The Magic Pebbles: David Hine

Students often wonder why they have to learn so much when sometimes they cannot see the point.

There is an old legend about a group of shepherds who were preparing to go to sleep one night when suddenly the sky lit up with a bright light that shone down upon them. Being shepherds, they knew something wonderful was going to happen and they waited with eager anticipation.

At last, a voice spoke from the heavens. It said to them, “Gather up as many pebbles as you can find. Put them in your saddle bags. Travel a day’s journey and tomorrow night will find you glad and also will find you sad.”

The shepherds were disappointed and angry. They had expected the revelation of something great for them and for the world. It had happened before for other shepherds. But instead they had been told to do something that made no sense at all.

Grudgingly, the shepherds bent down and picked up a few pebbles and put them in their saddlebags. Next day, they travelled their day’s journey and that night made camp. They decided to empty the pebbles from their saddlebags. To their astonishment the pebbles had disappeared and in their place were sparkling diamonds. The leading shepherd turned to his companions and said, “The voice spoke the truth. Tonight we are glad and we are sad. We are glad because we have these precious diamonds. But we are sad because we did not pick up more pebbles.”

We often don’t know in life which pebbles are going to turn out to be diamonds. Everything a child learns without knowing why they are learning it is a pebble. But others before them have found diamonds in that knowledge. So tell your child to learn all they can now, to pick us as many pebbles as they can, so they can look forward to a future full of sparkling diamonds.

David Hine
Head of Junior School

Year 2 Leaders for Term 3

Congratulations to the following boys who have been chosen by their peers as the Year 2 Leaders for Term 3:

2C        Aarav Bhatnagar and Sebastian Gilbert
2I         Sebastian Bagot and Aarav Roy Kookana
2T        Rafferty Dean and Aarit Kothari

Dates to Remember

Staff News

This term, we welcome Mrs Christie Wilson and Mr Tom Latchford to our Junior School. They are replacing Mr Sam Tirrell and Mr Travis Burridge who are on Long Service leave. We also welcome back Mrs Kathy Simpson, Mrs Em Wilson and Mr Adam Clutton from Long Service Leave.

A Call for Junior School Volunteers

The Junior School runs a very successful Learning Assistance Program (LAP), which is supported by a regular group of Volunteers who provide an hour and a half (1.5 hours) of their time from 8.45 – 10.15am once a week. This program is of significant benefit to a number of boys in Years 2 – 6 with their literacy development, and only operates with the generous support of our Volunteers. If you are interested in becoming a Volunteer at the school and would like more information about joining our friendly and supportive LAP team, please contact:

Geraldine Waldron, LAP Coordinator
P: 8404 0415 or E: gwaldron@stpeters.sa.edu.au

Traffic Safety

St Peter’s College is situated in close proximity to the CBD of Adelaide, and adjacent to the Botanic Gardens. The School campus sits between two high-traffic roads of North Terrace and Hackney Road. The safety of our boys is of paramount importance and caution must always be taken when walking, riding or driving in this vicinity.

Pedestrians

When boys are crossing North Terrace on their way to and from School, they must always cross at the pedestrian traffic lights situated near Trinity Street. Boys should not cross the road at any other place, even when traffic is stopped for the lights.

Boys who need to cross Hackney Road must use the traffic lights on the corner of North Terrace, or walk under the bridge (over the River Torrens) to the north of the School. Alternatively, boys should use the pedestrian island opposite the entrance to Plane Tree Drive.

In the Junior School, parents should use either the North Terrace or Hackney Road car parks. Parents are asked to respect any designated spaces signed for Staff parking.

The Junior School Avenue is open for parking until 9:30am. It is then closed for traffic throughout the day and reopens at 2:30pm.

Drop-offs

Parents may drop boys off inside the School grounds in the Hackney Road carpark, North Terrace carpark or in the Avenue. Please note there is no parking in the Avenue.

Photographs on Social Media

Out of respect to other families within our School Community, St Peter’s College asks that photographs taken at any School event or function that contain images of other students not be published, distributed to others or placed on any form of social media, without the consent of the relevant student’s family.

Outside School Hours Care

The Before School Care Program at St Peter’s College operates from 7:00-8:15am each school day. The After School Care program runs from 3.00-6.00pm school days.

From 2 July 2018, the Government has replaced the Child Care Rebate (CCR) and the Child Care Benefit (CCB) with the single Child Care Subsidy (CCS).

There are now three key things that will determine how much subsidy each family will receive.

1. Your combined family income
2. Your fees (Hourly rate caps apply for each service type)
3. Your fortnightly activity

More information is available at:

https://www.education.gov.au/ChildCarePackage

To find out how these changes affect you please contact Centrelink or visit:

www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/child-care-subsidy

Car Parking

1. I would like to remind parents of the regulations regarding use of the Junior School carpark. People using the carpark need to stick to the 10km/h speed limit and follow the arrows to assist us with the safety of our boys and their families.
2. Could parents who are collecting boys in the area near the School Uniform Shop please ensure they do not park around the round-about at the end of the road and also do not park in front of cars that are parked in marked car parks, making it impossible for these cars to leave the car park.
3. Could parents please respect and take note of the fact that there are disabled carparks in the Junior School. We currently have parents parking in these bays who do not have the appropriate permits.
4. Parents have indicated that there are parents who are driving whilst on mobile phones in our school carparks, and potentially endangering the safety of our Junior School boys. Obviously we would ask that parents do not engage in this illegal practice.

Playground Supervision

Each morning teachers supervise the playground from 8:15–8:30am before the boys go to class for the start of the school day. Boys who arrive at school before this time should go to Outside School Hours Care (OSHC). After school there is supervision of the exit points to 3.40pm. After this time, any boy not at a co-curricular activity or still waiting to be collected by a parent will be taken to OSHC by the teacher on duty.

Parents are responsible for the supervision of their son on any playground equipment after school, as teachers are rostered on duty at various exit points in the Junior School. We do ask that boys do not play on the equipment outside the Years 3 and 4 classrooms until after 3:15pm. 

Lost Property

We have 4 lost property bins in the Junior School.

1. One near the photocopy room outside 1G.
2. Two in the Bickersteth Building opposite the 3N classroom (for all clothes).
3. One outside the Art Room (for all lunch boxes and bags).

We would encourage boys to check these bins for any lost property, as all left-over items are donated to charity at the end of each term.

Term Dates for 2018

Term 1             30 January – 13 April

Term 2             1 May – 29 June

Term 3             24 July – 28 September

Term 4             16 October – 7 December