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From the Principal’s Desk
LISTENING
Most parents want their children to listen to them - for advice, instruction and nurture. But it is also important for parents to listen to their children – though not for the same reasons! Perhaps one of the most important reasons for this springs from Jesus’ words in Matthew 12:34, “out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" (ISV). The essential principle here is that what comes out of our mouths reveals what is in our hearts – and this is true of ourselves and our children.
Sometimes young children prattle on about all sorts of things and teenagers sometimes express their strong opinions as they explore the boundaries – and it is easy for parents to become annoyed or switch off. Not everything children say will be right, but there’s usually some kind of internal logic. Whether what they say is right or wrong, important or unimportant, careful listening can reveal a lot about a child’s heart. Listening allows parents to figure out what's going on in a child’s mind and offer more truth where helpful or needed.
As one writer put it, “when you listen to your children talk, try to discern what may be distracting them from understanding the truth. Don’t feel like you have to point it out on the spot. Take time to listen and make mental notes of errors in their thinking. Look for creative ways to help them understand truth more fully.”
An accepting, safe, listening ear, often opens the heart in ways that nothing else can. As we listen to our children, we’ll learn about attitudes, dreams, goals, and commitments. Good or bad, time spent listening to our children gives us a greater sense of what’s going on inside, offering us ideas and direction about the heart change that’s needed.
TECHNOLOGY CENTRE BEGINS!
It is exciting to report that work on the site of the long-awaited Technology Centre has finally commenced. Heritage Council has contracted David Hackett as builder to begin work immediately following recent local Council approvals. The construction fences are up, trees are down and trenching for services and footings will be carried out in the coming holidays. The next issue of Heritage News will contain a full report with photos, drawings and plans – and how you can help with the final fit out.
Bro Andrew Johns
BIRDS IN THE BIBLE—
OWL:
“Babylon shall no more be inhabited for ever … and the owls shall dwell therein.”
Jeremiah 50:39
IN THIS EDITION Vanuatu Appeal
Father’s Breakfast
Mighty May Makeover
UP & COMING EVENTS until next newsletter God willing:
WEEK 10
Wednesday 1 April
Sports Day—St Albans Reserve, Turner Avenue, Enfield
Term 1 No 5 | 31 March 2015
ADVANCE NOTICE
MOTHER’S DAY STALL
Friday May 8 God willing
See page 10 for more details
NAPLAN INFORMATION
Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will again be participating in national literacy and numeracy testing next term from 12-15 May. There is an information sheet from the assessment authority ACARA attached to this newsletter.
VANUATU APPEAL
We held a whole school presentation this morning to consider the devastation suffered by our brothers and sisters in Vanuatu recently. Past student, Hannah Taylor, vividly described the effect on our Vanuatu community in both loss of housing and livelihood and then the students all had an opportunity to place the money they had saved on a map of Vanuatu—together we raised $2,373.60. What a fantastic effort! We will have a donation box at Sports Day for any parents or students who would like to further contribute to this very great need.
GENERAL NEWS OPEN DAY
Please note May 21 in your diary as our annual Open Day. This year, the whole school will be involved and open for visitors during the afternoon. There will be no evening session as all the Secondary classes will be open during the afternoon. More details will be available at the start of next term.
CAR PARKING
On some afternoons, the car park arrangements are working well, but at other times, there is still some congestion. To make it work smoothly every day, we need two things to happen. Firstly, we need more parents to delay their pickup until 3:30 pm or 3:35 pm. At this time, everyone will either be able to easily access the Quick Pickup area or a short term park. The other thing that will help is for parents not to arrive for pick up until 3:20 pm – this is the earliest time students will be available for pick up. We also remind all parents that for safety and legal reasons, no vehicles should park on the western side of Heritage Court (which is not our property). Below is a copy of the car parking guidelines sent to all parent previously: General Car Park Expectations & Guidelines The following guidelines are in place to ensure the safety of all who use the car park. Everyone who uses the car park (including
adults) is expected to use the crossings when crossing the roadways.
