2021 Term 4 Week 3 22 Oct 2021

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Today is the last day at Lindisfarne for Head of Junior School Mark Douglas, before he journeys to take up his appointment as Head of Primary School at St Mark’s Anglican Community School in Perth. Mark has left an indelible mark upon our school and community during his three-year tenure at Lindisfarne. We wish him, Logan and Archer all the best as they reunite with Kellie who earlier this year took a position as Head of Boarding at St Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School in Perth. We wish them safe travels. 

As part of Mr Douglas’ farewell, I visited every class in the Junior School yesterday along with Director of Early Learning Jo Hetherington as students said farewell to Mr Douglas. Today I met with Laura Gallagher as she assumes the role as our Acting Head of Junior School until the end of the year. I have every confidence that Mrs Gallagher will continue the great work that occurs in our Junior School each and every day and she will be well supported by the Junior School Leadership team and staff as we finish out the year strongly.

Our whole school was awash with Pink and Blue as we raised funds for cancer research today.  I want to thank Gay Maynard for her coordination of this annual event and also acknowledge the work of our 2022 Prefects who helped coordinate the day, Chaplaincy Prefects Chloe Guye and Bailey Wright, Community Prefects Flynn Martin and Lucy White, and Service Prefects Thomas Leach and Georgia Pikos.

On Tuesday, 26 October our Parents and Friends Association will hold their last meeting for 2021. It has been a difficult, yet rewarding year for our P&F as they have planned and postponed FunFest, delivered wonderful events like our Mother’s Day High Tea, supported school events like our Athletics Day and somehow still managed to deliver the most successful raffle in school history by giving away an MG3 car. They have funded projects across both campuses including our Junior School Library refurbishment along with a number of other significant investment projects including the outdoor learning space for our new Middle School Building. So I thank them for their efforts. All are welcome at meetings and the next one is online and you can join from 6.30pm Tuesday via this zoom link.

As we hear talk of restrictions easing right around our country and also internationally, no doubt attention will turn to travel and visiting friends and families. To assist families to plan for school holidays, I am pleased to release our Term Dates for the 2022 and 2023 school years. Wherever possible I ask families to avoid travel during school terms to prioritise school attendance.

• 2022 Term Dates
• 2023 Term Dates

Stuart Marquardt
Principal

Dear Students, Staff, Parents and Guardians,

St. Mary Mackillop once said, never see a need without doing something about it. Thank you to all our students, staff and parents who supported the Pink and Blue Fundraising Day today in aid of cancer research, treatment and prevention. Through these fundraising initiatives, we educate our students to open their eyes to the needs in our community and to do something about them.

As the global community prepares to meet in Scotland for the Conference of the Parties (COP26) to tackle climate change and address the ecological crisis, let us keep all our leaders in our thoughts and prayers.

I’m aware that many young people are worried about this crisis and some are even reconsidering having children in an uncertain future.

It’s important that we remember that the created world is the handiwork of a good and benevolent God (cf. Genesis 1:31) who has given it humans to care for, not plunder. In and through Jesus Christ, God has restored creation to its original beauty, and is continually renewing the whole creation through the work and power of the Holy Spirit.

In light of this crisis we can give in to despair or we can choose to make a difference in our part of the world by living more mindfully and responsibly.

We can choose hopelessness or we can choose hope and trust in God’s love.

Hope is not blind optimism but rather, as Desmond Tutu said, being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness.

Our young people need hope and it’s our responsibility as adults to help them find hope.

Are we conscious of the beauty of creation around us, and what are we doing to open the eyes of our children to these? How are we modelling to our children and young people responsible stewardship of creation? In truth, when I ponder these questions, I’m surprised at how much I am, or am not, doing!

Prayer is also doing something. Let us make this our prayer and our action:

Taking Time (Adapted from a prayer written by Christian Aid)

Almighty God, thank you for the gift of your creation.

As we journey through life help us to take time to appreciate it,

from each sunrise to sunset;

to celebrate the intricacies of your handiwork,

admire the changing of the seasons,

recognising that this is a gift.

