No.1813

March

11th SPORTS DAY

18th District Athletics

22nd Messy Church @ 4pm (Unity Centre)

27th Grandparents Day

Stations of the Cross and Bible presentation

Last Day of Term 1

April

13th– Term 2 starts

Chapel Wednesday 9am

Week 6 Sports Day Devotion

Week 7: Mick and Rachael

Assembly Friday 2:30 :

Week 7: Year 5 Installation of School Captains

and leadership team. (March 13)

Week 8: St. John’s and Interschool Sports

Assembly

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St. John’s Lutheran Primary School

A Suffering God

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses,

but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not

sin. 1Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may

receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16

When hardship strikes some people, they will turn away from God. Something bad happens to them that doesn’t make sense, and they conclude there can’t be a God if something like that could happen to them. They turn against Him and essentially find a belief system that

accommodates their feelings.

But our God is a suffering God. No one ever suffered like Jesus. Not only did He endure the physical pain of the whipping, beating, and the crucifixion, but He bore all the sins of the world on Himself as he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned

me?” (Matthew 27:46).

When you are suffering, you need to know that you’re talking to a God who knows what you are going through. You will find in Jesus a faithful friend who feels your pain. Hebrews 4:15 says, For we do not have a one who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

We can’t live in a pain-free world, as much as we would like to try. When trouble comes (and it will come), when crisis knocks at your door (and it will knock), you can either become

angry at God or turn to Him and trust in Him.

Here is your choice in life: you can become better or bitter. It is usually one or the other. When something bad happens, you can say, “I am mad at God. I am bitter with God.” Okay. That is your choice. But you can also say, “I am going to trust in God. I am going to cling to

God.” You will become better as a result. It is really up to you.

Supplied by Kylie Huf

1 0 t h M a r c h 2 0 1 5 ….

Upcoming Events...

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F R O N T O F F I C E

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Flyers/leaflets must come through the front office

for distribution in the newsletter.

Thank you

Please note that formal supervision of students

commences at 8.25am .

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From Mick’s Desk

Blessings that are as clear as day

We hope all families enjoyed the public holiday

Monday. While Mel is only at 33 weeks I must admit

we both looked at Labour Day with a sense of

trepidation. But no news yet and probably too far

away to impact tomorrow's Sports Day !!

Weather wise the showers are looking like they are going to stay away

until the evening. Thanks in advance to those who have offered to help.

There is a brief program of the day later in the newsletter with all

students on Friday having received a map and an overview of the

rotational events between 9:30-12:30. Thanks to Ann Dickinson for all

her work.

Looking Back

We have two great weeks here at St John’s. We have had Foundation

students in Hilarious Hats and the completion of Trish Coverdale’s home

visiting program, students from Year 3-6 attending a golf clinic, Year 6s

attending a leadership day in Warrnambool and 8 students representing

the school at a wintery and wet Zone Swimming. There were some

fantastic student achievements at Saturday’s Wood Wine and Roses Art

and even some students who participated in some performances on the

day. Monday March 2 was also an enjoyable day here at St John’s as

we not only installed our new Chaplain Rachael Mitchell but also had a

visit from Christian children’s performer Chris Jaensch. Chris has visited

the school on a number of occasions (another thing that often coincides

with Emmett births) and his CD’s Jam, Go, Go, Go and Thumbs Up are

still available at the front office. One of the cool things was how Chris

responded to a posting of a video of his performance being posted on

our school Facebook with the following: ‘How cool to be back at St

John’s again. What a friendly school. It’s clear as day that God is

blessing you guys. Thank you for making me feel so totally welcome’

As the school year gets busier, we sometimes do forget that we have a

variety of blessings that are as clear as day. All we need to do

sometimes is look !!!

Looking forward

Our next newsletter will be distributed on Monday March 23. Thankyou

to all the parents who have completed our communication survey. We

will use this data to streamline communication processes, including both

the distribution of the newsletter and the methods of digital

communication that we will also use. I will include another copy of that

survey in this fortnight’s newsletter. While ultimately it is our preference

to distribute our school newsletter via email we appreciate that there are

some families who prefer the non-electronic copy.