There is to be no running in the car park area. Children are not to play in the car park area
and its surrounds. The car park is supervised by a teacher from
3:20 – 3:40 pm. All children should be collected in this period. Any children remaining after 3:40 pm will be asked to wait in the main foyer area until their parents come.
In addition to a teacher supervisor, there are often parent and student helpers who monitor the crossings. Please follow all instructions given by any of these.
UNIFORM SHOP
A reminder that Term 2 is the start of wearing our winter uniform. Please ensure you have what you need for your children as all students are expected to be in full winter uniform for the start of the term. If you have any queries or wish to place an order, please send an email to [email protected] or call the school on 8266 5122.
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Gore
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FATHER’S BREAKFAST It was great to see many dads and some grandfathers at our annual Fathers’ Breakfast on Friday 20 March! A delicious breakfast and an opportunity to engage with other dads was thoroughly enjoyed before they headed for classrooms and involved themselves in a typical start to their children’s school day. The children loved it! Our warm appreciation to all those who were able to come, and to Tamar Stone and her helpers for organising the food.
PRINCIPAL’S AWARDS
At the Primary assembly each Friday, some students are presented with a Principal’s Award in acknowledgement of their excellent work, effort or good character during the week.
Congratulations to the following students who have received awards:
Reception
Leah Archer for blending sounds to make words
Jethro Beard for great progress in Maths and Reading
Charlotte Hall for developing good word blending skills
Aaron Risley for developing good word blending skills
Year 2
Laura Evans very thoughtful work in Written Language
Ari Hauser for putting effort into all of his school work and doing extra work while away
Year 3
Deborah Beale for exceptionally neat and accurate bookwork
Tyler Jeffress for always working diligently in class and lovely manners
Maddy McAllister for being cheerful in class
Timothy Risley for getting faster with his work in the mornings
Jachin Steele for being on time and prepared for his lessons and neat bookwork
Year 5
Arabella Law for completing the spelling contract in Week 8
Annesley Farren for achieving 10 class merit awards
YEAR 7 CHESS
Last Tuesday, the Year Seven class enjoyed the last of six chess lessons with our expert tutor Mato Jelic. At the beginning of each session, Mato taught us some cunning game strategies, which was followed by a series of swift knock-out competitions. This year, the results of the competition were: Wilby Bell in first place, followed by Daisy Mansfield, who also took the best girl player prize. Danny Kim was closely behind in third position, and Samuel Munaro was
PRIMARY NEWS awarded the fair play and sportsmanship award. A small ceremony that included the giving of gifts, certificates and a somewhat subdued applause concluded our chess sessions for this term, which we thoroughly enjoyed.
A timely reminder to anyone interested in chess that we meet weekly on Thursdays in Uncle Dan’s room during lunch.
If you would like to benefit from Mato’s excellent chess instruction, or try your own skills against a challenging online chess program, or just purchase any chess supplies, you can view his webpage online at www.chessschool.com.au.
BOOK WEEK 2015
Books Light Up Our World
This is an advance notice to let you know that our special day for Term 3 will be a dress-up parade for Book Week. The date for this will be August 21st, God willing – please save this date in your diary so you can come to one of the main highlights of the Primary school year! More details to follow, next term.
