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10WEEK

OF 11

Term 2

Gilson Gazette - 19 June 2020

VCAL students reading to Primary Students page 7

2020

Weekly Newsletter for Parents, Students and Friends of Gilson College

Evacuation drill

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Contents

general newsTOM AND YOUSSEF 25KM IN 25 DAYS ......................................4SUBWAY LUNCH DAY .................................................................4FEES REMINDER ........................................................................5

primary newsWINTER UNIFORM .....................................................................5PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEW ....................................................5COMMUNICATION WITH TEACHERS DURING TERM 2 ...............6

seCondary news

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS. ..................................................6YEAR 10 & 11 VCAL STUDENTS - READING TO STUDENTS IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL .....................................................................7

photosYEAR 5 AND 6 DEBATING TEAM .................................................8COLLEGE EVACUATION DRILL .....................................................9VCAL STUDENTS READING TO STUDENTS IN THE PRIMARY .....10VACATION CARE PROGRAM TERM 2 BREAK .............................11

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Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our wayWith countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us;And keep still in grace, and guide us when perplexed;And free us from all ills, in this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest heaven;The one eternal God, Whom earth and heaven adore;For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.

Stirring words, eh? The hymn above is entitled "Now Thank We All Our God" and is to the German nation what the doxology is to Christianity. This hymn is sung at most of the great state occasions in Germany. It is a hymn of thanksgiving that was composed probably as early as 1632, making it almost 370 years old.

It was composed by a Lutheran minister, Martin Rinkart, who was born in Eilenberg in the area of Saxony in Germany. He was the son of a rather poor coppersmith. Martin Rinkart worked his way through the University of Leipzig and was ordained as a Lutheran minister and came to be the Lutheran pastor in his hometown of Eilenberg at the age of thirty-one.

The Thirty Years War began to take its terrible toll on the people of Europe. The city of Eilenberg was a walled city and because of the disruptions of war, it became frightfully overcrowded. The city experienced wave after wave of pestilence and famine, and the coming and going of invading armies of one kind or another, who marched through the city and around the city, left death and destruction in their wake. Eight hundred homes were destroyed, and the people began to perish.

Finally, the Swedish army surrounded the city and then there was starvation. With the starvation came pestilence, until practically the entire city died.

During this time, the Rinkart home became a haven for many of the refugees, although they had meagre resources of their own. The plague of 1637 was dreadful and, at its height, Martin Rinkart, the only pastor left in the city, had as many as fifty funerals in one day. Among those whom Rinkart buried were members of his own family. When the Swedes demanded a huge ransom, Rinkart left the safety of the walls to plead for mercy. The Swedish commander, impressed by his faith and courage, lowered his demands.

Yet during those years of darkness and when death and destruction greeted each new day, Pastor Rinkart wrote 66 sacred songs and hymns. Among them was the song "Now Thank We All Our God." (Now you know the context, perhaps go back and re-read that hymn)

Rinkart demonstrated a valuable lesson for us all: Thankfulness does not have to wait for prosperity and peace. It's always a good time to praise God for the "wondrous things" He has done.

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing. --Psalm 30:11

“Now thanks be unto God.” 2 Corinthians 2:14

It’s worth a thought.

Mark B Vodéll Principal

Editorial: Martin Rinkart was a pastor

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general news

TOM AND YOUSSEF 25KM IN 25 DAYS

Two of our past students/staff member have been walking 25 kilometres every day for 25 days, which is a massive feat! Tom and Youssef have been taking this journey to raise funds for both ADRA and Redkite. I’ve had the pleasure of joining them one afternoon and earlier in the journey and can definitely attest that this is not easy.

If you would like to support them on their inspirational journey you can donate to ADRA or Redkite from Tom’s

Tom and Youssef 25 km in 25 days

website: https://www.tomdophotography.com/. Brayden Rath

SUBWAY LUNCH DAYThis is to let you know

that Parents and Friends will be running the Subway Lunch Day on Friday 26th June, the last day of Term Two. This is the day that was postponed from Term One.

You do not need to do anything. All orders will remain the same as when first submitted.

Unfortunately, if you did not submit a Subway order form in Term One, it is too late to now place an order for this event.

If you have any

Verse of the Week“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude

of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had.” Romans 15:5-7

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questions regarding this, please email Parents and Friends at: parentsandfriends.th@gilson.vic.edu.au

FEES REMINDERA reminder to all

families that fees are now overdue. We have one week left of Term 2. If you have yet to settle this please do so as soon as possible via phone or on site. Do contact our College Bursars for alternative arrangements.

primary news

WINTER UNIFORMStudents should be

wearing their winter uniform and not mix and matching between winter and summer uniform. Students are required to be wearing their school jacket over their jumper, not just their jumper

alone. Year Six students who

have out grown their winter uniform can purchase the high school blazer. However, the rest of their uniform must remain the primary uniform.

