Prep School
Prep value of the week: caring
Caring is giving love and attention to people and things that matter to you. When you care about people, you help them. You do a careful job, giving your very best effort. You treat people and things gently and respectfully. Caring makes the world a safer place.
Attribute of the week: principled
When you are principled, you act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect for the dignity of individuals, groups and communities. You take responsibility for your own actions and the consequences that accompany them.
With Term 3 now behind us, we are off to a busy and exciting start for what promises to be a packed Term 4. This term will include a variety of activities such as camps, incursions, excursions, exhibitions, carnivals, special chapel services and end-of-year celebrations for our Year 6 boys.
Over the past two weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting classrooms and witnessing the boys begin the term with great enthusiasm and purpose. I was also fortunate to join our Year 3 boys as they embarked on their first outdoor education camp at Coolum. This marked their first taste of outdoor education at Churchie, and they all rose to the challenge. It was wonderful to see the boys engaging in their activities with a strong sense of camaraderie and adventure, pushing themselves out of their comfort zones. We even had the excitement of spotting a few whales!
Looking ahead, I’m excited for Saturday 19 October when we’ll gather for the annual Blessing of the Animals with special guests Archbishop Jeremy, his dog Paddy, Reverend Sharon and Chaplain Stephanie. Pets are such an important part of our families, and it’s heartwarming to hold a special service just for them. I’m looking forward to attending with my own special family member, and I encourage all families to bring their pets and join us for this wonderful occasion.
Year 3 Camp
Last Tuesday, the Year 3 boys headed off to Luther Heights Youth Camp in Coolum for our first-ever school camp. Our campsite was organised, with wonderful sea views, brand new accommodation and excellent food.
Upon arrival, we hit the ground running, getting settled into our cabins and beginning our first activities for the day: beach games, making mini rafts and tackling the junior flying fox, which we rotated through the next day. Camp was so much fun; it was like a giant sleepover with your friends. All in all, it was fantastic!
Shannon Nicolson
Year 3 Team Leader
Blessing of the Animals
Archbishop Jeremy Greaves, Reverend Sharon Mitchell and Chaplain Stephanie Cotroneo will conduct a special service in the Prep School’s Early Childhood Playground to bless family animals on Saturday 19 October from 9:30 to 10:30 am.
This special service will acknowledge the wonderful place pets play in our lives. All Churchie families are invited to our annual service, during which we gather to give thanks for our beloved pets and God’s creation. Your furry, finned and four-legged pets, friendly and with leads/carry cases, are welcome to join us. If you are unable to bring your pet, you may like to bring a photo or drawing instead.
Students attending are to wear their blue and grey uniforms.
To help with catering, please register here by Thursday 10 October.
Anglicare collection
On behalf of Anglicare Brisbane Children and Families (foster and kinship care agency), we extend our deepest appreciation to you for your continued support of our foster and kinship carer families at Christmas time. The children’s gifts provided by our community last year meant Anglicare was able to put smiles on the faces of children at a time that can be so difficult for them, being away from their biological parents.
Anglicare’s team supports 85 children and young people in out-of-home care aged between zero and 17 years, as well as the biological children in foster and kinship carer families, who so generously share their homes with children in need. Over the Christmas period, this number increases, and carer families are often unexpectedly opening their homes to more children in need. As a result of your support with donations of gifts and suitable gift cards, Anglicare can provide beautiful and thoughtful presents to some of our community’s most vulnerable people, ensuring they can have a memorable Christmas.
Anglicare supports a balanced mix of boys and girls aged from zero to 17. For children aged 13 and above, gift cards are well received, as they enjoy shopping and choosing something themselves. We just ask that any gift card donations do not include liquor services.
All donations can be delivered to Chaplain Stephanie’s office in the Prep Admin building.
Camps in Term 4
- Year 4: Emu Gully, Wednesday 16 October to Friday 18 October
- Year 5: Tyalgum Ridge Retreat, Monday 4 to Wednesday 6 November
Use of school crossing
Please note that before and after school, boys should only cross Oaklands Parade at the supervised crossing near Gate 1. As these are very busy traffic periods, a crossing supervisor is provided to ensure the safety of the boys and others using the crossing. When dropping off boys on the western side of Oaklands Parade in the morning, please insist that the boys use the supervised crossing.
Please note that there is no parking in front of the Health Centre and Churchie Shop on Oaklands Parade. Brisbane City Council has just replaced the signs in front of this building and will be regularly monitoring this area.
Class placements 2025
As we move towards the end of the year, planning for 2025 is well underway. Class placements for 2025 will be communicated to our parent community at the end of this year in preparation for the commencement of the academic year. Our staff is in the initial stages of looking at class allocations, and we are undertaking a thorough process to ensure we continue to have the boys at the forefront of our decision making.
When allocating boys to classes, several factors are considered. One key priority is ensuring an even spread of academic ability levels across each class. Another is ensuring that the social structure of classes is conducive to both learning and the building of friendships. This sometimes means we need to separate boys when a friendship becomes a distraction to their learning and enables them to further their friendship circles. Other factors include the social and emotional needs of our boys, student interests, and, if applicable, personal and family backgrounds. We also need to consider our entry points and the impact this has on class placements. As a result, constructing class groupings is a process we take very seriously, and we plan for it carefully in collaboration with class teachers, specialist staff and the Preparatory School Executive team.
When creating class lists, the School will consider all information about a boy that may have been communicated to the teacher, Deputy Heads and Head of Prep School throughout the year. The School will then create balanced classes according to the educational and social information we have about each boy. We value these ongoing conversations; however, class placements will remain the professional and operational responsibility of the School and, as such, we will not be accepting requests for specific teachers.
As you can appreciate, considering all these factors makes class placement a time-consuming but important process. We feel confident that the extensive time and care we dedicate to this process, together with the talented and committed staff into whose classes we are placing each boy, mean we can produce the best possible class combinations to benefit each and every boy.
We appreciate your understanding of the careful consideration that goes into these decisions and the competence and dedication of every team member involved in the process.
Library news
From Monday 14 to Friday 18 October, the Prep Library is hosting a Book Fair, featuring a selection of quality literature from the Where the Wild Things Are bookshop. This is a magnificent opportunity to get some early Christmas shopping done for the whole family. Bookstore staff will hold a book chat for parents about selected titles at 5:30 pm in the Prep Library on Monday 14 October. We would love to see YOU there! Please see the image below for times, information and a QR code link.
Prep Support Group meeting
The final Prep Support Group meeting of 2024 will be the AGM on Thursday 21 November in the Year 2 Plaza commencing at 8:30 am. All are welcome. Nominations for all executive positions (President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary) will be called for and can be made to Trudy Naylor or via the Prep Office.
Mark Wyer
Head of Preparatory School