As we kick off the sports season at Concordia, I thought I’d share with you some tips and strategies around being a good sports parent. Sports lead parents to emotional excess because it allows us to do what normal parenting doesn’t: to cheer out loud for our children when they are under pressure and something is on the line. The key to the game, as in life, is to endure failure, adapt and through grit, hit more than we miss. Remember that excessive behaviour is embarrassing to your child as well as to yourself and it teaches your child all the wrong lessons about sportsmanship, character, and grace.

Remember not to quiz your child about the game immediately after it’s over. It puts too much pressure on them when they’re still processing the experience, especially after a loss, or finally taking a break from the pressure of it. Let them bring it up.

If you do talk about the game, put a limit on it. Try to squeeze this out before you get home. Once you are out of the car, then stop talking about it and leave it up to your child to bring it up after that.

A favourite tip is the one comment which children say makes them feel great and amplifies their joy after a game, I love to watch you play. So don’t send any other message that gets in the way of that and as they say, “your child isn’t playing for sheep stations” when they enter the sports arena. Enjoy the sports year with us at Concordia!
[Acknowledgement: adapted from “Support your kids on the diamond without driving them crazy.”]

Did you know that Toowoomba had the biggest Park Run in Australia, at Queens Park , last Saturday? I believe that 618 runners attended last weekend plus the volunteers. The exciting news is that Concordia gets to be the official hosts and helpers for this event on Saturday 18 February. We would love for as many Concordia families as possible to be part of this community event, with the students in their Concordia running gear of course, as well as parents assisting as volunteers on the course. Please contact the college if you would like to assist as a volunteer at the park run. See you there!

Have a wonderful weekend and see you back for the start of Week 4 next week.

Yours in Christ

Mr Anton Prinsloo
Head of College

Quote of the week: Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can. [John Wesley]

Parents play a crucial role in modelling a positive and healthy approach to using screens and assisting children to navigate the content they watch. It is better to model and mentor screen use, rather than monitor it. Children tend to do more of what they see us do, and less of what we tell them to do. However, it is still important to outline the risks and highlight the benefits of screen use to ensure you keep a balanced attitude. Encourage discussions around the issues that people experience in monitoring their screen time and be honest about your own difficulties.

Remaining firm when managing screen time is essential toward developing positive habits for our children. Excessive screen time can be detrimental to a child’s overall wellbeing. Ensuring the correct privacy settings are in place is vital to prevent children from being inadvertently exposed to inappropriate content. Studies have shown that screen time can have an impact on a child’s social, emotional, educational, behavioural, and even physical wellbeing.

Concordia Lutheran College will be providing parents and caregivers the opportunity to engage in an informative presentation related to cyber safety student online interactions. This session will be held on Monday 20 February from 5.30pm – 6.30pm in the Stephen Street Campus Lecture Theatre. We encourage families to come along to hear the messages presented by Brett Lee, a former Queensland Police Officer with experience in in the field of Child Exploitation.

To register for this event please click here.

To further assist families with conversations around managing screen time, click on the SchoolTV link below that provides a range of guidelines and strategies.

Managing Screen Time

God Bless!

Mr Tony Manteufel
Director of Pastoral Care and Wellbeing

Social media is an important tool for school marketing. It allows schools to reach a wide audience, quickly and cost-effectively. Concordia Lutheran College has a growing presence on Facebook and Instagram. We encourage you to follow the pages and join us in ‘liking’, ‘commenting’ and ‘sharing’ any posts you choose.

As parents/caregivers of children attending the College, you may have noticed an increase in sport marketing recently. This is because Concordia is committed to increasing the visibility of its sports programs, both within the school and the wider community, to promote a culture of healthy competition and physical activity.

We also work to ensure that all students, regardless of their level of ability, have access to a wide range of sports. From basketball to cricket and tennis, Concordia Lutheran College offers a range of sports activities for all ages and interests. This helps to create a positive environment for all students, encouraging them to stay active and achieve their best.

We are excited to tell you that a new Marketing Officer will be joining our team at Concordia Lutheran College next week. There will be more to come on our newest member in a future “The Week Ahead” as we prepare to welcome them into the community.

If you have your beautiful Concordia Lutheran College calendars hanging up at home, please note that the “Bullying No Way” date is listed as Friday 17 March. This has now been changed to align with the National Day of Action on Friday 18 August. The annual National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence is a day for schools, students, and the community to say Bullying. No Way!

I have the privilege of running our Media Club this year which meets Wednesdays on the Stephen Street campus as part of our exciting SPARC program. We are currently learning about interviewing and what to look for when viewing news programs. This week the students produced their own ideas to pitch as stories to share with the community. As the editor, I will go through these ideas and assist the students in developing them fully into stories. We are very excited to share the outcome of their efforts with you late in Term 1. Thank you to OM Consulting and Media for the generous donation to Media Club which has allowed us to source much needed equipment.

