St Peters Lutheran College

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St Peters Lutheran College
Plus Ultra (Ever Higher)
Established	1945
School type	Lutheran
Principal/ Headmaster	Mr. Stephen Rudolph
Location	Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Campus	Indooroopilly
Enrollment	Preparatory to Year 12
School colours	Maroon and White
Homepage	http://www.stpeters.qld.edu.au/

St Peters Lutheran College (SPLC) is a co-educational Lutheran day and boarding school for students from Preparatory to Year 12. The College is situated on a 21 hectare campus in Indooroopilly, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Australia. Established in 1945, the school aims to excel in Christian co-education and focus not only on academic achievement, but co-curricular involvement as well.

Contents 1 Symbolism 2 Facilities 3 Head of College 4 Notable alumni 5 Music program 5.1 Chorale 5.2 Symphonic Winds 5.3 Youth Orchestra 5.4 Other ensembles 6 Curriculum organisation 7 Infinity Program 8 Publications 9 Sport 9.1 Sports offered 9.2 Competition 10 Other Co-Curricular Activities 10.1 St Peters Combobularity Club 10.2 Mind Change 11 Ironbark 12 References 13 See also 14 External links

[edit] Symbolism

There are certain symbolic icons present in the college emblem, including:

• Martin Luther's iconic white rose (from his seal (left))
• an inverted crucifix for St Peter, the founder of Catholicism, who was crucified upside down.

The School's motto, Plus Ultra (Latin for Ever Higher), is said to emphasise the college's desire for the students to reach higher goals in their academic learning.

[edit] Facilities

Over the past few decades, there has been a dramatic addition of facilities at the college. From the farmhouse "Ross Roy", bought and used as the first building of St Peters in 1945, the facilities . The middle and senior schools have little need to interact as they are both virtually self-reliant, although, students travelling from the middle school to the senior school are generally destined for the Visual Arts block or Technology blocks.

Theile house, a four storey building comprising of computer labs, classrooms, year 12 lockers and the Theile study centre, was recently renovated and extended under instruction from current headmaster Mr. Stephen Rudolph. The facilities in the new building include a study centre for senior students and a lift for the disabled and elderly.

There have also been renovations in the boarding community. The girls' boarding side has also been recently renovated, now featuring air conditioning, automatic entry doors, and a multi-purpose court. The boys' boarding side has begun installing air conditioners in one of the common rooms, with expected completion as early as the start of 2007.

Beginning in late 2004, the renovation of two science labs in the senior school was undertaken, and two more have been since renovated.

There are three libraries on campus; one for each sub-school. The senior school library is a two-storey facility where students and staff can access a large collection of fiction and non-fiction. There are approximately 60 computers and students have access to a number of databases to which the school subscribes. It is open in the evenings for boarders to use.

[edit] Head of College

Currently, the head of college is Mr. Stephen Rudolph. Appointed in 2003, with 2 years of experience in administering Lutheran schools (including a position as principal of Luther College, Melbourne, Australia), he has encouraged significant changes throughout the college, including the refurbishment of Theile House and the Refectory. He has started building a new drama building, as well as a larger weights room. A new campus at Springfield is also to be built. The most notable changes the current Headmaster has made are: Making the Ironbark program Year 9 only, and the limit of 2000 students maximum at the school to "avoid reducing the effectiveness of the resources available". Listed below are past headmasters of the college and their term in office.

• Mr W C Schneider (1945-1954)
• Mr H W A Lohe (1955-1970)
• Dr C Dron (1971-1993)
• Mrs Sally Chandler (1994-2002)

[edit] Notable alumni

St Peters has many notable graduates. Maxine Seear, Chris Noffke and Shane Gould are amongst the Olympic athletes who have studied at the college, while various acclaimed musicians and actors (including Sigrid Thornton, Lisa Gasteen, James Cuddeford and Sam Atwell) also attended St Peters.

Other well-known past students include Brisbane author Rebecca Sparrow; Brisbane Lions player Mal Michael; 1986 Commonwealth Games 1500m Freestyle Gold Medalist Jason Plummer; 2002 Commonwealth Games Women's Marathon Bronze Medalist Jacqui Gallagher; Director of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music Professor Peter Roennfeldt; RTL Club Manager Owen Dubai-Iandrow and co-founder of clothing label Sass & Bide, Heidi Middleton.

