| In Brief.. » Click here for more news in our latest school newsletter. » Click here for news from our busy classrooms. July 21, 2010: Happy 25th Anniversary St Andrew's! July 19, 2010: Tuckshop Update June 22, 2010: Arts Council Performance June 8, 2010: Horse Competition - WE WON! The school has received $5000 for winning the competition. Special thanks and congratulations must go to Steve and his committee. These are the people who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes for so many months and were instrumental in creating a very strong and stable platform for the rest of the community to work from in order to achieve great result. Well done to Steve and to his great committee. » Click here for some great photos from the day » Click here for more news and photos » Click here for more news and photos We also need hamper items, soft drinks, children's clothes, books and bakers for the cakes stall and coffee shop. Our horse ‘Stradbroke Cryptic’ is certainly bright and colourful which reflects the UBUNTU philosophy which runs throughout our school. Our horse will now be judged along with 23 other horses as part of the 120th running of the Stradbroke Handicap. » Click here for photos of Stradbroke Cryptic » Click here for news and photos from our Wacky Day Disco. » Click here for photos from Walk Safely to School Day. A big thanks must also go to the parents who helped out around the course throughout the day and also to the staff for setting up and training children in preparation for the day. A great team effort. Good luck to the students competing at the District Carnival on Tuesday the 4th of May. » Click here for photos from our Cross Country. » Click here for photos from our ANZAC Day Liturgy. “Riding a bike to school is great exercise for children and teaches them important road safety skills, and it also helps to reduce congestion on our roads,” Mr Wilson said. St Andrew’s is now looking forward to National Walk to School Day on May 7th. March 17, 2010: Walking Wheeling Wednesday: Bling your Bike Day March 16, 2010: Building Site Update » Click here for site pictures. March 12, 2010: Swimming Carnival 2010- Congratulations Blue! March 7, 2010: St Andrew's Clean Up Australia Day March 2, 2010: Year 7 on ABC radio March 2, 2010: St Andrew's Student Parliament February 18, 2010: School playground equipment donated to PNG February 9, 2010: Opening Mass 2010 February 2, 2010: 'Weaving the Dream' in 2010 February 2, 2010: Thank you to the Community Association December 1, 2009: Getting on Board - The year in pictures November 20, 2009: St Andrew's EXTRAVAGANZA Concert |
Did you know that St Andrew’s Catholic School was officially opened on the 21st July, 1985? The construction of the school building was behind schedule, so for a few months, classes were held in one of the empty shops upstairs in the Ferny Grove Shopping Centre. There were 45 students enrolled
In the early 1980’s, the enrolment at St William’s School, Grovely, had grown to over 800 children, and the Brisbane Catholic Education Office, when looking at the demographics of the area, felt it would be desirable that another school be established in the fast-growing outer areas of North-West Brisbane. Fr William Brian Daley, Grovely’s Parish Priest, upon consultation with the Brisbane Catholic Education Office agreed to establish another school in the Grovely Parish, and the site at Ferny Grove was agreed upon and purchased. This site was located in a farming area next door to a pig farm, opposite the local Ferny Grove Dump, which was due to close in a few years, but continued to operate for about 6 years after the school was opened. 
Last week the children from prep to seven attended the Arts Council performance called “Human Race”. This performance was about showing ‘RESPECT’ for all members of the human race. The actors used songs, drama and some great props to convey this message across. All the children thoroughly enjoyed this performance and the message that it was highlighting. The children from St Andrew’s saw this as another form of UBUNTU. 
Last term Michele Harkness and her group of willing helpers from year 5, 6 and 7 started the painting of a lifesize fibreglass horse. Our horse was judged the best entry this morning at a breakfast at Eagle Farm. Sofie Formica, from the Channel 7 show ”The Great Outdoors”, was the chief judge along with Glen Boss a leading jockey. Our school was chosen out of 24 entries from across south east Queensland because of the bright colours the clever idea and the paintings connection to our school vision. Congratulations to Michelle and all her helpers who worked so hard to make our horse look so fantastic. 
