Prep School

Prep School value of the week: creativity

Creativity is the power of imagination. It is discovering your own special talents. Dare to see things in new ways and find different ways to solve problems. With your creativity, you can bring something new into the world.

Attribute of the week: caring

When you are caring, you show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others. You have a personal commitment to service and act to make a positive difference in the lives of others and the environment.

A message from the Counsellor

Building gratitude for wellbeing

This term, the boys are focusing on gratitude as part of their social-emotional sessions during housemaster meetings. Gratitude is about recognising and appreciating the good things in our lives—whether they’re big or small. It encourages us to focus on what we have rather than what we lack and to acknowledge the kindness we receive from others.

Research shows that practising gratitude can boost mental wellbeing, helping children feel more positive, manage stress and build stronger relationships. When children learn to appreciate both everyday and meaningful moments, it can also foster resilience, making it easier for them to cope with challenges.

Here are a few ways parents might encourage gratitude at home:

1. Model gratitude in daily life: Children learn by watching their parents. Try sharing something you’re grateful for each day—even small things like good weather or a kind gesture. This normalises the habit of noticing the positives.
2. Create a family gratitude routine: Some families like to share what they are thankful for at the dinner table or before bedtime. It can be a simple, ‘What’s one thing that made you smile today?’
3. Encourage thank-you notes: Handwritten or digital notes of appreciation to teachers, family members or friends help kids reflect on the kindness they’ve experienced.
4. Acknowledge effort, not just results: Instead of focusing only on achievements, try praising effort and improvement. This reinforces the idea that hard work and progress are valuable and something to be grateful for.
5. Teach perspective: When children express frustration or disappointment, gently encourage them to also recognise the good things they have. This helps them balance emotions and develop gratitude alongside other feelings. 

If you’d like more information on this topic, there are many helpful resources (articles, videos, podcasts, apps, research) on School TV—available through My Churchie. Please see some links below:

• Power of Gratitude – Robert Emmons
• Grateful Gratitude Journal
• ReachOut – Positive Mindsets
• This Too Shall Pass Podcast
• Gratitude
• Happiness & Gratitude

Susie Hill
Prep Guidance Counsellor

Track and Field

Last Friday, the annual Junior GPS Track and Field Championships were held at QSAC. Our athletes did a superb job, giving their all and competing hard in the blue and grey. The squad finished in a credible fourth place behind Nudgee and Brisbane Grammar, with Ipswich Grammar claiming the Junior GPS Championship. A special thank you to the track and field coaching staff—Mr Darwin, Mr Whitehead, Mr Harth and Mr Fry—for preparing the boys for the carnival. I was really proud of the boys’ efforts and sportsmanship shown on the day.

Year 6 Canberra tour

Fifty-nine of our Year 6 students recently participated in an educational tour of the national capital. Students were given the opportunity to take part in a variety of educational programmes with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their civics and citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion, the Australian Government contributes funding of $90 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate programme towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

Year 4 Camp

Last week, our Year 4 boys embarked on an exciting camp experience at Emu Gully, where they were consistently challenged by various activities that pushed them into their ‘stretch zone’. Over the course of the camp, they faced personal fears, developed resilience and worked through failures with determination.

What started as a slow beginning soon transformed into a display of camaraderie as the boys embraced the motto ‘never leave a mate behind’. In moments of difficulty, the strength of their teamwork shone through as they learned to rely on each other’s strengths, encourage those who were struggling and celebrate their collective victories. This shared experience undoubtedly strengthened the bonds between them and highlighted the value of cooperation. While getting wet and muddy along the way, they not only supported each other but also discovered the importance of teamwork.

James Harth
Year 4 Teacher

‘Where The Wild Things Are’ Book Fair

Although the pop-up shop in our library has closed, online orders remain open for a few more days, with the official closing date being Friday 25 October. See Wild Schools and select Churchie as the delivery address. You can order anything at all that the store stocks via this link, with 15% of the sales going to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Once the full donation amount has been finalised, we will let you know how much we were able to raise.