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEW

Parent-teacher interviews will be Tuesday 23rd June and Wednesday 24th June. Booking for these appointments will open soon. Details of how to book an appointment time will be sent out through via email. Due to the COVID 19, interviews will take place over Zoom. Classroom teachers will send out a Zoom invitation via DIREQT message on SEQTA. Upon joining Zoom, you will be placed in a waiting room. Teachers will be managing the waiting room according to appointment times. Please note that these interviews are only ten minutes in

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length, and focus on student learning. To ensure all appointments are able to be kept, we request these time frames be respected. If you would like to discuss any other issues with your child’s teacher another time will need to be arranged.

COMMUNICATION WITH TEACHERS DURING TERM 2

As per the Principal's letter, parents are not able to come into the internal school areas / buildings without an appointment in order to reduce the number of adults on campus - please note the following communication options:

• Email or direct message staff on SEQTA for all queries - this is the best option.

The VALUE for Week 11 of Term 2 will be:

Acceptance means to take or receive something or someone in a favourable way.God loves and accepts us despite our faults and failures.

We should all accept and encourage each other despite our differences.“And remember, we all stumble, every one of us.

That’s why it’s a comfort to go hand in hand.” E K Brough“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward

each other that Christ Jesus had.” Romans 15:5-7

acceptance

• If you would like to speak with a staff member please email them requesting a call back.

• If you require a face to face discussion with a teacher, you can arrange a Zoom appointment with them by making this request known via email.

secondary news

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS Parent Teacher Interviews for Secondary will be held on via Telephone on

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Tuesday June 23rd and Wednesday June 24th.

The booking code on School interviews has been emailed via SEQTA.

If you have any questions or you would like any assistance in booking your interview sessions please contact the College office on 9365 9365.

YEAR 10&11 VCAL STUDENTS - READING TO STUDENTS IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL

In their Personal Development Skills, the Year 10 and 11 students are developing transferable skills, that they will rely on in the work place. This includes planning, researching and completing projects that build responsibility, confidence and resilience.

A group of our students have been planning to develop relationship with students in the lower primary school, by selecting story books and reading to students in Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2.

One of highlights for

a VCAL student included – being able to meet some of the students in the class they were working with and being able to interact with them. Another student gave his highlight as being able to help the students with their reading and making new friends.

The VCAL students are looking forward to working each week as they continue to develop their own skills and have some fun with the Primary students.

We are very grateful to the Primary School Teachers who have been willing to assist these young people complete their outcomes for VCAL.

photos

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YEAR 5 AND 6 DEBATING TEAM

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COLLEGE EVACUATION DRILL

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VCAL STUDENTS READING TO STUDENTS IN THE PRIMARY

GGiillssoonn CCoolllleeggee Vacation Care Program 29th June — 3rd July 2020 Week 1

Monday 29th June Tuesday 30th June Wednesday 1st July Thursday 2nd July Friday 3rd July

Cooking Cranberry Oatmeal and

Cinnamon Scones

Marbled Nail Polish Cups

Cooking Spinach and Mushroom

Chimichangas

Wheel of Exciting Tastes

Cooking Brown Rice Pilaf

Guess the secret sound

Challenge

Cooking Berry Cupcakes

INCURSION

Make your own apron

Cooking Cheese biscuits

DIY Kaleidoscope

Hours: 6.45am — 6.15pm Breakfast Club: Finishes at 8.45pm Morning tea: 10.30am Lunch: 12.30 — 1.30pm Afternoon tea: 4pm

Our activities will be offered during the day and the children will have the opportunity to work with any or all of them. Our everyday games and play spaces will be available throughout each day. Activities may alter depending on children’s interests.

Gilson College Vacation Care Program 6th July — 10th July 2020 Week 2

Monday 6th July Tuesday 7th July Wednesday 8th July Thursday 9th July Friday 10th July

Cooking Nacho Cups

Mystery touch box

Cooking DIY Gourmet Pizzas

Identify the smell

Cooking Chocolate Chip Ice-cream

Cookies

Movie & Popcorn

Cooking Corn, Spinach and feta

muffins

Five Senses day

Party Day

*Lunch Provided*

Our daily morning tea may include: Fresh fruit such as apples, pears, oranges, pineapple, bananas, watermelon, cantaloupe,

Kiwifruit, strawberries, mandarins and grapes. A nutritious afternoon tea is made during the day by the children

Please ensure that children have their lunches with them each day, there is a fee charged if lunch is forgotten.

