help us reconnect with past students and develop a strong Alumni community". The first event planned will be an Alumni dinner to be held at St Andrews College. More info to come, stay tuned!!!

PRIMARY MUSIC FESTIVAL

St Andrews Christian College will be holding a Primary Music Festival again this year. The solo sessions will take place on Tuesday 20 August 2019, and a session for duets, trios and quartets will be held on Wednesday 21 August. This will take place during the school day and a full timetable of sessions will be made available after all entries have been received. The closing date for entries is Wednesday 24 July. All students from Prep to Year 6 are eligible to enter, and can be entered by their instrumental teacher if they learn at the College or by their parents if they learn outside the College. It is important that younger entrants understand that they will be asked to perform on their own in front of an audience, and should therefore be comfortable in that situation. Parents and students are strongly encouraged to discuss their preferred performance piece with the instrumental teacher prior to completing the entry form.

Solo entry: https://forms.gle/v93V9KmBkb2QHfkD9

Duets/Trios/Quartets entry: https://forms.gle/z8sb1bRd4uUDppTy5

CELEBRATING 150 YEARS YOUNG

June has been a big birthday month for staff at St Andrews with Mr Hall, Mrs Cheung and Mrs Wansbrough all celebrating significant birthdays that have a combined total of 150 years. Happy Birthday one and all!