There are lots of rules, laws or expectations in our lives. There are different ways for us to view these guidelines and different language we can use around them. We can think about our lives as being controlled by rules, laws and expectations and sometimes feel frustrated by the constraint or we can view these same rules, laws and expectations as ways that we are kept safe, build and protect relationships, preserve good order in our lives and have a sense of identity. As an example, we can see the taxation laws as a way to support the building of infrastructure, have access to great health and education and to provide for people who are in financial need.
Standing back from a rule, law and expectation and asking how does this help to keep us safe, build and protect relationships, preserve good order in our lives and build a sense of identity provides access to deeper insight. It helps us to calibrate our moral compass and lifts people above doing what they are told, to choosing to live in a way that focuses on what is just, recognises the dignity and worth of all people and enables the common good. Kohlberg’s stages of moral development capture this well.
The Ten Commandments can be seen in this same way. We can see them as a set of simple rules or we can unpack them more deeply and see them as a powerful mirror for us to see ourselves and others. Instead of feeling pious about our compliance with the literal definition of the 7th commandment we might ask ourselves, How might we be taking from others? By delving deeper we can use the commandments as a basis for powerful reflection around our relationship with God and others. We can nourish our inner moral compass to enable us to live well for ourselves and others.
We were very excited to hear about the way in which our Da Vinci Teams competed in the Da Vinci Challenge on the Gold Coast last week. This high profile competition, which involves activities designed to challenge the very best thinkers, attracts teams from schools across the state. Our students stood out for their persistence, strong consistent engagement and their ability to work well together as a team. We were delighted when our Year 7 team were announced the winners of the Mathematics Challenge and our Year 8 team as second place in the Ideation Discipline Challenge. This is an outstanding achievement and we congratulate our Year 7 and 8 students and all of the students who participated so well. We thank Mrs Jo Belchamber and her team for their preparation of the students.
We thank our community for the tremendous support of the Red Shield Appeal over the last few weeks. We raised over $2000 through our casual clothes day and pasta lunch and collected around a 1000 food and household items to support the Salvation Army. On Sunday students also collected over $7500 when they participated in the Door Knock Appeal. These contributions are greatly appreciated by the people of the Caloundra community, who benefit from the support of the Salvation Army. We thank Mrs Leanne Bevis, Mr Brendan Delaney, Miss Kim Stone and Mr David Druery for their leadership of this important service learning initiative.
Many members of our community enjoyed dining at The Boat Shed on Tuesday night as our Year 12 Hospitality students took over the restaurant for the evening. This was a culminating learning experience for our students and gave them the opportunity to showcase their skills in a real world environment. Well done to all students on a fantastic night. We thank Mrs Colleen Beattie and Mrs Rhana Holt for the organisation of this event and the professional development of student skills over the last two years.
On Tuesday 23rd May, our Year 9 leaders attended Altitude Day. The day aimed to encourage young leaders to live their passion, challenge themselves, recruit mentors, make a plan and take action, develop a champion mindset and never give up. Following are some student reflections on the day.
“The second speaker for the day was Barnaby Howarth and he was a true inspiration. This man has survived much in his life including being a type one diabetic since he was a teenager. In 2005 Barnaby was attacked by an alcohol-fuelled gang and ended up in a coma for four days. His friends and family were told that it was very likely he would die. However, shortly after this, he woke up but he found that everyday tasks seemed to be a struggle due to a severe stroke. After all this, Barnaby still didn’t feel sorry for himself. Instead, he set goals and did whatever it took to reach them. Before the attack, Barnaby was very passionate about AFL and he played for the Sydney Swans. Due to his positive attitude to life and his love of the game, he became an AFL Hall of Fame inductee. He has also summited Mt Kilimanjaro, trekked Kokoda, filmed documentaries and written books. He was a true inspiration to everyone in the room. I learnt I should not feel sorry for myself when things get tough but I should persist and reach for glory.” - Atlanta
At assemblies we regularly recognise and appreciate the talent and expertise of our students in their various endeavours. This week we congratulated Year 5 student Romeo who won the Year 4-6 section at the recent Immanuel Arts Festival.
As part of Out of Eden: Project Learn, Year 4 classes had a special guest speaker this week, a refugee named Hussein. Through the project, students have seen many examples of displaced peoples and learnt about the situations that confront them to find basic necessities that we often take for granted. Hussein’s visit was very powerful and we reflected on it as a class.
Australia’. He kept saying it. He was inspiring and interesting to listen to.” - Angus
Last Saturday, Year 9 student Courtney Callaghan performed a contemporary solo called ‘Remission’ for the Secondary Breakthru Dance Competition. Courtney moved the judges to tears with her performance. Not only is she a technically beautiful dancer, Courtney is also a very grounded young lady who despite all her dancing successes, both nationally and internationally, is still thankful and humbled by the opportunity to represent her school community. Well done to Courtney. To view her performance, visit: 
Well done to Olivia Cooke and Mona Finney who completed at the Sunshine Coast Regional Cross Country Championships on Tuesday. Both girls ran extremely well in a very strong field of U12 students from Redcliffe through to Noosa. Mona finished in 23rd place and Olivia finished in 4th place.
Pacific Lutheran College is fundraising with Entertainment™ again this year. Order your NEW 2017 | 2018 Entertainment™ Books and Entertainment™ Digital Memberships today and 20% of the proceeds will go towards Pacific Lutheran Early Learning Centre! To order your book or digital membership, visit: 