Parenting Ideas

We do a lot for our kids, because we love them and often they need us. But we forget that one of the best things we can do for our kids is to help them learn to do for themselves and for others.

Do you ask your kids to do chores, to help out on a regular basis? You would be surprised how many parents – who were raised doing chores – don’t ask the same of their kids. If you do give them chores, do you sometimes go behind them and redo the work when they’re done? Don’t! If it’s not done right, get your child to fix it.

Read more here about asking your kids to step up.

Get the App

Thank you to everyone who has downloaded the Genesis Christian College App, the new correspondence hub of the College. If you have any questions, we …

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Get the App

Thank you to everyone who has downloaded the Genesis Christian College App, the new correspondence hub of the College.

If you have any questions, we have created lots of videos to help with any questions. Please visit www.genesis.qld.edu.au/app

You can also contact the App Help Desk – apphelp@genesis.qld.edu.au

Currently, we’re also compiling a list of handy trouble shooting hints and tips. If you have any questions you’d like answered, please email me!

Taryn Thomas
Director of Marketing

Genesis OSHC

Throughout this year, our emphasis has been to promote physical activity, connecting with the natural environment through adventure-based activities and a child-directed program. We strive …

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Genesis OSHC

Throughout this year, our emphasis has been to promote physical activity, connecting with the natural environment through adventure-based activities and a child-directed program. We strive to enrich and enhance children’s individuality, supporting all children in the creation of a space in which they can play.

Two of the exciting initiatives are the introduction to “loose parts” and following the “Playwork” philosophy. Play takes many forms, unique to every individual.  Through our knowledge and expertise of children and play, we know that play happens before learning and so, therefore, we plan for play!

Our program is planned to provide opportunities for children to explore heights, create and build with various loose parts and experiment and explore through a range of elements, all under the guidance of our trained educators.

We value partnerships with our community and family and currently we have partnered with DARE (Domestic Abuse Recovery Education), donating toys and books, donating to families in need.  Our current project we are involved in is, ‘Lids4Kids’ whereby we are recycling plastic lids.  For every 500 lids, these will be recycled to make prosthetic limbs for children in need. We invite our families to become involved with these projects and all donations can be received at OSHC.

Partnering with our families is the key to success, we recently shared a successful OSHC family social, where we got to ignite the flame, with our first ever fire on campus and share our vision, goals and program with our families as well as toasted marshmallows.

Our upcoming vacation program will be yet another action packed adventure. Booking forms are now available and are found in our family Facebook group, “Genesis OSHC Families- 2019”.

Fees for 2020 have been reviewed and due to the current growth of our OSHC and the increased cost associated with wages and necessities to run a quality service, the need for a fee increase to our sessions has arisen. New fees will be released in our 2020 re-enrolment packs, which will be released mid-September.

To find out more about our OSHC, please view our promotional video.

Susan Cooper
Genesis OSHC Director

p 3882 9013
e s.cooper@genesis.qld.edu.au

 

Tuckshop

Did you know… We now have EFTPOS and Paywave facilities at the Tuckshop for over the counter sales? We’ve recently updated our menu – take …

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Did you know…

We now have EFTPOS and Paywave facilities at the Tuckshop for over the counter sales?

We’ve recently updated our menu – take a look here!


We’re always in need of volunteers at the Tuckshop.

If you can lend a hand, please fill out this form.

Uniform Shop

Uniform Shop News Second Hand Uniform Buy Back We will be accepting second hand uniforms until 12pm Friday 6 December 2019 Uniform items should be …

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Uniform Shop

Uniform Shop News

Second Hand Uniform Buy Back

  • We will be accepting second hand uniforms until 12pm Friday 6 December 2019
  • Uniform items should be clean and in good condition. At the discretion of the College, we will not accept any items that have not been laundered or are in poor condition.
  • Please bring uniforms to the Uniform Shop during business hours: 8:15 – 9:45am and 2:30 – 3:30pm, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
  • All items must be bagged with name and address.
  • Payment for second hand uniforms will be processed via Direct Deposit. Forms are available from the Uniform Shop to complete. Please note we are unable to pay cash.

Flexischools Online

Did you know you can know purchase uniforms online via Flexischools?


Beat the rush – purchase uniforms now for 2020!