Apart from tomorrow’s Sports Day there are a number of events to look

forward to in remaining weeks of term. Next Friday we will install our two

school captains (Brooke H and George) and four student leaders (Sam,

Wil, Brooke S and Elisah) as part of a Year 5 led assembly and would be

fantastic to have some parents here to support these students, all of which

have done a great job so far with their leadership responsibilities.

On Sunday March 22 4pm we will be having our first Messy Church for

2015. Messy Church is ‘church done differently’. We commence with an

introduction to the theme, explore this through a variety of activities, gather

together for a brief message from Pastor and end with a community meal.

The theme for our first Messy is the ‘Lent event’. Other Messys for 2015

will be held on May 31, August 2 and September 6.

visitors the day is also significant for the Year

Our term culminates with Grandparents/Special Persons Day on Friday

March 27. Apart from the sense of community that is instantly enhanced by

100+ visitors we will also observe the 5-6 presentation of Stations of the

Cross and the presentation of bibles to our new students and 2015

Foundations. Students will be writing invitations to their intended guests in

the next week. A program for the day is below:

9am Whole School Welcome and Assembly in Unity Centre: Run by Mick and School Leaders. Presentations of Bibles to new students and Preps.

9:30 Classroom Activities

10:30 Grandparents morning tea

12:30 Stations of the Cross

1:15 Conclusion of Grandparents Day.

1:30 Lunch

2:10 Final Farewells

2:15 Dismissal

Class Based Carers

We are always looking at ways to enhance the sense of community spirit

here at St John’s. At P and F last Tuesday night Rachael Mitchell and Judi

Bell spoke about the reintroduction of Class Based Carers into the school

for 2015. One would be allocated to each class, with each contact the

taking a leading role for those in the class community to care for each

other. While supporting families in need is a focus it is also a person to

help celebrate achievements, progress, birthdays and more. There is a

letter in this week’s newsletter with more information. I would love to

challenge some members of our school community who aren’t already

involved in existing ways to take one of these on.

We are at the half way point. Let’s keep looking for blessings. They are as

clear as day.

Mick

1 0 t h M a r c h 2 0 1 5 ….

Term 1 Issue 3

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School News

Just a reminder about tomorrow’s Sports

Day.

A program for the rotational events was

distributed on Friday.

The day will commence with a brief

devotion from 9am with rotational events

commencing at 9.20am. Lunch will be at

12.40pm with a gold coin donation to support our sponsor

child Luis.

Team games and relays will commence at 1.30pm with the

day formally ending at 3pm.

Students can wear shirts in their house colours.

For eligible students (yrs3-6) the day may result in selection

in the Interschool's Sports Day at Nelson Park on March

18th.

Trophies will be formally presented at assembly on March

20th.

Well done to our Division Swimming team who had a great

day on Friday.

Congratulations to Samuel Malady and Blake Schwarz who

have progressed to the Zone Swimming in Ballarat

Communication to look for in next fortnight

5/6 Camp Information

Messy Church Invite

Bring Your Own Device Survey

Please note that the 2014 School Magazine will be

distributed in March

1 0 t h M a r c h 2 0 1 5 ….

Term 1 Issue 3

Wood Wine and Roses Art 2015

We again had great results at the Wood

Wine and Roses Art Show.

Foundation Georgia Murray 1st Place

Brianna Trewick 2nd Place Grade 1

Gracie Watt 2nd Place Grade 3

Sky Treble 1st Place Sophi Roberts 2nd Place

Grade 5 Darko Jablanski 1st Place

Jenna-May Bristow 2nd Place April Tiley 3rd Place

Congratulations to all students

Introducing Mrs Mitchell.

Day 1: “Are you our new Chappy?” – well, yes, I

guess that’s exactly who I am!