After 23 years as a radio presenter and journalist at ABC Southern Queensland, I decided to leave to pursue other opportunities. Working in journalism for 33 years in total had been a rewarding experience and I am grateful for the many incredible opportunities I had while at the station. However, I felt it was time to move on and explore different avenues of communication. I wanted to challenge myself in a new environment. The Media Club at Concordia Lutheran College is part of that challenge.

For me, the school theme for this year, Embrace the Possibilities, is something that I think I am living. Perhaps you can try something new this year too. I happen to be a huge fan of Audrey Hepburn who famously said, “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!”

Until next time

Ms Belinda Sanders
Director of Marketing & Enrolments

Their results were:

Lachlan Spoelder (U9) - 1st - 800m; 4th - Discuss; 4th - Shot Put; 7th - High Jump & 400m

Will Spoelder (U11) - 1st - Javelin; 2nd - 1500m; 3rd - 800m; 6th - High Jump

Jonathan Rice (U11) - 3rd - 400m; 7th - Long Jump

Arabella Knopke (U12) - 3rd - Discuss; 5th - Shot Put; 6th - 800m

James Rice (U13) - 1st - Long Jump; 2nd - 100m; 3rd - 200m

Chase Robertson (U13) - 1st - High Jump; 4th - Triple Jump; 5th - Long Jump

Austin Knopke (U14) - 1st - 1500m; 1st - 800m; 1st - 400m; 2nd - Javelin; 3rd - Discuss

We are all extremely proud of them and the huge effort they put in all weekend.

Each classroom across the Junior College teaches the importance of a Growth Mindset compared to a Fixed Mindset. Our students are encouraged to look for new challenges and embrace them as learning opportunities. If they face struggles, they are encouraged to persist, and if they fail, they learn that these are indeed not failures but opportunities to help their brains grow.

A Growth Mindset is essential for learning and the majority of learning and habit building happens when we are children. Our students are primed and ready to learn. All they need from us is a nudge in the right direction, but how do we give them that nudge? As parents and educators we need to do the following things:

• Be a positive role model - show your children that you are willing to do challenging things.
• Use the power of “yet” - I can’t do this “yet”.
• Praise effort not results and
• above all it is important to remind our students that FAIL actually means First Attempt In Learning.

Blessings for the week ahead

Click here to view HSC's Events for Term 1, Week 4.
Click here to view WSC's Events for Term 1, Week 4.

Mrs Juanetta Priest - Director of Campus (Hume Street)
Mrs Jackie Minnikin - Director of Campus (Warwick Street)

Lunch Time Activities
A few added lunch time opportunities

• Gardening – will change to Monday 1^st break
• Drama Club with Mrs Sue Priest – Thursday 1^st break – come for a trial this week
• Year 4 students using the cricket nets at 1^st break – will extend or rotate classes as interest is expressed.

Concordia’s Got Talent
The buzz has begun … Georgia and Isaac, our Year 6 Cultural Captains have visited all classes to talk to students about Concordia’s Got Talent. They will be working to sign students up over the next week so that the program can be set. They will also require names of songs and required equipment.

There was an exceptional turn-out for our Parent Information Evening, which started with an informal staff meet and greet before heading to the Function Centre for an information presentation. I wish to sincerely thank our Parent Connect group for catering this event. The food and service were tremendous; creating the perfect atmosphere in allowing staff and families the opportunity to talk and get to know each other a little better. During the information session families were provided with updates from Mr Manteufel, the Year Level Coordinators and I regarding our 2023 college programs and events. A copy of the presentation slides will be made available to families shortly.

Year 7-9 Maths Pathways Information Evening
Next Monday 13 February, our Maths Department will be leading as session for parents and carers on the Maths Pathways online program. This program forms a significant part of the maths teaching and learning approach at Concordia, and so we see it as vital that parents are aware of how the program works, and how they can support their children as they develop their maths understanding. This session will be held in our Lecture Theatre from 5.30pm.

Inter-House Swimming Carnival – Friday 17 February
Students need to start preparing their vocal chords as we get closer to our annual Inter-House Swimming carnival to he held on Friday 17 February. This is a very fun day of competition and house spirit, with all students encouraged to ‘have a go’ for their house. We welcome spectators, so if you have any time to come and cheer on your child/ren we would love to see you there. A program of events will be available soon through our Sports Department.

Have a great week.