If you purchase uniforms now and are concerned they may not fit in 2020, leave the tags on and we can exchange the items on Wednesday 22 January 2020.


Lay-bys

The uniform shop has a lay-by system that is offered to all our families in the College. When using this system we require a 20% deposit and regular payments, with the lay-by being finalised within 3 months. We encourage our families to utilise this system in order to alleviate the January rush.


Shoes Requirement Extract for 2020

Prep:

  • Joggers with College sport socks (velcro straps are recommended for independence).

Years 1 and 2

  • Buckle up or velcro strap regulation black leather/vinyl shoes are acceptable.

Years 1-12:

  • Regulation black leather/vinyl lace up shoes (not boots, joggers or slip-ons).
  • Ballet style slip-on shoes or heels higher than 2.5cm, for girls are not permitted for safety reasons.
  • Sport shoes must be recognised running cross training, netball, tennis or low-cut basketball shoes predominately white, which provide foot support, and are to be worn with the sports uniform. Fashion sports shoes that do not provide ankle and arch support i.e. skate shoes, Volleys, canvas slip-ons or Converse shoes are not permitted.
  • Cleat shoes are not to be worn away from the fields. Grass is to be cleaned from shoes before entering the toilet/change block and classrooms.
  • Only white shoe laces are acceptable in sports shoes. Coloured shoelaces including black laces are unacceptable. Shoes must be kept clean and in good condition.

Cathy van Vuuren
Uniform Shop Coordinator

Robert Schoenmaker Library

Reading is my secret power The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) 2019 theme Reading is my Secret Power captured the imagination of our students …

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Robert Schoenmaker Library

Reading is my secret power

The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) 2019 theme Reading is my Secret Power captured the imagination of our students during the annual Book Week and the CBCA Readers Cup.

Our College’s Readers Cup teams did exceptionally well in the Brisbane North competitions.

  • The Year 5 and 6 Readers Cup team came 12th in their event. The team included Sarah Secker, Jacinta Power, Isaac Smith, Emma Dawson and Lilly-Eve Perks.
  • After winning the Brisbane North trophy our Year 7 and 8 teams competed at the Queensland final and came 4th in the State. Congratulations to Daniel Burton, Laura Guy, Olivia Gittins, Bronwyn Wearne and Brodie Youngman.
  • Our Year 9 and 10 teams came 3rd and 1st in the Brisbane North competition.
  • The Year 9 and 10 Readers Cup team that came 3rd included Lauren Gormley, Baylee Callander, Ethan Poole, Siena Hardie and Ellen Gittins
  • The Year 9 and 10 team that came 1st included Jessica Goodwin, Stephanie Klip, Hannah Power, Charlotte Guy and Keira Holmes.

Thank you to the College community and our generous grandparents for their support of the Book Fair in August. Around $18,000 worth of books were sold that week. Unlocking the secret power of reading opens new worlds of understanding in our students.

Joy Payne
Director Library Services

Performing Arts

Winter has been anything but cold in the Performing Arts Department! Our students have been busy showcasing their talents within the Genesis community and beyond. …

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Performing Arts

Winter has been anything but cold in the Performing Arts Department!

Our students have been busy showcasing their talents within the Genesis community and beyond.

Our Dance Company enjoyed a series of successes, including:

  • placing in the Top 3 for all of their dances at the Australian Pinnacle Dance Challenge
  • being awarded best overall school at the Beenleigh Dance Eisteddfod
  • qualifying to compete at the Dance Life Unite Nationals competition in Sydney in October. The team are busily preparing for their Nationals rivalry!

A special congratulations to Alix Lampre, Sian Rosenberg, Ella Pinkstone-Reid, Caitlyn Brindley and Katerina Romanov for all completing vocational RAD Ballet exams within the last few weeks.

Our Drama students have also been busy, as they put on a spectacular production at the annual “A Night at the Theatre” event. Our Shakefest team members are also working hard in preparation for the Regional Finals competition coming up in a matter of days. Chookas students!

Our Show Choir and Events Choir enjoyed a unique and especially rewarding experience, as they performed a series of musical items for the residents at the Pine Woods Aged Care Facility. Both the students and the residents were so blessed.

