There is so much happening in the world now with natural disasters, war, and economic stress on families. It is very easy to throw your hands in the air, sigh and give up. As a LORDS Community we know that hope is the answer to our sadness and despair. In the darkness, that is when hope does its best work. Christians have hope firmly found in and through Jesus Christ. As a response to this, we can serve the world with hope-filled hearts. Organisations such as ALWS (Australian Lutheran World Service) are an aid and development agency of the Lutheran Church of Australia, bringing hope to life for people around the world. The bible verse from Romans reminds us there is always hope;

‘ …suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, and character hope. And hope does not disappoint…” Romans 5: 3-5

My prayer is that we can continue to live lives full of hope and that we continue to share that hope with people we encounter every day.

• This year we will be praying for families in our community and their needs: Alex, Allder, Anderson, Armstrong, Aston, Augustine
• For the people of Turkey and Syria as they recover from the earthquake
• That our Year 7 students and staff have a safe and fun camp next week
• For flood and cyclone recovery in New Zealand
• Give thanks for the work of ALWS Give comfort to those people experiencing grief and loss

On Wednesday, the LORDS community raised funds for ALWS (Australian Lutheran World Service) to support their earthquake emergency response to the people of Turkey and Syria. Our gold coin donations from our free dress day and staff morning tea (thanks to Frigg Cafe & Catering Labrador for their donation of food) raised $1,500 to support this important work. Who is our neighbour? Anyone who is in need near or far. Go Team LORDS as we serve and learn about people around the world! If you wish to make a donation for this important work head to www.alws.org.au

It was wonderful having parents on campus for our Parent Connect sessions last week. A terrific opportunity for staff to connect with families and for parents to share their hopes for their young people for the year ahead. It was also excellent to see parents engaging in giving us feedback about our new prototype for learning at LORDS that reflects skills needed for now and the future. Parents gave voice to what skills, values, and attributes they saw as important for young people.

We celebrated our new Year 7 students this week with a welcome Morning Tea. They had the opportunity to meet and mingle with fellow students and our LORDS school leaders. Thanks to Liz Madden in our Tuckshop for the delicious treats!

This term, our Year 9 Humanities students have been exploring life during the Industrial Revolution. Today our learning took the form of an Industrial Revolution murder mystery, 'The Strange Death of Mrs Miggins'. Students took on the role of historical detectives, working in groups to analyse evidence and ultimately crack the stale case. Yes, the age-old mystery of Mrs Miggins' death was officially solved! How did our students manage to do it you ask? Good question. Students drew on their source analysis skills to identify relevant and reliable evidence. By piecing the puzzle together, our students discovered the importance of corroborating sources when completing a historical inquiry. They also learned a lot about the living conditions that so many people in England experienced during this time. Safe to say, we all left feeling quite grateful for the time-period we were born into!

This year at LORDS we have reimagined our Year 8/ 9 elective program to the Passion and Purpose Pathways. As the name suggests this program aims to engage our young people by tapping into their innate sense of curiosity and gives them some choice about what and how they will learn. Through these pathway subjects we aim to achieve the following:  

• develop specific knowledge and 21st C skills 
• provide opportunities to connect with industry and organisations outside of the school community  
• provide authentic, real-world experiences for our young people  
• empower our young people to make positive change in the world  
• allow opportunities for students to make connections across subject areas  

Why have we taken this approach?  

Current research suggests that adolescence learn best when they:  

• understand the relevance/ purpose of the learning experience  
• have opportunities to make contributions  
• are engaged in challenges, simulations, experiences and role plays 
• are given independence and self-efficacy  
• can creatively explore and problem solve  

(Learning Design with the Adolescent Brain in Mind, Gardner, M et al, 2020)  

Below are some of the recent experiences that the students have engaged with as part of the pathway subjects:   

• partaking in self-defence workshops to learn about personal safety 
• hearing from a LORDS student entrepreneur who shared his tips on generating personal income  
• learning about taxes, award wages, and creating personal budgets  
• connecting with a local gym owner to learn more about the connection between health and wellbeing 
• interviewing a chef to find out about current food trends 
• connecting with students in Nagano (Japan) via Zoom 

We look forward to sharing more of this journey as we progress throughout 2023.  

Leah Haywood  

Project Coordinator  

Last week in "Surviving the Adult Jungle" we opened up the conversation of safety. We had experts come in and we engaged in "2 hands of self defence workshops". These sessions focused on providing our students with the confidence, capability, and skills to deal with the realities of conflict that they may face, not just at school and socially, but also the skills to set them up for life, whatever their chosen path may be.

The training and skills that we learned not only improved our abilities to escape danger but also focus on methods to significantly reduce the likelihood of ever needing to use these physical skills.

Trades are as popular as ever, and industry is calling for more and more young people to consider a trade.  Not only are 'Tradies' in continual demand, industry is calling out for more females. Attached are some of the trade skills and qualifications on offer with one of the RTO's LORDS partners with, and the other flyer is an invitation to a 'women in trades' evening hosted by TAFE QLD in March, for girls who might want to find out what a day (or career) on the tools might look and feel like. 