VACATION CARE PROGRAM TERM 2 BREAK

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Provided as a part of our school’s Parenting Ideas membership parentingideas.com.au

INSIGHTS

Developing young people’s emotional smarts

The last few months has certainly been a test of young person’s emotional smarts. The ups and downs of the COVID-19experience continues to play on the emotions of all us, but for adolescence who are going through a period of braindevelopment, this can be a particularly tricky time. Fortunately, parents are in a wonderful position to assist and in doing sodevelop emotional smarts in their young people. The following strategies will help:

Talk openly about feelings

Your young person will benefit from being around adults who talk about their own emotions and feelings rather than ignoring orbottling things up. A focus on emotions builds their vocabulary and also gives them permission to do the same.

Talk about the emotional impact that daily events such have on youAsk them how they feel or react emotionally to things that happen to themUse specific terms for feelings such as ‘irritated’, ‘nervous’, ‘tense’, ‘annoyed’

Build awareness of the triggers

Your young person may experience mood swings due to the changes occurring in both their body and brain as well as thechanges COVID-19 brings. They may feel confused and even fearful of their reactions. Help your young person recognise thesituations and events that trigger di�erent emotions. Your young person may be aware that returning to school, for example,may make them nervous but they may not realise that they become annoyed when they’re told to do something rather thanwhen they are asked.

Discuss trigger events and moments with your young personMake a list of trigger moments to help him prepare for themDevelop plans to better manage emotions before they spiral out of control

Encourage journaling

Young people o�en have di�iculty internally processing many of the events that happen during the course of day, leading toconfusion and worry. Encourage them to keep a daily diary or journal so they can make better sense of events and situationsthat impact on them emotionally. Getting their thoughts and emotions down on paper helps them gain clarity, gain control oftheir emotions and build better mental health. Writing thoughts and worries down prevents constant rumination, which o�enleads to catastrophising.

Give your young person the privacy needed for journalingRemind them that posting on social media is di�erent to journalingShare with your young person how you process your thoughts and emotions in healthy ways

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Provided as a part of our school’s Parenting Ideas membership parentingideas.com.au

Dierentiate between feelings and mood

Adolescence can be a confusing time, particularly when they’re changing from primary school to secondary school. Feelings ofconfusion and self-doubt can seem like constant companions. Help your young person understand the di�erence between moodand feelings. A mood can stay for a long time – days and weeks – and is impacted by the lifestyle factors such as sleep, diet andexercise. Feelings are fleeting. They come and they go. They are easily shi�ed with simple tools such as breathing, visualisationand distraction.

Accepting discomfort

We naturally want to feel happy and content, however life is never that simple. Your young person is more than likely learning tocome to terms with that. Help them feel comfortable with unpleasant feelings such as sadness, disappointment, jealousy andfrustration. Let them know that there are behaviours that can’t be tolerated such as aggression and hurting others, but there isnothing so bad that they can’t talk about it. Introduce them to healthy coping skills they can use to make uncomfortablesituations more tolerable. These include:

Humour: having a laugh or finding a funny side is a great coping strategyNormalisation: understanding that you are not the only person experiencing something helps to rationalise thinkingDistraction: taking a break from a situation if only for a short time is very therapeuticCompartmentalisation: stopping an event infecting all areas of life is a wonderful coping skillGoal-setting: finding solutions to problems and taking the first steps needed to reach them creates a sense of hope andmomentum

Emotional intelligence is a skill that grows over time. It’s like working out at the gym – those muscles will take time to build.Similarly, those emotional muscles will take some time to grow stronger. They may need time to talk about and explore theirfeelings, and become more accustomed to experiencing feelings, even those that make them feel uncomfortable.

Michael GroseMichael Grose, founder of Parenting Ideas, is one of Australia’s leading parenting educators. He’s anaward-winning speaker and the author of 12 books for parents including Spoonfed Generation, andthe bestselling Why First Borns Rule the World and Last Borns Want to Change It. Michael is a formerteacher with 15 years experience, and has 30 years experience in parenting education. He also holds aMaster of Educational Studies from Monash University specialising in parenting education.

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SECONDARY CALENDARTERM 2 2020

Week 11

m 23rd JUNE to 24th JUNEParent Teacher Interviews Via Phone

m 26th JUNELast Day of Term 2

TERM 2 2020Week 01

m 13th JUlyFirst Day of Term 3

CALENDAR 2020

Fire drill

PRIMARY CALENDARTERM 2 2020

Week 11

m 23rd to 24th JuneParent Teacher Interviews Via Zoom

m 26th JuneLast Day of Term 2

TERM 2 2020Week 01

m 13th JulyFirst Day of Term 3