Finally, all 180 of our curricular and co-curricular Dance students, ranging from Years 3-12 are working around the clock to prepare the spectacle that is “Dance Showcase 2019”! There will be 2 shows, Thursday 24 and Friday 25 October. Tickets are now on sale! Get in quick so you don’t miss out!

Congratulations to all of our performing arts students on an incredibly successful few weeks.

Emily Briddock
Innovation and Learning Leader – Dramatic Arts
Director of the Genesis Dance and Drama Academies

Secondary Music

Congratulations to all who participated in Mid-Winter Melodies. Once again, students sang, played, danced and performed to a sold-out crowd in a beautifully decorated MP1. …

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Secondary Music

Congratulations to all who participated in Mid-Winter Melodies. Once again, students sang, played, danced and performed to a sold-out crowd in a beautifully decorated MP1. The Hospitality students prepared a delectable supper which was enjoyed by all while listening to performances from College ensembles and choirs, solos and small groups.  Well done to the many people involved in making this night a magical and enjoyable event, we cannot thank you enough.

Last month, the Show Choir, the Events Choir and other soloists performed wonderfully for the residents of the Pinewoods Aged Care Facility. The residents and staff were so appreciative of the students’ performances and dearly loved that the students took time to speak with them and give them gifts. The Music Department is proud of how the students conducted themselves and represented the College in such an admirable way, and we are grateful to them for their sharing their gifts.

There are still a number of Instrumental Music Recitals to come this term, and we look forward to them as well as the following upcoming events:

  • Senior Strings performances at Warner Village Shopping Centre and Albany Creek Central Shopping Centre – Thursday 19th September
  • Strings in Spring – Tuesday 22nd October
  • St Columban’s Concert Band Spectacular
  • Prestige Music Fest

Steven Hannah
Director of Music Performance
Innovation and Learning Leader P – 12

Secondary Sport

“Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid.” – Franklin P. Jones  This term has been one of plenty of bravery from our …

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Secondary Sport

“Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid.” – Franklin P. Jones


 This term has been one of plenty of bravery from our Genesis Athletes across numerous sporting events with our major highlights being the following:

  • Winning the Champion School Trophy, Relay Trophy, Track Trophy and Field Trophy at District Athletics
  • Winning the Champion School Trophy at CSSAQ  Athletics
  • Qualifying for Metropolitan Finals: Year 7 Rugby League; Year 7 and 10 Netball; Open Girls Volleyball and Year 9 Soccer.  Well done to our Netball girls going to the next round.

Genesis Individual Achievements:

  • Kianna Dunn and Takoda Dunn will be representing Qld at the Gymnastic National Clubs Carnival at the Gold Coast in September
  • Ian Ballantyne represented Met North in U12 Soccer and they finished 2nd in the State Championships
  • Freya Kenny will be representing Qld at the Australian InterSchool Championships for Equestrian in Sydney in September
  • Congratulations to our Netball Captains:
    • Seniors: Jessica Moy
    • Juniors: Sophie Ditchburn
  • Henry Johnson qualified for the Qld Short Course Championships for swimming in 50m Free, 50 Back and 100 Back in August
  • Rachel Pert, Hayley Fulcher, Charli Jarvis, and Claudia Altmann recently competed in the Junior State Cup for Touch Rugby
  • Charlize Sivyer and Luke Dipplesmann were Age Champion at District Athletics
  • Benjamin Redsell and Tina Serafino made the BOSL Volleyball All Star Team
  • Kirralee Hayes won Gold in 5 events at the Australian National Swimming Championships
  • Ella Smith represented Qld for AFL at the U15 Nationals in September
  • Craig Lightbody represented U12 Brisbane Rugby Union at the State Carnival captaining the winning team
  • Jacinta Carter represented Met North and SEQ for U15 Rugby League
  • Joseph Brown represented Met North U19 Hockey

Genesis Team Sport Awards:

Volleyball

Girls Team A (Mr Connolly)

  • Player of the Season – Tina Serafino
  • Most Improved – Catelyn Oertel
  • Best and Fairest – Penny Williams

Volleyball – Girls Team B (Coach: Mr Connolly)

  • Player of the Season – Jenna Clarkson
  • Best and Fairest – Bethan Evans
  • Most Improved – Cassandra McGinley

Volleyball – Boys Team (Coach: Mr Connolly)