[edit] Music program

St Peters has co-curricular musical facilities in place to cater for the needs of the 2000+ student body. Tuition is available through the school on most instruments, as well as vocal lessons and musical theory (AMEB). Music is an elective course through Years 8-12, while music is compulsory for students in grade 7 or below.

The college music program was acknowledged by the Australia Council, the Federal Government's arts funding body, in 1988 when the College received a financial grant to establish the "Composer in Residence" program in an Australian school.^{[citation needed]} The first paticipant in the program was Stephen Leek who, during his period as Composer in Residence, wrote the award-winning Once on a Mountain.^{[citation needed]} The focus on Australian music has also culminated in the commissioning of a number of notable Australian works including Sarah Hopkins' Past Life Melodies (which is part of a College audio CD production) and Stephen Leek's Songs of Passage.^{[citation needed]}

Touring forms a significant part of the College's music program. Student ensembles have toured throughout the Asia-Pacific region, Russia, USA, Europe China and Tasmania.

[edit] Chorale

St Peters Chorale is a youth choir regarded by some as one of Australia's leading youth vocal groups.^[1] It frequently performs pieces of music from various composers, especially supporting Australian artists. It tours regularly, both nationally and internationally. Most recently, in December 2004 and January 2005 it toured through England, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Austria and Switzerland. The conductor and founder of the Chorale, Graeme Morton, is an internationally renowned musician. He recently accepted a Churchill Fellowship to study choral conducting in Northern America and has served at St Olaf College. In 2006 the Chorale was visited by the Paradubice Iuventus Cantans Choir and more recently by Canadian conductors Tony Funk and Dr. John Hooper.

[edit] Symphonic Winds

St Peters' highest level concert band, the Symphonic Winds has been an integral part of the bands program since its creation, integrating many brass, woodwind and percussion students from years 9-12. After a successful overseas tour to the USA/Canada in 2005, there are plans for a tour to Europe in 2008 by its conductor Grant Mason. Recent events include winning the Queensland Youth Music Awards (2006) and performing at St Peter's annual arts festival, VAPAR. In October 2006, the Symphonic Winds toured Melbourne for six days.

[edit] Youth Orchestra

The St Peters orchestra is open to players of brass, string, woodwind and poercussion from years 8 to 12. The ensemble performed a number of concerts on 2006 including a tour to New Zealand in September.

[edit] Other ensembles

St Peters has a broad system of ensembles, including the year 5 choir, the grade 6/7 boys choir, the grade 6/7 girls choir, the Percussion Ensemble, Cantique (senior girls' choir), Saints and Singers (senior boys choir), the Guitar Ensemble, the Year 8 Concert Band, the year 6/7 Concert Band, the Wind Ensemble, the Middle School Strings, the Senior Strings, Junior Stage Band, Intermediate Stage Band, and the Senior Stage Band.

[edit] Curriculum organisation

The curriculum at St Peters is designed to provide a continuum of experience and knowledge acquisition from Prep to Year 12. To this end, St Peters offers programs within three separate sub-schools; the Junior School (P-5), Middle School (6-8) and Senior School (9-12). Each sub-school operates semi-autonomously with its own Head of Sub-School and administration. There are plans for the future to have the Middle School run from years 5-7, and have a Junior High (8-9) and a Secondary High (10-12). The Junior School will then run from P-4.

[edit] Infinity Program

In 2005 St Peters introduced a program for gifted and talented Middle School students who meet selection criteria. The program takes the three years of Middle School and condenses them into just two using curriculum compacting. This program is unique to St Peters. The name Infinity is an acronym for Integrating Needs with Feelings by Igniting, Nurturing and Inspiring Talented Youth.

[edit] Publications

The school has a number of publications that are made available to the school community and others. The school's weekly newsletter, currently known as The Rock, is available from student and parent portals, plus the SPOSA (St Peters Old Scholars Association) network, in PDF format. Plus Ultra, a magazine printed three times each year, can be found at the publicly-accessible section of the school's website and is mailed to all students and staff. Other publications are detailed on the school's website here. A yearly publication knows as The Review is circulated to all students in the following year.

