11/03/2015
Issue 7
[Judas] drew near to kiss [Jesus], but Jesus said to him, “Judas, Would you betray
the Son of Man with a kiss?” Luke 22:47
A friend is a great thing. And yet, one of the worst things is when a friend betrays us. There
can be so much bitterness when this happens, because the person we once trusted has
now turned on us.
This is exactly what happened to Jesus. One of his twelve disciples, Judas, who had learnt
from him for three years, now turned on him. And it was Judas who then led the angry
crowd to arrest Jesus and take him prisoner. Also, Judas gives him away by kissing him, as
people would normally have done to greet each other in a friendly way, much like when
we shake hands or hug someone we haven’t seen for a long time. And yet, this friendly
gesture has a knife in it—it says one thing, but means something else. Through all of this,
Jesus, our Lord and our friend, takes upon himself all the disappointment of our betrayed
friendships, and comforts us.
Dear Jesus, you are such a great friend to us, always faithful and true, and never two-faced.
Shine the light of your face upon us this week, and teach us true friendship. Amen.
Pastor Stephen van der Hoek
From the Principal
I trust your family enjoyed the long weekend. Hopefully this provided an opportunity to have
slightly less hectic routines.
As you will see from the list below, there are a number of school activities planned for the
remaining weeks of Term 1. I ask you to please note the dates and times when different
activities are occurring.
St Mark’s Activities and Requests Summary
- Our SRC will lead our whole school assembly tomorrow. We begin at 9am in our hall.
- Our next P and F meeting will be held on Thursday evening from 7pm in the school
staffroom.
- Our Year 3 students will take part in a German Excursion to St Michael’s Lutheran school in
Hahndorf on Thursday.
- Pastor Stephen will lead our whole school chapel on Friday. We begin at 9am in the hall
followed by Coffee and Chat in the library.
- There will be a St Mark’s Lutheran Lightning Pedal Prix BBQ fundraiser at Woolworths on
Sunday 15th March.
- School Photos will be held on Wednesday 18th March.
- F to Year 6 Twilight Sportsday is being held on Friday 20th March. Today we overview our
houses and what students can wear.
- Parent and Teacher meetings will occur over three afternoons on Wednesday 1st, Tuesday
7th and Thursday 9th April. Details on how to book a time to meet with your child’s teacher,
were sent home in a separate letter last Friday. Please note the school day will finish at
3pm on these days.
Week 11 Change of Dates
With the opportunity to celebrate the Easter weekend during this term, a change has been
made to the planned Chapel and Assembly for Week 11.
Please Note: Week 11 whole school chapel will be held on Tuesday 7th April at 9am and the
assembly that was scheduled for Wednesday 8th April will now be held on Friday 10th April at
9am. This will enable us to celebrate Easter in worship when we return to school from the
Easter long weekend.
Twilight Sportsday Friday 20th March
At St Mark’s we have four houses; Barker (yellow), Davison (blue), Sturt (green) and Dunn
(red). Throughout the year, students compete for their house in a number of sporting events
including our sportsday and cross country carnival. At the end of the year, a house shield is
presented to the house which has accumulated the highest score comprising points from
sporting events and our school merit award system.
To encourage house identity and add to the colour of the day, students are encouraged to
wear a polo top in their house colour. If they do not have a polo top in their house colour,
students wear their regular St Mark’s sports polo top, along with their regular shorts.
If students choose to wear other house coloured accessories, they still need to be able to
wear their St Mark’s school hat whilst competing and moving between events.
During sportsday, students will be provided with sunscreen.
Cont’d o/page …
37 Hampden Road, Mt Barker SA 5251 T 8391 0444 E [email protected] W ww.stmarks.sa.edu.au
Term 1 Parent and Teacher Meetings
Last week each family should have received a letter
with details outlining the online booking system for our
parent and teacher meetings in Weeks 10 and 11 of this
term. If you did not receive your letter, please contact
Julianne in the school office.
As indicated in the letter, the meetings provide an
opportunity to meet in person with your child’s teacher
to summarise learning and observations from Term 1.
With each meeting scheduled for 10 minutes, it is not
intended that any serious issues or concerns will need to
be raised. If these exist, they should be discussed before
the end of Term 1 through separate appointments. You
are able to request a meeting with your child’s teacher
to discuss concerns you have at any time during the
year.