  • Player of the Season – Mitchell Stanton
  • Most Improved – Benjamin Perry
  • Best and Fairest – Mackenzie Witham

Basketball

Senior Boys (Coach: Mr Dutney)

  • Player of the Year – Hayden Jacobs
  • Best and Fairest – Harry Dening
  • Most Improved – Joseph Arro

Senior Girls (Coach: Ms Kloe Phelan)

  • Player of the Year – Chelsea Clegg
  • Best and Fairest – Ella Clegg
  • Most Improved – Chiedza-Audrey Marimbe

Football

Senior Football Boys (Coach: Mr Jarrod Benbow)

  • Player of the Year – Tyler McGrath
  • Best and Fairest – Jonathon Jeynes
  • Most Improved – Liam Rosenberg

Senior Football Girls (Coach: Chris Reynolds)

  • Player of the Year – Amy Vorster
  • Best and Fairest – Jade Dethlefs
  • Most Improved – Georgia Lee-Smith

Junior Football Boys

  • Player of the Year – Thomas Pokarier
  • Best and Fairest – Lucas Ballantyne
  • Most Improved – Jack Maher

Rugby League

Opens (Coach: Mr Craig Peatey)

  • Best and Fairest – Mackenzie Clark
  • Best Back – Keagan Witulski
  • Best Forward – Daniel Mackellar

Year 8/9 

  • Player of the Season – Isaac Lanyon
  • Best Back – Nicholas Wilson
  • Best Forward – Jason Out

Year 7

  • Best and Fairest – Corey Barker
  • Best Back – Samuel Caddy-Welsh
  • Best Forward – Tyron King

Neil Holmes
Director of Sport – Secondary
HPE Secondary Teacher

Secondary Innovation & Learning

The Pictures The Visual Art and Film, Television and New Media Departments hosted The Pictures on the evening of Thursday 22 August. The Pictures is …

Visual & Media Arts
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Secondary Innovation & Learning

The Pictures

The Visual Art and Film, Television and New Media Departments hosted The Pictures on the evening of Thursday 22 August. The Pictures is an annual celebration of Genesis students’ creativity – split over two levels of the Performance Theatre, and spilling out onto its front lawn. The quality of work on display this year was very high, with the teachers spoilt for choice when deciding which works to exhibit in the limited space.

This year featured a live student band, collaborative artwork activity (painting gum-leaves for a chandelier), cinema showcasing student films, and an exhibition of artworks from all Visual Art students in Years 7 to 12.

We enjoyed a great turnout of students, parents and friends, eager to support their family and friends, and perhaps even more eager to see who would take out the various awards on the night (award recipients listed after article).

The tone of the evening was fun and relaxing, with one parent remarking “this event was fabulous – what a creative and amazing bunch of students,” and another, “creativity was on display in an amazing atmosphere.”

Congratulations to all students who exhibited at and attended The Pictures this year. It was a great display of creative talent and passion, and is testament to the wonderful, dedicated students we enjoy in our classes all year long!

Pictured: Artwork installations by Shannon O’Hara, Teagan King and Siaan Sanders


Award recipients are as follows:

GOSCAR (Genesis OSCAR) Awards for Film, Television & New Media

Rising Star: Rourke Beaumont

Production Design: Arina Dara

Editing: Jayden Lee-Smith

Sound Design: Mitchell Stanton

Cinematography: Shannon O’Hara

Best Film: Jayden Lee-Smith


Visual Art Awards

Principal’s Choice: Madison Gordon

Industry Encouragement Award: Teagan King and Shannon O’Hara


Photography Awards

People’s Choice: Amelia De-Vitry

Head of School’s Choice: Abigail Peet

Best in Show: Amelia De-Vitry

 

Bethany Loveridge
Innovation and Learning Leader – Visual and Media Arts (Years 7-12)

Secondary Care & Conduct

In 2019, the College’s Secondary Coordinator role has been renamed Director of Care and Conduct. The purpose of this position is to provide Pastoral leadership …

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Secondary Care & Conduct

In 2019, the College’s Secondary Coordinator role has been renamed Director of Care and Conduct. The purpose of this position is to provide Pastoral leadership through the development of spiritual, social and emotional habits in students as well being able to monitor student conduct, putting strategies in place to develop excellent behaviour and attitudes and communicate positively to others. Specific initiatives include:

