An article in The Australian last Saturday caught my eye. Under the headline ‘Routine makes a good student’ the article set out to make the point that a regular homework routine carries benefits into the classroom.
Researchers from the University of Western Sydney conducted research into the study habits of Year 3 students. While it was found that study habits differed among Chinese, Anglo and Pacific Island students with the former spending the greatest amount of time per night on homework, the study importantly identified that the time spent on homework was not as important as the study routine.
Sitting at a desk at night undertaking a small amount of homework had the benefits of developing the skills of concentration, self-discipline, self-control, and the bodily skills of application to work and independence in learning. In addition, attending to a short homework task at night also developed body strength, particularly fine motor skills (writing) and core strength (torso strength). Importantly all of the above enhanced classroom skills and learning.
Further, the authors of the study claim that; “There has been inadequate attention given to the ways educational attainment is founded on embodied capacities such as productive stillness and quiet, which are crucial to sustained attention and application in intellectual endeavour”. At Good News our values program and our social skills program are in place precisely to develop ‘embodied capacities’. And, together with the findings of this current study, we have seen real benefits to our classroom program through these programs.
There are many pieces to the education puzzle. Education is not simply giving children a bundle of information in a classroom setting. We now know about and utilize a gamut of supporting educational activities at Good News. A values program and a worship program and a social skills program and an anti-bulling program and an arts program and leadership programs and physical education programs, to name just a few, all come together to undergird and support the rich curriculum program offered in the classroom. And now we know that a modicum of homework does more than give students some revisionary practice; it can actually aid and abet the classroom program in qualitative ways.
Educators have known for a long time that parents are critical in supporting the learning program in our schools. This current research from the University of Western Sydney supports the importance of this partnership and gives pointed direction about how parents might add to the education of their children by setting aside a designated space and a designated time for a little homework at night.
| From Planting to Plate with a little help from Year 2
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-08-7 11:05:57
Earlier this year the Year 2 students requested, via the Student Council, permission to construct a garden. The request came partly in relation to the learning program (“Growing and changing”; “Working together”; “Life cycles”; and developing a “Co-operative enterprise”) and partly in response to a real love to dig and plant and to have a go at growing things!
Well, YES was my answer to the request because it is both a good idea AND I had a garden patch prepared last year just waiting for me to make a move but somehow I simply hadn’t gotten around to it. Here was a golden opportunity to see the newly established ‘garden’ used and in an ongoing capacity. What followed was an avalanche of parental support and action.
Parents assisted the children to set the garden experience in motion. Plants of all descriptions have been planted, nearby seats have been built (by the adults) and painted (by the children) and little paved paths have been installed so that children can walk between the plots without squashing everything to a pulp!
A couple of times each week Year 2 parents arrive at school before the end of the school day and take a group of children up to the gardens to plant, water, weed and tend the plants. In between parent visits the children, accompanied by a responsible person (Year 7 student or staff member) often tend the garden plots at lunchtime. Yesterday I went along and observed first hand the industry and the results of the Year 2 students. Yesterday turned out to be a weeding day and I was heartened to see that little people were prepared to do the unglamorous work of weeding and, more importantly, they knew the difference between weeds and plants!
Finally, yesterday before the expected hail/storm was due to hit us some of the tender produce was picked. Lettuce of different colours and kinds together with a big bunch of parsley was picked and the majority given to the tuckshop for use in the tuckshop salads.
What a great learning experience the Year 2 garden is! Children can dig in God’s good earth, plant and nurture plants, watch as sun, rain and soil feed the plants and finally share the produce AND all in an atmosphere of ‘working together’. Well done Year 2 team!
| Mr Lewis to Retire at the End of the School Year
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-07-25 09:39:28
After 45 years of faithfully teaching hundreds and hundreds of children across a range of classes Mr Richard Lewis has announced that he will finish his full-time teaching responsibilities at the end of the current school year.
Mr Lewis commenced his teaching at Dumaresq Island–(near Taree NSW) in 1964 and taught in this small one teacher school for three years from 1964 to 1966. He taught an average of about 22 pupils each year and they were in about five different grades. Shy, quiet obedient children. This was a far cry from the rough, tough children from working class families at Fairfield West Primary (1967-1972) in the western suburbs of Sydney. Despite this, Richard remembers these children as, “rather wonderful and really appreciated anything extra that the teachers did for them in Music or sport etc.” Fairfield West Primary was the second largest primary school in NSW. So many children used the playground that the grass wouldn’t grow. Fairfield school had over 2000 pupils and Richard taught classes of over 40 children. There were no teacher aides, supply teachers or specialist teachers apart from the librarian. If a teacher was away their class was split up among the other classes in the grade.
In the following years Richard taught at the following schools and he writes:
VILLAWOOD 1973-1975. Villawood was a smaller school, also in the western suburbs of Sydney with wonderful appreciative children. I really enjoyed the music and sport involvement with the children. I coached a couple of premiership winning girl’s softball teams at Villawood. The musicals that I produced at Villawood were great fun and the children loved them.
CAMPBELLTOWN NORTH 1976 This was a school in a fast developing area SW of Sydney, where we had bought a new house in 1973. In this year I decided I needed a change in my career and decided to go overseas to PNG with the Australian Board of Missions (Anglican).
BALOB TEACHERS COLLEGE – LAE PNG 1977-1980. These four years were wonderful years teaching older teachers college students. We found Papua- New Guineans kind, caring and friendly people. We met many staff members from many and varied countries-all who’d come to serve God in this foreign land. Balob is a Lutheran Teachers College and the Anglican Church is an associate partner. So it was there that I first met and then made many Lutheran friends.