For general information on how school-based apprenticeships work, please email pathways@lords.qld.edu.au

WOMEN IN TRADES

ENGINEER YOUR CAREER

Ms Allan was full of smiles this afternoon when the native beehive she has been organising finally arrived. The bees are located near our Junior School sandstone area. Ms Allan has been working hard with the garden club to have plants up and ready for the bees to pollinate. Have you ever seen a happier face?

As part of our Year 4 Project Based Learning, students enjoyed exploring our heritage and mapping where we all originate from. Some students could date their ancestry back to the 1700's. We shared our family trees and interesting facts about our ancestors. We discovered many exciting connections and enjoyed getting to know each other better.

It was terrific having landscape architect Debbie Laporte on site this week. Debbie will be creating a landscape masterplan for us that focuses on recreation spaces, gardens, playgrounds, and outdoor learning spaces across the school.

During her time with us, she met with student representatives from the Junior and Secondary schools to get their views about what they consider to be the needs of students. It was wonderful to see student voice alive and well at LORDS. Staff and parents will also have the opportunity to share their thoughts as well. This process aligns with our strategic priority of ‘Facilities for the future’ and we look forward to how we can meet the needs of our community both now and in the future.

On Wednesday, students in Year 5 were lucky enough to spend time with a group of Japanese visitors from Gifu Shotoku Gakuin University. They were thrilled to practice their Japanese and participate in cultural activities our visitors organised, including origami, Japanese games, making fans, and kendama.

What a way to start the day! Year 2 arrived at school to realise that their chairs were on STRIKE! The chairs left Year 2 a letter stating they were tired of being swung on, being left out for people to trip on, and tired of having smelly feet put on them. They’d had enough! As part of the Year 2 writing unit, students had to convince the chairs to come back to the classroom. It was a fun engaging way to write an exposition. 

Ms Hoff loved visiting Prep A last week to share one of her favourite books ' The Book with no pictures' with the class. Everyone had a great time laughing and listening to the story together.

Our Junior School LORDS students represented us well at the Beenleigh Zone swim meet recently. We had 12 students who gave it their all, set personal bests, and displayed great sportsmanship. We couldn’t be prouder of our young people for the way they conducted themselves. Congratulations to our 10 year old Freestyle relay team who came away with 3rd place as well as our 10 year old 200 metre medley team who came away with 2nd place.

An extra big congratulations goes to Daly K, Finlay M and Estayah S who qualified for the Pacific District swim carnival next Monday. We wish them all the best as their swimming pathway continues.

Last week the Futsal program started in the Junior School at LORDS. Throughout the training sessions this year, the qualified coaches and teachers will work on skills, working together as a team, and game awareness. We are moving away from a participation-based program to a development-based program, readying students for Futsal tournaments throughout the year. It was great to welcome over 50 students to the first session on Tuesday and we look forward to a successful year in futsal.

Another LORDS sporting champion.....Jesse P. competed at the Little Athletics South East Regional championships recently. This is the first year he is old enough to attempt to qualify for State Titles which are being held in Townsville towards the end of March. Jesse qualified in all 4 of his events: Discus, Shot Put, 400m, and 800m. He took out the regional championship in both the 400m and 800m, second place in the shot put and 4th in the discus. Jesse made the qualifying standards in each of these events. Great stuff Jesse!

Just a reminder about our car parks and procedures at LORDS:

The Lower Car Park has a full length “Kiss & Go” area. In an attempt to keep all of our students safe, and keep traffic flowing, we use a “Wave Forward System”.

Please remain in your vehicle and wait in the designated line.  Students will be picked up from the undercover Pick-Up Zone only (Shelter Shed).  When there is space in that section school staff will wave you forward to progress to the “Pick Up Zone” (the far end of the crossing).
When you progress, please drive as far down that line as possible to ensure that we can fill the area to maximum capacity.
For everyone’s safety please don’t cut into or out of the line.
School staff are there to assist your child/children to load bags into cars/help with boots closing.
Please try to leave the area as soon as your children are in the car- this means other people can move forward.
 If the entry to the ‘Kiss & Go’ area is full, please do not queue at the intersection (below) as it can create a backlog of cars out to Mirambeena Drive. Parents/carers are instead requested to either: 

a. Park their vehicle in one of the designated car parks (preferred option), or

b. Do a circuit of the car park and try to re-join at the entry point of the ‘Kiss & Go’.

To assist with our pick up / drop off please use the following protocols.  Parents who have been with us over the past few years, should be very familiar with the process.

Please make use of our stop, drop and go in the bottom car park for students from Years 3-12.
 
If you have students in Prep-2, please follow the guidelines below:
Drop off in the mornings

• Staff are on duty from 8.10am, if you arrive earlier than this and your child is not in OSHC, please stay in your car with your child until 8.10am,
• If you are able use the drop off zone in the morning, ensure your child/ren are safely out of the car, farewell them and they can then head to their classroom for the day.
  