YEAR 7 SCIENCE
After the trial and excitement of the egg drop practicals, students enjoyed some fresh air at the Roy Amer Reserve. They had an opportunity to use their senses to find the names of the various birds using the plaques that are around the ponds and then determine foot structure / function correlations for their habitats. Students learned why a particular shape and size is useful to a bird for the particular function it does - simple but
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HEBREW NEWS
Passover or Pesach is one of three pilgrim festivals. This festival is celebrated to commemorate the liberation of the people of Israel by God from slavery in ancient Egypt that followed the ten plagues. Passover commences on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Nisan (spring time) and lasts for seven days. The festival starts with a Seder meal in which the story of the liberation is read from a book called Haggda God had commanded the .(in Hebrew)הגדה Israelites to eat unleavened bread on Passover night because when King Pharaoh freed the people of Israel, they were to leave in such a hurry that they could not wait for the bread dough to rise if they used leaven. Therefore, one of the main customs during Passover is to eat flat unleavened bread called Matzah. This week, as part of our activities for Passover, some of our classes were engaged in making a Pyramid model.
relevant when considering engineering designs from the Great Engineer.
HERITAGE COLLEGE JUNIOR
CRICKET
Last Saturday the Heritage Juniors played against St Paul’s Lutheran School at Heritage College Oval. Heritage batted first and scored 4/99 and then St Paul’s scored 6/67 so we won by 32 runs.
Josiah Luke top scored with 29 including 2 fours and 1 six followed by Remi Wigzell and Nathanael Smith both with 14 runs. With the ball Hugh Mansfield was the best with 2/9 off 3 overs. Congratulations to Heritage on a good win! Thank you to Uncle Sam Mansfield for scoring and Uncle Jamin Wigzell for coaching the team and a big thank you to all the parents for their on-going support. This was the last match for this term - cricket resumes in Term 4 God willing.
Uncle Brett Arnold, Super Coach
PRIMARY NEWS
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YEAR 3 NEWS
Our Year 3s had a an exciting experience visiting the Botanic Gardens and learning about the Aboriginal Food Trail. They learned that over half of their food source once came from plants and it was the task of the women to collect the food. Here are some photos and recounts:
PRIMARY NEWS
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Brown
SACE ART SHOW
The SACE Art Show, held from 21 March to 29 April 2015 in the Light Square Gallery, Adelaide College of the Arts, showcased selected art and design work created by Year 12 Visual Arts students in 2014.
The art work on display ranged from traditional painting and drawing to innovative multimedia works. Our Year 11 and 12 Visual Arts students recently visited the Show to examine a range of styles and techniques used by some of South Australia’s most talented Year 12s in 2014.
PRIMARY NEWS SECONDARY NEWS
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Laura Case
Ruby Luke
of the unknown that generates such ungracious actions.
But how does our loving Heavenly Father see difference? He delights in it! The beauty of creation is seen in its diversity. The difference between God and man is that He is not swayed by appearances (1Sam.16:7), He looks beyond the outward to what is within. It was always His intention to save the world, not just His chosen nation. The beauty of the new creation, the ecclesia, is it’s diversity. Paul, when writing to the Corinthians, rejoices in the diversity of the members of the body, that each have their different parts to play but work together to form a unified body (1Cor.12). This is the great secret of the unity of the ecclesia – not that everyone becomes the same, but that our differences are utilised to work towards a common cause. What we must remember is that it is God who sets every member in their correct place! (1Cor.12:18). The famous quote from Paul, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal.3:28), does not mean that we are the same – it means that our differences are valued and used in the Lord’s service because we are bound as one with a purpose greater than ourselves. There is only one seed, says Paul, and that is Christ (Gal.3:16); by baptism into that one seed we become part of the greater work of Jesus. In this way, we become one with the
Father and the Son (Jn.17:20-23).
Many people who are fearful of others are not fearful because they have any sense of resentment towards them, but because they’re not sure how to go about communicating with them and also because they fear that their own little ‘cocoon of protection’ might be threatened. At a very basic level, we should treat others with the same degree of respect as we would like to be treated ourselves. We should embrace our differences, not be afraid of them and we should never judge a person on our first impression which is often about how he or she looks. This is not to say that we should tolerate differences in doctrine – this is clearly not the case. What God says is right is right, and what He says is wrong, is wrong. However, taking the time to get to know the person within is a far better indicator than pre-judging them on appearances alone. Communication is the key.
