​Junior School News T1 W8 2021

FAITHFUL IN THE LITTLE THINGS

This week at assembly, we were thanking our students for being faithful in the small things. Things like letting others go before you or welcoming visitors when they move through our campus. It is these small things that build the big thing called Culture. These small things are the fabric of what it looks like and feels like to be a Faith student or to be part of our community.

Our lives are built, and our children grow, by taking little steps. The little steps you take count, the little steps shorten the distance, the little steps build your strength, the little steps build faith. Taking a small step forward to reach a big dream or goal works when the steps are taken consistently, patiently, courageously, faithfully.

Faithfulness is not a frivolous vehicle that leads us to our goals, dreams, and desires. Faithfulness reveals character: it shows the kind of person you are, the person you want to be, the person you are becoming. It measures your level of integrity in the unseen, mundane everyday choices you make – the difference is made when you take time to grow in the little things each day.

Washing our hands, saying please and thank you, brushing our teeth, remembering our library book, sharing a kind word, sharing a smile that may change someone’s day – it’s the little things! So, as you spend time with your family this weekend, take a moment to remind them that we are thankful for the small things that they do for us all the time. When we are faithful in the small things, when we keep taking little steps forward, then we will achieve the big things – the dreams and the goals. For “if you are faithful in the little things, we will be faithful in the big things” (Luke 16:10).

VOLUNTEER INDUCTION SESSIONS – Thank you to all our parents who have attended these and are starting to come into the community and help both in and out of the classroom. If you have been unable to attend one of our sessions, but would still like to be a volunteer, please contact the office so that we can arrange a session for you to attend.

TUCKSHOP – Thank you for your patience, and feedback, as we have started the year with our tuckshop procedures. Growth is a wonderful thing in our school, but sometimes it presents some challenges. We have been working hard to solve things and have now implemented some new procedures to ensure our students receive their food in a timely manner. These new procedures include:

  • Two new canteen assistants have been appointed to help with the increased number of orders.
  • Food is now being prepared in our Junior School tuckshop rather than transported from our Secondary campus.
  • Food is delivered to classrooms each tuckshop day to be distributed by the class teacher, rather than children coming to collect it from the counter.

So far, things have been running smoothly and we will continue to review these procedures over the next few weeks to ensure efficiency. In addition to this, we will be rostering some parent volunteers to commence in Term 2 to assist on a regular basis. Thank you to those parents who have volunteered, we look forward to seeing you after the holidays.

DRIVE THRU ZONE – WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT

It is fabulous to have so many families following our safety procedures each day when using the drive thru. However, some students and parents are still going to the boot to put a bag in or take it out when their parent pulls up. We are asking for your help to ensure no bags or items are placed in the boot at any time. This is to keep our kids safe! We do not want children, or parents, at the boot of the car when other cars are pulling up behind them, it only takes one misjudged distance or a failed brake to have one of our kids hurt. There are a few families that find this challenging due to car seats etc. If this is you, please contact our Junior School office and advise us of this as we will ensure safety arrangements are in place for your family. Thank you for supporting us in making the community safe.

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS – Tuesday, 30 March is our Term 1 Parent Teacher Interview evening. A letter will be sent home today with booking information for you via our parent lounge. You will also receive a feedback form or a meeting request email from your child’s teacher prior to the parent teacher evening in Week 10. This form will be sent to you from a generic email address (juniorschool@faithredlands.com) that should not be used to communicate with us, but rather a generic no-reply address that is used when we send out mail merge forms. We trust that this feedback or request form assists you in knowing whether or not to attend an appointment with your child’s teacher. In some cases, parents have had a few meetings already and may not need to attend another appointment. By sending home some feedback via email, even if you do not attend, you will receive some interim progress for your child.

CAFÉ FLOURISH – need a coffee after drop off? Café Flourish is open each morning from 8:00 – 8:45am, so if you have time take a moment to connect with another parent or a new family in the school. We look forward to seeing you there!

2022 ENROLMENTS – We are currently interviewing for Prep 2022 and other vacancies that exist in some year levels. If you have not enrolled your child yet, please do so as soon as possible to ensure you secure your place. Places are filling fast!

CROSS COUNTRY – Our Junior School Cross Country event is coming up on 1 April 2021. We will have competitive races in the morning, followed by a P – 12 fun run with our Secondary students. Look out for more information coming home shortly for those parents that wish to come along with their House spirit and support this event.

HOLY WEEK – one of our very precious times in the Junior School each year is Holy week. This is our weeklong celebration of the Easter Story that involves all our classes sharing a special milestone in a chapel service each day at 2:15pm. This year our final service will be a whole college one in our Junior School SPAH (1:30pm). More details will be coming home soon regarding your child’s involvement, but a program of the week is below. We hope you can join us for these special community times.

YEAR 4 CAMP – Our Year 4 students are excited to head off to camp next Wednesday to spend 2 nights up at Luther Heights. We can’t wait to hear of all the new things they experience and the fun that they will have on this adventure.

Jodi Blackwell
Head of Junior School