MARRARA CHRISTIAN SCHOOL (DARWIN) 1981-1982 I spent two years at Marrara as the Deputy – Principal. I was also Acting-Principal for six months. We enjoyed Darwin, but after being so far away from our family in NSW for six years we decided to move closer to them in SE Queensland, when I was offered a position at Grace Lutheran Primary School. This was the beginning of my 26 years of teaching in Lutheran Primary Schools.
GRACE PRIMARY (Redcliffe) 1983-1986 At Grace I taught grades seven and four. The last three years I was the Deputy. We loved our time at Grace and made many friends.
FAITH PRIMARY (Redlands) 1987-1990. In 1987 I became Principal at Faith. These were difficult years- years leading a school community that had suffered much trauma and division. Despite this I am pleased to see that Faith School has survived and prospered and now my three grand-daughters are pupils. In many ways I enjoyed the position of Principal, but as I was in a non-teaching position I missed teaching the children. So in 1991 I made my final move to Good News School.
GOOD NEWS 1991- 2008 In my 18 years at here there have been many changes. The most notable is the number of staff. Even though the school’s number of pupils has remained much the same, the number of staff has more than doubled. As well as this there has been a great many improvements to the facilities. There have been many friendships made through Good News.
Throughout 45 years of teaching it has been a wonderful privilege to teach so many wonderful children. I haven’t found today’s children any harder to teach than those I taught 40 years ago. Of course the extra support and specialist staff we have these days helps significantly. God has always seemed to have made it possible for me to find something to treasure in all the children I have taught. In all these years, even in state schools I have always been able to tell my students of God’s love. Of all the subjects I teach Christian Studies is one of my favourites along with music. Sometimes listening to the children sing just blows me away. There have been some wonderful singing groups over the years- this year’s year fours are great singer.
We congratulate Richard on a fine contribution to education in general and to Good News in particular and we look forward to recognising this in a formal way at the end of this year.
| Staying Optimistic in a Sea of Pessimism
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-07-17 12:36:38
During the recent holidays I attended an intensive three-day workshop for Principals and Business Managers. Part of the pre-reading/preparation for the workshop was the completion of a personality questionnaire. Many of you will be aware of these instruments and the indications that they provide about aspects of your compatibility as a workmate, whether you are a leader, have a sanguine personality and the like. Part of my personality results indicated that I am more of an optimist than I am a pessimist. I was pleased about that!
There certainly are things around us today that fuel the pessimist in us. The USA subprime fallout that continues apace, the escalation of violence in Darfur, Iraq and again in Afghanistan, rising fuel costs, mortgage rate rises, tensions in the Middle East, climate changes and environmental issues, come readily to mind. If we focus on these events alone it is easy to be overwhelmed by their potential consequences and all could appear hopeless.
I too could become pessimistic about the future except for three (at least) things. Firstly, the world is not a static place and there are millions of people with high-level skills and enormous good will working to right the problems that beset us. Further, there are world leaders for whom peace for all people and peace for our planet is a genuine goal.
Secondly, experience shows us that a number of the present problems that we face will right themselves over time. That is to say, things like interest rates, rise and fall in somewhat cyclic fashion. With this in mind we can take heart that there will be a silver lining or two in the clouds ahead of us. Indeed in my lifetime I have experienced a number of financial pendulum swings. However the ‘realist’ part of me remembers that the lows hurt, hurt quite a bit really, but they didn’t kill me or even maim me. And I learnt to become better not bitter during the hard times.
Thirdly, I have faith in a creator God who, while hurting with us in difficult times (“I will be with you until the end of time”), is ahead of the world’s problems and brings to bear ‘inside working knowledge’ of the world He created.
And I am even more optimistic when I see hundreds of thousands of ‘pilgrims’ worshipping and expressing their faith in the World Youth event in Sydney. Youth have their legions of knockers but when you see the passion and the vitality and the sense of purpose that these young Australians and their overseas visitors have for their Saviour God and as a result their passion for life itself, I know that not everything is bad. Indeed when I reflect on the loving family I have and the good health that I am blessed with and the opportunity to work in this beautiful school I must be one of the most blessed of all.
| Children may not listen to their elders but they most certainly imitate them.
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-06-26 11:39:07
I am not sure who said these words but from the tone of them it was someone who was convinced of their veracity. From my experience children most certainly imitate those who are older than they are, and they seem to attach particular importance to those who have special status; sports stars, music stars. They even imitate us as parents!
Last Saturday night I went to the GABBA to watch the Brisbane Lions play the Adelaide Crows. I enjoy AFL football but I don’t like the way that players sledge and/or push a player after they have kicked a goal or performed some other remarkable piece of play. You can bet that after a forward has kicked a goal (or missed a goal) that he will almost instantly have an opposition player “in his face” to unsettle him … bad sportsmanship I say.
At half time, during AFL matches at the GABBA, it is customary for a number of mini matches of football to be played by primary school students; a ‘little league’ if you like. We had some real little tackers playing in our section of the oval last Saturday night and I would have estimated that they were under 8’s. I was impressed by the ball control and kicking skills of one little fellow but after he, representing the black team, skilfully kicked a goal his opponent, wearing red, ran up to him and pushed and shoved him …just like the adult players had done some ten minutes earlier! And the little ‘red terror’ pushed and shoved and dragged his opponent after every subsequent goal that he kicked!!
