Issue 2 2012.pdf - St George Christian School

ST GEORGE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
INFANTS • JUNIOR • MIDDLE • SENIOR NEWS
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…”
Hebrews 12:1-2a
FROM THE PRINCIPAL
From The Principal
Excellence in Teaching
Issue 2 - 9 Issue March, 3 - 2012 3 April 2011
This year a position focussed on teaching development - Director of Teaching Development & Accreditation - has
been created. Mrs Sue Godfrey, who for a number of years has overseen the NSW Institute of Teachers’ (NSWIT) New
Scheme teachers program for SGCS, has been appointed to this position and now oversees teaching development
K-12, with a focus on developing best classroom teaching practice. With UNSW Gerric (Gifted Education) post
graduate qualifications, Mrs Godfrey has over 20 years teaching and leadership experience and serves on the Christian
Schools Australia (CSA) Teacher Accreditation Committee. This committee is responsible for assessing applications from
educators within the CSA sector of NSW schools for NSWIT Professional Accomplishment and Professional Leadership
levels. The aim of this new position is to work directly with teaching staff, Faculty Coordinators and Heads of Department
to enhance teaching practice.
SGCS is committed to excellence in teaching and will continue to invest heavily in staff professional development
directed at what makes a difference - classroom teaching.
Mrs Godfrey will also oversee the delivery of various Gifted & Talented and extension (‘Horizons’) programs within
the school. SGCS provides a range of support programs to students who need particular help with their learning. The
academically highly capable have their own unique set of challenges and I am delighted we are able to provide
focussed support for them too. The way this is expressed is different as children grow and develop, and the means we
use are detailed on the school’s website, under ‘Extension and Support’ within each Department.
Joy In Learning
Sometimes learning is an absolute joy, full of fun and discovery. Sometimes it is sheer hard work. Joy in learning can
come from the satisfaction that arises after the work is done - when mastery of a skill or concept is achieved. Our Year
12 students are approaching their half yearly exams and will sacrifice aspects of their life to attend to study. While
sacrifice is not normally much fun, achieving a personal best result can be deeply satisfying.
Research in neuroscience and cognitive psychology has revealed, as our experience confirms, that people are more
likely to learn and to remember if intrinsically motivated and emotionally engaged. In classroom settings this is achieved
if all students are expected to learn successfully, are highly engaged and feel safe and supported in their learning.
Settings that create undue stress or a fear of failure have been shown to impede learning and memory.
Students who believe they are capable of learning, who have positive views about themselves as learners, are more
likely to learn successfully.
Personal Christian Faith and Growth Towards Maturity
Close to our hearts and embedded in the school’s Mission Statement is the hope that our students will ‘taste and see
that the Lord is good’ that they will ultimately trust the God revealed perfectly to us in the life of Jesus Christ, and that
this trust will mature as they mature and take their place in society.
We see in Jesus a life fully, wonderfully and maturely lived.
Our various programs which explore the bible, the life of Jesus and the implications of this for our own lives, reflect our
hope to see our students move toward this maturity.
James Honor
Principal
Equipping Your Child For Life