A few of you already know me and some have

seen my face before, but just in case you don’t

know who I am let me fill in some of the blanks.

I live on a farm in Tyrendarra with my husband, Dallas, and three of our four children.

Our daughter Jessica lives in Horsham and is getting married at the end of March! All

four of our children attended St John’s except for a period of four years when we

moved to Adelaide to attended Bible College. We are members of the Portland Baptist

Church where Dallas and I are involved in the music team and we run a small group for

young adults on a Wednesday Night. I also fill in on the Sunday School roster from time

to time.

Previously I have taught Religious Education at Narrawong Primary School and was a

high school Chaplain at Cedar College in South Australia for a short time before return-

ing to Tyrendarra in 2007. In 2008 I started working as an Integration Aide at Portland

Secondary College where I learned a great deal about working in a school alongside

teachers and parents to support students and help them reach their full potential.

It is my hope that as Chaplain I can similarly work alongside the parents and teachers

of St John’s to support all our students in their growth and development academically,

socially, emotionally and spiritually.

Please say hello and make yourself known to me, I am really looking forward to getting

to know you all over the coming weeks.

Rachael Mitchell

rmitchell@stjohnsportland.vic.edu.au

From our Chaplain

Japan Festival

Just a reminder about the Japan Festival at Box Hill on Sunday 17th May. While this has been offered as part of the cultural Program at Bayview. I would like to offer the opportunity for any St. John’s families that might like to

attend.

We will hire a bus and go to Melbourne, spend a half day there exploring festival food, games etc., stop in Ballarat

for dinner on the way back to Portland and be home in the night. It will be around

$80+ per person at this stage.

If any students and parents here at St John’s are interested in coming along, they are

more than welcome. .

If you would like to go on the trip please contact Ayako either here at school on

Tuesday’ and Thursday’ or on the email below.

ayako.hashimoto@bayview.vic.edu.au

Bayview: 5523 1042

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Week 4

Foundation: Lauchlon Sanders for working hard to improve his cutting skills

Year 1/2: Amalia Hunter for excellent listening skills and improved writing and spelling

Year 3/4: Antony Jablanski for proving he is a focused students, by quickly completing a

difficult Maths task. Year 5: Blake Schwarz for suberb use of diary

Year 6: Jessian Borer for improved organisational skills

Humanities: Jacob Wilson –Lindsey for his in-depth Research on ANZAC and World War 1.

Library: Jacob Mibus for great work on his map of the Library.

School Captain Awards

Brooke Hillam:

Shivanna Tewheoro for being kind to others in the playground.

Eva Hitchman for having a great attitude to school

George Russell:

Ana Warner for being friendly and towards others at school

Wil Hitchman for getting his work finished on time.

Class Awards

1 0 t h M a r c h 2 0 1 5 ….

Term 1 Issue 3

From School Council-Paul Gargett

The school has made a great start to 2015 and our enrolment numbers are most encouraging. The size of our Foundation class gives the school a great base with which to move forward. It has also been exciting to see the number of new families who have joined the school community

during the last couple of years.

On behalf of Council I would like to welcome Rachael Mitchell back to St John’s in her new role as School Chaplain. This is

an important role in the welfare of all of the children at St John’s.

Now that there is certainty around the Commonwealth Funding model through to the end of 2017, Council will be able to spend more time on forward planning for the school, both from an educational and facilities point of view. During 2015 you will see some much needed updating to the facilities with additional painting works and some furniture and equipment replacements. Some of these works had been put on hold during the last few years and we are now in the process of re-establishing a regular maintenance/upgrade

program to ensure we maintain the school at an acceptable standard.

Council is working with the congregation’s Board for Congregational Life as we seek to fill the vacancy on School Council and we hope to have the

position filled in time for Council’s April meeting.

During my last visit I had the privilege to join all staff in a short visit to Lorraine Pfeiffer’s home. Lorraine looked well and was so excited to see the staff. It was great to catch up with Lorraine and we passed on the best wishes from

the whole school community.

Our next school council meeting is on Tuesday March 17..