Children may not listen to their elders but they most certainly imitate their idols. And in most cases the primary idol for a child is their parent(s). There is an advertisement on TV where a dad, who already has had plenty to drink, asks his son to get him another beer from the fridge; and we find out later that this activity was the beginning (imitation) for the son’s own subsequent adult drinking excesses.
How are we travelling on the “children follow my example” path? Is my child/ren seeing me drink too much alcohol; hearing me swear too much; watching adult material on TV with me; watching me lazily sit while my spouse/partner does more than their share of the work around the house; hearing me use sexist and/or racist comments? And we could list so many more ‘vices’ that we exhibit but which we hope our children won’t see or at least won’t copy.
Of course there are oodles of good things that we do that our children see and which should be imitated, but the problem is that our children see and copy almost everything that we do; the good the bad and the ugly. A wise man once told me, concerning choice in watching violent movies etc. “That if you don’t want something to affect you then don’t look at it because once it is inside of your head it is hard to erase”. I think this sage was correct, indeed he could have added that if you want to be uplifted then, “…fill your minds with those things that are good and deserve praise; things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honourable” (Philippians 4:8).
If you want good things to come out of your mouth or good things to be seen about you then fill yourself up with good things; good literature, good art, good music, good movies, good TV viewing, good internet use, good conversations with others, good food and drink, have a good exercise routine etc., AND all in good balance. Nobody said that parenting, or teaching, or being an idol or an elder was easy, but when you realise that so many impressionable eyes are fixed on you good choices on your part is well worth the effort.
| When Things Go Pear-Shapes
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-06-26 09:26:41
It is all very well to feel good about parenting (or teaching) when the magic is there; when the ‘art’ is happening; when relationship building is abounding. But what about the times when I don’t do parenting properly, or when I make a mistake and ‘lose ground’ in the relationship stakes?
Recently I visited our two older daughters in Adelaide and after a couple of hours of conversation I was asked whether I had noticed one daughter’s haircut. Apparently some 20 centimetres of hair had been lopped off; from mid back length to mid shoulder length! Then I was informed that the other daughter was growing her hair long; how was I supposed to know?!
Sometimes our mistakes are of little consequence, but sometimes, because we are tired or just plain fed-up, we say and do things which hurt our little people. We fail to say “I love you”, or worse, we say it but our little one feels we didn’t invest in the comment. Perhaps we made a promise to go to the park or the shops or a sporting match, but because we are tired or the event was routine and we could go at another time we cancel out not knowing how much our decision has let down and hurt our little one.
There is of course no limit to the permutations and combinations of our parenting mistakes. And make mistakes we most certainly do. The important thing then is what are we to do when we let our little people down?
Parenting, like any art form, should be seen as a process and not merely as a series of discrete activities. Parenting is fundamentally a special relationship and like all relationship relies on a relationship ‘bank account’. If you have invested (deposited) into the relationship through quality time and genuine love and concentrated interest in your child just as they are and for whom they are then it is likely that mistakes will be minimised because you have ample deposits in your relationship account. That is to say that if you have unconditionally entered into your parenting relationship then the relationship will not be broken because of a mistake or two. However, if, on the other hand, you have been ‘absent’ (remembering that you can be ‘absent’ but in the same room as another person) or self-centred or otherwise distracted on a regular basis, then mistakes take on a new depth and perhaps a whole new hurt.
Finally, all mistakes and ‘pear-shaped’ happenings need restoration; repentance, reconciliation and starting again. For me, an unconditional parent/child relationship means that repentance, reconciliation, and starting afresh will be ongoing and open. Further, I take my cue from the unconditional love (repentance, reconciliation, and starting afresh) that Jesus continuously offers to me.
| The Art and Soul of Things
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-06-26 09:25:14
I enjoy fine art. I visit art galleries, attend art auctions and from time to time I find a work of art that I really like and I can afford. I have looked at and ‘appreciated’ thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and photographs since my first visit to an art gallery when I was in grade 4 at primary school.
While it is true that I have seen many, many paintings, drawings and sculptures, only a small percentage of these have been what I call ‘art’. Real art has a special ‘something’ about it; there is a special ‘magic’ between painting and viewer. Real artists strive to find that ‘magic’ in each piece that they create and when it is not there, rather than display a ‘reasonably proficient picture’, which has no ‘magic’, they destroy it. On several occasions I have seen a pile of canvasses burning in the back yard of an artist’s studio or, more pragmatically, I have seen an artist friend light his studio fireplace with his drawing ‘rejects’.
Good artists know their trade well, they know the technical side of their craft, but great artists transcend the mechanical aspects of their craft to engage with the viewer in a special way. It is difficult to describe but I think fine works of art touch the soul in some way (music does the same for many people).
Good teachers and good parents also know their craft, but great parents and great teachers transcend what the books and the training says to find a bit of ‘magic’ in what they do. I have seen many, many fine parents and teachers who, it seems, are unconscious to the fact that they are creating that ‘special magic’ in their interactions with their child/children.
I have seen teachers so engaged with the interest, problem, or concern of a child that they are oblivious to all else. I have watched parents play with their child/children in a park without paying attention to the time, and I have observed parents who, relaxed with their children, are able to talk and listen as if nothing else mattered. These are some of the times when that real ‘magic’ happens, when real connections are made, and when real learning takes place and relationships built, and without a textbook in sight!
