In this issue

Department Spotlight – Senior Fashion Excursion to Reverse Garbage 

At the beginning of June, the Senior Fashion class went on an adventure to Reverse Garbage. They are Queensland’s only eco arts and reuse co-operative specialising in the collection of clean industrial discards and other high quality materials. Every week they are saving approximately 2 tonnes of reusable ‘waste’ from landfill. 

Students were given a warehouse tour which gave them some perspective of the type of products and ‘bits and pieces’ that go into landfill. The warehouse stock changes on a regular basis and includes everything from wood, textiles, plastics, corks to medical x-rays, mannequins and Perspex offcuts. The possibilities were endless. Students were given a small budget to choose items to make into an Accessory for their assessment pieces and access to their workshop equipment to help guide them on what are the best tools for the job.   

Teaching our youth the importance of looking after our environment and the ability to re-use or recycle everything, means we are one step closer to a healthy and prosperous future. 

Department Spotlight – Music Through the Years 

Our Music – Through The Years performance evening occurred on Wednesday 2 June, with students from Year 9 through 12 showcasing their musical talent and passion. 34 performances were given to an appreciative audience of parents, families and peers.  

All proceeds went to the Myanmar orphanage, and the Music Department is grateful for the opportunity to support these causes. There were many amazing performances from all the students.  

It is with a tinge of sadness that some familiar faces will not be returning to the Music rooms in 2022. However, we do wish them God’s blessing in their future endeavours, and hope that music will continue to remain an important part of their lives.

Department Spotlight – Dramatic Arts News 

2021 in the Dramatic Arts Department is looking refreshingly different to 2020. Our students have been embracing every opportunity offered to them and we have some wonderful news to report. Following a fabulously fruitful Dance Camp earlier this year, our Mini, Junior and Senior Dance Companies have thoroughly enjoyed being back on the competition stage and are off to a very successful start to their competition season:  

Ipswich Combined Teachers Dancing Festival 

• 2 x Firsts 
• 1 x Second 
• 1 x Third
• 2 x Very highly commended 

Sunshine Coast Dance Eisteddfod 

• 1 x First 
• 3 x Seconds 
• 1 x Third 
• 1 x Highly commended 

Our brand new Movers and Groovers group, along with our much-loved Movers and Shakers Team have been rehearsing hard in preparation for their debut performance at the College Festival!  

Show Choir, under the direction of our GDA Assistant Director and Musical Theatre Teacher, Mrs Jessica Sankey, presented their debut performance at the recent Colours Awards Assembly.  

Many of our Dance and Drama classes have enjoyed excursions to live performances, including Shrek, The Tap Pack, Three, Our Town and more.  

Our Year 11 and 12 Dance students were also treated to an excursion to QUT Kelvin Grove, where they spent a day in the life of a QUT Creative Industries student. The students experienced a 90 minute dance workshop, in addition to a full tour of the Creative Industries precinct and a Q&A session.  

Finally, we hosted a wonderful afternoon of Shakespearean inspired arts performances at the inaugural ‘An Afternoon With Shakespeare’ event.  

We continue to thank God for His favour upon the Arts at Genesis and look forward with anticipation to a fruitful Semester two.  

Kind regards,

Emily Briddock 

Innovation and Learning Leader 

Dramatic Arts – 7-12 

Primary Sports 

Athletics 

What an amazing day we had for our Year 3-6 Athletics carnival. We were blessed with amazing weather and the students participated with enthusiasm and sportsmanship on the day.  