Remind us to care deeply that as our climate is changing,

future generations may not have the same luxury of enjoyment,

as people around the world now are already suffering from the effects of climate change.

May our actions reflect a love for your world and justice for those affected.

Help us to share the same dream of a world free from poverty, illness and disease.

Give us hope.  Amen.

I join the rest of our School community in wishing Mr Mark Douglas and his boys a safe and happy journey as they relocate to Western Australia to be with Kellie. I pray that they may find kindness in all that they meet as we give thanks for Mark’s wonderful work in the Junior School.

I wish you a refreshing weekend and a future full of hope, joy and happiness.

Rev Constantine Osuchukwu
Chaplain

Please support the businesses that support the Parents and Friends Association.

Ramesh Sivabalan
President
Lindisfarne Parents and Friends Association

Managing Overwhelm

Due to the pandemic, the world we now live in is a very different place. The hyperconnected nature of our current environment means that we are constantly being reminded of the challenges we face via numerous media and social media channels. Our connectivity to the digital world exposes us to a barrage of messages that can leave us feeling overwhelmed. As a result, many children and their parents are reporting higher levels of stress and anxiety.

Unfortunately, our brains have not evolved fast enough to adapt to this digital landscape. The combination of constant access to information and having little control over the situations presented, can be stressful and overwhelming. It is therefore important for adult carers to check in with their children and be aware of what information they may have been exposed to. It may not necessarily be the information itself that is harmful, but more their inability to process and make sense of it. Providing children with the skills and strategies to cope will enable them to flourish and thrive, socially, emotionally and academically.

The blueprint for parenting, based on our own experiences, is no longer fit for purpose in raising kids as citizens of tomorrow. This can be inherently stressful and overwhelming, not only for parents and carers, but children alike. If left untreated or unmanaged, constant stress and anxiety can lead to a number of behavioural issues or health consequences.

This Special Report suggests a number of strategies to help manage any feelings of overwhelm that you or your child may be experiencing. We hope you take a moment to reflect on the information offered, and as always, we welcome your feedback. If this raises any concerns for you, a loved one or the wellbeing of your child, please seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report https://lindisfarne.nsw.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-managing-overwhelm

Julie Henry
School Psychologist

The 2022 Year 12 cohort are an interesting group. Each year, the Year 12 class is asked to come up with trademarks that will define their final year at Lindisfarne. Our trademarks are Cohesive, Resilient and Passionate and I think this suits us very well. 

We are truly united as a year group and over the years we have become more accepting and connected, so choosing 'cohesive' as a trademark made sense. 

I think a staple for everyone is resilience, especially over the past few years, but our year group really is something special. Being around everyone in the year group on camps and other events has shown me how resilient we all are.

The amount of passion this year group has is incredible. Whether it be through sport, a hobby or academia, everyone is extremely passionate and it definitely makes sense that it is one of our trademarks. 

I personally believe we are also a very friendly and approachable year group and I've noticed that anyone is willing to chat. So that is a little bit about our year group and what to expect from us as leaders of our school. I really do believe we will be great leaders of the school community and I have high hopes for next year.

Ronan Green
School Vice Captain

For all families who use the Lindisfarne bus service, please remember that we have implemented the BusMinder app on all of our daily bus routes - more information on BusMinder can be found here. We have created this BusMinder User Guide for parents, which will help you set up and access the features of the app. 

Please note that all Mahers Lane students have been issued a Student ID card which they must have with them whenever they board and disembark a Lindisfarne bus.  Please remind your student to carry their card with them and to use it each day to travel on the bus.

Junior School students will continue to use the tag attached to their school bag.

BusMinder creates a safer, more secure way for your students to travel to and from school and we hope you can find the time to download the app, and that its use provides you with additional peace of mind.

Nicole Bold
Manager - Infrastructure, Projects and Property

With Term 4 now well underway we were very pleased this week to begin the 2022 schooling journey for our incoming Kindergarten cohort.  Most of these children have enjoyed being in our preschool and are familiar with our staff, daily routines and school culture.  They are joined by a small number of wonderful new students who combined, will move through our school and enjoy many shared experiences and memories together.