Parenting and teaching (and other things) is not so much a science as it is an art. We often cannot describe what makes a great teacher or a great parent but we know when it is there because you can see it and feel it. In short it is about teaching and parenting from the heart (with the books and the science in the background) knowing from experience what works and done with love that can only come from the soul.
| Choosing a (Secondary) School
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-06-26 09:22:49
Occasionally, as families move around the state or indeed interstate I am asked to recommend a suitable school for their children. More commonly though I am asked about the merits of this or that Secondary school as parents make up their mind regarding secondary schooling for their maturing child.
As often as not I only know surface details about particular schools which, coupled with past parent feedback regarding their child’s progress at a particular school, is inadequate to make a final selection. Consequently I recommend that parents read the prospectus material, visit the school, talk with staff members of the school, and talk with parents with children at the school.
However, despite all of the above, parents often return still unable to decide. At this point I cut to the chase and tell parents what I look for in a (secondary) school. I want to know about the skin, the heart, and the soul of the school.
The skin of a school is merely the veneer that is presented via a prospectus accompanied by marketing talk. If, when you visit a school, you get a spiel about how many OP1’s the school got, the number of important visitors to the school and who they were, and you are presented with a cavalcade of past student successes then you have seen something of the school’s skin – the school’s branding if you like. But, like human skin this presentation of a school is very thin.
In my opinion, each school has a heart. The heart of a school is that which makes it ‘tick’, the engine room, the mechanism that keeps it alive. Some schools it can be seen are sick because the heart is weakened by poor leadership or low staff morale or is poisoned by individual/group self interest to the exclusion of the greater good for example. When looking for a school we should check out the health of the heart of the school. Look for signs of ‘people health’, look for evidence of lots of emotional health in the school, look for a ‘happy atmosphere’, and look for rigour and depth in the curricular program. Note: some schools rely on the skin of the school (marketing spin) to cover a weak heart or worse, present the marketing (skin) as the heart of the school.
Finally, schools have a soul, or they should have a soul. That is, they should be driven by a set of core principles. Some schools have sport as their soul (core), others have a particular faith base as their core, others have the College’s (School’s) success as their core, others have the value and God given worth of each child as their core.
Simply put, the heart of the school should be driven by the School’s core principles (soul). If you don’t like the soul of the school or the heart of the school you should give further prayerful consideration to your choice. In any event I would suggest that you avoid all schools that parade as skin only. Parents should not have to answer the question, “What can your child do for the College?” but rather hear the answer to the question, “What can the College do for my child?” When a College meets the needs of a student the resulting benefits to the College automatically follow, however the reverse is not true.
| Good News Lutheran School
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-06-26 09:09:24
At the launch of Lutheran Schools Week on Thursday, the T T Reuther Award for School Excellence was presented to Good News Lutheran School for its outstanding work in values education.
While Values Education has become an issue of concern across the country in the past few years, the focus on values at GNLS pre-dates this ‘revival’. Shortly after his arrival at Good News in 1998, Dr Loyd Fyffe recognized the need for a program to teach children social skills and to provide them with the opportunity to explore their own values systems. Rather than implement an existing ‘one-size-fits-all’ program, Dr Fyffe began his post-graduate study into the subject, interviewing students and parents, devising activities / experiments which elicit values-based responses and ultimately designing a questionnaire for children which indicates the extent of their ‘values development’.
His work has been acknowledged by authorities in the field as groundbreaking, and as a result Dr Fyffe has been invited to share his findings with other school principals and to address groups of educators around Australia (Brisbane, Darwin, Perth …).
His work has also had a profound effect on the students and staff at Good News where Values Education has become part of every lesson in every classroom. References to the cornerstones of identity, compassion and respect make their way into daily language and social interaction, as well as into the music played at the start of Music lessons and the stories read during Library classes. Daily devotions in classrooms incorporate values concepts and Dr Fyffe’s weekly newsletter articles provide families with new perspectives and discussion points as each of the values is introduced.
The T T Reuther Award citation says in part: “Focussing on a value each month, the program encourages each student and the wider school community to learn about specific values; each is challenged to reflect upon those values, how they shape our interactions and frame our lives.”
The staff of Good News Lutheran School are immensely grateful to Dr Fyffe for his outstanding work in developing our values program and for his ongoing inspiration and support in ensuring its successful integration into daily school life. We praise God for leaders like Dr Fyffe, who sets an outstanding example to the school community which he serves.
| Celebrating National Lutheran Schools Week
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-06-26 09:04:59
Lutheran schools are not, in the first instance, independent schools – they are part of the ministry of the Lutheran Church of Australia to the people and communities of Australia. As such, each individual Lutheran school is vitally and intrinsically connected to other Lutheran schools. We share a common ethos and a common education tradition and heritage going back to 1839, and we operate systemically. Being system means recognition by government that we are mutually interdependent.
National Lutheran Schools Week is an opportunity to reflect on those things that we, as a system of Lutheran schools, have in common. And it is a time to celebrate the blessings that we enjoy through Lutheran schools.
A snapshot of Lutheran schooling in Queensland
Enrolments in Lutheran Schools Across Australia:
33,000 students across Australia
14,984 were in Queensland (State census)
Staffing in Queensland:
1080 teachers
280 early childhood staff
Schools: Early childhood services:
13 primary schools 31 early childhood services
14 colleges comprising - Family day care
-12 junior/primary schools - Early childhood centres
-10 middle schools - Kindegartens
- 1 junior high school 20 outside schools hours care
- 2 stand alone 8 – 12 college
- 4 outdoor education centres
Schools sited at:
Bethania Ashmore Tallebudgera Ipswich
Bundaberg Cairns Gladstone Biloela
Caboolture Everton Hills Indooroopilly Rochedale
Gatton Plainland Toowoomba Kingaroy
Hervey Bay Noosa Buderim Caboolture
Middle Park Redlands Clontarf Rothwell
Murrumba Mt Gravatt Ormeau
Downs
Note:
Lutheran schools began in 1839 and were all closed by act of parliament in World War 1. In Queensland they only opened again after World War 2. St. Peters, Indooroopilly was first in 1945.
| No Man Is An Island Entire Of Itself
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-06-26 08:38:08
During the week Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS) contacted me to say that they had received an urgent plea from their Lutheran team in southern Sudan to provide seeds and tools to 4000 refugee families.
