A Word from Evan Barnes
Teacher, Year 6
I would like everyone to meet Rye-An Pita Barnes (flour pun #1)! About a month ago, along with 40 other babies, Rye-An found himself in the care of Year 5 and 6 students and their teachers. The babies were created as part of the Stage 3 health unit. The aim was to give all students an opportunity to practice responsibility, compassion, care and selflessness. Every student in Year 5 and 6 (and their teachers) was required to have their flour baby with them at all times; all weekend, in class, at the shops, during lunch and at the dinner table.
The students quickly discovered that these babies were not self raising (flour pun #2) and there was a significant amount of effort in caring for something that relied completely on them. The students rose (flour pun #3) to the challenge and were able to be responsible, compassionate, careful and selfless.
We were able to draw parallels between the way God cares for us and the way that we cared for our flour babies. We are completely dependent on God. We need Him. He is fundamental to our existence, just like the flour babies were dependent on us. There were times that students wanted to have a break from their babies and do their own thing. This gave me the opportunity to pose the question ‘imagine if God got tired of us’? How marvelous it is that God cares for us endlessly, despite our sin, indifference and ingratitude? We must never take for granted the continual responsibility, compassion, care and selflessness that God shows towards us. Here are some reflections from the students themselves:
“It helped us to understand, even though it was just a bag of flour, that we still needed to put effort into caring for the babies in the project.”
“It was funny to watch what people were doing with their babies.”
“I enjoyed the project because it was fun and challenging.”
“The first few days were good and then it got harder as the week went on.”
Reminders
- Scholastic BookClub is still happening! You can peruse the catalogue and order your books online by using this link: scholastic.com.au/loop until Monday 9 August. Books can be delivered to your house (for a fee), or sent to school for free. We will contact you when they arrive, and you can collect them by parking at the gate and calling the Office.
- Parents are reminded to read the Google Meet Guidelines for Appropriate Use. In particular, please note that for privacy and protection reasons, no images of other students or their work should be captured or shared outside Google Classroom. Students (and parents) must not take photos, screenshots or record the meeting.
- In light of current conditions, all off-site events/excursions on our calendar in August have been cancelled or postponed. The Book Week Parade (26 Aug) and Healthy Harold incursion (30 Aug – 1 Sept) may still be able to proceed pending the lifting of restrictions. We will continue to keep you updated as the situation changes, and look forward to seeing you all again soon.
- Unfortunately, the Bible Society Masterclass for Year 9 – 11 will not go ahead. We look forward to participating in this valuable event next year.
- Sadly, the 5/6 Canberra Snowy Camp also cannot proceed. Remember to check the Event Updates on the School@Home webpage for all the latest changes.
Prayer & Praise
- Give thanks to God for His provision and protection. Give thanks for His authority and sovereignty over all things.
- Pray for our world, as many other countries suffer greatly under the weight of the pandemic. Pray for our country, our leaders and our people. Pray for peace and hope as we wait to be released from this trial. Pray for Christians around the world, that we would speak and act with faith, hope and love. Petition the Lord with repentance for mercy, healing and protection for all nations and people.
- Pray for the Walker family, with mother Christine undergoing Chemotherapy. Pray for peace, confidence, provision, unity and healing.
- Continue to pray for the Miller family and for Josh. Give thanks for his progress. Pray for wisdom and healing as he continues his journey.
- Give thanks for all our families and staff as they teach through School@Home. Pray for protection over our community; that the Lord would be our unity, encouragement and peace and that we would communicate that to each other, holding each other up.
Everyone is welcome to attend our next prayer meeting which will be held online on Wednesday 18 August, 7 – 7:30pm. Please join us!
News & Notices
Are You Ready for Limelight@home?
Only ONE WEEK until Limelight@home on Tuesday 8 December and students have been working hard on their video performances.
Make sure you order your Limelight show bags THIS WEEK.
Individual show bags are $10 each and contain a variety of items to help you get your lime party started. You will also be helping to support our partners in Vanuatu with your donation.
Email the Office with your order: admin@kuyper.nsw.edu.au. Include your family name and number of bags. Payment can be made via direct deposit, cash or EFT.
Orders close this Friday, 4 December. Show bags will be sent home on Monday 7 December with students.
Here are some more ideas for your Limelight@home party:
- Invite some family members to help you celebrate
- Dress up in lime coloured clothes (a party hat and blower have been included in the show bags)
- Decorate your house with lime decorations (some streamers and balloons have been provided in the show bag to get you started)
- Think about having some lime food (e.g. lime cordial, lime jelly, chicken and lime sausages, green salad, lime cupcakes)
- Watch our pre-recorded videos of classes, performances, school work and more
- But most importantly, don’t forget to give praise to God for the birth of His Son Jesus!
Our online Limelight@home presentation will be streamed via our Kuyper Facebook page, commencing at 6:30pm, on Tuesday 8 December. Invite your family and friends to watch.
In a year full of challenge and change, let us hold fast to the certainty we have in Jesus and rejoice in His Limelight together.
New Website
Hooray! Our New Website is here. Check us out at https://kuyper.nsw.edu.au/, and tell your friends!
Thanks to Elevate Creative for the website build, Natural Focus Photography for some fabulous new promo shots, and to all the students, staff and parents who took part.
Helping Gwendolyn
We all remember the Gospers Mountain Fire that started just over 12 months ago. This event had a major impact on the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury koala populations. Science For Wildlife is running a survey of community attitudes to these koalas. By completing this survey, you will be helping to support our koala populations. Please follow this link to participate: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8HBRJKY
Nurture Magazine
Nurture Magazine is a regular publication by Christian Education National (CEN). If you have been at Kuyper for a while, these publications may look familiar to you. The latest one was sent home with your child today. CEN have released a short survey about Nurture Magazine and would appreciate your participation. Please follow the link below:
Seussical Update
Seussical is coming along amazingly. The cast are wonderfully committed. The Elective Production students are doing an incredible job behind-the-scenes. Rehearsals are a blast! But…
The current directive from NSW Health to schools will prevent us from staging our Musical this term. So much work and rehearsal has been done already and the cast and crew are very excited about being able to bring this to an audience. We are not going to cancel. We are going to postpone again, until next year.
We have applied for new performance dates and they have been accepted. We plan to have Opening Night on Wednesday 12 May 2021 and run five shows, as previously planned. This means that we will have Closing Night on Saturday 15 May (a VERY Seussical date).
The Production Team apologise again for this change. It is simply out of our hands. We will continue to run ‘small group’ rehearsals on Thursdays during Period 6, which is within the guidelines. A complete revised Rehearsal Schedule will be released in the new year.
Thank you for your patience and support.