Children may visit the Library at Recess or lunch time. Take the opportunity to purchase some good priced holiday reading!! Thank you.

Transcription

1 5/11/2014 Issue 34 Your Kingdom Come. Matthew 6:10 These three words come from the Lord s Prayer the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. In our church, this prayer is used every Sunday, and it is often used in school chapel and class devotions. But what are praying for when we ask for God s kingdom to come? In the world today, there aren t that many kingdoms with actual kings and queens anymore. They are often a remnant of something long past. But it recently struck me that tiny little countries like Tonga (in the Pacific) and Swaziland (in Africa) have kings. Kingdoms today almost seem insignificant on the stage of world politics. What about God s kingdom? God s kingdom often seems small and weak (hardly a member of the G8!) And yet, in the bible we read, My power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor 12:9). God s kingdom is a hidden kingdom at Christmas (coming up soon), Christians remember how the birth of Jesus, the king of heaven and earth, was hidden in a small, insignificant stable. God s kingdom comes when He sends the Holy Spirit, and even when there is so much weakness and suffering, the Holy Spirit is all the power that we need. Lord Jesus, let your kingdom come to us, and let your power be made perfect in all our weakness! Amen. Pastor Stephen van der H As we look to the calendar and it turns over to November we realize how quickly a school year passes by. I m encouraging us all to appreciate, enjoy and make the most of the remaining weeks of this 2014 school year. Special Friends Morning Friday will be an exciting morning as we welcome our students special friends to St Mark s. The morning will begin with Class 5I leading our chapel. Visits to classrooms and tours of the school will follow. We ll complete our morning being entertained by our Junior Choir as we enjoy morning tea. Pupil Free Day Structure Thank you to families who provided their perspectives on the option we were considering for the structuring of pupil free days for staff learning. As I advised in my update to families on Friday 17 th October, it was more likely that we would make a change to our existing structure following the feedback received to that date. Since then I have received further feedback from families with more families supporting a change to be made. As a consequence, I can advise that we will be making a change from 2015 as outlined below Term Dates Term 1 Tuesday 27 th January - First day of term for students in Years 1 to 6 Wednesday 28 th January - First day of term for Reception students Friday 10 th April - Last day of Term 1 Term 2 Monday 27 th April to Friday 26 th June Monday 29 th June to Friday 3 rd July - Pupil Free Week for staff professional development Term 3 Monday 20 th July to Friday 25 th September Term 4 Monday 12 th October to Wednesday 9 th December As I expressed in my previous correspondence, this change will enhance the greatest resource we have in our school - our staff. They remain the key to St Mark s being a learning community of the highest order. Thank you to families who provided feedback. We will be working with Camp Australia to provide care options during the Pupil Free Week. Cont d o/leaf. 37 Hampden Road, Mt Barker SA 5251 T E contact@stmarks.sa.edu.au W