Whole School News
DATES TO REMEMBER
DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. PLEASE CHECK THE
WEBSITE AND DEPARTMENT NOTES FOR UPDATES
13/03/2012 Yrs 7 - 12 CSSA Hockey Gala Day
15/03/2012 Yr 7 Excursion to the Zoo
16/03/2012 Yr 7 - 12 Cross Country Carnival - Carss Bush Park
22/03/2012 CIS Swimming Carnival
23/03/2012 Hurstville Campus Open Day
26/03/2012 Halogen Foundation Young Leaders Day
26/3/2012 Year 12 Exams commence
26-28/3/2012 Year 4 Camp
29/03/2012 Year 7 2013 Information Evening
30/03/2012 Year 5 Leadership Day - Bundeena
2/04/2012 Junior School Parent Teacher Interviews
Year 10 Work Experience commences
Yrs 3 - 6 Cross Country Practice
3/04/2012 Junior School Parent Teacher Interviews
3-5/4/2012 Yrs 7, 9 and 11 Camp
4/04/2012 Junior School performing at Fusion
Yr 7, 2013 Scholarship Exam
5/04/2012 Yrs 3 - 6 Cross Country Carnival
Last Day Term 1
24/4/2012 First Day Term 2
TUESDAY MORNINGS (School Terms)
from 9.00AM - 9.30AM
If you believe that prayer is important in the life
of a Christian school, please consider joining us in
the main Administration building for all, or part of
this time.
Our purpose is to pray for our school, teachers,
children and the events in the life our the school.
If you have any questions please contact
Dr Julie Stevenson on 0414 515 437.
“Let us then approach the throne of grace with
confidence...” Hebrews 4:16
HURSTVILLE CAMPUS OPEN DAY
INFANTS CAMPUS OPEN DAY
DISCLAIMER
St George Christian School does not represent, sponsor or endorse any of the advertisements contained in this newsletter, nor the quality of
any product, information or other materials displayed, purchased or obtained by you as a result of an advertisement in this newsletter.

Whole School News
STRONG
HEARTS
STRONG
MINDS
Workshop and Seminar Program 2012
St George Christian School
Strong Hearts – Strong Minds
Workshop and Seminar
Program 2012
Equipping your Child for Life
W2: Survive & Thrive – Building resilience in your children
Term 2, Week 3 – Thursday 10 May 2012, 9am-12pm
S1: What is Happening to Our Boys
Guest Speaker: Maggie Hamilton
Term 2 Week 5 - Thursday 24 May, 2012, 7-9pm
W3: Sticks and Stones – how to bully-proof children
Term 3 Week 3 – Thursday 2 August 2012, 9am-12pm
W4: Birds & the Bees - talking to your child about sex
Term 3 Week 6 – Thursday 23 August 2012, 9am-12pm
We’d love to have your feedback about the
2011 SGCS Yearbook.
Please click on the ‘Yearbook 2011 Feedback’
button on the front page of our website to give
us your feedback via a simple online form (or if
you’re reading this newsletter online, click on this
link).
Thank you for your help!
S2: Men of Honour: Improving the wellbeing of young men.
Guest Speaker Glen Gerreyn
Term 4 Week 4 - Thursday 1 November, 2012, 7-9pm
Cost $20 per workshop or seminar
Venue: Hall, St George Christian School Hurstville Campus,
Entrance to the Hall via Woids Avenue
RSVP: 95472311
2012 - 2013 ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS
Pre-order the new 2012 | 2013 Entertainment Books from St George Christian School
today and receive over $180 in additional offers!
We are pleased to announce that we will be selling the new 2012 | 2013 Sydney and Sydney North Entertainment
Books as a fund-raiser for St George Christian School. Entertainment Books are packed with hundreds of up to 50% off
and 2-for-1 offers for the best restaurants, cafes, hotel accommodation, attractions and activities.
The new Books are only $65 each, and you'll receive $15,000 worth of valuable offers valid until 1 June 2013, so you can
choose what you want to do and when you want to do it.
$13 from your Book purchase will help raise funds for Shade Sails for our school’s new hall terrace!
Books will be available from mid-April and will be despatched within 7 days of their availability.
ORDER YOUR NEW ENTERTAINMENTTM BOOK NOW
Order your new Entertainment Book via our secure online order page at:
https://www.entertainmentbook.com.au/orderbooks/2040y21

