The Heartbeat of Mountain District Christian · PDF fileThe Heartbeat of Mountain District Christian School ... Was your child away from ... the time for a whole range of different

16th April, 2015 Term 2: Week 1/11

The Heartbeat of Mountain Distr ict Chr ist ian School

325 Macclesfield Rd P O Box 483 Monbulk 3793 Phone 9756 7244 Fax 9756 7356 [email protected]

Welcome back to Term 2! I trust that you had a restful break over the Easter holiday. He is RISEN!

Staff worked hard over the four days of Work Break which began last Thursday. They spent time working on a number of areas including curriculum development and documenta-tion, First Aid and CPR updates.

In addition to this, staff from Mount Evelyn Christian School

joined us last Friday to continue the induction sessions for new staff and the second intensive session for those staff studying with the National Institute for Christian Education (NICE). To begin the day, we were privileged to hear from Dr Ken Dickens, CEO of Christian Education National (CEN), who gave a thought provoking devotional about the necessity of nurturing our faith in order to be effective Christians within our work place. `

Staff are required, in their second year of teaching, to begin working towards a Masters in Christian Education and complete the two foundational units. This year seven of our teaching staff are involved in working towards completing this. We value study with The Institute very highly and support staff through the completion of the course. It is important that we submit all areas of our life to our Lord. This academically robust and rigorous process assists us in being faithful to our role as Christian teachers and developing our teaching practices accordingly. We must be role models; however, authentic Christian teaching goes beyond a good role model. We must submit all of life and all we do to Him, including how we teach, what we teach and the way we interact with His creation and others.

On Tuesday, the teaching staff were given the opportunity to hear from Michelle Hutchison, an educational consultant, about Dyslexia and strategies to assist students with their learning. This session was followed up with one of our own parents, Jo Rothwell who talked about the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) from a parent perspective. It was great to be reminded of the individual and unique nature of all children and the need to be intentional in how we as teachers, parents and school foster and help all students experience and contribute to being in community. It was encouraging to be reminded of the great parental support and wealth of resources we have at Mountain District.

It was a valuable four days.

Finally, I would like to draw your attention to a new method of communication that we are trialing. In addition to what we currently have including email, letters home and the school website, we would like to introduce a new ‘app’. It has been developed for MDCS by Skoolbag. The app is available for iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows users. An information sheet on how to install it is attached to today’s newsletter. We will gradually increase the functions available to the school over time. Please let us know of your experience with the App.

Again, welcome back to Term 2!

Yours in Christ,

Jason Riding

From the Principal’s guests...From the Principal’s guests...From the Principal’s guests...From the Principal’s guests...


Forms and Letters sent

home:

● Secondary Term letters

● Yr 9/10 camp

● O&ES Camp

● School Photo order forms

● Nuture Magazine

REMINDERS

● NO TUCKSHOP TOMORROW

On Friday, 24th

April, we will be commemorating the Centenary of ANZAC, with a special assembly. Parents are invited to join us at 10:30am in the gymnasium. The theme will be remembering sacrifice and gratitude for peace.

Parents please note...Parents please note...Parents please note...Parents please note...

Forgot to return your Immunisation Card??

Parents of Yr 7-10 students Was your child away from school or on an excursion and you wanted them to get their immunisations??

Late immunisation cards can still be handed into the office and students will receive their shots on the

next round of visits, later this term

Please contact the office with any questions. Spare cards are available from the office.

Large cardboard

boxes

for the year 10

Melbourne camp.

Please contact

Judy Miller or

Jason Beer if you

are able to help.

Many thanks!

Sibling Enrolments for 2016

We are currently looking at student enrolments for 2016. If you are planning to enrol a sibling for 2016 and have not completed a Sibling Enrolment Form, please pick one up from the office. Please complete and return the Sibling Enrolment Form to the office as soon as possible.

Instrumental lessons

Any students interested in learning an instrument in Term 2 are requested to fill out an

instrumental lesson form available from the office or the music room. Instruments available for tuition are: percussion (including drum kit), violin, viola, piano, voice, cello, recorder, theory and guitar.

Primary Soiree - Friday 12th June I am looking for a volunteer to do photography for the evening and another for visual recording. The students love seeing their performances so if you are willing this would be greatly appreciated. Please contact Hannah Denny through the school office or email [email protected]. There are many other ways to assist for the Soiree, if you are interested in helping in any way please make contact also.


Chaplains Chat...Chaplains Chat...Chaplains Chat...Chaplains Chat...


Parents please note cont...Parents please note cont...Parents please note cont...Parents please note cont...

THE BELLS OF PEACE The Bells of Peace is a concert project to tell the story of ANZAC from the perspective of men, women and children of the Dandenong Ranges. Including a new composition for Chorus and Concert Band by Brian Hogg, community signing, WW1 songs, stories from local communities including famous author Mrs Jeannie Gunn (we of the Never Never) played by Libby Fensham alongside Alderney Stebbing playing Kit Simpson (Alderney’s great-great aunt) and Dame Nellie Melba’s role.