Congratulations to our winning house – Gilead 

Congratulations also goes to our Age Champions: 

Age Champions 

• 8 Years Girls – Emily C, Zoe B, Kayleigh N 
• 8 Years Boys – Charlie S, Theo L, Max M 
• 9 Years Girls – Holly M, Ruby K, Zoe P
• 9 Years Boys – Deezil P, Harrison L, Cale S 
• 10 Years Girls – Ayla J, Lucille I, Matilda T 
• 10 Years Boys – Cameron E, Theo H, Flynn S 
• 11 Years Girls – Giselle B, Chelsea L, Courtney H 
• 11 Years Boys – Matthew T, Felix N, Lachlan S 

We also had 21 of our Year 6 students attend the Secondary Athletics Carnival. These students competed strongly on the day and were excellent ambassadors of our Primary School.  

Congratulations goes to the following students who were Age Champion placings:

• 12 Years Girls – 1st Madison R 
• 12 Years Boys – 2nd Noah C 
• 12 Years Boys – 3rd Stefan V 

NISSA Athletics Carnival 

We attended the NISSA Athletics Carnival with a team of 47 athletes who ran, jumped, and threw with all their efforts to come away as champion school at the end of the meet. Congratulations to all the member of our NISSA team. 

Morning and Lunch Time Training 

Morning and lunch time training with Mrs McCarthy and Mrs Turner is continuing with our Athletics focus. Please see the Genesis App or school calendar for training weeks and details. 

Congratulations 

Met North Region Team Selections 

Cross Country 

Matthew T (Year 5) 

Cross Country  

Sienna B (Year 6)  

Cross Country 

Madison R (Year 6)  

Pine Rivers District Team Selections: 

Tennis  

Hayden D (Year 7)  

Tennis  

Elijah N (Year 7)  

Kind regards,

Louise McCarthy 

Director of Primary Sport 

Secondary Sports 

Swimming 

Congratulations to Kirralee H for her selection in the Australian Team for the Paralympics in Tokyo. Kirralee will represent Australia in the 50m Freestyle. Kirralee started swimming training at Genesis when the Aquatics Centre opened in 2012. She has demonstrated outstanding commitment to her sport and her character both in and out of the water has been exemplary. Kirralee has been supported well by her parents, coaches and teachers at Genesis who have all contributed towards her being able to fulfil her dreams of becoming a Paralympian. We wish Kirralee well as she starts her swimming journey towards the Paralympics this August and into the future.  

Genesis Athletics Carnival Results 

Overall House Champion 

• Bethel: 1st 
• Shiloh : 2nd
• Gilead : 3rd Jericho : 4th 

House Spirit Trophy 

Shiloh 

Record Breakers  

• Malachi S – 15 Boys 200m Dash – 23.88sec 
• Malachi S – 15 Boys Triple Jump – 11.63m 
• Alex G – 15 Boys 200m Dash – 24.18 sec 
• Shandri B – 16 Girls Discus – 27.40m 
• Joseph A – Open Boys Triple Jump – 12.08m 
• Lucy W – Open Girls Shotput – 11.54m 

Age Champions 

• 12 Years Girls  –  1st Madison R, 2nd Olivia T, 3rd Lucy S 
• 12 Years Boys – 1st Jaegar B, 2nd Noah C, 3rd Stefan V 
• 13 Years Girls – 1st Emma N, 2nd Megan A, 3rd Morgan L 
• 13 Years Boys – 1st Luka L, 2nd Xavier C, 3rd Santiago R 
• 14 Years Girls – 1st Ashley M, 2nd Kiara K, 3rd Haley W 
• 14 Years Boys – 1st Ian B, 3rd Lincoln D 
• 15 Years Girls – 1st Grace M, 3rd Holly M 
• 15 Years Boys – 1st Malachi S, 3rd Jake S 
• 16 Years Girls – 1st Sophie D, 2nd Hayley F, 3rd Shandri B 
• 16 Years Boys – 1st Ben M, 2nd Lincoln S, 3rd Mitchell W  
• Open Girls – 1st Charlize S, 2nd Ella S, 3rd Charli J 
• Open Boys – 1st William M, 2nd Joseph A, 3rd Travis P 

District/Regional/State Team Sport Selections

Soccer  

Stephanie H (Year 9) was selected in the Queensland team for Soccer. Stephanie took part in the State Championships representing Met North at the State Championships in Hervey Bay. The Met North team also won the State title. Well done to Stephanie for this outstanding achievement. 

