St Peters Lutheran School Newsletter

"Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.'" Luke 2:13-14 (NLT)

Tis' the season to be merry... and stressed. Although it should be a season of peace, this month can often make us feel more tangled up inside than a messy string of Christmas lights. Some people dread the hustle, bustle, and emotional rustle this time of year brings, knowing that irritability, loneliness, or depression will threaten. While there are others who may love the Christmas season, but worry, busyness, family conflicts, and unmet expectations take their toll. In either case, we have a decision. We can choose to get bogged down with stress or we can choose to bow down in worship. Keeping Christ in Christmas is more than just a cliché. It is an intentional act of worship. It requires a heart of adoration, much like the angels had. When Jesus is the focus of our holiday, we're centred on His love, peace, and joy. There will be lots of choices to be made during the month of December: where to serve, what gifts to buy, and how many events to attend. The most important choice we can make is to worship and sing praises to our Lord. For His gift. For His love. For His peace. (www.proverbs31.org)

Many blessings as you finish the school year and prepare for the celebration of Christ’s birth. From everyone here at St Peters, we thank you for your love, generosity and kindness displayed this year as we navigated 2020 together as a community. We look forward to seeing you all again in the New Year.

Kind regards

Bronwyn

At the end of 2020, we say goodbye to four staff members who have served our school faithfully and with dedication and passion.

Penny Rawinski

After 16 years of teaching at St Peters Lutheran, Penny Rawinski has accepted a job teaching PE at Annesley Junior School. Penny started as a classroom teacher and has had many roles within the school since. Her contributions to PE, Out of School Hours Sport, Sapsasa and developing a passion in the children for healthy living has been a wonderful asset to our school. We know Penny will excel at whatever she turns her hand to. She will be dearly missed here at St Peters, but we are excited that this new opportunity will bring for her both personal and professional growth. We will formally say farewell to Penny at our end of year celebrations.

Sarah Smith

Mrs Sarah Smith, who has been at St Peters Lutheran School for the last 15 years, has accepted a position as a Learning Support Teacher in the Early Years at Good Shepherd Lutheran School. Sarah is passionate about working in Learning Support and this job is a fabulous opportunity that will allow her to follow this passion in a different capacity. We will miss Sarah at St Peters but know this opportunity will grow her professionally and personally. Congratulations to Sarah! We will miss you, but know God has great plans for you. 

Diana Gaskell

We congratulate Mrs Diana Gaskell on the announcement of her retirement at the end of the 2020 school year.  Diana has served as an educator for 45 years with the last eleven as the Director of our ELC. 

Diana has made a lasting impact on our school. Her loving, caring nature is evident in all her relationships with all members of our school community.  The children in her care have always felt special, valued and empowered.  Her warm and welcoming nature has made the ELC a very special place to learn and grow.

Diana is very much looking forward to travelling around Australia in her caravan and spending more time with her loved ones, including her grandchildren.

We wish Diana all the best and look forward to seeing many photos of her adventures around our amazing country!

Paris Smith

Paris Smith has been working at St Peters Lutheran as a co-educator and more recently as the Acting Director of SPLOSHC. Paris has made lasting relationships with the children, staff and families at our school and will be missed! Paris will continue to study a Bachelor of Psychology and has accepted a position at Head Start Intervention Service - a job that aligns closely with her university study.

Our prayers are with each of you as you begin a new journey in 2021!

Reflection is essential and it transforms a classroom from simply covering content to being focused on the process of learning. The PYP is a reflective place, where thoughtful considerations of issues, problems and successes is valued. Reflection is an important part of the learning process for teachers and students. To reflect, we begin to look back at this year, which has been challenging but has also been filled with moments of joy, excitement, discovery, student ownership and leadership.

The teachers, who I have had the pleasure to work alongside, are dedicated, supportive, caring and passionate about their work. They have worked to make this year successful for students across the school. We have seen this in the inquiries that have been planned and the tireless efforts to coordinate camps, sleepovers, student-led conferences and daily experiences. Thankful for each and everyone in our team.

There are many things to reflect on from the year that was 2020. One of the biggest for me has been student voice. We have always valued our students and their thoughts and opinions through whole school and class meetings and senior leadership. We embraced this more as our students were empowered to study their passions through iTime, discovery tables and the PYPX. The students were more vocal, empowered, engaged and motivated. Of course, our students have been and will always be encouraged to have a voice — it is a matter of noticing their increased confidence, capabilities and skills as they harnessed agency. With a more active voice has come deeper learning  and belief in themselves. Thank you to our students and their love of learning and for not giving up when things don't go to plan and you just have to keep inquiring. 

I am grateful for this year and how when things are challenging they are also an opportunity to become innovative and creative as we embraced online learning and everything that comes with it.

I thank all of my colleagues, parents, students and members of our beautiful community at St Peters. It has been a challenging year, but a great year. I hope when you look back and reflect you too can find the joy, experiences and memories. 

Bring on 2021! New year, new discoveries, new opportunities in STEM and Japanese, new learning - can’t wait!

Nicolle Jakube, PYP Coordinator