We have all seen the urgent United Nations warnings about rising food prices putting 100 million poor families at risk. And we know that converting millions of tonnes of corn into ethanol has taken this corn out of the world food supply and put it into the energy supply which has further compounded the food shortages and therefore the overall cost of food. ‘No man is an island’…a food shortage in one part of the world is increasingly affecting all people of the world. The food solutions therefore require us to act as ‘interconnecting continents’ rather than remaining as isolated islands.
In Sudan, still reeling from a severe drought, there are many children with bellies swollen by the lethal hunger disease kwashiorkor. Parents are forced to choose between using seeds to feed their children now, or plant for the future. They cannot do both.
The solution is to provide Family Farm Packs:
5 kg maize
2 kg sorghum
5 kg groundnuts (small peanuts)
1 kg sim-sim (sesame)
2 kg cow-peas (black-eyed peas)
2 hoes + a sickle + a panga
The cost? $65 per Pack – to help families become food-secure.
Australian Lutheran World Service faces the huge challenge of supplying 4000 Family Farm Packs in the next 6 weeks – rains have already started and we must meet this deadline to give hope of a harvest in October.
Friends and families of Good News can you join me in sharing a little of our ‘riches’ by donating a “Family Farm Pack”? If you cannot buy a whole pack, then any donation that you can make we will put towards making up whole packs.
AND the need to share, both grief and help, goes on as we ‘witnessed’ the devastating cyclone in Myanmar and most recently the effects of the worst earthquake for three decades to hit China resulting in thousands of people dead and many thousands unaccounted for.
The values concept for May is RESPONSIBILITY. We have before us the chance to respond because many of us have the ability to share from our blessed position. If you can help either with “Farm Packs” ($65) or donations to the “Burma cyclone” or “Chinese earthquake” crises then send your responses to the school office where Christine, our accountant, will forward them on to those who need them most, but who are powerless to ask us for help.
| 2009 Celebrating 25 Years of Education at Good News
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-06-26 08:32:42
Next year we will celebrate 25 years of education at Good News. I am reliably informed by our resident historian, Mrs Smith, who together with Pastor Lloyd Boughen (first Good News Pastor) collated the very first enrolment application forms, that much has changed at Good News Lutheran School since the first group of students (97 in total) arrived for the first day of school on Tuesday 31st January 1984.
Mrs Smith remembers;
Only four classrooms were required that first year because some classes were composite classes and the Principal taught part-time in the Year 5/6/7 classroom – a total of 5 teaching staff. The only buildings that first year were the current Yr5/Staffroom building and the front highset with only the top floor enclosed and the underneath (current Yr7) was the eating area. There was an amenities block where the Chapel is now. It was only a matter of weeks after the opening that the School Council realised that more buildings were required for the following year as enrolments ‘rolled’ in.
The School Council (including the Good News Pastor) and their families worked tirelessly every weekend for many weeks before the opening. There was painting to be done, grass to be laid and a small playground to be built behind the front highset building.
1984 was the “Year of the Family”. I would like to think that 1984 was the beginning of the Good News family as many of us as parents united to support the staff and ethos of our school. Like all families, we needed to listen and communicate effectively with each other so that our children received the best education in a Christ-centred environment.
Today we have just under 440 students and our buildings have been designed to provide the best possible learning outcomes for the students. Indeed the recent refurbishment of the Year 6/7 classrooms (built in 1984) and the current work to the Year 1,2,3,4 classrooms have both been planned to maximise student learning outcomes.
The ‘family’ atmosphere first establish in 1984 is something we continue to strive for today as is the centrality of our worship and Christian studies programs.
School Council is planning to mark our 25th anniversary year in a special way and I am sure that they would welcome suggestions about a suitable celebration event. Meanwhile I look forward to the work ahead educating our students to be lifelong learners who, motivated and empowered by their loving God, will make a worthwhile contribution to their community.
| Building Community
Dr Loyd Fyffe - 2008-05-27 09:52:51
Recently in a report to School Council I wrote about aspects of Community Building at Good News. Community building is a core element of the work that we do at Good News and School Council identifies it as one of the nine core governance elements which it oversees.
St Augustine wrote that, “A community is a group of people united by the common objects of their love”. In a school setting the common object which unites us all is the children in our school. And, given that the children are precious to parents, school staff, and the God who created them they are a powerful uniting force.
We work hard to provide a safe, active and supportive community for the students in our care and I can say that at the present time our student community is as good as I have seen it any time in the last ten years. I think that staff members have contributed to this community ‘feel’ and I think that the parents of the children have contributed in important ways simply by being good parents. AND I think that the children themselves have added significantly to the current community ‘feel’.
I have a sense that our values program and our social skills program have added to the skills that the children need to function well as a community. It warms my heart to see instances of children helping and encouraging each other and this was so obvious at yesterday’s cross-country carnival.
Of course our children and their community sit in the wider supportive whole school community. In this context so many people contribute to the Good News community; P&F, the Bible Study Group, ad hoc groups of parents and one to one parent support all work together in unique and often unseen ways to support and build our school community – and I thank them one and all.