Thank you to all the people who actively travelled to school last
Wednesday. The bike cage was full of exciting and colourful bikes and
scooters which were blinged by the children for National ride to school
day. Actively Travelling to school on Wednesday reduces the traffic
around the school and is a healthy way to start the day. All children who
rode their bike last week received a bouncy ball.
The site has finally dried out enough for the
machines to operate again. They are back on track
to commence the process of constructing our new
buildings.
After a day’s hard battling the Blue team pulled away from their rivals
to take out this year’s school swimming carnival. Racing was hard, the
cheering intense, and the atmosphere was friendly as the day
progressed. Well done to all of the competitors for their great efforts.
A big thank-you also to the parent liaison helpers for their work on the
day, Helen Vanderham for work on the program and all the teachers
that helped with set-up and roles throughout the day.
Congratulations to the enthusiastic group of volunteers from St Andrew’s who participated in Clean Up Australia Day on Sunday. A special thank you to Tina E. who nominated and organised the site. It just takes one person to make a difference and Tina you have made a difference.
Congratulations to our Year 7 students who interviewed Gerard Gossens on ABC radio. The interview happened live in the ABC 612 studios with Madonna King as part of her student interview sessions. Each of the students researched Gerard and his amazing life and came up with some very interesting and exciting questions. The normally very talkative and engaging students became a little quieter as they realised their turn to go ‘live on air’ was next. Patting Chief, Gerard’s beautiful, guide dog, calmed their nerves however and they made their radio debut.
At assembly yesterday 6 year 7
students received their badges for their roles in Student Parliament. The students were given their Sergeant of
Arms, Clerk of the court and their Madam Speaker badges. Congratulations to Maddie, Holly, Anthony, Amelia, Grace and Cassie.
Student Parliament will be opened officially tonight at 6:30 pm by Mr Leyden. The students will have the
opportunity to show their parents how the leadership programme using student parliament works. 
Children in Papua New Guinea (PNG) will benefit from the Federal Government’s Education Revolution thanks to the generosity of our school.
Through the government’s education revolution a new Information Services Centre and community hall will be built for the school on the site where the school’s current senior playground resides.
A parent at the school, Greg Langford, saw an opportunity to remove the equipment from the playground and transport it to a school in PNG on behalf of the local Rotary club.
Thank you to Miss Maw and her helpers for a wonderful
opening Mass. The presentation of the year 7 leadership
badges in the Mass announces the beginning of the
leadership journey for the year 7 students in 2010. The year 7
leaders will be involved in running their own parliament and
parliamentary committees to help develop their ownership and
responsibility of the school in their final year of primary school.
Our MJR theme for this year is simply “Weaving the Dream”. The messages that come from this theme can be many and varied. The focus that we would like to be able to take is that we need to weave the dream before we can live the dream. This is very pertinent in the development of strong and healthy relationships between each and every member of the St Andrew’s family and indeed with all those with whom we come in contact with during the course of the day. If we continue to live the way of life that is MJR we will be able to weave strong threads that will hold the UBUNTU dream together. No doubt, as the weeks progress into months, you will be reminded about our theme, the importance of the theme and related ways that we can work together to realise the dream. 
The Community Association team raise money for the school throughout the year. All the hard work, time, enthusiasm and organisation that they undertake is very much appreciated by the staff and students. It is always encouraging to see the tangible assets of all that hard work. The new artificial turf, reading schemes for the early years and new digital cameras were all subsidised by the Community Association and their hard work over 2009. On behalf of the St Andrew’s community we Thank You. 
On behalf of the whole St Andrew’s community, sincere thanks goes to the staff who prepared the children so well for the evening. The performances were exceptional and the spirit of fun and UBUNTU was very evident throughout the night. Special thanks to the Parent Liaison Group for the hard work that went into the provisions of food and refreshments for the night. A great night was had by all!!