Yours in faith,

Mr Jamie Pukallus
Director of Campus

The scholarships are open to students who meet the following requirements:

• applicants are students of German attending a secondary school in Australia
• students are aged between 15-17 at the time of application
• the student wants to continue studying German at senior high school level
• students are Australian citizens or permanent residents

Each applicant is required to hand in a video in English or German by 6 March 2023 in which the student answers the following question:

Who are you and why would you like to participate in the summer camp? Introduce yourself in German and tell us in German or English why you want to participate and what you hope to experience during your time in Austria. Be as creative as you can. (Video, max. 2 minutes)

Short-listed applicants will be interviewed by a panel via Zoom. The interview will be conducted in English but will include a 1-2 minute introduction by the student in German. For further information, please click the link below or see Miss Riehl.

Scholarship Application and further information

We have many teams participating in cricket, futsal and basketball this week. We look forward to hearing about their performances and thank all of our Concordia community members who are creating these great opportunities for our young people.

On the 17/2/23 is our College Swimming Carnival. This is a great opportunity to show our passion for sport. I look forward to seeing all the students attending and participating in all events to the best of their ability. The House that wins, normally has all events filled AND all students try their best each race. This carnival is incredibly important so we can select a team to hopefully win the QCIS Swimming Carnival.

Thank you to all the people who have offered assistance to our sporting community through the survey from last week. We will be in contact in the near future. If you would still like to assist, please email me and let me know your field of interest and expertise.

Darron Skinner-Martin
HOD HPE & Sport

Day 1
We set off Friday morning and arrived at approx. 11.30am, set up camp and broke up into 2 teams lead by Mason and George. The weather could not have been better and we had everything we needed.

Mason’s team bombed the pool and George led her team to the river for Canoeing. There was plenty happening. The flying fox was the next adventure to conquer for the boys and girls.

No fear in climbing the wall aided by the anchor team on the ground with a rope, to get to the platform to soar down the zip line. Jane and Sera did an absolute bonza job of stopping the kids at the end of the line.

Back to the pool with young Devon leading the whirlpool around and around, building up the speed and current. A great day.

Later that afternoon the fisherman along with Mr Wally set off back down to the river for a spot of fishing. George, Ralph, and Miss Jane walked down to the river to see how the boys were going and George picked up a reel and was instantly hooked on fishing. Some students suffered a tad bit of sun stroke as it was too hot and not enough water was drunk. After some cooling down in the airconditioned room and plenty of water, all were feeling fine the next day.

Everyone was exhausted that evening with the exception of a few, who chatted into the early hours of the morning. Being such a hot night a few of the boys ventured outside to sleep under the stars, being moved back inside after an hour by Mr Andrew fearing insect bites or a snake slithering over the grass.

Day 2 - George gave the wakeup call for anyone wanting to go fishing and away they went with Mr Wally only to return for more bait, water, and sunblock.

Determined as she is, George caught 5 fish and was mightily pleased with herself. The mini golf was a great place to hang out for some, casually hitting a few balls. Some girls fearing withdrawal symptoms, hunted high and low for phone reception and were happy when they found a bar or two at the top of the jungle gym.

Wally set up his paints later that day and had a following, casually sitting around yarning and having a great laugh.

Josh and Brittany came to the rescue with extra supplies of water and birthday cakes for Daisy and much needed fish bait. Josh found himself waist deep in the river with the junior boys and Brittany taking over the job of pool attendant from Miss Jane and Miss Sera. Everyone was so chilled and relaxed.

Our meals were great, Thanks to the kitchen. Ms Maureen fed the team and received many compliments from the students and staff.

Saturday evening after dinner was full of entertainment with a marshmallow eating competition. Milton managed 3 large marshmallows and Joy 22 small marshmallows. This competition was followed by a boys verse the girls in a friendly, (not really) game of Volleyball, umpired by our new Tutor Sera. The boys did practice for about an hour before. After a hard match and little to no experience our girls were defeated by the quick return of the ball and having Keenan on their team.

The evening concluded earlier than the previous night after Leroy and Keenan spotted a snake slithering across the grass towards Mr Andrews room. Excitement was re-ignited again with some students, however, they did not venture too close. That is a story for another day.

Day 3
After a bit of a sleep in that morning, we followed some more fishing and swimming with a BBQ brunch. After brunch we packed up and ventured on back to boarding.

Thankyou to Mr Andrew for his persistence in making sure the camp went ahead, to Mr Wally, Miss Jane and Miss Sera for volunteering their weekend to spend with the students as well as to Josh and Brittany for spending their Saturday with us.

The highlight for staff this weekend was watching and interacting with the students, building on our relationships and for the students to discover new friendships and interests. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful cohort of students who displayed great initiative, responsibility and respect for themselves and each other.

Hope you all enjoy our pictures below.

Mrs Maureen Taurima
Girls' Houseparent