Volleyball 

Jenna C (Year 10) represented Met North in the State Volleyball Championships with her team coming in 2nd place. Jenna was selected in the Qld Merit Team. This is a great achievement for Jenna who has also represented Genesis in the BOSL and State Schools Cup competition previously. 

Touch 

Charli Jarvis (Year 12) represented Met North District at the Queensland Touch Football Championships in Brisbane. Congratulations to Charli on an outstanding year in Touch Football, representing Genesis in BOSL and for her selection in the Met North team. 

Cross Country 

Ben C (Year 9) and Ella S (Year 12) represented the Pine Rivers District at the recent Met North Cross County Championships and have been selected in the Met North team for the State Cross Country championships which will be held in July. Well done on this outstanding achievement. 

ISSA Soccer 

Genesis were represented this term in the ISSA Soccer Cup (Junior Boys, Junior Girls, Senior Boys and Senior Girls) which is a tournament for Independent Schools in South East Queensland. All four teams have performed very well with the Junior Boys progressing to the knockout stage of the competition. The Senior Boys and Senior Girls will finalise their round matches early in Term 3. Thank you to Will Allan (Football Coordinator) and coaches Jade Dethlefs and Jarrod Benbow.  

BOSL Basketball 

Genesis were represented by five teams (Senior Boys, Senior Girls, Intermediate Boys, Junior Boys and Junior Girls) in the BOSL Basketball competition. The teams represented the College proudly and for many of the teams it was their first year playing together in this tournament. Congratulations to Izac Craze for being named in the Intermediate boys All BOSL team. A special thank you to the Basketball Coordinator Brad Dutney and coaches Paul Gandini, Richard de Villiers and Brent Wood.  

BOSL Volleyball 

Genesis were well represented in the BOSL Volleyball competition with the Open Boys and two Junior Girls teams. All teams had a great season with the Junior Girls Blue team winning the premiership and the Junior Girls Yellow team placing third. The Open Boys will be playing in the play-off game for third place and we wish them all the best. We really appreciate the efforts of Tom Connolly (Senior Volleyball Coordinator) and Jade Walters (Junior Volleyball Coordinator). Thank you to the coaches Tina Serafino and Albert Diloi.  

Gymnastics 

Recently Year 11 Student Toby A was awarded a Gold medal at the 2021 Australian Gymnastics Championships Level 7 Open division. He also went on to win Gold on the Vault and Silver on rings. This capped off a great year for Toby after winning both the Regional and State Championships. Well done Toby on these achievements this year and for the years of dedication, hard work and commitment you have demonstrated in your chosen sport.  

Netball 

Charlize S has been selected in the Queensland Under 17 Netball team and will take part in the National Championships in Hobart in the holidays. This follows on from her recent success by representing Met North in the Qld School Championship. Congratulations to Charlize for an outstanding year in Netball and we wish her every success at the upcoming National Championships. 

Rowing 

Year 12 students Ella S and Jaeve P, who were selected in the U19 Australian Rowing team after their success in the national championships in March, competed over the past week in Adelaide in a World Cup Simulation Regatta against other Australian representatives and the Australian Olympic team as part of their preparation for the Tokyo games. The girls performed extremely well, finishing as the number one ranked junior crew. This event was held in place of sending athletes to the Junior World Rowing Championships in Bulgaria due to COVID.  

Year 9 students Maddy G and Jess C won First place in the Under 16 Double Skulls at the South East Qld Age Championships. This is an outstanding achievement and the girls have been paired up for two years in the Genesis Rowing program. We wish the girls all the best of success in their future with rowing. 