2 2015 Teaching Staffing I am pleased to announce that two appointments have been made to our teaching staff beginning in Miss Kimberley Hein has been appointed as a classroom teacher. She is in her first year of teaching and currently teaching at Navigator Lutheran College, Pt Lincoln. Mr Tyson Scott has been appointed as our fulltime PE teacher. Mr Scott is known to us as he taught PE at St Mark s during Terms 2 and 3 of this year. Our teaching staff roles in 2015 will be as follows: Reception Classes: Miss Schultz and Mrs Hassold Year 1 Classes: Mrs Mackenzie and Mrs Uebergang (Mon-Wed)/Mrs May (Thurs-Fri) Year 2 Classes: Ms Kotzikas and Ms Liebelt Year 3 Classes: Mrs Schubert and Mrs Steven (Mon- Wed)/Mrs Moseley (Thurs-Fri) Year 4 Classes: Miss Hein and Mr Schulz Year 5 Classes: Mrs Angwin and Mrs Innes Year 6 Classes: Mrs Kluge and Ms Barolo Music: Mrs Steffan German: Frau Loffelbein Physical Education: Mr Scott Library Teacher: Mrs Paterson Learning support Teachers: Mrs Page and Mrs Messenger Our teaching staff will of course be supported by our administration and support staff teams Class Placements In several weeks, we will begin the process of forming our 2015 class groupings. As parents, you are invited to place in writing and forward directly to me, any specific educational needs that your child(ren) may have that the school may not be aware of that should be taken into account when we form 2015 class groupings. Parents are asked to respect and trust school staff to complete this process by refraining from making requests or comments to teachers. We will work to ensure that all class groupings are balanced and appropriate. If you have information you believe we need to know, please place it in writing to me by the end of next week - Friday 14 th November. James Heyne Principal TeachMeet LEAH (Lutheran Education Adelaide Hills) Last Thursday afternoon Year 6 and 7 teachers from Cornerstone College, St Mark s, St Michael s and Spring Head Lutheran held their inaugural TeachMeet LEAH afternoon. A TeachMeet is an organised but informal meeting for teachers to share best practice, practical innovations and personal insights in teaching. Our teachers across campuses will continue to meet in 2015 knowing full well that these rich conversations will pave the way for a seamless transition between our primary schools and the middle school at Cornerstone College. Pre-Loved Book Sale In preparation for stocktake, we have been doing a cull of some of the older novels in the Library. These books are really only suitable for Year 4-6. On Friday 14 th November we will be having a 50c Book Sale. Children may visit the Library at Recess or lunch time. Take the opportunity to purchase some good priced holiday reading!! Thank you. Mrs Paterson Chapel Offering in Term 4 In Term 4 our Chapel offerings will provide Gifts of Grace for people in developing countries around the world. Gifts of Grace is organised by the ALWS. We hope to provide some pre-school toys and teach me packs for children in countries like Cambodia and Burundi. If you would like to know more about Gifts of Grace, there are brochures available at the Front Office or you can go online Through just 50 a week in the Chapel offering box, we can make a big difference to people s lives this Christmas. Thank you for your support. SRC Music News Music: Count Us In Last week, the whole school participated in a national musical occasion when every student in every school in Australia was invited to sing the same song at precisely the same time! Music: Count Us In is run by the Music Council of Australia (MCA) and is supported by funding from The Australian Government. We participated via live streaming of the celebration event from the Great Hall in Parliament House, Canberra! Music: Count Us In (MCUI) is Australia s biggest school initiative, with more than 500,000 participating students from over 2,100 schools nationwide. This year Paint You A Song was cowritten by some Australian school students especially for the occasion. Senior Choir will be very busy sharing their music as the school year comes to a close. They will be performing at the following events. Sash Ferguson Aged Care Homes in Mt Barker on Friday 28 th November from 9.50am am. Students will walk to the venue from school after chapel and will return to classes at 10.30am. Choir Tour to the Barossa Valley on 1 st December (all day). Please note that students need to arrive at school early (by 8.30am) as the bus departs at 8.35am. School Chapel Service on Friday 5 th December at 9.00am Closing Service & Year 6 Graduation in Inbarendi at 7.00pm on Wednesday 10 th December Instrumental Lessons These are available at any time on piano, guitar, drums, flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone & violin. If you are interested in your child learning from one of our visiting specialist tutors, please fill in the enrolment form available from the front office. You will then be allocated a tutor who will contact you to arrange details. Enrolments can be made now to begin immediately or for the start of Thank you for your support of our Music program. Narelle Steffan

3 Bible Study Seminar Blessed Are the Peacemakers 15 th November am-3.30pm St Mark s Lutheran Church (Learn practical ways to live out your Christian faith, even in the face of conflict. Call Register today Presented by Rev Bruce Zagel Director of Reconciliation Ministries Lutheran Church of Australia Registration forms are available from the front office ST MARK S STUDENT Organised by our P&F YOU CAN DO IT Please find enclosed with this newsletter, a third handout on Getting Along, one of the five keys associated with the You Can Do It program. Please see reply slip included with this newsletter SWIMMING - RECEPTION-YEAR 4 Could parents please undertake to return their child s swimming consent form as a matter of urgency - thank you. NO FORM - NO SWIM!

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7 Let s Boogie! St Mark s Student Disco - Friday 28 th November Disco Reply Slip Junior (Rec to Yr 3) Disco 6-7pm Senior (Yr 4 Yr 6) Disco pm Please return the completed forms with money enclosed before Tuesday 25 th November **(Please do not sticky tape money to the reply slips, an envelope or snap lock bag would be appreciated). PARENT HELPERS Each disco requires 8 parent helpers if you are able to assist please return the completed form. Name: Mobile Number: I will be helping with the junior/senior disco (please circle) For further information please contact the school