  • Growing a strong, positive identity in each student with an emphasis on Christian citizenship
  • Developing the social and emotional habits of self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision making, self-management and relationship skills in students
  • Encouraging and fostering the traits of Christian citizenship and service through actively promoting opportunities like charity initiatives, assistance with events and functions, where applicable, and taking leadership roles
  • Developing student leadership and offering of opportunities

Tom Connolly
Director of Care and Conduct


Year 8:

Last week during our Assembly, we focused on our future and what we want that to look like. We spent time talking about leadership and values and looking ahead to our Middle School Captains. We also spent time looking ahead to what we want to achieve when we finish Year 12. The students wrote out a list of prayer goals, which they would like to see achieved in their life by the end of Year 12. The students had the option to have these goals laminated and to keep forever. It was so amazing to see how many students took advantage of this opportunity and really took the time to think about what their future would look like.

Lauren Klingberg
Year 8 Care and Conduct Leader

Year 9:

As we draw closer and closer to the end of Middle School (where has Term 3 gone?), the Year 9 students are gearing up for what promises to be a jam-packed Term 4. Subject selections for the new ATAR system for Year 10 have been entered and will be released soon, The Mentor Appreciation Project is the first week back of Term 4, our Adventure Alternatives Camp at Kenilworth is in the second week, and finally the Dinner Dance not long after. As always with the end of term, a gentle reminder to get AARA forms organised for your children when they are unable to complete/hand in assessment on its due date. I’m looking forward to finishing the year strong with your kids!

Ryan Craig
Year 9 Care and Conduct Leader


Nothing New About External Exams (Years 10, 11 and 12)

The topic of external exams is bringing out a lot of opinions in Queensland right now. The new Queensland Senior Curriculum has each university pathways subject completing an external exam. What is being underplayed is that Queenslanders aren’t new to having external testing; we should be embracing it.

Of course, our Year 12 students have recently completed the last ever QCS Test. Every September for 30 years, university-bound Secondary students have completed this external test to ensure their subject grades turn into university offers. Our Year 12 students completed countless exercises and were fully prepared and ready for two days of intense thinking and writing.

Many of the Year 11 students are finishing the term with exams that mimic the external ones planned for 2020. Teachers are helping students to consider how they use their time, how to understand unseen questions, and many other ways to step into an exam confident of achieving well. While some may learn through mistakes this time, most will do their absolute best on the test and realise that good preparation is the key.

Meanwhile, the Year 10 students are locking in their subject choices for the next two years. Many students have a clever mix of subjects involving external exams, certificate qualifications and time-consuming assignments, and over the next two years they will gradually become prepared for engaging well with the variety of assessment types.

Which all means that external exams:

  1. are part of the great learning teachers are providing.
  2. go well when you’re prepared.
  3. are really nothing new in Queensland.

Shayne Kriel, Peter Kidd and Rohan Mills
Years 10, 11 and 12 Care and Conduct Leaders

Secondary News & Highlights

#TeamGenesis Have you noticed how good it feels to be a QUEENSLANDER!? I don’t train with them, I can’t tackle, I don’t even run drinks …

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Secondary News & Highlights

#TeamGenesis

Have you noticed how good it feels to be a QUEENSLANDER!? I don’t train with them, I can’t tackle, I don’t even run drinks onto the field for them; but I feel so good supporting and cheering for the Maroons. I feel very much a part of the Qld State of Origin family.

Being at Genesis is so much like that for me. I don’t represent Qld or Australia, but our students do and that makes me feel good because we are a team. I can’t reach the highest of academic endeavours, but our students do and I am so proud for us. I can’t sing to save my life, but our students sing like angels. I don’t dance (quite literally, I am Gumbi), but our students amaze us all with their talent and pride bursts forth from my heart. I can’t run an amazing Chapel experience, but our students do this week after week and I am blessed because of it.

The Genesis student is the full package. They are challenged by a Christian compass. They use their knowledge and skills to serve others. They show compassion to make others belong to our broad family. They stretch themselves to be more creative, athletic and academic. And, we come in all variations of strength in that package.