This week we conducted an online parent information session for our 2022 Kindergarten parents and I was very pleased that the student transition morning could go ahead on Thursday morning.  The first year of formal schooling is a significant milestone in children’s lives and our caring staff are looking forward to sharing the educational journey at Sunshine Avenue with our families.

I always use these orientations as a chance to encourage parents to support the school P & F in any way they can.  We have many events during the year that require assistance and I am certain that additional help would be most welcomed and rest assured – it is quite fun too.  All of the money that the P & F raises is spent on projects around the school.  Last holidays the Junior School library received a makeover courtesy of the P & F and the students are very pleased with the new furniture and bright, light environment. 

Finally, thank you for the many well wishes for my family’s upcoming travels.  The warm and welcoming community of Lindisfarne will be always be very close to our hearts and I would like to thank all members of the community for their support.  Mrs Gallagher, Mrs Mundy and Mrs Hetherington will lead a seamless final term for our students.

Mark Douglas 
Head of Junior School

We’ve been successful with our application for a 2021 Woolworths Junior Landcare Grant for our project creating a Bush Tucker Garden and Native Bee Hive. Stingless native bees are wonderful additions to schools and provide many opportunities for students to study and interact with insects in a safe way. The bees have the added bonus of pollinating our new bush tucker plants and maybe even providing a little honey from time to time. 

Our new Bush Tucker Garden will add to our existing food gardens and we are looking forward to using indigenous plants in our cooking sessions with Year 3 and 4. The students have worked very hard clearing a neglected area of grass and weeds to turn in to a pleasant garden that will benefit both the school community and the creatures that will now have a new home. 

Lindisfarne Junior School is one of 1,609 primary schools and early learning centres throughout Australia receiving a Woolworths Junior Landcare grant to help grow our next generation of environmental champions. 

The grants are being funded with a 10c contribution from each sale of the Woolworths Bag for Good at full price, which was launched in 2018 when Woolworths went single-use plastic bag free.

The children and teachers are looking forward to working and learning from this project and we’ll keep you updated on the results.

 Click on the Woolworths Junior Landcare Grant map to read about our project and others.

Jo Hetherington
Director of Early Learning

Congratulations to our Junior School Les Peterkin Portrait Prize winners, who received their awards at the Junior School Assembly this week. 

Left to Right:Minor Award Winners: Marlie Bold 1R, Indianna Smith 1T, Mila Sampson 3A, Mason Weate 3A, Georgia Brunke 4H

Left to Right:Marlie Bold 1R, Indianna Smith 1T, Mila Sampson 3A, Creed Butler 4H, Mason Weate 3A, Georgia Brunke 4H

Mr Mark Douglas, Head of Junior School, presenting Creed Butler, 4H, with his prize for winning the Peter Meadows Encouragement Award (11-13 years)

Mila Sampson at the LPPP exhibition at Tweed Regional Gallery with her portrait ‘Me’

Mason Weates’ portrait titled ‘That Boy Mase’

This week in Maths we have been looking at Chance and Data. We have been collecting information and transferring it somewhere else, such as in a graph. In 5A, the activity that we have been working on is called ‘Bottle Flip Graphing’. 

We had to flip the bottle at maximum of 20 times and wait until we got the bottle flip. There were three trials, and each time before we started flipping we had to estimate how long it would take us to get a bottle flip. At the end, once we had played each of the rounds, we would tally up how many times we had flipped the bottle and document it into a graph. 

We were using a column graph. The y and x axes were already there, so we just had to create a title, write the values of the number of flips and which partner did which amount of flips. This activity was phenomenal and was a good and easy way to learn how to graph information because when you learn schoolwork in a fun way, it sticks in your brain easier. 

Eden Jocumsen - 5A

Scott Lewis 
Year 5 Teacher

“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words,” Robert Frost. 

