10 | MIDDLE school news | REDEEMER RECORDMiddle School News“Chemical composition of explosives is arelatively predictable thing … Kids aren’t.You can keep your job and I will keepmine.” These words of wisdom were partof a letter written to me recently by apast student who is currently serving asa combat engineer with the Australianforces in Afghanistan. His job is high riskresearch – locating and dealing with landmines and improvised explosive devices.His words made me stop and thinkabout the unpredictability of kids, and the truth, for me, is this.It is the very unpredictability of kids that makes teaching such achallenging and interesting career.Middle Schoolers are wonderfully and terrifyingly unpredictable,as their parents would attest. In the space of a day, or even ofan hour, they can say and do things that make their teachersfeel proud, enthused, frustrated, cross and proud again.Overwhelmingly, there are positives for which we are grateful.We see students making academic progress, developing theirsocial skills, growing in their Christian faith, making excellentcontributions to music ensembles and sporting or debatingteams, providing service to their school community.In <strong>2012</strong> Middle School has had a focus on Leadership. All Year7 students have participated in a full-day Leadership incursionfacilitated by <strong>Lutheran</strong> Youth of Queensland. Through games,team challenges, discussion and drawing, our students weremotivated to think about what leadership is, who we admire asleaders and what qualities we value in our role models. Somestudents were surprised to learn that they could be leaders andthey were awakened to the concept that there is no singularmodel of leadership. As well as recognising their own leadershipcapacities, they began to look for and appreciate the leadershipattributes of their peer group members.Throughout this year Middle School students have been invitedand encouraged to join the Leadership Group, a lunchtimeactivity that teaches young people about leadership, helps themto recognise their personal leadership potential and providesopportunities for them to show leadership in the <strong>College</strong>context. They are learning that it is not a matter of having atitle and wearing a badge, but of putting into practice realservant leadership.The Golden Tin Trophy has been fiercely contested by the three Year6 classes. An inter-class challenge, the students selected teams tocompete in three challenges held during separate lunch hours:• Relay Schmelay – carrying a relay baton while jumping ina sack, carrying an egg and spoon, dribbling a soccer ball,balancing a platter of plastic cups and sprinting for the finish line.• Operation Skilful Endurance – mega-team skipping andhandball challenges.• Undercover Art – design and execution of a coloured chalkpavement drawing representing the theme “The Culture ofthe Middle School”.The Year 6s had lots of fun competing in these events, supportingtheir teams and making their best efforts towards success. Thisseries of events also provided an excellent opportunity for theSenior School Cultural Committee students to interact positivelywith the younger students, as this event was organised by them.Year 8s are eagerly anticipating the August visit of Simon Higgins,the author of critically acclaimed historical novels set in Asia.Ahead of his visit, borrowings of his novels Moonshadow andTomodachi from the Middle School library have already increased.All things considered, the daily life of Middle School is busy,rich … and blessedly unpredictable.Mrs Judy PowellHead of Middle Schoolmiddle
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