School photos - Wednesday 18th March
With school photos only a little over a week away,
please take this opportunity to ensure your child has the
correct summer uniform ready for next week’s photos.
Photos will begin being taken at 8.45am and proceed
in the following order:
SRC, House Captains, Foundation H, Foundation S, 1M,
1UM, 6B, 6K, 2K, 2L, 3S, 3SM, 4S, 4H, 5A, 5I, Year 6
Graduation Group, Family Photos
Future Enrolments
At the beginning of Term 2, we will begin the enrolment
process for 2017 Foundation students. The first stage is to
formalise enrolment for brothers and sisters of existing
families. If you have a child due to commence at St
Mark’s in 2017 (or even 2016) and you have not yet
completed an enrolment application, I ask you to
contact Julianne in the front office as soon as possible.
If you know of any families considering St Mark’s as their
family school, please feel free to invite them to our
Open Day on Tuesday 24th March.
James Heyne
Principal
Principal’s Review
In their third year of appointment, Principals in Lutheran
schools undergo a feedback and review process
through the Lutheran Schools Association. As our
Principal, James Heyne, is in the third year of his
appointment, he will undergo this review at the end of
Term 1. The review is an important and positive part of
James’ professional development. It will also assist and
support St Mark’s School Council in our strategic
planning and in our ongoing commitment to review
and improve all aspects of our school.
The first stage of the review will be conducted by
means of an electronic survey, with respondents to be
Staff, members of School Council and a random
selection of school families. Survey respondents will
receive an email with a link to the survey and
instructions directly from our Lutheran Schools
Association office. I encourage those who are
nominated to participate if possible. The information
gained will provide valuable feedback and will assist us
in our ongoing endeavours in building St Mark’s School
and the wider St Mark’s Community. My thanks in
advance for your contribution.
Bev G
Chairperson
St Mark’s School Council
Australasian Schools Competitions
For those Year 4-6 children interested in participating in
these competitions, please return your form to the front
office as soon as possible. Thank you.
Mobile Phones
We understand a small number of students may need
to bring mobile phones to the school due to bus travel
or transport arrangements. Please note, students will
need to hand in their mobile phones to the front office
in the morning for safekeeping and can be collected at
the conclusion of the school day. This also applies to
ipods and other personal devices. The school accepts
no responsibility for the loss or theft of such items.
BUSSING - Monday 16th March
Please Note: Due to Mt Barker High School’s Student
Free Day scheduled for Monday 16th March, NO busses
will be running on that day. Parents will need to make
alternative transport arrangements for their child.
The Strathalbyn bus will run as per normal.
Parents & Friends News
Sports Day – How Can You Help???
Providing lunch, snacks, tea and drinks at our annual
sports day is one of our big fundraisers for the year. Not
only do we raise money, but many new friendships are
formed over the serving of snags and jelly cups!
Included in this newsletter is a ‘helper slip’ (back page),
please consider helping us serve food and drinks for a
short period of time. If you have any queries, please
contact Sam Jones at [email protected] or
0418 802 440.
For the first time in 2014, we were very spoilt by the Café
run by Esther Z which was a huge success. Once again,
Esther will be running the P&F Café, serving fresh coffee,
tea, cakes and muffins. We are looking for donations of
cakes, muffins, biscuits, slices etc to be served on the
day (please note – butter icing melts). Patty pans are
available at the front office if you would like to make
some yummy treats.
The P&F will be running a small raffle on the day. If you
have any new items that you would like to donate,
please drop them off at the front office this week. We
would also be happy to receive vouchers, gift baskets,
wine, etc.
Bulbs
Our annual bulb fundraiser has begun! The 2015
Garden Express catalogue was sent home last week.
Please ask your friends, family and neighbours to
support this fundraiser (bulbs are a great Mother’s Day
present) and send your order forms with the correct
money into the front office by Thursday, 9th April.
Your P&F Committee - 2015
PEDAL PRIX FUNDRAISING BBQ
Sunday 15th March
On Sunday 15th March, the St Mark’s
Pedal Prix Team will be hosting a
fundraising bbq at Woolworths
(Mt Barker). Bacon and egg
sandwiches $4, sausage in bread with
sauce $2.50, Soft drinks $2.00.
Please drop by and support our team!