This inspiring quote is at the heart of our English unit of work for Term 4. Poetry offers a unique use of language and form and is an effective medium to help students understand, interpret and experiment with sound devices and imagery. Rich literary understanding and critical evaluation are developing in Year 5 as a result of reflective reading and responding to this style of text.

Sana and Peyton from 5B have written this account of their poetry experience so far:

This Term Year 5 having been creating poetry as part of our English unit. We have also been exploring the work of some accomplished poets including Robert Frost. He has also written this famous quote, “Poetry is when an emotion has found it’s thought and the thought has found words.” 

We have begun to understand this more and more as we explore poetry, and it has enabled us to become young poets ourselves. These are some examples of what we have been working on during our lessons and we hope that you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoy writing them.

Lisa Price
Year 5 Teacher

With the pervasive nature of technology becoming even more apparent as we and our students connect digitally in a world disrupted by lockdowns and isolation, group chats have become a double-edged sword. I intended to summarise the recent article from Safe on Social but have included it in its entirety (with the author’s permission) as the content is of great value with some terrific links to research and data sources. At Lindisfarne, we are committed to educating students about the positive and productive use of technology as they learn to navigate the ever-changing social world around them.

Jeremy Godden
Head of Middle School

Group Chats 

Please, for just a moment, picture yourself in one of our school presentations to students. From Year 3 to Year 12, we ask the same questions around group chats. 

They are: 

1. Who uses group chats to communicate with their friends? – The majority of the room raises their hand.  
2. Who sleeps with their device in their room? – at least 80% of the room will raise their hand. 
3. Who has received messages in a group chat after 9pm? – almost the whole room raises their hand. 
4. Who has woken up to more than 200 messages in the group chat? – all of them raise their hands and talk about it amongst themselves, nodding in agreement. 
5. There is also the occasional "more like 1000" comment.  
6. Who has attempted to read all of the messages? – the resounding response is constantly “checking to see if I was mentioned.”  
7. Who has seen bullying or any other kind of inappropriate behaviour in the group chats? – all of them raise their hands. Who reported it? 99% of the hands go down. 
8. Who has been re-added to a group chat after they have left? Most raise their hands and eye-roll and comment on how annoying it is.  
9. Who gets a little anxious if their friends don’t respond to a message within a couple of minutes? – again, the majority raises their hands.

So let’s break these down into nice little bite-size pieces on what you should do. 

Group chats can be an excellent way for many people to participate in an online conversation together. They can also be a place where drama, nasty behaviours, exclusion, and bullying can thrive. The most commonly used group chat apps are WhatsApp, Snap Chat, Instagram, Discord, Messenger, and Facebook Messenger. They can be both helpful and harmful. We recommend that children in Primary School only use Facebook Messenger for Kids, so parents have some control over what is going on in the group chat. You don’t have as much power on the other apps. 

We have real concerns about the number of young people (as young as eight in most cases) that sleep with devices in their room and under their pillow. They are responding to messages at 11, 12 even 1 am from “friends” all over the world that they are connected to. 

Please make sure you put a healthy boundary in place and keep phones and devices out of the bedroom from an early age. Remember, you are the parent, and you need to guide your children on how to be safe, and managing their mental health is a massive part of that. They need a break. They are connected 24/7, and some of those communications can get toxic in Group Chats. They need sleep. Good uninterrupted sleep. Rolling over in the middle of the night and checking messages is a significant health issue. You can read about that here: hhttps://growingupinaustralia.gov.au/research-findings/annual-statistical-reports-2018/are-children-and-adolescents-getting-enough-sleep

There have also been many times when young people have engaged in nasty behaviour about another person in a group chat, then deliberately invited that person into the chat to see those comments. The deliberate nature of this abuse makes it cyberbullying. Re-adding someone once they have left a chat can also be bullying or harassment in some cases. 

When they are tired, they are more emotional and less resilient. Things can and may be taken out of context. No one has the right to choose what other people find offensive. There have been countless times when this has resulted in schools being contacted because of the nasty, bullying or inappropriate things happening in the chat. If this is happening in the home after hours between students, please think about how, as a parent, you can do more to support the school by setting healthier boundaries for device use in your home. 

