Christian Education Powers On

“But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.”

— James 2:1

Emmanuel Christian School’s Purpose and Mission are wonderful, guiding statements. In case you have not read them in a while:

Purpose
Our purpose is to prepare and equip students for life by providing the highest quality Christ-centred education.

Mission
Our mission is to educate and nurture our students within a Christian worldview that embraces each person as valuable and unique.

A strength of the four schools under the Christian Schools Tasmania banner are the annual Staff, Parent and Student satisfaction surveys. We had a reasonable representation of families contribute to the surveys. 

Our Christian impact comes out specifically in the School Culture section. Some of the results from families are very encouraging. A selection of them include these excerpts:

• The school encourages the development of faith in its students — 4.1 out of 5

• The school’s Biblical basis and faith understandings are  effectively integrated into the school’s curriculum — 4.3 out of 5

• The school’s Biblical basis and Christian vision are well understood by students, staff and parents — 4.3 out of 5

I am encouraged by these results. We use ‘4’ as our goal, and in these areas, families rated us highly. In fact, all of the School Culture section responses were over the ‘4’ benchmark.

We will not take these results for granted and intend to do all we can always improve. As God tells us through the book of James, which I started with, our faith, our Christianity, is shown by our deeds. We cannot just say we are a Christian School. It has to be obvious in all we do. It is wonderful to live out our faith in Jesus Christ.

Our Primary Production, titled Forty, is a wonderful reflection of the last 40 years or Christian Education at Emmanuel Christian School and the many cultural themes that have come and gone during our years supporting and equipping students. Even though there are constant changes around us, strong Biblical standards and teaching through a Biblical lens will never cease to be a strong foundation for our young people as they prepare for a productive and rich adult life.

 Scott Winkler — Principal

Growth and enrichment

“The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you.”

— Exodus 18:18-19

A strength of Emmanuel Christian School (and all Christian Schools Tasmania schools), are the annual satisfaction surveys. The 2019 round has just been completed. As you are probably aware, we run three surveys simultaneously - one for parents, one for staff and one for students from Grade 5 to Grade 10.

The surveys are important documents that speak directly into the planning processes for the school. They are a series of documents that bring together the whole community, including our CEO and feed into strategic planning from the classroom to the Board.

The student surveys last year were followed up with a series of meeting with students, Mr Roberts, Mr Gillman, our CEO, and myself. One of the key outcomes from these meetings was a greater opportunity for student voice in the school. Initially, a student newspaper was suggested by students. This idea grew into the Media Crew under Mr Roberts’ guidance.

This group produces, amongst other things, a website and has featured in a number of important events which included the Gold and Founding Members event.

Staff and Parent Satisfaction surveys have contributed to the Master Plan development as we prepare to modernise classrooms, redo the courtyard and prepare for continued enrolments. Staff have been setting goals around enhancing academic standards and guiding students into Grade 11 and 12 subjects.

The Bible verse I started with from Exodus related to Jethro, Moses’ Father-in-law giving really important advice that transformed the management and leadership of the Israelites. The effort gone into the surveys has a similar impact here at Emmanuel Christian School. Proverbs 15:22 says, ‘Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.’ 

Let’s continue to work together to see growth and enrichment in all aspects of school life in this precious place.

Scott Winkler - Principal

Drama: To teach or not to teach…

This term my whole brain is taken up with our Primary School production. It is called ‘Forty’ and is based on our school’s fortieth year celebrations. I have been dreaming songs from forty years ago, shows, bible stories and costumes and witty lines and the logistics of having 120 children off and on a stage. Quite a job.

It has got me thinking ‘why?’ Why do we bother? Why do I bother? Why spend hours writing and casting and directing and practising and practising and practising…? To tell you the truth, NOT having the production is a lot easier on myself and the teaching staff. So why do we do it?

My mind immediately jumps back to the Finale of Esther two years ago. 120 children were singing their hearts out, with arm actions; I am royalty, I have destiny, I have been set free, I’m going to shape History (Jesus Culture: The Anthem). It still sends tingles down my spine. Our awesome children declaring their faith in God and belief in a future shaped by Him.

But it’s more than that. I love seeing children grow, see them take on the challenge of learning lines, defeat the fear of performing in front of an audience, find ability within themselves that they didn’t know was there, to sing, act, perform, shine, make others laugh, be part of a huge team, listen for cues, support each other, so many things!

If I think about the idea of a Growth Mindset that Mr Astronaut, I mean Mr Roberts, has been writing about. Drama, and therefore the production, is all about embracing a Growth Mindset and giving students an opportunity to practise it. As Drew said;

‘individuals who possess a Growth Mindset believe that their skills and abilities can be cultivated through effort and perseverance. These individuals view tough situations as challenges and are willing to apply multiple strategies or seek assistance to solve the problem’.