Infants
PARENT MEETINGS
Our Parent Information Evening was a time for parents to be introduced to staff, hear what happens in their
child’s classroom, in Infants assemblies and events.
After visiting their child’s classroom, parents chatted with staff, and old and new friends during supper.
An afternoon Q&A session was held at Infants with Megan Powys, Head of Infants and Kath Craft, School
Counselor. Future sessions may be scheduled as the need arises.
ON LEAVE
Mrs Powys will be on leave from Monday 5 March 2012. We ook forward to her return in Term 2. In her absence
Mrs Rosemary Powell and Mrs Margaret Gordon will be Acting Head of the Infants Department in a joint
capacity.
KINDERGARTEN
Kindergarten children are thoroughly enjoying their Friday sessions with Mr Archer. It is lovely to see the way they
attend to his every word.
YEAR 1
Children in Year 1 can be seen coming to school with various bugs they have captured while
studying minibeasts.
In conjunction with their studies, during Week 6, Year 1 children will watch butterflies hatch from
pupae and will also sell butterfly badges to raise money for the Deafness Foundation.
YEAR 2
Children in Year 2 will visit the Taronga Zoo on Monday 2 April. More information to come later.
Children in 2S wrote some lovely cinquains. Here are a few examples -
LION
Strong, clever
stalking, pouncing, eating
proud as a King
Wow!
by Zoe Markopoulos
LION
Strong, dangerous
attacking, sprinting, devouring
gold like the susnet
Awesome!
By Zane Thomas
TIGER
Black stripes
running, jumping, stalking
munching happily on
gazelles
Beware!
By Justin Mishevski
CHEETAH
Powerful, fast
prowling, eating, tearing
Fast as a bullet
Wow!
by Max James
Traffic
A reminder to parents that in the mornings and afternoons outside of the
school fence is a 2 minute pick up and drop off zone. Parents may leave
their car to assist their children but cannot walk away and leave their car
unattended. If everyone adheres to this, there will be a smooth drop off and
pick up of children.
U turns are not permitted in the school zone.

Junior School
2012
During our Week 5 assembly, the Student Representative Council for 2012 were presented with their badges.
The following students have been elected by their class peers:
3F Edmund Pfahlert Elizabeth Chung
3J Zachary Kiriakos Poppy Benn
4H Keira Gatenby Kaiden Wark
4R Keegen Wallis Lucy Yeung
5A Joy Anugerah Joshua Ko
5B Peter Kagelaris Caroline Dzajkovski
This position of responsibility will help students develop their leadership skills.
SRC members will run meetings in their classes and then take issues raised from there to the SRC meeting.
They will meet fortnightly with Miss Henderson to discuss relevant issues affecting the Junior School community,
will work together to organise fundraising events and liaise with their peers and staff throughout this process.
Miss Henderson hopes to encourage this core group of students to put the needs of others before their own and
look for opportunities to serve others in our local community and overseas.
Congratulations and thank you to these students for taking on this important role in our Junior School
community!

Junior School
To celebrate the beginning of the National Year of
Reading, Mrs Orrock is holding a photo competition
for all Junior School classes. Students have been asked
to get a parent to take a photo of them reading their
favourite book in an unusual place and then bring it
into school.
Here are some photos that have been taken so far
and students can view all the photos Mrs Orrock has
displayed in the Hub. Mrs Barnes will be judging the
best entry.
Check out the National Year of Reading website:
www.love2read.org.au
There will be other things happening throughout the
year so 'Get caught reading'!

Years 3-6 Sport
Swimming Carnival
The Years 3-6 Swimming Carnival was held
on Friday 10 March with a lot of noise and
enthusiasm from all houses.
Roselands Swimming pool was an excellent
venue and allowed all spectators to see
the races well and excitedly cheer on the
competitors excitedly.
One of the highlights of the day was the
teacher/parent/student relay which was hotly
contested.
Congratulations to the Year 9 boys team who
beat an all male parent team followed by the
mixed teacher’s team. The Year 6 students
swam brilliantly but were suffering from very tired
arms and bodies from a busy day.
The winning house for the day was - BLUE
The age champions for the carnival were:
Junior Boys – Kaiden Wark
Junior Girls – Tiahna Sortwell
Senior Boys – Brennan Sortwell
Senior Girls – Kiara Wark
Congratulations to the following students who
broke school records on the day:
Tiahna Sortwell – Junior Girls 200m Individual
Medley
Kiara Wark –Senior Girls 200m Individual Medley
Brennan Sortwell – Senior Boys 200m Individual
Medley
Zone Swimming Carnival
The Southern Metropolitan Zone Swimming
Carnival was held on Monday 20 February at
Prairiewood Leisure Centre.
This was a very successful day for our swimmers
who performed brilliantly.
Our school was placed second on overall points
for the carnival.
Congratulations to the following students who
will be competing at the CSSA Carnival:
Brennan Sortwell, Tiahna Sortwell, Kiara Wark,
Kaiden Wark and Kyla Shannon.