Finally, building and maintaining community requires sustained effort. I believe that different people can ‘rise to the community building occasion’ at varying times and under varying conditions. I liken community building and community maintenance to the dynamics that take place during the great migration of geese from Canada to the southern United States. The geese typically fly in a large “V” formation with one bird in the lead and the others trailing behind in two lines. Scientists have found that as each goose flaps its wings it creates an “uplift” for the birds that follow. By flying in a V – formation, the whole flock adds 72% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone. When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it. The most taxing position in the line is the point position where the lead goose bears the brunt of the wind. When the lead-goose tires, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies to the point position. Finally, when a goose gets sick, wounded, or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then, they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock.
The lessons for general community building and interconnectedness are apparent from the above illustration of the migrating geese. May each one of us, child, parent, grandparent, staff member remain open to opportunities to support and build others up.
| GOLDEN GURUS
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-05-23 11:47:37
The meeting and discussion part of the Prime Minister’s 2020 Summit is now formally over. Hundreds of ideas, some old some new, have been tendered by the 1000 delegates present at the summit and, supplemented by additional ideas presented by the general public, will inform governments and organisations into the future.
One of the ideas that caught my attention, again, was the reference to the importance of our retirees. Indeed these important people were referred to as the ‘Golden Gurus’. Our school has a regular stream of ‘Golden Gurus’, visiting, helping in classrooms and generally caring for a number of our students. Our GNLS ‘Golden Gurus’ are both visible and an asset not only to children and their immediate families but also to us as a school.
It has been said that when an old person dies “A library burns”. Enormous knowledge and experiences and wisdom, often hard won through tough times, resides in many old(er) people. We do well to tap into this wisdom even if it only helps us to know how to acquire wisdom itself.
Wisdom is, amongst other things, elusive and not easily caught. Indeed wisdom requires distinct thinking skills and processes. There is a known hierarchy of mental processing where the construction of wisdom is placed at the apex of complexity and the more elemental data formation is placed at the bottom.
Wisdom
Knowledge
Information
Data
Specifically, at the bottom of the pyramid is Data (known facts) which, when combined in certain ways, can produce Information about a situation or topic or set of numbers for example. The proliferation of the availability of information today has lead people to assert that we all too easily can drown in the sea of information. To construct Knowledge the next level of cognitive processing is required, where personal experiences and structures (eg the sciences, the arts, physical laws) are brought to bear on a series of information sources to produce an understanding of a subject. Wisdom however, requires not only the accumulation and synthesis and logic of data it requires the capacity to critically or practically assess knowledge, often across a range of knowledge bases. Wisdom requires reflection and meta analysis (higher or second order analysis) where knowledge is put to the test to gauge its potential outcome especially as it relates to people or, in broader terms, how it relates to the ‘human condition’.
Let us take the Iraq war as a case in point. There is a mountain of data surrounding this zone of conflict (geographical location, political systems, natural resources of the Iraq), similarly we hear (and see) an array of information (casualties, measurements of destruction) in the media each day. From time to time American Generals, and others are interviewed, in order to give indications of progress and strategic developments and this forms part of the knowledge base. However real wisdom is what is required to solve this complex conflict situation – wisdom which canvasses the morality of war,
the identity and worth of nations and peoples, an examination of the various ideologies and beliefs at play, the costs in real terms to the combatants and their families, the cost to the environment, the cost to world stability and so on.
‘Golden Gurus’ have a wealth of life experiences and these have often been distilled into snippets of wisdom, and we do well to hear and learn from these lessons. Given that our ‘Golden Gurus’ lived and constructed their wisdom in a different time and in different places to us it is tempting to dismiss their contributions of wisdom as irrelevant to us today. This assumes that wisdom is content driven but, as the Iraq War example above illustrates, wisdom is primarily about process.
The 2020 Summit identified the value to our community of the ‘Golden Gurus’ who have so much to offer, how this resource is harnessed is important but more important still is the wisdom that they posses and the process that produced it. The 2020 Summit will serve us well if wisdom is both applied to, and is constructed by, the ideas that were generated.
[Maybe one day by the grace of God I too will become a ‘Golden Guru’ in the meantime I remain just a ‘silver servant’.]
| I Was Just Wondering About a Couple of Things
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-03-26 14:19:20
We celebrate a number of special days during the course of the calendar year, the Queens birthday, ANZAC day, Australia day, the Melbourne cup, come readily to mind. Last weekend we celebrated Easter which is essentially a time to focus on the death and resurrection of Jesus, that is it has always been a time to remember Jesus, as opposed to the Queen or the Anzacs or Melbourne Cup runners. But I wonder what Jesus really feels about our celebration and focus on him during this last Easter.
I wonder is he thinking, would all of the people who attended church over Easter still come again next Sunday (and the Sunday after) or was this just an annual rise in church attendance and he will again see a flattening out in attendance figures once the Easter hype subsides?
I wonder if Jesus was happy with the way that people recklessly drank alcohol and then drove a motor vehicle to the danger of so many lives – lives that he co-created? And I wonder does Jesus cry when one of his precious redeemed creations dies in a car accident?
I wonder if Jesus thinks about how much of his love is actually translated into love for each other? And I don’t mean that he is probably displeased with the lack of love in the Middle East at the moment, I mean does he get upset that we don’t love our fellow Australians leave alone people overseas?