Dancing, acting, staging, singing, learning lines and characters, are all skills that require effort and perseverance. This last week I have watched 37 Grade 5/6 students struggle with learning, ‘The Nutbush’ dance and all dance together on the stage. Some refused at first, then struggled, then pushed through and finally, all of them were laughing and performing together. Some vocalised that they were struggling, and so others came beside them and helped. Now I smile when I’m on playground duty and I see groups of children dancing and practising together.

So the production is about the performance, but it’s also about students stretching, growing, failing and learning new skills, feeling a part of our wonderful and encouraging community, knowing they have a place, that they are seen and valued, not only by us their teachers and parents, but also by their creator God who looks on them with such love and pride.

Please come and support us September 25th and 26th. Prepare to be amazed! 

Annie Joy - Primary Coordinatior

Nature Play

I became a nature play convert and advocate some years ago after being made aware of some alarming statistics. One such statistic states that some of our children are now spending up to 30 per cent of the time that they are awake in front of a screen! When I reflect on my own childhood there weren’t even computers available for use at school (yes I am old!), the only screen we had at home was a television and therefore there was no need to be taught about how to play in nature. When I came home from school we disappeared for a couple of hours every day down to the creek with the other neighbourhood kids to catch tadpoles, climb trees and ride our bikes. This enjoyment of free, uninterrupted play in nature only ended when tea was ready or it got dark.

“Children who lack time outdoors are more prone to issues relating to anxiety, depression and attention deficit difficulties...”

It seems amazing to many today that we have to teach children to play in nature. In Richard Louv’s book Last Child in the Woods, he coined the term ‘nature deficit disorder’ to describe the cost of alienation from the natural world. According to Louv, children are spending less time outdoors than ever before and it is contributing to an increasing number of behavioural problems. Children who lack time outdoors are more prone to issues relating to anxiety, depression and attention deficit difficulties as well as general poor health and they also have less respect for their immediate natural surroundings.

The planet that future generations will inherit requires them to have more respect for the natural world, not less. Recognising, adapting to and changing the effects of climate change will require us all to have a closer relationship with nature.

In my experience as an outdoor educator, time spent connecting with nature has too many benefits to ignore. Not only does it improve students’ academic performance, but also their mental and physical health, critical thinking, problem solving skills and emotional intelligence.   

I have found when we go on our weekly Bush Kinder sessions that all of the children are happier and more co operative with each other. Their play is unstructured and spontaneous and they learn about the environment by interacting with it on their own terms. Observing the children climb, balance, jump run and skip in the dirt, water and mud is one of the most rewarding things you can do as an adult.

All children have a natural affinity with nature and when they learn about the beauty of nature, they are more likely to retain those values as adults and to become stewards of the environment.

Amanda Sargent - Kindergarten Teacher

Best practice changes

“Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.”

— Psalm 127:3

My family, as you may be aware, is preparing for the wedding of our eldest child. We could not be more blessed with our future son-in-law. It is still a deeply challenging place to be as we consider Amy leaving home and getting married to Joe. Reality can be difficult to deal with. Even though she has a Science Degree and a Masters Degree and is on the Dean’s Honour Roll and a Golden Key Member, Amy is still one of my children. It amazes me how our children are so central to us and how we think.

Children. They unite us as a school and are our heartfelt reason to get out of bed in the morning. Teachers, admin, aides, groundsmen, parents, grandparents, guardians, bus drivers and others - we all want the best for the children in our care.

Best practice changes - it needs to. What was necessary for children ten years ago was different from twenty years ago. It is different now - more than ever!

SEQTA Engage and SEQTA Learn are online tools that some of you are using to connect with the work and pastoral care of ‘our’ children. SEQTA Engage is the parent portal and Learn is the student portal.

You may notice initially that there are some gaps around what teachers have / haven’t included. Please be assured that in the future, as we gain momentum with this platform, more content will be added as we aim to rely on this system more. Teachers will put class work, homework and results in SEQTA Teach, which then becomes available to parents and students. Comments on the students’ work by staff and the students themselves are available as soon as they are released.

Our aim is to move to a continuous reporting system using SEQTA Engage. Our goal, which may even come to pass next year, will be to stop the twice yearly school reports and only release a summary report with results. Why? Because, as with the change I started talking about, parents and students will always know where their progress is at and how they can improve. There will be no need to wait until the School Reports. Everything will be online and as up-to-date as possible. 

Parents will be able to deal with issues and concerns, celebrations and highlights, not in half-yearly packages, but as soon as they come up.

Parents can obtain their login for SEQTA Engage from the office by calling the school or emailing us. It is wonderful to be able to go on this journey into a new level of communication together.

Scott Winkler - Principal