Middle School
Over the past fortnight we have spent time considering leadership, examining the qualities of effective
leaders, exploring what godly leadership looks like, and identifying how best to lead oneself. Each student
presented their thoughts on leadership before their Home Room class, a fine act of service in itself.
Staff were encouraged, and sometimes surprised, by the reflections shared and the courage displayed.
We have chosen two students from each class to represent their peers on the Middle School SRC and one
student to be on our Middle School Leadership Team from each class.
Middle School Leaders:
6S
6K
7C
7D
7L
8K
8M
8T
Matthew Wilson
Gabriel Jessop-Smith
Caroline Edwards
Paul Jennings
Alexandra Clark
Noah Moynihan
Carise Ong
Josephine Anugerah
Middle School SRC:
6K Samantha Payne Patrick Newman
6S Kobe Shannon Brennan Sortwell
7C Kevin Xie Benjamin Mich
7D Vourneen Canning Adrienne Poulos
7L Isabella De Rieve Lachlan Ilievski
8K Laura Richardson Grace Geldard
8M Rachel Sherwen Kimberley Chung
8T Ashleigh Ford Jessica Anderson
SPEECH AND DRAMA AWARDS
The number of students undertaking Speech and Drama lessons, and who benefit from Mrs Kate Murray’s
expertise continues to grow every year. In their examinations with the International Music Examinations Board
(IMEB) last year, these students achieved the following ourt standing results in Speech and Drama:
Lachlan Fraser A+ Grade 2 High Distinction
Samantha Payne A+ Grade 1 High Distinction
Isabella Pfahlert A+ Grade 1 High Distinction
Zara Dobbie A Grade 2
Yianni Melas A Grade 4
Ethan Bergan A Grade 3
Ashley Kasper A Grade 4
Laura Richardson A Grade 4
Lindsey Stevens A Grade 4
Curtis Kassianou B Pre-Grade 3
Isabel Kassianou B Grade 3
Anabelle Evagelatos A Grade 2
Diana Melas A Grade 2
Natasha Paras A Grade 1
Sabrina Mijovski A Grade 1
Louiza Cassimatis A Grade 2
Emily Stevenson A Grade 1
Thomas Eveleigh A Grade 1
Joshua Madden A Grade 2
Elly Berbeniuk A Grade 1

Middle School
PARENT INFORMATION EVENING AND AFTERNOON
Thank you for joining us for the Year 6 and 7 Parent Information evening and
the Year 8 Parent Information afternoon. We trust you found these sessions
informative and that you enjoyed meeting with your child’s Home Room
Teacher.
Please do not wait for a formal occasion to touch base with any of the staff.
They are available to meet with you at any time throughout the year.
Kiama Excursion by Sam Craft (8M)
On 16 February, Year 8 travelled to Kiama on a Science
excursion for our unit on Geology.
The aim of the day was to prepare for our assignment due
shortly after the excursion. This assignment required us to
create a photo essay on the geological features of the
South Coast.
The first place we went to was "Sublime Point Lookout". We
had an amazing view over the whole of Wollongong and
beyond, which we would travel to later in the day.
At the lookout we noticed the lichen growing all over the
rocks down the escarpment to Austinmer Beach below, a
spectacular view!
Some time later we arrived at the “Little Blowhole” in Kiama
where we spent much of the day exploring the ancient
lava flows, eating our recess and watching the impressive
blowhole do its thing! Mr Binns gave us a tour of the area
and explained how the lava from a nearby volcano,
Mt Bongbong, had run down and cooled and solidified
forming the basalt we see today. The main attraction was
certainly the Little Blowhole and fortunately for us it was a
lovely day and the blowhole was spouting huge amounts of
water. After getting drenched head to toe, we set off to the
'The Big Blowhole', though the wind and swell was coming
from the wrong direction for it to be working.
We lunched at Austinmer Beach where we studied the layers
of sedimentary rock clearly visible in the headland including
several coal seams running through it which was certainly
very interesting. We took lots of photos and came home very
well prepared to complete our assignment.
Overall it was a good day where we all had lots of fun.