To belong to a strong team is such an important part of life. I tell everyone how thankful I am to be part of our big family at Genesis.

Blessings

Stuart Taylor
Head of School – Secondary

Primary Sport

We have had a busy start to Semester 2 with a lot happening in Primary Sport. NISSA: NISSA (Northern Independent Schools Sporting Association) has commenced …

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Primary Sport

We have had a busy start to Semester 2 with a lot happening in Primary Sport.

NISSA:

  • NISSA (Northern Independent Schools Sporting Association) has commenced Semester 2 sports and students have participated in two gala days this term.
  • We have seen the introduction of netball, soccer and rugby union. We’ve been very lucky to be working closely with the Qld Reds to develop the rugby skills of our students.

Prep – 2 Athletics Carnival:

  • In Week 4 we held our annual P-2 Athletics Carnival. It was fabulous to see so many of our youngest students participating so enthusiastically on the day and having so much fun.

CSSAQ Athletics:

  •  Our Primary Athletics Team competed at the CSSAQ (Christian Schools Sports Association Qld) in late last month.

Congratulations to:

  • Age Group Winners: 9 years boys
  • Age Champion (9 years): Rocco Croucamp
  • New 800m Record: Rocco Croucamp
  • Runner Up Age Champion (11 years): Mia Croucamp
  • Runner Up Age Champion (10 years): Olivia Tailby
  • Genesis placed 3rd overall.

Recent Congratulations:

  • Olivia Young: U11 Met North Netball representative
  • Nell Schoeman: 10-12 years Pine Rivers District Cricket representative
  • Morgan Lyall: Qld Equestrian Team representative
  • Elijah Nicol, Mia Croucamp and Morgan Lyall: Pine Rivers District Tennis representatives
  • Mackenna Magill: Qld Futsal representative

BOSL Netball and Soccer:

  • We have been competing this term with some large wins against Mueller College and The Lakes College.

Louise McCarthy

Director of Sport – Primary

Primary Innovation & Learning

We Love Reading! A Consistent Approach to Fostering a Love of Reading from Prep to Year 2 Reading is an essential skill that children must …

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Primary Innovation & Learning

We Love Reading!

A Consistent Approach to Fostering a Love of Reading from Prep to Year 2

Reading is an essential skill that children must learn to be successful during schooling and later life. The better children can read, the easier it will be for them to learn.  Did you know that:

  • 50% of written text is vowel sounds?
  • Vowel sounds are made up of 86 letter combinations, none of which can be sounded out phonetically. Each letter combination can make up to 10 different sounds.
  • The remaining 50% is made up of consonant sounds.
  • 95% can be sounded out phonetically BUT… add to this many confusing and often incorrect spelling “rules” – for example, “i” before “e” except after “c” only works 25% of the time!

I Love Reading (ILR) is founded on over 30 years of research that looked at the complexities, listened to sounds, explored language and developed a system for decoding the English language. It combines proven, evidence-based literacy methods with a fresh approach to teaching phonics that encourages children to progress from learning to read to reading to learn.

The Year 1 team, who were trained in ILR earlier this year, is enjoying teaching the main twenty-two vowel sounds this term through a range of hands-on experiences.  These experiences have resulted in numerous quality discussions about sounds and their articulation. Such quality discussions and experiences are what create the connections within these young brains, helping them to remember, as well as enjoy the process.  We look forward to sharing more about I Love Reading with you at a Parent Information Night in Term 4, in preparation for a full roll out in all Prep to Year 2 classes in 2020.

Anne-Maree Kingston
Director of Innovation and Learning – Lower Primary


Year 1 are “one”derful!

What an amazingly fun Term 3 we have had. Throughout the past few weeks we have continued to blow our teachers away with how incredible we are and how quickly we are learning new things. Year 1 have been lucky enough to begin our new literacy program I Love Reading and have loved every minute of it. As part of the program, we have welcomed some new characters into our Year 1 family. These characters will be popping their heads up and around the Primary School helping us learn, helping us think and helping us respond.

Miss Quokka is all about feeling it. Connecting our head and our heart. Miss Quokka never quits. She is a perfect addition to our classrooms as she helps us question things.  She encourages us to work and think independently and conquers any challenge.

