2019 Term 4, Week 8

What grieves me the most is when I hear stories of broken relationships, be they broken relationships between two parents, a parent and their child, between friends, or even broken relationships between the School and families.

We are created to be in relationships and, as such, we all crave loving, stable relationships. When those relationships become damaged or broken, it is a cause of significant pain and stress.

What it would be to live in a perfect world where there was no pain and no sickness, but sadly that isn’t the reality.

Christmas is a message of great hope.

The story of the Old Testament is one continual story of broken relationships, not just between people, but between people and their God. Relationships built on love is what God longs for each of us, between He and you, and between you and others.

The story of the Old Testament is a story of the broken world, the real world that we live in.But the good news is the New Testament: God’s promises fulfilled in the coming of His Son Jesus. Jesus came “that we might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). He came to restore the broken relationship between us and God.

As I listen to people’s stories, I often hear a great yearning for something more, something better. A deep sadness fills a void created by the loss of love and connection with other people.

But what many people don’t realise is that that void will never be completely filled until we return to God and be in genuine relationship with Him. Once that relationship is restored, it is easier to restore the other broken relationships that we might experience. Hope is restored and life is lived “more abundantly.”

This is the Good News of Christmas. Check it out for yourself either by reading (or re-reading)

Mark’s Gospel, or by visiting your local church.

I wish you all a very blessed Christmas and look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

Dr Paul Browning 
Headmaster

1. If you take a photo or video with someone in it you must:
   Ask them if you can send, post or share it. Respect the decision if they don’t want it shared. You can always crop them out of images.
2. If you have uploaded something and a person wants it taken down:
   Do it! Trust and respect is earnt. If you respect their privacy they may respect your decisions as well.
3. Don’t post anything you will be embarrassed about later – in 5 years’ time or if your grandmother saw it.
   Once you post something, you lose control of it and how it could represented. It may be used to hurt your or your friends. It could mean that you or your friends will not get jobs or opportunities in the future. Ask a responsible adult if you are unsure. However if you are unsure that’s a pretty good indication you shouldn’t share it.
4. Don’t forward or share anything that you or someone else could get in trouble for. Remember online private is not private – you can’t control what happens to it after you press send.
   Break the chain. You control what you do. You are being disrespected or even bullied if someone is trying to get you to share something that could cause trouble. Tell the person who originally sent it to stop forwarding it on. Context is key so for serious matters go and talk to a trusted adult like your parents, teacher or school counsellor to help you.
5. Don’t forward or share anything that could be embarrassing.
   Be an authentic friend. Understand that there is a difference between laughing with and being laughed at. Let embarrassing moments go. Walk in the other persons shoes and think about how you would feel. You don’t want to affect your friend’s future. The moment maybe funny however friends don’t cause trouble they will pick each other up and help out.
6. Speak up
   If you don’t want your image taken then say so!  If you see a phone going up just tell them to put it down and say you don’t want your photo taken.
7. Get offline
   Not everything has to be duckface and shared. Don’t get involved in online drama or with online fake personas. These have a tendency to weigh you down. Put the phone down, enjoy the company and engage in the real world.
   Talk to someone and support from https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/counselling-support-services (kids helpline, Lifeline, Headspace and 1800RESPECT).
   There is now a special website for young people discussing the issues: https://www.esafety.gov.au/young-people

Adapted from  https://www.esafety.gov.au/young-people/consent-sharing-photos

Judy Bolton
St Paul’s Cyber Safety Champion

We also heard from Years 4, 5 and 6 about their highlights from the year, and of course the Year 6 song was a wonderful send off by the cohort.

Congratulations to all award winners.

Photos from Celebration of Achievement can be downloaded HERE.

Family photos can be downloaded HERE.

SAFE:  Always keep your personal information safe. Never chat or post things like your full name, password, date of birth, phone number, or home address. Images and videos are personal  information too. They may contain may details about you in the photo or even your location which may be tagged to the computer file. Remember to keep them safe.

MEET: Making arrangements to meet online is dangerous even if you have been chatting to them, they are still a stranger. If someone online asks you to meet up, wants personal information or photos/videos of you then tell an adult straight away to help you with this. Is it someone trying to trick you? Get help from your parents/carer or teacher.

ACCEPTING: Think carefully before you click or open something online (e.g. hyperlinks, adverts, friend requests, photos) as you never know where they may take you online or they may contain viruses. Do not accept something if you are unsure of who the person is or what they’ve sent you. Tell an adult straight away and they can help you.

RELIABLE You cannot trust everything you see online as some things can be out of date, inaccurate or not entirely true. Often old and inaccurate information is reposted. To find reliable information compare at least three different websites and different sources and check in books. Sometimes sources of information try to trick you to sell you something, take your personal data or even just to spread fake news. Talk to someone offline about what you have found. Talk to your librarian or teacher about where they go to test information online.

