Christian School

The current Covid-19 crisis has seen schools working tirelessly to adapt and roll out distance learning quite quickly. St Paul’s Lutheran Primary School in Caboolture has already been providing an innovative learning environment that encourages students to take charge of their learning and to be independent workers who set their own individual learning goals. This learning framework has provided a strong platform for their teachers to navigate the current challenges related to the changing environment of education.

To gain some insight into how schools are handling these challenges, we chatted with St Paul’s Principal, Anton Prinsloo and the Head of Teaching and Learning Emma Bird.

“Within our school, we have a 1:1 iPad program where all students have ready access to devices. St Paul’s has for some time has been incorporating a software application into school time activities and home learning, which is also used as a daily parent-teacher communication tool.”

“Although distance learning has presented its challenges to all schools, St Paul’s has felt well positioned in the changes that need to be made as our students are already familiar with online programs and can communicate their learning in a range of ways because they are taught from a young age to work to their individual learning goals and to be responsible for their own learning.” Emma Bird said.

Principal Anton Prinsloo acknowledged that Student Wellbeing and Pastoral Care are at the centre of what our school is about. We care about the child as a holistic learner and care about every individual in our school community. Not only do we plan to provide a rigorous academic program, we are also putting layers of Pastoral Care planning in place so that students, parents and teachers feel supported, should we move to distance learning.

To prepare for the unknown, our school has taken a three-tiered approach in planning for possible distance learning. We have planned for what it could look like in the short term, the long term and we have also developed a ten day hard copy plan for all students, should they have internet connectivity issues throughout the distance learning period.

Along with their iPads, all students have been provided with a bag of essential learning items (including Literacy and Numeracy resources, writing books and pencils) to ensure the continuation of learning no matter what ‘schooling’ may look like next term.

“Families were provided a drive-through service to collect book packs, where staff members greeted them and placed the essential bag of items into their car window or boot,” Anton Prinsloo said.

Looking after our school community is our number one priority. By providing transparent and clear communication with families as well as by going above and beyond to show them that we care, we feel that our community are feeling supported and ready for whatever Term 2 will bring.

Across Campus Family Discounts

St Paul’s Lutheran Primary School receives national recognition

Senior Japanese

Year 4, 5 and 6 in Senior Japanese have had a very exciting focus this term as we have linked the Japanese language with literacy. I have been so pleased with how much interest and enjoyment that the students have shown with these Japanese texts. In Year 4, we are learning to read a Japanese text called, “Ekiben Shinkansen.” ‘Eki’ means train and ‘ben’ refers to a bento box, therefore it refers to a bento box meal that we eat on a train.
We have learnt the word for ‘bullet train’ which is a ‘shinkansen’ and we are learning to write this word in hiragana (しんかんせん). All students loved seeing Miller Sensei’s videos of the five shinkansen’s that she travelled on in the recent school holidays within Japan!

In Years 5 and 6, we are learning to read an old Japanese folk tale called, “Omusubi Kororin.” ‘Omosubi’ is an old fashioned Japanese word for onigiri. ‘Kororin’ means rolling so it is translated as, “The Rolling Rice Ball.” Our learning intention is to retell the story with Japanese words, phrases and Japanese sign language. Students have been encouraged to read and write the title of our story in hiragana. They are also learning how to read and write three kanji characters representing three keywords from our story. They include tree (ki), river (kawa) and mountain (yama). Please see examples of the Japanese writing forms below –
“Omusubi Kororin” (おむすびころりん) tree 木 river 川 mountain 山
Please notice the link above with the Year 3 Junior students learning the kanji for Thursday (木) and the Senior students learning ‘ki’ for tree (木). This is purposeful as the Senior Japanese program compliments and builds upon prior learning in the Junior Japanese program at St. Paul’s. Walker Sensei and I are meeting on Monday, Week 3 to ensure that seamless planning and programming occurs for all students in 2020.

“Onigiri Action” is a social justice action program that attempts to ‘change the world with onigiri.’ It is a wonderful initiative that the students and are supporting from the 7th October – 20th November 2019. Senior students are encouraged to bring in an ‘omusubi’ rice ball every Thursday to Senior Japanese Club. Miller Sensei will then take a photo of the omusubi (food photos only) and upload it to the website. For every photo posted with the hashtag #OnigiriAction, their partner organisations will provide 5 school meals to children in need (Africa and South East Asia). Let’s make ‘onigiri with love’ for children in need all around the world! A $1.00 colouring competition has also begun to raise much needed funds for this great cause. Prizes will be awarded to each year level from Prep – Year 6. Please donate $1.00 and receive your colouring entry outside the Japanese classroom for the first 10 minutes of every lunchtime for the next three weeks.
Ganbatte kudasai, (Good luck)
Miller Sensei J