This investigator is the face of ILR- Curious Clyde. He is all about sharing what he knows and connecting the clues. Clyde always searches for answers, seeks clues, listens for sounds, always wants to know more, engages in learning and loves to help his friends learn too.

Sneaky Sam is a personal favourite of Year 1. He is all about working it. Connecting with what is correct. He mixes things up to check your understanding. Sneaky Sam likes to play tricks on people both in their classrooms and in the texts they read.

Gopher Green is a smart little cookie who is all about thinking it. He connects problem solving with personal experiences. Gopher Green always solves problems with creativity and helps us think creatively and out of the box.

Critical thinking skills in Year 1 are so much fun!

Ashleigh Quinn 
Year 1 Classroom Teacher
Year 1 Innovation and Learning Leader

Primary News & Highlights

It has been a wonderful and rewarding first eight months at Genesis for me. We have exemplary children, beautiful grounds and classrooms, and an exceptional …

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Primary News & Highlights

It has been a wonderful and rewarding first eight months at Genesis for me. We have exemplary children, beautiful grounds and classrooms, and an exceptional and professional staff. All of this is designed to support very high-quality student learning. As our Primary team focused on 2019, and what we needed to do to deliver an exceptional education for our students; we decided to renew our guiding vision for teaching and learning in Primary school, from which all other decisions are informed. I intend to share with you aspects of this over a series of newsletter articles, and elaborate on the great work being done in our Primary school.

“Learning at Genesis has each individual child’s development at heart. The journey of each child’s cognitive, social, emotional, and spiritual development is unique to them, and learning situations are designed to allow every child to access their curriculum at their stage of development. We value a sense of wonder, discovery and inquiry in children, as this allows for a deeper, more meaningful, intrinsic learning experience.”

The key word I would like to highlight above is Inquiry. At Genesis, Inquiry-based learning is a major focus of our school. Inquiry learning involves constructing our curriculum around a driving question; from which each student can follow a line of research or a project which is relevant or meaningful to them. An example of this recently has been in Year 3. Our Year 3 team in Geography has been looking at habitats in our Bray Park area. The students individually research the habitats, including native species and environmental impacts within. From here our students have been working with a range of project presentation methods to show their learning outcomes. These have included the use of Virtual Reality, Digital Technology, Lego, and also other traditional presentation styles. The key here though, is that our awesome Year 3 staff are able to engage each individual with the curriculum, by the students having choice over their learning and presentation style. When we do this, it greatly deepens the learning experience for students, with the skills and content we need them to learn sticking even better. Mrs Bennett and the Year 3 team have done a really exceptional job with Inquiry learning this term!

Jeremy Williamson
Head of School (Primary)

Pastoral Care

Hello Genesis Community! Can you believe we are almost three quarters of the way through the year?! It has been an eventful year so far …

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Pastoral Care

Hello Genesis Community!

Can you believe we are almost three quarters of the way through the year?!

It has been an eventful year so far and full of opportunities for our students to grow, learn and flourish. In our Secondary School this term, one of our Pastoral themes has been “Social Justice” derived from the scripture in Isaiah 1:17 that says, Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.

In each of our Chapel services we have been learning about how we can help others in our community and around the world along with providing students the opportunity to put this into practice. One recent was our “See you at the Pole” event. This is a global student prayer initiative where students can choose to come and pray for their school, community, nation and the world. Students had the opportunity to meet at our flagpole in the forecourt and write a social justice issue that was close to their heart on our prayer banner. Together, we then prayed for these issues as a group. This was a really powerful time of thinking about others and their needs and taking time out of our days to consider their plight and pray for these people. We’ve also had another MAD (Make a Difference) project where students cooked meals for members of our community who may be in need. This project is very dear to our hearts and something that has become a very special part of our Genesis community, as way to show care and love during some difficult times.

Current mental health research consistently shows that when we are engaged with the world around us, have positive connections and relationships and help others in time of need, then we are more likely to build resilience and mental wellness in our own lives.

Dr. Jodi Richardson from Parenting Ideas says, “The strongest finding in positive psychology is that our relationships with other people have the greatest impact on our happiness and mental health. This principle is true for children and teenagers as well as adults”.