Communication isn’t simply about talking. In fact, some of the best communicators on the world stage tend to be less ‘vocal’ than we might think they’d need to be to be effective communicators.
Despite this so-called “enlightened age” in which we live, the world is only a fraction closer to the social harmony it so desperately seeks than it was in the 1960s. People still fear difference, and racial, religious or social tension of some sort is reported almost every day in the media. C. Joybell wrote, “The downfall of the attempts of governments and leaders to unite mankind is found in this - in the wrong message that we should see everyone as the same. This is the root of the failure of harmony. Because the truth is, we should not all see everyone as the same! We are not the same!”
The world is trying to pigeonhole or box everyone into the same pattern or shape under the guise of individual rights and tolerance of difference. The reality is that the world is intolerant of anyone that doesn’t fit their mould and it is working overtime to convert as many people as possible to its thinking. As a result, many people put up barriers to protect themselves instead of opening themselves up to others. This, in turn, leads to a mistrust of others and, on a global scale, this is often borne out in the wars that we see in the world around us and in an increase in terrorist activities. We all know that these kinds of responses only fuel further mistrust; and yet, even in our own immediate environments, we all tend to congregate in our little groups, sometimes without giving much thought to others around us.
We can see this in our children. They feel comfortable around those who think and act the same as them. They tend to exclude, even unintentionally, those who are different from them. At Heritage College we have a number of students with learning disabilities. Unfortunately, some of these students act in ways that can seem a little unusual and as a result their peers sometimes steer away from them. Occasionally, their peers may even laugh at them or discourage each other from mixing with them. It is often fear
COUNSELLING CORNER
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Kofi Annan, who used to hold one of the world’s most powerful positions when it came to mediating between different countries often with major differences in opinion, was good at what he did because he was a good listener and, in effective communication, it’s listening that’s often the key.
Gloria E. Anzaldúa once said, “Traveller, there are no bridges, one builds them as one walks”.
Take time to listen to other’s opinions and acknowledge them and also be confident to express your own. Listening to the opinions of others doesn’t mean you have to deviate from your own firmly held viewpoint, although a diverse opinion to your own can sometimes make you think about things in a different light. This is all part of a maturing of the mind. It’s not about convincing others that you are right or about them convincing you that they’re right, but simply a matter of being understood and an acceptance that you might agree to disagree.
The wise man outlines how to deal with differences (Prov.18 ESV): 1. Listen – “If one gives an answer before he
hears, it is his folly and shame” (v.13). 2. Get all the facts – “An intelligent heart
acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge” (v.15).
3. Examine all points of view – “The one who states his case first seems right, until the
other comes and examines him” (v.17).
And what is the reason for doing all this? “A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarrelling is like the bars of a castle” (v.19). We don’t want to offend our brother, rather we want to restore him in unity despite our differences (Rom.14:13; note
Matt.5:23-24).
In the end, Paul says it best, “Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.” (1Cor.8:13 ESV). Let’s go out of our way to accommodate our differences, for surely we want to save our
brother for whom Christ died (1Cor.8:11).
“Be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in Yahweh.”
(Psa.31:24) Graeme Shugg
MOTHER’S DAY STALL
An early reminder that the P&F will be running a Mother's Day Stall early next term! We would appreciate all Primary students donating a gift towards this stall. Gifts will be priced between $2 and $10 and can be brought to the Front Desk as soon as possible. The students have loved this stall over the last few years and it's great to encourage them to show appreciation for their mothers! The stall will be held on Friday 8 May God willing.
NEXT P&F MEETING
The P&F meeting for Term 2 is scheduled for Monday 4 May at 7:30 pm in the Staff Room at the College (God willing). It would be great to have you along!
EXCITING NATURE PLAY PROJECT The planning for the new nature play area for our Junior Primary students is now underway! A small working group interested in developing a nature play area at Heritage met last week to start initial discussions and planning.