I wonder whether Jesus is happy with the ‘take up’ of Australians to the free gift of his grace given to us all and won under such terrible conditions on a cross? Or is he thinking, to use a stock market term, that there are wiser investments of his hard won victory in other parts of the world?
Jesus is interested, personally interested, in the life (and death) of each one of us. He demonstrated that so profoundly on the first Good Friday nearly 2000 years ago and his love has never waned, however I wonder do we really appreciate/love him or do we really only appreciate/love the holiday?
| Which is the worst sin?
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-03-19 15:00:58
I am currently reading a novel in which it is claimed that, “There is no act more wretched than stealing. When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat you steal the right to fairness.” And the list of ‘stealing’ actions could go on to include everything from infidelity to bad language which robs the English language of its beauty.
It is an interesting challenge to categorise sins (murder, cheating and so on) within a sin (stealing), however the process also highlights the destruction and ‘roll-on’ effect that sinful actions cause. The recent media reporting of the New York Governor who is embroiled in a scandal involving prostitution is a case in point where a sinful action has ‘robbed’ so many of so much and in so many ways. The actions of Governor Eliot Spritzer has ‘stolen’ much from his wife, ‘robbed’ from his children, ‘pilfered’ from his colleagues, ‘taken’ something from the integrity of the high office of Governor, and ‘misappropriated’ from the citizens of New York just for starters.
No matter which way you look at it sin is a poisonous and destructive activity, and like undisposed of rubbish must be dealt with before we become very sick. However, for our sake our sin has been collected and dispensed with once and for all time. The first Easter where God’s own Son, Jesus, took upon himself the sins of the whole world was God’s collection of our sin, our personal ‘rubbish’ collection if you like.
I, together with countless millions of other humans down through the centuries, am eternally grateful for this sacrifice which took place on my behalf (and your behalf) nearly 2000 years ago. However, as the novelist says, stealing is a wretched sin, and I confess that my sin robbed Jesus of his life, and as a consequence, as I remember the events of Holy Week leading up to Easter there is, for me, a certain sense of solemnity and sorrow that I too have ‘stolen’ from the One who gave everything.
And so we come back to the question, “Which is the worst sin?” And the answer is…., my sin.
| Change
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-03-5 13:44:14
For some time now I have been studying the projected impacts on education over the next decade, and in particular the manner in which Good News could prepare itself and its students to both meet the changes and also to benefit from them. We all recognise that change is inevitable and we generally move with the changes around us but the speed with which we undertake change is important. Consider, for a moment, the following quote; “If the rate of change inside an institution is slower than the change outside, then the end of the institution is in sight”.
At Good News we are constantly assessing the educational needs of our children and we spend considerable thought and time in our forward planning. We know that children learn in different ways and at different rates so we have expanded our Gifted and Talented program as well as establishing a special program to deliver the numeracy and literacy programs at Good News. We know that Information Communication Technology (ICT) is progressing at an advanced rate and that ICT’s will increasingly positively impact on education so we have positioned ourselves with up-to-date wireless computer technologies in order to capitalise on the benefits of learning with and through ICT’s. We know that flexibility in the use of physical spaces is important in the delivery of the education program so we have refurbished our Year 6 and 7 classrooms accordingly and we plan to add flexibility to the learning spaces planned for the Year 1,2,3 and 4 classroom refurbishments. We know that good social interaction and a safe personal environment is critical to living and thriving in community so we engage the children with a positive values program, a comprehensive social skills program and a proactive anti-bulling program.
From time to time I am asked questions like, “If the rate of change (in ICT’s for example) is so great that we can’t know all of the answers how will we manage? My response is that we will increasingly need to concentrate on the process as much as, or more than, the answer. A case in point is the current teaching of problem solving where the process of solving the problem (the thought process and strategies involved) is as important as the answer because the ‘process’ will remain long after the ‘answer’ becomes obsolete. Similarly in the use of ICT’s the processes and skills (used on any platform) together with the ethics and manners behind the use of these technologies will remain long after the software (and hardware) becomes obsolete.
The current and projected changes in primary education point to a different educational landscape over the next ten years but some things will not and should not change.
What will not change in the foreseeable future is the need to give young students the basic building blocks of learning namely, the building blocks needed to decode and encode words for reading and spelling, the building blocks of number facts for mathematics, and the building blocks of social skills for good social interaction. We may deliver the teaching of these building blocks in differing ways but they will nonetheless remain critical to primary education.
Similarly a strong nurturing, caring and protective environment for young students will remain a basic element to primary education. Indeed such an environment remains basic to the provision of our program at Good News today and, I plan will remain, into the future.
Finally, the changeless good news of Jesus as our Saviour remains at the heart of our program, and although we may present this message in different ways in the coming years it will not change its life-giving power.
| No man is an island, entire of itself
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-02-28 22:18:41
The above words form the school theme for 2008 and by now the children are well aware of the theme and the possible meanings it has for them and others around them. In a nutshell the theme conveys that each of us is an important element of the whole and, in turn, we can expect the whole to support us as an individual. The flipside however, is that when someone does something ‘wrong’ we all suffer in some way or when the group ‘errs’ then the individual is also affected in some way.
In Monday’s The Australian, and other media outlets, it was reported that “Teenage drink and drug abuse” is rife. Teenagers were identified as being aged 12-17 years and while the majority of children in the report are of secondary school age 12- and 13 year-olds are typically primary school aged children. The report quoted, was prepared by the federal Government’s principal advisory body on drugs policy and it contains, amongst other statistics, the following:
From my perspective the statistics for 12 year-olds (primary school children) are alarming and point to possible dangerous consequences for these young people especially when they are coupled with the statistics for binge drinking. Binge drinking is defined as, males consuming seven or more standard drinks in a day and females consuming five or more standard drinks in a day. Overall among 12- to 17-year-olds, in any given week, one in 10 (168,000) report that they have engaged in binge drinking.