Blessings,

Anthony Arro

Director of Sport – Secondary

Primary Highlights – Project Based Learning in Primary  

You may have heard your child coming home excited about a new project they are doing in class this term, and if not, you certainly will before the end of this year. A new initiative in the primary school this year is Project-Based Learning, or PBL for short. 

What makes students and staff so excited about PBL is just how engaging it is. Do you ever remember being at school, having to learn something that seemed so irrelevant and asking yourself or the teacher the question, “How am I ever going to use this in real life?” I know I did, and it didn’t always go down well! But that was the 80s and 90s; today more than ever we need to be preparing our students for the real world, through an experiential education that is meaningful to them.  

PBL contains a few key ingredients to its success in the classroom. These being: 

• Key knowledge, understanding and success skills 
• A challenging problem or question 
• Sustained inquiry 
• Authenticity 
• Student choice and voice 
• Reflection and critique 
• Public project 

Typically, teachers collaborate together to design PBL units in the HASS, Science, and Design Technology curricula; often integrating these curriculum in a real world project or problem for students to solve. Though PBL can work in any curriculum area. 

In a project, students have to use their life skills – those skills which are so crucial in a team or workplace to navigate their way through designing a solution to a problem. These skills often include self-management, teamwork, creative and critical thinking, effective participation, inquisitiveness, and reflection. Sound familiar? Yes, these are the Secret Skills our students have been learning about since last year. Through authentic curriculum related projects, all of our holistic learning and experiences come together to create a rich and engaging learning environment for our students. 

Some year levels have jumped in early this year into PBL, with the Year 4 designing donuts, and also having a project around the environment and sustainability. Next term watch out for some book writing for younger students, bath toy design, mini-beasts, and so much more. 

 Kind Regards, 

Jeremy Williamson

 Head of School – Primary

Secondary School Highlights – Your Word is my light 

Genesis Christian College School motto 

Psalm 119:105 

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path 

From its very inception, the school motto has been ‘Your Word is my light’. For 30 years we have remained true to this ‘guiding light’ for choosing a path for Genesis. We are thankful for God’s blessing as we have attended to the Word, and the directions we should take.  

Walk in the Light is how we speak about the character of the Genesis student. The one sentence pitch being- Grow, Give and Connect with Conviction.  

Character is grown as we Grow with Conviction, as we Give with Conviction, as we Connect with Conviction. 

Conviction describes the basis of our decision making; the choices we make moment by moment. Conviction reminds us that we are responsible for those choices, and that right choices are what we all want to make, but sometimes stumble over.  

In the face of difficult circumstances our Conviction is the moral compass of life. In the good times, Conviction is the compass that leads us to be grateful. 

God’s Word is the true North point for our moral compass. It is the light that shines on a path to follow, a path that is rich and rewarding. Conviction needs to be deeply rooted in an understanding of who we are in God and what His purposes for us now and into the future entail. 

The Bible tells us: 

• We are shaped and gifted: we need to Grow in all spheres of life 
• We are to Serve: we need to Give in a way that makes a difference in this world 
• We are a body: we need to Connect to each other as if family 
• We are formed for faith: we need to exercise Conviction 

Blessings,

Stuart Taylor 

Head of School – Secondary 

Curriculum Matters

Cross Age Tutoring 2021 

 Servanthood is about attitude. Leaders seek ways they can add value to others, which is primarily through serving them.  

Around 100 students from Year 7 to 11, are exemplifying such servant leadership through their involvement in the 2021 Cross Age Reading and Cross Age Tutoring programs. During Week 7 of this term, students in Years 7, 8 and 9 participated in a training session to upskill on book walks, retell, and reading strategies. Attending before school sessions, they support their Year 1, 2 or 3 reading buddy, diligently by asking here, hidden, head and heart questions after the completion of each book, to check for comprehension.   

Students from Years 10 and 11 will join the program in Term 3 to work with teacher selected students in Prep and Year 1. Through games and hands on activities, these students will practice beginning literacy skills, including letter and sound knowledge, blending and segmenting words and sentence construction.  