Belinda Booth
Teacher Librarian – Prep School

Prep Ensembles and Year 5 Immersion Concert

On Wednesday 9 October, our cocurricular music groups came together to perform for our Churchie community in the 2024 Prep Ensembles Concert. This year, the event was combined with Year 5 students who performed in the Immersion String Ensemble and Immersion Mega Band. Nine groups performed all together, with boys from Years 2 to 6 from string ensembles—Prep Strings, Prep Junior Strings, Year 5 Immersion Strings; to bands—Prep Band, Year 5 Immersion Band, Squeak, Year 4 Concert Band; and choirs—Prep Choir, Prep Junior Choir. A highlight was the combined efforts of the Prep Strings, Prep Choir and Prep Junior Choir to perform ‘Chopsticks’.

Thank you to our parents and friends who came out to support us in the thunderstorm and to everyone who helped behind the scenes to make the event a success. A big thank you to our wonderful Music team at Churchie, particularly to the ensemble directors and accompanists— Jeremy Williamson,  Joanne Leask,  Ingrid Rochet and  Rosemary Oxenford. Concerts like these offer our young musicians authentic music-making settings to work towards and allow so many skills to be developed as they share their music with new audiences.

Marcus Lee – Osaka Music Competition

Congratulations to Year 4 student Marcus Lee, who recently performed at the Osaka International Music Competition. While Marcus didn’t place in the final round, it was an incredible opportunity for him to confidently perform on an international stage and learn from talented musicians around the world.

Please see a section of his performance here:

Reception music

Thank you to Harshini Sivaramakrishnan (mother of Jeevan, Year 3), who performed for the Reception boys in Week 2 upon the veena, and Shenay Sun, who performed on the Chinese harp (guzheng). The boys really enjoyed hearing new instruments and came up with some great questions and observations: ‘I notice…’ and ‘I wonder…’.

Our parent helpers were able to answer many of our questions and teach us about the special instruments and their role.

Reception students are inquiring into how music and the arts are important for people and communities. The boys are exploring a range of music from different cultures to describe their experiences, observations, ideas and feelings about the music they hear in the community. 

Year 6 PYPx rehearsals

A number of Year 6 boys are rehearsing in preparation for the PYP Exhibition (PYPX) in Week 7. We have a number of musicians meeting each Monday to perform as part of the PYPX band. Any Year 6 boy is welcome to play in the PYPX band with any level of experience.

Upcoming music events in Term 4

Please see myChurchie notices for all information.

• Week 4: Prep Band at Music Fest (23 October)
• Week 5: Peter Combe Incursion for Reception to Year 3 (28 October)
• Week 5: Year 2 Music Performance at Assembly (1 November)
• Week 6: Year 3 and Year 4 Immersion Concert (7 November)
• Week 7: Prep Solos (12 November) and PYPX Year 6 Performance (14 November)
• Week 8: Christmas Service (18 November) for choirs
• Week 9: Pageant Reception to Year 2 (26 November) and Final Assembly (27 November)

Melissa Black
Head of Prep Music

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 our 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 their carer families are often unexpectedly opening their homes to more children in need. As a result of your support with donations of gifts, Anglicare can provide a number of beautiful and thoughtful presents to some of our community’s most vulnerable people, ensuring they can have a memorable Christmas.

Anglicare supports a fairly balanced mix of boys and girls aged from zero to 17. For children aged 13+, gift cards are well received, as they like to go shopping and choose something themselves. We just ask for any gift card donations to not include liquor services.

All donations can be delivered to Chaplain Stephanie’s office in the Prep Admin building.

Camps in Term 4

• Year 5: Tyalgum Ridge Retreat from 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 recently 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, there are several factors we consider. One key priority is ensuring we have an even spread of academic ability levels across each of our classes, and 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 boys to further their friendship circles. Other factors that help determine our class allocations are the social/emotional needs of our boys, student interests and, if applicable, personal and family backgrounds. As a school, we also need to consider our entry points and the impact this has on our class placements. The construction of class groupings is, therefore, a process we take very seriously and plan for 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 of our boys. We do 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, the consideration of all these factors makes class placement a time-consuming but important process. We feel positive that the extensive time and care we give to this process, together with the talented and committed team of staff into whose classes we are placing each boy, means we are able to produce the best possible class combinations to benefit each and every boy.

We know you appreciate the careful consideration that goes into these decisions and the competence and dedication of every member of our team involved in the process.

Bandanna Day Thursday 24 October

We will be selling bandannas in aid of the wonderful work conducted by Canteen, which supports young people living with cancer. Churchie Prep has been a great supporter of this charity for many years. Bandannas are available from the Prep Office for $7 each. Boys are only permitted to wear these bandannas on Thursday 24 October.

Mark Wyer
Head of Preparatory School