Years 7-12 Sport
WEDNESDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2012
WEEKLY SPORTS RESULTS
BOYS
GIRLS
Basketball 15D St George 29 def Kingsgrove North 21
Touch Football 2nd Grade St George def Kogarah (forfeit)
Cricket (20-20) 1st Grade St George (Bat 7/57) v Blakehurst
Oztag 2nd Grade St George 4 def by Penshurst 10
Volleyball 2nd Grade St George 2 def Beverley Hills 0
15B St George 3 def Peakhurst 0
WEDNESDAY 22 FEBRUARY 2012
BOYS
GIRLS
Basketball 15D St George 56 def Hurstville 10
Touch Football 2nd Grade St George 6 def Canterbury 4
Cricket (20-20) 1st Grade St George def by Blakehurst
Oztag 2nd Grade BYE
Volleyball 2nd Grade BYE
15B St George 3 def Kingsgrove North 0
2012 SWIMMING
CARNINAL

Years 7-12 Sport
2012 SWIMMING CARNINAL
On 17 February students from Years 7-12 arrived at Roselands swimming pool for the much anticipated
swimming carnival. It was the first big event on the sporting calendar for the year.
With afternoon thunderstorms predicted, we got underway as early as possible. Students were looking
forward to the swimming races, and the fellowship and community that an event like this creates.
Students were all very vocal in support of their houses, with Red house probably being the loudest.
All swimmers on the day must be congratulated, especially the age champions, who are listed below.
A big CONGRATULATIONS has to go to GREEN house, the winning house (winning by a big margin).
Congratulations also to those students who qualified for the CSSA Zone Carnival on 22 February.
AGE CHAMPIONS
12 years Laura Douglas and Iavor Nikolaev
13 years Jessica Anderson and Kurt Stavrou
14 years Erica Coote and Owen Murray
15 years Nicole Chu and Peter Binns
16 years Gabriella Moulos and Nathan Wrench
17 years Ashleigh Steed and Joseph Lewis
18 years Danielle Connon and Joshua Chang

Senior School
Year 11 Design and
Technology students
have begun their new
course with some help from
their peers. With a Design
Brief of "Design a postcard
based on affirming words
from your peers" our
design students created
outstanding and very
emotive pieces of graphic
imagery. Each student also
had to explain how their
design was a representation
of them.
Jessica Gunawan
Emily Liew
C
E XOTI
INTERESTING
SWEE T
Eli Walker
The front of my postcard reflects the words that other
people use to describe me, and the back represents
how I see myself. My postcard is like an introduction to a
book, the front cover gives an insight to me but once you
turnover you begin to see who I really am.
Marcus Kappel
Alisha Doring
Eden Manouk (Year 11)has
been named the Soccer
NSW Futsal Under 16's
Goalkeeper of the Year.
This is a huge honour
especially since the
award is nominated
by the referees of the
competition.
Congratulations Eden,
well done!
DATES TO REMEMBER
16 March
Yr 7 - 12
Cross Country Carnival,
Carss Bush Park
26 March
Year 12 Exams Commence

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