Schools have a duty of care to minimise the risk of bullying and other dangers to a child, but it is challenging for them to police when the device is at home, under your roof, in your child’s bedroom. 

Help kids develop the skills to know how to leave a group chat that is not helpful or is harmful in any way, including the actual words they may use should they need to leave. With younger kids, teach them how to come up with statements that may help like “sorry guys, this is getting pretty nasty, I’m outta here” as a way to remove themselves, also point out to the other people in the chat that the behaviours may be getting out of hand. Being in charge of their online interactions and knowing how to leave a conversation that makes them uncomfortable online or off is a vital life skill. 

Kids need to realise that they may be “guilty by association”, even if they aren’t saying the nasty stuff; they may be considered a bystander if they do not report it and speak up about what is happening in a group chat. 

Please help them to develop the skills to put boundaries around their friendships. We don’t have to be accessible all the time just because technology allows that. They need to know that they won’t lose friends if they are not available in the group to chat for 30 minutes while they have dinner. Young people need to be in charge and confident in their relationships. They need to know that their friends will understand that their refusal to engage at every moment of the day and night has nothing to do with the state of their relationship, but rather the management of their time, their devices and their life priorities. 

If your child is getting constantly re-added to a group chat that they have left, that can be considered harassment. If your child is re-adding people that have left the group chat remind them that they need consent. They need to ask the permission of the person first “do you want to be re-added to the group chat” for example. 

Parenting in this space is very difficult at times, we totally understand that. But please set boundaries and rules. These are required from a very early age. The earlier the better. A school should not be blamed every time something happens online as it is often something that they can’t 100% control if you have given your child a device and have different rules at home to what is at school. Schools educate students on cyber safety. Most schools offer parent education, in all aspects of online safety, and often only a few parents turn up to parent-focused talks. Please attend, I guarantee you will learn something new every time! 

Things to remember:

Keep group chats positive, helpful and supportive. These are not the places we have a whinge about someone else, reveal our intimate secrets or create drama, gossip or spread rumours or share images of others without consent. 

Make sure they know not to feel compelled to respond straight away or be a part of every single interaction in the group chat.

Remember, there are plenty of ways these chats can become very public if someone takes a screenshot, so they need to be kind, respectful, and responsible at all times. 

Avoid using late at night and keep devices out of the bedroom.

Turn off notifications, so they are less anxious about response times. 

Kirra Pendergast
Safe On Social

During Term 4, our Junior School and Middle School Performing Arts classes have been undertaking some exciting work to align with current  restrictions on performance, whilst still having the opportunity to shine. Following are some updates from the Performing Arts team on how the Show must go on!

Junior School Music 

Our Junior School Music students have really excelled and risen to the challenge amidst an ever-changing music curriculum due to varying restrictions. A lot of fun has been had by all students as they have continued to cultivate their musical abilities both in class as well as online.

Inside the Junior School music classroom, our students have worked hard building strong musical foundations in both pitch and rhythm reading activities on a range of tuned and untuned percussion instruments. Our students seemed to really enjoy showing their understanding of rhythms during bucket drumming activities and demonstrating their understanding of pitch by utilising the coloured xylophones.

We have placed a large amount of emphasis on having fun and enjoying music this term and our Junior School music students are to be commended on the resilience and flexibility they have shown.

Jesse Edwards 
Junior School Music Coordinator

Stage 3 Showcase

Students in Year 5 and Year 6 have been preparing for an online version of the annual Stage 3 Showcase combining Dance, Drama and Music. To ensure that we continue to work within current restrictions, our wind instruments have been replaced by both tuned and untuned percussion instruments, we’ve moved our dancing into the playground, and each class is preparing a scene from the 'Magic Necklace' by Barbara Henderson. This week was our first week of filming which featured a rousing performance of “Low Rider” by Year 5 and Year 6 who narrowly dodged the rainy weather for their outdoor performance of the “Timewarp”. Filming will continue fortnightly leading up to our online premiere of the showcase in Week 8.

