St Peters Lutheran School Newsletter

Term 3 Issue 1 - 6 August 2020

From the Principal - Bronwyn Wilson

Parables and the Art of Communication

This term in Chapel, we are delving into some of the parables from Jesus’ teaching. The parables of Jesus make up a crucial part of the Bible. Jesus had the wisdom to simplify the profound spiritual truths he needed to share with humanity in the form of relatable stories that are easy to understand. A parable is a tale about a simple, common subject to illustrate a deeper, valuable moral lesson (https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/parables-of-jesus).

Jesus is the master of all things, communication included. According to Matthew, Jesus speaks in parables because the people did not see, hear and understand. We have all been in situations where we feel people are not seeing, hearing or understanding us. It is very frustrating!

Although most of us aren’t skilled enough to be able to talk in parables, there are ways of communicating that help others to see, hear and understand.

In Matthew 12:33-35 Jesus says, "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil."

In this passage Jesus speaks not about our ears or our mouths, but what’s in our hearts and how this is the basis of all our communication. The spirit of God helps change our hearts towards love, compassion and forgiveness, so this is what flows from our mouths (not all the time of course, but for those times there is forgiveness!)

Jesus communicated in various ways with his Father in Heaven and his followers. He used prayer as an essential way of communicating his heart with his Father. He was humble and truthful and always communicated out of compassion and love. The Bible is given to us so that we can model our behaviour on Jesus’, so if you want to know more go straight to the source!

One of the Approaches to Learning (ATL) in the PYP is Communication Skills. The ATLs are the skills in the IB framework that are explicitly taught to increase the student’s capacity to inquire. All students at St Peters Lutheran are learning to communicate based on biblical values and the explicit skills framework of the PYP – what a comprehensive approach!

Check your own communication skills and look to Jesus to give you the words to say!

Bronwyn Wilson, Principal

From the Chaplain - Alex Heberle

How wonderful it has been to be back in the Chapel and have parents attending at our weekly times of whole school worship! It doesn’t matter where we gather, or how many of us are there, God is still with us. But it has been a comfort to return to our Chapel time in a way that is familiar to us as a community.

This term in Chapel we are looking at the parables of Jesus. Sometimes these stories are fairly straight forward and Jesus’ message seems easy to grasp, but at other times the stories seem confusing and cryptic, and it makes me wonder why Jesus would choose to teach in this way. I believe that the Bible, and indeed the words of Jesus, are not something that we can read once and fully understand. The scriptures are designed to be pondered, re-read, meditated on, questioned, and journeyed through, for our entire lives.

That is why here at St Peters, students receive a children’s Bible when they start Reception. That is why I have started reading from the Jesus Storybook Bible each week with the ELC students. That is why here at St Peters, we invite you to ‘Grow with us’ as we grow in our knowledge and love of Jesus through our times of worship, in our classrooms, in our homes, in creation, and through the Word of God.

Deuteronomy 6:5-8 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Alex Heberle, Chaplain

From the PYP Coordinator - Nicolle Jakube

Who We Are - Unpacking the Transdisciplinary Themes

In the PYP, there are six transdisciplinary themes including:

  • Who we are
  • How we organise ourselves
  • Where we are in place and time
  • How we express ourselves
  • How the world works
  • Sharing the planet

 
Who we are is an inquiry into the nature of the self; belief and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities and cultures; rights and responsibilities and what it means to be human.


As with all transdisciplinary themes in the PYP ‘Who we are’ units of inquiry:

  • have global significance – for all students in all cultures
  • offer students the opportunity to explore the commonalities of human experience
  • incorporate the traditional subject areas in a way that transcends the barriers caused by teaching single subjects


Throughout their time at St Peters, our students engage with many ‘Who we are’ units of inquiry which offer opportunities and learning experiences to develop understanding about concepts such as:

  • Who they are as learners
  • Who we are in a learning community
  • Diversity, acceptance and understanding
  • How people can make an impact
  • Culture
  • The impact of thinking beyond ourselves
  • Goal setting
  • Wellbeing
  • Belonging

 

Our junior students inquire into how play helps us to learn, develop and make sense of our world.  They are learning about sharing, making and understanding rules, working in groups and negotiating. They are also working in community to learn about and create relationships and building tolerance and acceptance.

As our students move through school they learn about how people make effective decisions to manage challenges as they grow and change. While finding out more about themselves and peer pressure, our students explore strategies for maintaining relationships. They also reflect on how they have changed as individuals and as a group.

There are other parts of our school programme that contribute to an understanding of ‘Who we are’ at St Peters including Chapel, whole school and class meetings, iTime, Special Interest Groups and our buddy programme.  Our aim is that we are giving our students the skills to learn how to learn, to be tolerant and open minded and to be questioning and we believe these are the things we are seeing in our students grow in understanding who they are.

Nicolle Jakube, PYP Coordinator

St Peters Lutheran Reconciliation Action Plan

Our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) calls us to embrace reconciliation and live out the Lutheran Education Australia values of love, justice, compassion, forgiveness, service, humility, courage, hope, quality and appreciation.

We believe that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures are fundamental to who we are as Australians. Having been reconciled to God through Christ, we value, seek and take action to build reconciliation and mutually empowering relationships between all peoples.

As a place of education which influences the future, our vision is to actively work towards a reconciled Australia - a more respectful, knowledgeable, just community where all people in Australia walk alongside each other and where all First Nations People are and feel acknowledged and understood.

We aim to do this by engaging in rich, inclusive, ongoing and community minded teaching and learning of the devastating histories and ongoing impacts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dispossession since white settlement and the achievements and ongoing contributions of Australia's First Nations People to the world.

Our Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group - which includes students, staff, parents and community members, have worked with Monica Williams from the Association of Independent Schools of SA using the Narragunnawali platform to prepare our RAP.  This involved auditing our school through a reflective survey, developing a vision statement and undertaking 14 specific actions which will take place during the next 12 months, at which time a new RAP will be developed.  As a learning community, we feel very privileged to be part of Australia's  reconciliation journey.  If you would like to join the RAP Working Group, please let me know.  You would be most welcome.

Rebecca Geue

Congratulations


We are pleased to announce that Flynn McCue, (Year 7), has been accepted into Springbank Secondary College’s Basketball Academy starting in Year 8, 2021.  Flynn and his brother Campbell (currently attending the Academy) have attended St Peters since ELC and have shown commitment to the sport both at school, participating in SAPSASA and through district basketball with Sturt Sabres.

The Basketball Academy has links to Flinders University, Australian Science Maths School and will provide Flynn access to a high-performance basketball program with pathways to further studies and career opportunities in the sporting industry. 

If you are interested in the Basketball Academy for your child moving into high school, please contact Brendan Mann by email Brendan.Mann769@schools.sa.edu.au to register your interest.

Flynn with Brendan Mann, who heads up the Basketball Academy and is well known in Basketball playing for Australia and winning U23 gold medal.

Entertainment Membership 2020

Entertainment Memberships are now 100% digital. 

Printed entertainment books will no longer be produced and memberships will now be accessed via an app on your mobile phone. Digital memberships can start at anytime and are valid for 12 months from when activated. You can still share your membership with others, such as family, by having it on multiple devices. You can purchase online at http://www.entbook.com.au/161p031

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Alex L at ajlauterbach@icloud.com or 0408 848 933.

St Peters Lutheran School