Deleterious as binge drinking (even moderate alcohol consumption) is to the health of minors the newspaper article goes on to outline the enormous personal and financial stress on families and, as a flow on, the drain of financial and resources on the community, indeed the nation. Here is direct evidence that ‘No man (binge drinker) is an island entire of itself’. Of course the solution to this problem will require the efforts of the entire community with special efforts required from parents, schools, enforcement agencies and most importantly the many peers of the drinkers themselves.
While it remains ‘cool’ for minors to consume alcohol, or while parents feed a ready supply of alcohol to their under-age children (2007 Schoolies Week highlighted plenty of this) or while excessive consumption of alcohol is part of a rite of passage for young people, or while adults of all ages find it necessary to consume large quantities of alcohol before they can socially interact then we, as a community, are in real trouble.
Clearly there are other reasons, apart from those above, why minors drink excessively and these reasons may well require large amounts of resources in order to address them, but there must be some basic and effective things that we can all do to reduce the acceptance of under-age drinking and as a result we can help minors to remain healthy and safe. And, since primary school age children are part of the statistics this, because we are not islands, involves each one of us.
|
| Saying Sorry
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-02-20 13:54:55
Saying sorry is not only topical, given the recent events in parliament, it is an important element in ongoing working relationships.
At 10:28pm last Tuesday night, following our Middle School presentation, we had a break in to one of our Year 7 classrooms and a laptop was stolen. We know the time because the security alarm was activated with security officers arriving soon after, but alas the thief/thieves had fled.
This morning (Monday) our groundsman, Andrew Hogg, found the laptop, neatly wrapped in a ‘glad’ bag and lying on the path just inside the front entrance gates. Apparently late last night or very early this morning someone had pushed the laptop under the front gate and anonymously departed. Further, the thief and/or the ‘returnee’ erased all traces of their identity from the laptop including their fingerprints.
I am grateful for the return of the laptop, indeed the thief may easily have sold or disposed of this equipment, but questions surrounding its return remain. I doubt that the laptop was found somewhere and returned by a passerby; normally such returns are undertaken in person or via the police AND there were no fingerprints! I do wonder though whether the thief was known to us and, following a bout of ‘conscience’, returned the property? Or, whether the theft was discovered by a parent who suggested/demanded that the property be returned to its rightful owner?
Whatever the reason behind the return, the property is back and I accept that the return was a type of practical apology. However, when personal property is stolen the owner is affected in some ways; personal details are revealed to an unknown party, personal space is violated, trustworthiness is brought into question, and general suspicion abounds. In short, it was more than a laptop that was stolen. People (and relationships) are hurt more than the mere loss of goods so a practical apology, namely the return of the equipment, goes only part way to restoring the status quo.
At school we spend considerable time helping students to realize that broken or damaged relationships are at the heart of so many of the difficulties that beset children and that replacing “new for broken” equipment is only a first step in a reconciliation process. No reconciliation can really begin until face-to-face apologies, saying a heartfelt sorry, are in place.
Saying sorry gets to the ‘heart’ of the matter because saying sorry identifies the identity and dignity of the aggrieved person, it respects the one hurt and it can be the first step in offering a compassionate hand of (practical) reconciliation.
While practical reconciliation is important it is no substitute for the primacy of a personal apology because ‘sorry’ addresses the people and the relationship, replacement merely addresses the property.
| Education is a Journey not a Destination
Dr Loyd R Fyffe - 2008-02-14 10:25:47
Excitement and anticipation are high at the beginning of a school year as children move into new classes and in some
cases a new school and a new class. Much lies ahead with new learning experiences and new or developing friendships.
Formal education is an important element in the life of young children and we attach so much to its outcome. A
career/preferred job is often seen as the goal of formal education and parents are keen to secure the best school the
best teachers the best classes and so on in order to get the best from the formal schooling process. Sometimes parents
will even push children into classes or programs that are perceived to be advantageous for their child despite their child
being ‘unsuitable’ for the course. Over the years I have seen students (from primary school to university) trying to
undertake work that is too difficult for them or their interest is not suited to the course content and the results have been
little short of disastrous.
The urgency of formal education is exacerbated by the old adage to “Make every post a winner”, with the idea that at
each step along the way we should be making forward and measurable progress. With this adage in mind it is not
surprising to find parents frenetically pushing their child to achieve ever increasing goals and targets along the way with
a failure at any stage seen as a major set back along the shortest route to success.
My experience as a parent and as a Principal indicates that there is real value in focusing on the child with their particular
needs and interests rather than the program; put another way, we should concentrate more on the process than we do
on the expected goal. From this perspective education is seen as a journey not a destination. Further, this journey has
multiple pathways with multiple and, potentially, multiplied outcomes.
So what does this all mean in the rush of daily life? I think it means that if a child cannot get all of their homework done in
a reasonable time then the homework is left unfinished. It means that if you as a parent cannot fit in all of your child’s
extra curricular activities then drop one or more. It means that every teacher and every class has something to add to the
learning process. It means that if your child likes acting why should you, as a parent, insist that they study physics
instead. It means that balance and time for recreation and rest are important. And it means that a love for learning and a
love for others is ultimately more important than what you study and with whom you study.
Above all enjoy the journey!
|
| | |
| | | | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
|