Performances: Saturday, April 18 at Mt Evelyn Discovery Church, 1.30pm Official Opening 2.00pm Concert

Monday, April 20 at Belgrave Heights Convention Centre, 6.30pm Official Opening 7.00 Concert

Tickets are available on the trybookings.com site: www.trybooking.com/HCEL

Come and hear how WW1 impacted on the electorates of Casey and Latrobe across the ranges, foothills and Yarra Ranges through musical theatre, exhibitions by local schools (including our very own Mountain District Christian School), RSLs and Historical Societies. Foyer exhibitions and pre performance entertainment at each venue is free.

For more information phone 0400 995 493

“When we seriously sit and think about the ways we would like our lives and our family to change and improve we could probably create a long enough list to make us feel that the task is just too big [chapter: one bit at a time]. With our children it seems that we could be having a go at them all the time for a whole range of different things that they either don’t do at all, don’t do properly or do too much of. So my suggestion is to major on the major things and let the minor ones slip by. Motivation will not be enhanced by your constantly nagging your child on a whole range of issues but rather they will be turned off and probably become more uncooperative than they were at first. Of course I can’t tell you what will be major issues for you as they will vary from family to family depending on your culture, upbringing, personality, children, issues you face etc. I do remember one person explaining that they had decided to not worry about their son’s hairstyle. They didn’t approve and didn’t particularly enjoy walking down the street next to him but it wasn’t life threatening.

For us we never considered a tidy bedroom a major issue worth fighting over. It drained us when we did used to try and make it happen, they certainly weren’t motivated to do it, so we tried another approach. This tactic worked for us for many years – we closed their bedroom door. If we couldn’t see the mess we weren’t bothered by it. If the mess gave them issues when inviting friends over or in finding missing clothes then that was their problem and not ours. Concentrate your efforts in motivating them to make changes in their life that will clearly make a difference. Help them to see the importance of friendship, the inevitability of hard work to get results and whatever else is important to your family. Let the rest hang loose.” Written by Nigel Lane. www.nigellane.com.au Used by permission


“Keep trying no matter what;

greatness comes out of failure”

Cam

“In the middle of now

here,


here,


here,


here,


here,


here,


here,


here,

we discover ourselve

s.”we discove

r ourselves.”


s.”we discove

r ourselves.”


s.”we discove

r ourselves.”


s.”we discove

r ourselves.”

Daniel Breen

Daniel Breen

Daniel BreenDaniel BreenDaniel Breen

Daniel Breen

Daniel BreenDaniel Breen

“My greatest “My greatest

fear is not fear is not

living my living my

life”life” Alec Van Bockel Alec Van Bockel

(originally by (originally by

Ed Stafford)Ed Stafford)

“In the moments of friendship, adventure, adrenaline, laughter, awe and freedom, life is found.” Kyle Van Bockel

“Hiking is an experience you only need to do once” Luke Jones

“It was a riveting

experience”

Isaac Van Rossen

“Makin’ Mates, makin’ memories.” Luke Radcliffe

“live life to the fullest”

Lucas’ Dickerson

“Make the most of every opportunity” Harry Rothwell

Outdoor & Environmental Studies Hike the Cathedral Ranges...Outdoor & Environmental Studies Hike the Cathedral Ranges...Outdoor & Environmental Studies Hike the Cathedral Ranges...Outdoor & Environmental Studies Hike the Cathedral Ranges...


The Cathedral Ranges Hiking experience for the VCE

Unit 1&2 Outdoor Education group was filled with

powerful memories and valuable moments to reflect

upon. Understanding the outdoor environment in

which we live and the motivations for having such

experiences in the outdoors was the focus of the trip.

Students highlights were awe filled views, local flora

and fauna, the challenge, spear fishing (despite not

seeing a fish), bush beats compositions and the

development of relationships throughout the camp.

Students were not without their challenges which they

overcame and grew through. It was a beautiful part of

God’s creation and a memorable hike to begin our

camps together.


House Cross Country cont...House Cross Country cont...House Cross Country cont...House Cross Country cont...

On the last day of Term 1, Secondary students from Years 7 to 11 had

the opportunity to participate in the House Cross Country. For the second year running we were able to use the wonderful environment of our school property that had its fair share of challenges!

There were some outstanding results across the day, and once again, the featured event of the day was the ‘Beat the Old Bloke’ race for the Open boys. A number of students last year thought that it would be a ‘walk in the park’, not coming with the best preparation and it showed! This year a number of those competing in the Open category were heard to say, ‘I was surprised last year, well, not this time’. While the ‘Old Bloke’ certainly ran an exceptional race, there were a few more that finished ahead of him this year, but not many more. In fact the standard was so high and the bragging rights so valuable that a couple tried very hard to win but weren’t able to fool our vigilant marshals on the day.

The results for the House competition were very close, a testament to the participation of those in each House. In third place was Blue on 86 points. Yellow narrowly defeated Green by one point, 97 and 96 points respectively.

Well done to all competitors. The Inter-school Tournament will be held later this term. Those students that qualified, based on their results, will receive a letter later this term.

Secondary House Cross Country...Secondary House Cross Country...Secondary House Cross Country...Secondary House Cross Country...




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The Heartbeat of Mountain District Christian · PDF fileThe Heartbeat of Mountain District Christian School ... Was your child away from ... the time for a whole range of different