Pick up in the afternoons

• Stay in your car until 3.00pm (Prep), 3.10pm (Years 1-2),
• Wait on the grass area outside the A Block Breezeway 
• Your child will come from the A Block Breezeway to the grass area, 
• Please take your child/ren directly to your car and leave campus.

School Buses
Students who catch the school bus are dropped off and picked up from the top car park. To ensure the safety of students and free flow of traffic, please ensure that the Kiss & Go in the top car park is used just for that and not parking. 

Thanks for keeping our community safe.

Outside School Hours & Vacation Care

Before and After School Care is available on site at

LORDS Monday to Friday excluding Public Holidays.

Please contact the coordinator Kerryn Gill at

lords.oshc@qlecs.org.au for details. For change of bookings

please text 0437 519 754.

Uniform Purchases at The School Locker

LORDS uniforms are available at The School Locker, 3892

Pacific Highway, Loganholme Phone 3440 9701.

Our uniform policy for 2023 is located here

Second Hand LORDS Uniforms

Sustainable School Shop enables parents to buy and sell

second-hand LORDS uniform items online.

To search for items in the Sustainable School Shop go to:

http://www.sustainableschoolsh...

School Office

Our office hours are between 8.00am – 4.00pm, Monday to

Friday with the exception of Public Holidays.

School Policies

You can access our Child Protection Policy and Grievance Policy on our website or a hard copy at Reception in the Administration Building.

Friends of Lords (FOLS) would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to LORDS for 2023 - to all our returning families and staff and of course to those that have chosen LORDS school and community for the first time this year. FOLS meet every month to discuss ideas, activities, and general business.

Offers of assistance are always warmly accepted by the committee in any capacity. Any help, no matter how big or small is always accepted and appreciated. We would love to see some new volunteers this year – you are all FOLS members and very welcome at meetings.

FOLS needs your support. There's so many reasons to join FOLS.....

"... the many great friendships I have made, the wonderful feeling you get watching the students enjoying the events we run..."

"...put simply, I do it for my kids."

"...The response of the kids is the greatest reward for the time you put in."

"...It’s so important that communities have a voice and you can only do that if you have an organised group."

"...It’s great to be part of that progressive education movement... you can see that you’re making progress."

Do any of those reasons speak to you? FOLS would love to see you at a meeting. 

Alberton Lutheran Parish

Pastor Geoff Johnston

Phone: 0490 456 624

St Peters (Alberton, Alberton Rd): 8.00am

Worship @ LORDS (Admin Building): 9:30am

Bethlehem (Stapylton-Jacobs Well Rd, Woongoolba): 8.00am

Bethesda Lutheran Church Divine Service

Phone: (07) 3807 6600

(81 City Rd, Beenleigh)

8:30am HC every Sunday

Pastor David Haak

Bethania Lutheran Church

Phone: (07) 3200 5357

(5-17 Church Rd, Bethania): 9am

Pastor Peter Laihia

Selwyn Qualischefski would not have used the terms ‘fixed mindset’ or ‘growth mindset’ but would have simply said, ‘I’m interested and I want to find out.’  I attended his funeral this week in Wacol.  Selwyn was a Marburg boy who was an area manager at Wolston Park in drug and alcohol rehabilitation.  He worked there 38 years.  He and his wife Joan were also members of the Lutheran congregation in Middle Park and made valuable contributions; Selwyn crafting the altar, baptismal font and other appointments in the church, Joan in fellowship and pastoral care.

I was quite moved when my brother-in-law Tony (a long standing teacher in the Lutheran system), made the comment in the Obituary that while his father only had a Primary School, Year 7 education, he still thought of him as the smartest person he had ever known, precisely because of his broad interest in things and willingness to ‘have a go.’  Maybe you are inspired by such persons in your life as well.  Is it generational?  Did the so-called ‘Builder’ generation with their Depression and war experience, etc. produce more characters with these traits?  Not sure.  We hope our young people also have broad interests and are fearless in having a go.

This picks up the ‘flourish’ aspect of our theme for the year.  We flourish as we vision and apply ourselves.  There is an Optometrist in Beenleigh that has the motto, ‘Always Visionary’ frosted onto the glass.  Love it!

Please join us this Sunday 19th February for Worship at LORDS.

Peace, Pastor Geoff 

As a bus driver for LORDS, you are part of our team in an active and exciting role with part-time hours that suit your lifestyle. Enjoy working with the young people in our LORDS Community. Call today to find out more information about this great opportunity, or email us at: employment@lords.qld.edu.au

Our Business Directory is now live on our website.

Please click here to access it.

Disclaimer: Information provided in the online directory or advertising pages on this website is intended to provide a guide to businesses, organizations, and resources that support the faith-based community. LORDS or any of its employees neither endorse, warrant, nor guarantee the products or services advertised in the directory or on any website page.  The information provided in each listing on this website is published as obtained from external sources that provide the information.