TELL: Tell a trusted adult if something or someone makes you feel upset, worried or confused. You are not alone people are here to help you like your teachers, parents, carers or contact Kidshelpline – 1800 55 1800 or online at https://kidshelpline.com.au or eSafety Commissioner at https://eSafety.gov.au. Soon the Australian eSafety Commissioner will have a special site just for you!!! Book mark –  https://www.esafety.gov.au/kids

Adapted from  https://www.esafety.gov.au/young-people/consent-sharing-photos

Judy Bolton
St Paul’s Cyber Safety Champion

Choral Captain: Eloise Horsfall

Band Captain: Michael Alletsee

Strings Captain: Belle Smibert

Jazz Captain: Joshua Crawford

Congratulations to these students! The Music Leadership team for 2020 are sure to make next year another great year of Music at St Paul’s.

Our outgoing captains – Zackary Keleher and Jessica Baldwin – have done an outstanding job and leave some big shoes to fill, but we know Grace and Misha will be excellent role models. Interviews have taken place this week for Band, Jazz, Strings, Choral and Music Tech Captains and we hope to be able to announce the successful applicants by early in Week 8.

Zackary Keleher and Alicia Elsom-Wang have been accepted into the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University on Jazz Piano and Classical Piano respectively, and Madeline Harper has been offered places in a number of Classical Voice and Music Theatre courses through QUT and Harvest Rain (but hasn’t quite made a decision about which one to choose yet!). These students have worked hard to gain places in their courses, and we congratulate them and wish them all the best of luck in their future studies.

This is outlined on the 2020 enrolment form, which has been sent to all parents. Please return the Music Tuition Application forms by the students’ last day of school to ensure that your child has a place with a Music Tutor in 2020.

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/stpaulsmusic

Instagram – @spsmusic

KIDS HELPLINE

Kids Helpline is a brilliant support service for children aged 5-25 years!  While their counselling support via telephone, online chat and email is excellent, their website is also a wealth of outstanding resources.  There are many different topics for children and parents to access with easy to read information, tips and strategies.  I encourage you to sit with your child over the holidays and look at the website together.  Encouraging this website as a place to get good quality information on a range of topics including friends, family, school, mental health etc empowers your child with the skills to know where and how to access information, should they need to for themselves or for a friend.

A topic of interest currently may be Exam stress.  You can read more about how to handle this stress here https://kidshelpline.com.au/teens/issues/exam-stress

HELPFUL CONTACTS

St PAUL’S SCHOOL CAREERS

Career information is available on the St Paul’s School Careers website at https://www.stpaulscareers.com.au/

Click HERE to see the latest newsletter from the website host, Career Tools.

JMC ACADEMY

 JMC Academy is offering Short Courses for January, ranging from 2 – 5 days covering topics like Character Design, Script to Screen, Recording and Mixing a Band and Songwriting + Production.

Click here JMCShortCourse_BRIS_Jan2020for further information or go to https://www.jmcacademy.edu.au/events/shortcourses

USEFUL CAREERS WEBSITES

Booklists are available

As of last term, parents/guardians can report their child’s absence from school via parent lounge.  An email detailing the process will be sent to you in the coming days.

If you have forgotten your Parent Lounge password, you can reset this yourself via the Parent Lounge login screen. If you have forgotten your Parent Lounge username, please contact the School’s reception.

The email address: [email protected] will still be operational for a short transition phase but will not work from 31 October 2019. After this time the only way to electronically advise your child’s absence will be via parent lounge.

This change is another improvement in the School’s approach towards child protection as it adds a level of security and authentication to child absences from school.  If you have any questions please contact the Risk and Compliance Officer, Renaye Ansell ([email protected])

Please note, if your child will be absent for three days or longer email your child’s House Leader.

The uniform requirements at St Paul’s School vary depending on what year level students are in.

For a full breakdown of uniform requirements per year click HERE.

For a detailed look 2020 dates, see HERE.

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please click HERE.

Notice of the Touch Football Supporters Group Annual General Meeting (AGM) is on at 6.30pm Wednesday 28th January 2020 in the School Library. Please find an official notice HERE.

To ensure the TFSG caters for the Touch Football needs across the entire school, all supporters are welcome to play a part moving forward. To achieve this we need voices from Junior, Middle & Senior schools so please get involved.  The AGM will be followed by a General Meeting.

In the interim, please don’t hesitate to make contact if you have any questions .

If you are unable to make the meeting or have any queries please direct them to [email protected]

Looking forward to seeing you at the meeting!

Melita Baxter
President Touch Football Supporters Group