Todd Hardy
Director of Performing Arts

Year 7 Drama - Set Design

Students of Drama in Year 7 have had the fun task of taking on the role of ‘Set Designer’. They explored different parts of the stage and what happens ‘behind the scenes’ in theatre. The particular task that is featured in the photo gallery had them choose their favourite scene from a movie, book or TV series. They were to place that scene on stage with reference to mood, atmosphere, proximity and lighting. All this was designed carefully through a CANVA inspiration board and a birds eye view of the ground plan. 

Amy Skene
Drama Teacher

Year 7 Music - Music and Technology

To wrap up 2021, Year 7 music students are diving deep into Electronic Music under the topic ‘Music and Technology’. Using Garageband (a digital audio workstation for Mac), students are composing an original and integrated piece, working through mixing, equalising, manipulating, and automating sounds and loops to their fancy. It has been a pleasure to hear so many varied styles of compositions which have included Rock, Pop, Disco, RnB, Rap, Country and World Music. 

Dale Norton
Music Teacher

Year 8 Drama - Costume Design 

Year 8 students of Drama have been undertaking the role of ‘Costume Designer’, creating a costume rendering for a selected character. Understanding how the costume can convey the character’s personality, social standing, the time period, style of the play and so on, has been an important aspect for students’ consideration. We’ve also enjoyed examining costumes from well-known shows such as ‘Wicked’ and ‘The Lion King’. The pose of the character was a key component, and students created their rendering from this starting point. Please enjoy a selection of their work. 

Loretta Visser
Drama Teacher

Year 8 Music - Composition

The Year 8 music students have been busy recording original compositions that they’ve been working on since the beginning of the semester. The students collaborated in groups to record their tracks and are applying advanced music production techniques and creating individual remixes of the tunes they wrote. There are already some fantastic sounding tracks being recorded and we can’t wait to hear their final mixes that will showcase the diversity of styles mixing and production choices of each band member. 

Jonathan Grant
Music Teacher

Wow! What an amazing day

Just a quick wrap to meet the last newsletter edition and there will be more details of the fabulous FUNdraising day next week.

The Mufti money raised was in excess of $2,000 which meant that, as he promised, Mr Marquardt coloured his hair blue and his beard pink! See Mr Marquardt's article at the start fo the newsletter to see.

The subschool winners were:

• Junior School - 2R
• Middle School - 5D
• Senior School - Andrew 5

More donations were made through the purchase of drinks, lollies and zooper doopers as well as “Guess the Lollies in the Jar”. 

A Pink and a Blue Canvas was decorated as the inaugural Pink and Blue Artworks.

The homeroom doors were well and truly decorated! Rev Constantine and the Prefects: Chloe Guye, Bailey Wright, Lucy White, Georgia Pikos, Flynn Martin and Tom Leach had the very difficult task of judging!

Some fabulous names were suggested for the teddies and the winning names will be shared in the next newsletter.

The Staff had an Auction during morning Tea and raised over $600 for the Fydler Family.

Such a sensational day showing the true spirit of service and compassion at Lindisfarne.

Gay Maynard
The PDHPE Faculty

The Lindisfarne Lions Netball Club Presentation Evening will take place on Friday, 5 November only if restrictions ease. How this will look will depend on the pandemic measures, but we are hoping we can have all of the Netball Community join us in the Ngahriyah to celebrate the 2021 season. The Passing the Pride, when the 2022 captain is announced to work alongside Ebony Richards, and we thank Samantha Harvey for her outstanding contribution to netball at Lindisfarne, will also take place on Presentation Evening.

Netball Colours for Year 9 - Year 12 players will also be awarded. Players will have to have represented the School for two consecutive years to receive half-colours and for full-colours they need to have been involved in Netball at Rep level also.

If you have any questions re: netball, please do not hesitate to email me.

“I’m here if you need!”

Gay Maynard 
Teacher in Charge of Netball

We are still taking registrations for our Annual Lindisfarne Tennis Championships on Wednesday, December 1. This event also needs the Level 3 restrictions to be removed for it to proceed. 
Entries are now open, follow this link to register.