Sounds on Sunday
21st June,
June, 2015
Contact the school
Sounds on Sunday is a Music Concert which we
put on each year at the end of Term 2. The School
Band, Senior Choir, Recorder classes, Ensembles
and solos perform at the concert. This year, we are
looking at having the concert in the early evening
instead of afternoon, due to prior commitments by
our band teacher Mr Peter H. We are interested to
know whether families are able to still support the
concert at a proposed time of 6.00pm until 7.30
pm on Sunday 21st June this year. If you have any
concerns or comments which you would like to
make regarding this change of time, please send
an email to the school
([email protected]) which can be
forwarded to Narelle Steffan or leave a message
with the front office. We thank you for your
continued support of our music program here at
St Mark’s.
Narelle Steffan
Music/Drama
Serving Super Stars – Friday, 20th March 2015
I would like to help serve food and drinks at the P&F stand at Sports Day.
As there are only two BBQ’s, we do not require chefs but servers ☺
Please select when you are able to assist….
Lunch time
Serving drinks (30mins) during the day
Dinner – 4 to 5pm
Dinner – 5 to 6pm
Name: ____________________________________________________ Phone: _________________________
Email: ______________________________________________________________________________________
School Photos - Wednesday 18th March
Master School Portraits will be at the school on Wednesday 18th March to take school photos.
Envelopes have been distributed to families. Please take the time to read all of the relevant
information on the envelopes. You can send the money (cash, cheques, money orders) to the school in
the envelope supplied however On-Line Ordering, where parents are now able to select their preferred
package online, makes it much easier for both the school and parent community. By ordering on-line,
parents have the option to download a low resolution image for a smart phone, a high resolution digital
download of their child’s image and Family/Sibling packages will also be able to be ordered on-line.
You will need to pick up a family photo envelope from the front office to get a ‘shootkey’ to order family
photos on-line. Please make your children aware they are having a family photo. (On-line ordering
closes on Monday 23rd March at 11.00am).
If you are not ordering family photos on-line, please collect a family photo envelope from the front
office. Family photographs are only for school aged students attending St Mark’s.
There is also the option to purchase SRC and House Captains photos for $15.00 each. A notice will be
inserted into the newsletter advising when the proofs have arrived and of the ordering procedure if
parents wish to order these.
Children must wear the correct summer uniform on photo day.
House Captains will need to bring their sports uniform to change into for the House Captains photo.
Other children who have sports on that day, can also bring in their sports uniform to change into.
Graduation Packs (Year 6): Each child receives a ‘Graduation Pack’ at the graduation service in
December. The graduation pack shows a photo of each individual child and is complimentary (no
charge). If your child is absent on photo day, it is up to you to make arrangements with Master School
Portraits for your child to have their photo taken at their studio in school uniform. This is to ensure that
your child will receive their own graduation pack. This is very important. NB: The complimentary
Graduation Pack does not include a class photo - these will need to be ordered from the photo
envelope sent home last week.
If parents have any queries, please ring MSP direct on 8391 3951.
Please note: Orders can be placed and paid for after photo day. Please ring MSP to organise this. Do
not send in envelopes noting ‘pay later’ as orders are not processed until payment is received.
Separated Families: parents can place multiple orders for children by either placing all the orders in the
one envelope or handing in multiple order envelopes (please make enquiries at the front office if you
haven’t received a photo envelope). If this is the chosen method, please label the envelope ‘Mum’s
Copy’ or ‘Dad’s Copy’ so upon delivery the correct photo order is returned to the correct parent.
Photos will be delivered early Term 2.
3
Junior Primary Chapel
10
2
Senior Primary Chapel
9
24
31
Junior Primary Chapel (2K)
23
30
Senior Primary Chapel
26
ALWS AWARENESS DAY
Assembly (3SM)
19
Year 3 Language
Excursion to Hahndorf
12
Year 4/5 German Dance
Workshop
5
Thu
25
SCHOOL PHOTOS
Junior Primary Chapel (1M)
Senior Primary Chapel (5I)
School Council Meeting
18
17
Assembly (SRC)
11
4
Wed
16
PUBLIC HOLIDAY
Tue
Mon
ST MARK’S LUTHERAN
SCHOOL
Pastor
27
20
Chapel
13
Chapel (2K)
6
Fri
28
21
14
7
Sat
MARCH
29
22
15
8
Sun