It is not too late to join this group. If you have an interest in landscape design or a knowledge of plants and shrubs or just ideas for a nature play area, please get involved. Simply email P&F President Steve McGeorge ([email protected]) or Jill Davis ([email protected]) to register your interest and request a copy of the minutes of the last meeting.
The next meeting of this planning group is scheduled for Tuesday 28th April (Term 2, Week
2) at 7:30pm.
We are keen to gather as many ideas as possible and thought the holiday period would be a great time for you to seek out or even visit other established nature play areas and bring your ideas and research along to share at the next meeting.
P&F NEWS
THE MIGHTY MAY MAKEOVER
Saturday 9 May, 9:30am – 1:30pm (God willing)
Join the family fun and be part of this great autumn clean up. The P&F will be working closely with the College to give our school a makeover. Join the team of your choice – and make a difference. Jobs of all shapes and sizes – gardening, weeding, spraying, pruning, cleaning, fixing - something for everyone. We are really encouraging everyone to come with their families – Secondary students can join one of the teams, while Primary-aged students will be occupied with small jobs and activities in the Gym. Lunch will be provided.
If you would like any more details, please phone the P&F President Steve McGeorge (0429 042 823) or George Mitsos at the College (8266 5122).
To help with organisation, please try to be there at the start. If you are able to come, please notify us of how many are coming for catering purposes either by email: [email protected] or phone: 8266 5122. See you there!
P&F NEWS COUNCIL NEWS Below is a very brief summary of some of the matters considered by Council when they met on Monday 23rd March:
The Balanced Scorecard for the 2014 year was reviewed. There has been an important focus on professional development by the teachers. NAPLAN results and other indicators of school achievement were good. Heritage College has been recognised as one of several non-government schools in SA for its achievements in teacher development and student outcomes.
Council gave final approval for the contract with Brother David Hackett to build the Technical Studies building.
The results of the recent external financial audit were reviewed and it was noted that that Heritage College systems and financial management were given a positive rating. The tender for audit services was discussed.
A report was received on the initial progress of the 20th year anniversary committee.
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Mighty May Makeover
Parents!!!
Then this workshop is for you!
The Parents and Grandparents
Growth Mindset Workshop Thursday 14th May at 2:15pm
in Room 12
We will discuss how we can grow our brains and
improve our learning through the development of
a growth mindset.
We will also share strategies that will help your
child become a more effective learner to achieve
higher outcomes.
Bookings can be made here or you are welcome to
ring the school on 8266 5122.
See you there!
Heritage College · PO Box 371, Oakden SA 5086 · [email protected] · Ph. 8266 5122
HERITAGE CONTACTS
PRIMARY CLASS TEACHERS
Primary classes, teachers and their contact details for 2015, God willing, are as follows:
Reception Heather Pillion:
Year R/1 Jesslyn Witton:
Year 1 Wendy Newton:
Year 2 Emma Yuile:
Year 3 Sue Lomman: [email protected]
Year 4 Joanna Weedon:
Year 5 Brett Arnold:
Year 6 Sarah Kemp:
Year 7 Jason Hauser
SECONDARY HOME GROUP TEACHERS
Home Group classes, teachers and their contact details for 2015, God willing, are as follows:
Year 8 David Knight:
Year 9 Chris Ryan:
Year 10 Tim Badger:
Year 11A Jason Bobis:
Year 11B Vit Jurevicius: [email protected]
Year 12 Evan Franco: [email protected]
For issues related to academic progress or general behaviour, please contact: Tim Badger for Years 8-10 ([email protected]) or Evan Franco for Years 11-12 ([email protected]). For special learning support needs, contact Graeme Shugg ([email protected]).
UNIFORM SHOP OPENING HOURS
Monday afternoons 3:00—3:30 pm
Friday mornings 8:30—9:00 am
NOTIFICATION OF STUDENT
ABSENCES, BUS CHANGES & ALL
FRONT DESK ENQUIRIES