[edit] Sport

Sport is an integral component of the educational experience at St Peters. The co-curricular sporting program provides opportunities for all students to be active participants in a wide variety of sports and physical pursuits. The school's sporting facilities include an indoor sports hall and weights room, a 50-metre and a 25-metre heated pool, six tennis-specific courts, eight additional multi-purpose outdoor courts and three ovals, two of which have turf cricket wickets.

[edit] Sports offered

The college offers a variety of sports from primary to senior, including:

• Athletics (Track and Field)
• Aussie Rules
• Badminton
• Basketball
• Chess
• Cricket
• Cross Country
• Equestrian
• Football (Soccer)
• Gymnastics (Rhythmmic and Artistic)
• Hockey
• Netball
• Rowing
• Rugby Union
• Swimming
• Tennis
• Touch Football
• Water Polo
• Mooting
• Volleyball
• Softball

[edit] Competition

Students in Years 4 to 7 compete in The Associated Schools Junior (JTAS), while boys in Years 8 to 12 compete in the Associated Independent Colleges (AIC) competition and girls in Years 8 to 12 compete in the Queensland Girls' Secondary Schools Sports Association (QGSSSA). On any given weekend, up to 600 students represent the College in a number of different sports.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Other Co-Curricular Activities

St Peters students participate in a range of other co-curricular activities. These include Optiminds, Debating, Mooting, Public Speaking, Robocup, Theatre Sports, Drama Access, Future Problem Solving, Bee Keeping and various outside competitions.

[edit] St Peters Combobularity Club

St Peters Combobularity Club is a Gavel club, which is a program for under 18's organised through Toastmasters International. The club has been operating since 2005 and its public speakers have won several notable awards during that time.

[edit] Mind Change

Since 2004 the school has also been running an exchange program in conjunction with sister school, Immanuel college, in Adelaide. The focus of the exchange program, or "Mind Change" as it is known, is to allow gifted students from both schools a chance to meet students their age who they can relate their interests to. In 2004, a group of St Peters students, led by Rodger Smee, head of the exceptional learners department at St Peters, travelled to Adelaide. In 2005, the students in Adelaide visited St Peters.

[edit] Ironbark

Ironbark is the outdoor campus of St Peters Lutheran College. Ironbark is located near the town of Crows Nest, some 50 km north of Toowoomba and 150 km north-west of Brisbane. The property consists of 600 hectares (1485 acres) of heavily timbered, undulating granite country.

Ironbark was named for the Eucalyptus Crebra, the narrow leaf Ironbark, which grows across the property. The Ironbark is a tree of great resilience and produces hardwood timber of great beauty and toughness. It is the aim that some of these characteristics are reflected in Ironbark graduates.

The donation of land in 1971 provided the College with an opportunity to develop and implement a program based on the twin concepts of spiritual retreat and education for life. After several years of discussion and planning, a pilot program was run in 1974. Following the success of the pilot program, the Ironbark experience has been part of the College curriculum since 1976.

Students from the College spend five weeks at Ironbark in Year 9. During their stay, students experience community living, help to run the farm and maintain the property, and undertake a range of outdoor adventurous activities. The students have no formal academic lessons during their stay at Ironbark.

A central aspect of the Ironbark program is the opportunity all students have to step away from their everyday life and reflect upon their own spiritual journey. Students are encouraged to do this by the natural environment together with daily devotions and regular worship services.

Ironbark is staffed by specialist teaching, outdoor, maintenance, catering and farm staff. All staff work closely with students in their areas of expertise. Facilities on site include two dormitories, staff accommodation, a well-equipped workshop, a garden, and a mixed farm. Much of the food consumed by the students is produced on the property. Our Co-ed ironbark program contains strict rules with regard to girl-boy interactions. Failure to keep away from the opposite sex's cabins will result in immediate suspension.

At Ironbark, students are challenged physically, socially, intellectually and spiritually.

In 2004, a group of Year 9 students experienced Ironbark's first ever bushfire evacuation. The fires scorched much of the property, affecting the curriculum greatly; the students were evacuated to a church hall in Crows' Nest, and eventually sent home for a further week, meaning that the students were not able to partake in activities normally offered such as the three day hike. The fires were fought by members of the fire brigade from Crows' Nest and by some of the staff at Ironbark. No documented casualties occurred during the fires.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of schools in Queensland

[edit] External links

• St Peters Lutheran College Website
• Lutheran Education Australia