An added benefit for lower primary students in having a high school tutor, is the opportunity for one-on-one conversations. A solid foundation of oral language helps children become successful readers, strong communicators and increases their confidence and overall sense of well-being.  Together, these students in primary and secondary, implement the 21st century skills of communication and collaboration, as they work together to increase our primary student’s love for literacy. 

Blessings,

Nichola Welsh

Head of Teaching & Learning (P-12)

The Pastoral Care Pen

Body Image 

According to the results in the Mission Australia Youth Survey, 2020, body image is one of the top three concerns that young people struggle with. Body image refers to the way in which a person thinks and feels about their body. 

Indicators that your child may be struggling with their body image are: 

• Being self-critical of their body 
• Comparing their body to their peers/people on social media 
• Obsessing about losing weight or bulking up 
• Avoiding activities that would make the size and shape of their body more exposed, such as swimming 
• Feeling self-conscious about photos being taken of them 
• Feeling guilty if they’ve eaten ‘too much’ or not exercised 
• Using supplements to increase muscle mass 

If this is a struggle for your child, here are some tips to help them develop a positive body image: 

• Help your child to focus on their strengths, God-given gifts and positive internal traits that have nothing to do with their body 
• Regularly affirm your child on their inner qualities  
• Help your child appreciate everything that their body enables them to do 
• Encourage your child to eat a healthy diet by providing them with a wide variety of nutritious food 
• Encourage your child to participate in a sport or other physical activity that they enjoy 
• Be a positive role model for your child when it comes to eating nutritious food, exercising regularly, and appreciating of your body 
• Encourage your child to make wise choices when it comes to social media accounts that they follow. Encourage your child to avoid following people who are fixated on their body 

If you are concerned that your child may be struggling with their body image, feel free to contact the Pastoral Care and Growth Department. 

Kind regards 

Julie McGovern 

College Counsellor 

References: 

https://raisingchildren.net.au/pre-teens/healthy-lifestyle/body-image/body-image-teens 

https://au.reachout.com/articles/what-is-body-image 

From the Leadership Team 

This term at Genesis has been full of outstanding achievements, from individual students and groups, across sports, performing arts and academic pursuits. However, of special note are the wonderful achievements of Kirralee Hayes, selected onto the Australian Paralympic Swim Team to compete at the Tokyo Paralympic Games later this year. Congratulations Kirralee. Also, Ella Smith and Jaeve Proberts, recently competed in Adelaide in a World Cup Simulation Regatta against other Australian representatives and the Australian Olympic Rowing Team, an event held in place of sending athletes to the Junior World Rowing Championships in Bulgaria. Congratulations Ella and Jaeve. At Genesis what makes us excited and proud is seeing our students exploring, and using their God given gifts! 

Inside Tour 

As the end of Term 2 draws to a close, so does the work on Stage 21.1 of our building project in Lower Primary. The first stage of this build will be complete on Friday 25 June with our Year 2 students commencing in this new facility on the first day of Term 3, 19 July.  Jeremy Williamson and I will be conducting an ‘Inside Tour’ of these facilities on Wednesday 21 July from 8:45am-9:30am. If you would like to join the Tour for a special look inside, please register here.

Stage 21.2 of construction will commence on 28 June with an expected completion date in late October.  

Strategic Planning 

The College has been undertaking the exciting process of developing our new Strategic Plan throughout the first half of this year. Can I thank parents who provided the College Board and Leadership Team with feedback earlier this year regarding the future of the College. A further opportunity for feedback will be provided to parents at the commencement of Term 3. The upcoming survey will focus around the draft strategic pillars that have been identified within this new plan. Parents will be asked to comment on the relevance of these key areas. Please keep an eye out for this feedback opportunity early in Term 3. 

Blessings, 

Paul Sterling 

Principal