Though at times there will be challenges, the College community is a wonderful way for students to learn the skills to build positive relationships and to experience a sense of belonging. Our Pastoral Care team has many before school, lunch time and after school activities available to help assist students to foster this and flourish across all aspects of their life. If you are interested in this for your child please do not hesitate to contact our Pastoral Care team for more details.

Our prayer is that you and your family will have a blessed end of term as we head towards the holiday break.

Kind regards,

Louise Klar
Head of Pastoral Care and Growth / College Counsellor


Primary Pastoral Care

Our children at Genesis LOVE singing and worship!

This is evident daily, as one moves around our school and hears the variety of enthusiastic songs pouring out of our classrooms and Chapel services.

One of their favourite Christian artists is Sean W Smith and we were delighted to welcome him back to our school a few weeks ago. Sean is an extremely talented children’s entertainer and great at communicating the gospel in a fun and motivational manner. It was a blast! The auditorium rocked as our children sang along to his greatest hits, which are well known and loved. They bopped to Boom, flipped in Free and cheered in The Coca Cola Song’ It was a wonderful afternoon!

Another singing sensation that our children love, is the Watoto Children’s Choir. They recently joined us for amazing performances across both Primary and Secondary schools. “Watoto” means “Children” in Swahili , and the choir is made up of children from Uganda who have lost one or both of their parents. Their performances are a blend of native African rhythms, contemporary gospel and creative dance. Watoto have toured all over the world, and our children are always enthralled by them and the joy that radiates from their beautiful faces. We are so blessed to be able to enrich our children’s lives by participating in these amazing worship experiences!

Pam Nadler
Primary School Chaplain

Curriculum Matters

Engagement in Literacy I am sure that many of you grew up with books, with storytelling and reading a bedtime ritual.  Bookcases may have been …

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Curriculum Matters

Engagement in Literacy

I am sure that many of you grew up with books, with storytelling and reading a bedtime ritual.  Bookcases may have been bursting with Enid Blyton (that’s showing my age!), The Hardy Boys and the like. Books were easy to access and often reread over and over. Studies clearly show that reading with children, from a young age, improves literacy development, vocabulary, models fluency and also provides a time for the child and reader to ask curious questions and to bond. If you were to visit any preschool or kindergarten classroom, you’d surely find that shared book reading is a common activity used to facilitate discussions and support a young child’s language and literacy development. Taking the time to invest in a child’s literacy will pay dividends in the long term as literacy and academic success are highly correlated. Literacy development is not only for young children either and reading often and widely is encouraged.

Over the last few weeks students have been exposed to a range of literacy-focused programs and competitions such as visiting authors, Book Week, the Book Fair, ‘Write a Book in a Day’ and the Readers Cup, which of course complement the literacy programs which occur every day in the classroom. I would encourage parents to partner with the College in fostering a love and engagement of all types of literature.

Nichola Welsh 
Head of Teaching and Learning (P-12)

Welcome

Parenting and Leadership. What is the difference? Welcome to my first article in our new format and under the heading Leadership Voice. Recently, I was …

From the Leadership Team
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Parenting and Leadership. What is the difference?

Welcome to my first article in our new format and under the heading Leadership Voice.

Recently, I was talking to a group of parents about the challenges of leading a team the size we have here at Genesis. By the end of the conversation, we realised that many of the challenges were no different to those faced by parents. See if any of the following five points resonate with your experiences in the workplace and at home as a parent.

Discipline: It is important that behavioural expectations and roles are the same for all. Therefore, allowing one child to get away with poor behaviour can break the trust with the other children.

Accountability: Taking responsibility for their behaviours, bedrooms and how they conduct their relationships is critical for the whole family to function effectively. The earlier in their journey this accountability starts, the better. Lack of accountability and consequences go hand in hand and there is no better place to learn this than the misuse of social media.

Praise: Is there anyone that does not like to know they are doing a great job? Positive, reassuring feedback builds self-worth and self-confidence and this usually translates into improved productivity.

Respect: Is usually a two way interaction, parent to child, child to parent. When in place, the relationship is enhanced and usually flourishes because it is more likely that collaboration is happening and therefore, the environment is more positive.

Restraint: Amongst other things, restraint is about us realising we are not going to get things to go our way all the time. Teaching and modelling to our children how to negotiate in a non-confrontational manner is a skill that will stand them in good stead for life.

Brian Barker
Principal