Yours in Christ Paul

Each month we will introduce you to our school council for 2015. Firstly we

would like to introduce you to Ros Alexander:

School Council Profile

Name: Ros Alexander

Bio: Ros has been on School Council for 4 years, two of those years as the Chair of School Council. This year I have accepted a position on the Council of Lutheran Education. She is passionate about St John’s Lutheran Primary

school, two of my daughters completing their education at the school

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Week 4 & 5

1 0 t h M a r c h 2 0 1 5 ….

Term 1 Issue 3

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1 0 t h M a r c h 2 0 1 5 ….

Term 1 Issue 3

PANTS DOWN CIRCUS ROCK! -

Fantastic Family Entertainment

If you loved 360 ALLSTARS, you’ll love this.

Portland Arts Centre

Thursday 26 March 7.30pm

Pants Down Circus ROCK! is set to a pumping classic rock sound-track with a wide range of circus acts including acrobatics, juggling and hula hoops. It’s a show that is sure to entertain every audi-ence member whether you like death-defying stunts, incredible

displays of strength and agility or just plain silly nonsense.

“Four talented performers manage to captivate the audience for a full hour with an edgy rock-themed show, which sets them apart

from any other circus act you have seen.” Adelaide Advertiser

$30 Full price $25 Concession $10 Student $66 Family

Running time: 55 minutes

Tickets will sell fast. Don’t miss out.! Purchase tickets online

www.glenelg.vic.gov.au/ticketing or call 5522 2263

Like us on Facebook – Glenelg Shire Council Arts Program

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Community Notice Board

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Term 1 Issue 2

PORTLAND SIGNING CENTRE:

JUSTICE OF THE PEACE can now be located at the

Portland Library in Bentinck street every

FRIDAY between 12 -2pm. excluding public holidays.

Page 8

From Our Pastor From Our Congregation

1 0 t h M a r c h 2 0 1 5 ….

Worship

Sunday 8 March 2015

Realigned to what is important

Portland-Heywood Lutheran Church

St Johns Lutheran Worship Centre Portland

9am Traditional Service

10.45am Family Contemporary Service

St Pauls Lutheran Worship Centre Heywood

Harvest Thanksgiving

9am Traditional Service

Sunday 15 March 2015

Living in the Light

Portland-Heywood Lutheran Church

St Johns Lutheran Worship Centre Portland

9am Traditional Service with Holy Communion

10.45am Family Contemporary Service with Holy Communion

Focussing on what God has done, is doing and will

do!!!

When we encounter God, when we read the bible, when we

listen to stories relating to the Christian life, I have some

things to ask.

What do you hear? What do you focus on? In most Bible

stories there are two main characters God and us. It is important to look at

what this story is saying about both characters. While looking at what the

story is saying about God is essential we should look at what it is saying to

us. Hearing and seeing what God is up to is important for us because what

God is doing is Good News (otherwise known as the Gospel) for us. God

through his actions and words, shows us what love looks like (check out 1

John 4:7-21) and shows us that He is actively forgiving us so we can live with

God forever (check out John 3:16-17).

Now at times when we hear stories, we will see how we have failed. His

demands on us can be threatening but by seeing what God is doing and

saying, however, helps us rely on Him for forgiveness for our failures,

guidance and help us to carry out His instructions and the hope we need for

the future.

May you always see what God is doing Pastor Richard Schwedes pastor@phlc.org.au 0418303406

Term 1 Issue 3

for men & boys @ McDonalds

Saturday 21st February 2015 8am

Contact: Steve Gollasch 0417267316

MINI MART AND GARAGE SALE

4 Tyers St Portland 10am to 12.30pm

The next Mini Market will be held on March 14th.10am to 12 noon.

Donations of plants, cooking, books and good bric-brac welcome.

The Men’s Garage sale will be held on March 14th 10am

Small items can be picked up. Contact Barry brunt

0429965372

22nd March 4pm

@

Unity Centre, St. John’s School