Newsletter

I have a lifelong appreciation for timber artisans. My grandfather produced some of the most exquisite work I have ever seen. He was gifted at finding timbers with unique lines and features and then creating a piece to showcase that beauty. Many times in his shed I would observe him taking an ugly piece of old tree and transform it into a gorgeous bowl or a stunning piece of furniture.

One day I asked my grandfather to help me make something. I was about to toss a piece of timber away and grab what I thought would be perfect when he asked, “what do you have in your hand?”. He then showed me how an outwardly unattractive root burl could have the most amazing character on the inside when it was shaped and molded with the right tools.

I am reminded in Jeremiah 18 that we are like clay in the potter’s hand. Just like my grandfather demonstrated how to take something in my hand and work it into something beautiful, He is able to work, and rework, the clay to make a beautiful vessel out of us.

My grandfather taught me much more than just how to use woodwork tools. He taught me not to judge something by its appearance. He taught me that anything I bring can be made beautiful. He taught me to work with what is in my hands.

What do you have in your hands?

A crafted Prayer by our Secondary Teacher Mrs Nyssa Potapczyk and Assistant Principal Mr Steve Tidey…

Loving Father, 
As we come to the end of another term we are grateful for Your presence in our lives.  
We come to You in confidence, placing all our worries and difficulties experienced over the term into the healing hands of Your son-Jesus. 
By Your grace, enable us all to leave behind any pain, fear or stress, entrusting the past to Your mercy, the present to Your love, and the future to Your providence. 
Help us always appreciate the need, to keep You at the centre of all we think and do. Help us to glorify You with every opportunity to share Your kindness.  
May the coming holiday period be a time of rest and recreation to help restore us and re-create in us Your character, image and likeness. 
Let it also be a time of deep reflection and renewal as we rejoice in Your amazing unconditional love, – expressed in the death and resurrection of Your son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus.
Let us draw near to You God with sincere hearts and the full assurance that faith brings. 
Amen.

Praise Points:

• Walking into our beautiful school, seeing the morning light washing everything with a soft radiance. It is stunning. We are grateful we are called to work in such beautiful surroundings.

Please Pray for: 

• Blessing, protection and awesome fun for our Year 7-11 students and staff as they head out on camps this week. 
• Our students and their families as we head towards the holidays and Easter. Please pray for safety as people travel, and rich blessing as we reflect on the heart of Easter.
• We had seventy three people come to our College Tour last week. It was such a privilege to be able to welcome them and speak to them of the essence of our ministry at BCC. Please pray that our community will be enriched by connections to new families. 

Introducing Mr Mitchell Forbes – Chaplain

Where have you come from? 
I was born in the Mater hospital which just so happens to be about 500 metres from where I live now. I’ve worked in churches here in Newy and in Sydney and am an ordained baptist minister. I am the co pastor of a church plant in the heart of Newcastle called NewCity Baptist church and have just finished lecturing in New Testament and Theology at Morling Theological College as part of their Plunge gap year program. 

What church do you attend?
NewCity Baptist church. My buddy Nic and I planted NewCity Baptist church in 2017. We meet in and around the Newcastle CBD on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons.

What are your interests?
I like making and drinking good coffee, study and reading, surfing, playing with my kids and wife and making and listening to Podcasts.

A little bit about your new position at the College.
My roll at BCC is the Chaplain (which I guess is kind of like the Pastor of the College) and I’m also consulting and helping shape the Thrive (Biblical Studies) content.

Any other information you’d like to share.
I’m married to Kristen and have three kids; Harper (6), Lara (5) and Leo (4). My hope is we, the students and staff of BCC, will know this simple and unbelievably counter cultural truth ‘Jesus is the exact representation of God’ in my words that means God is exactly like Jesus!

Baby Congratulations – Vanessa and Aaron Tidey

Congratulations to Vanessa and Aaron Tidey on the safe arrival of their second baby girl, Evva Joy Tidey. She was born 8am 2nd April 2019, weighing 4kg and 51cm long. Vanessa is our previous OOSH Coordinator and daughter of our Secondary School Music teacher, Mr Okke Klaassen and Aaron is our Assistant Principal, Mr Steve Tidey’s son, congratulations Grandpa’s! May God continue to bless this new little life and family.

What is Vegie Crunch? 
Last Thursday, K-6 participated in the ‘Big Vegie Crunch’. ‘The Big Vegie Crunch’ is an attempt by NSW primary school students to break the record for the highest number of children eating vegetables simultaneously – and to get kids excited about vegetables! Students were asked to bring vegetables instead of fruit for their regular ‘crunch’n’sip’ time. Belmont Woolworths donated 4 platters of fresh vegetables that were offered to students who forgot, or wanted to try something new. There were many students trying new vegetables for the first time. Cherry tomatoes and cucumber (yes, technically both fruits), snow peas, capsicum and carrot were all on offer, along with a few dips, just to help those that needed that little extra help downing a vegetable.

A beautiful afternoon was had planting autumn crops with Year 7 Food and Agriculture class and Stage 1 students.

The new Year 7 syllabus involves students learning about farming, cropping and cooking with foods from the garden. The students were each given a garden bed and with  the help of S1A, planted new seedlings. So many happy faces.

We are thankful for the parents that came along to help. Parents helpers are always needed for these garden classes and no experience is necessary. If you would like to be involved, phone Wendy Abel 0438461949 and look for our sign that shows when we are in the garden.

Dollarmites School BankingThe College offers the service of providing school banking through Commonwealth Bank Dollarmites program. Just a reminder that bank books need to be brought into Mrs Paardekooper our Primary School Administration Assistant in the College office every Tuesday morning for processing. If you would like your child to participate in this program apply online or contact Mrs Paardekooper on deb.paardekooper@bcc.nsw.edu.au. 

College Office Holiday Hours

The College office will be closed during the school holidays and will reopen on Monday, 29th April 2019. For urgent enquiries during the holiday period please email college@bcc.nsw.edu.au.

Primary Rugby Union

Our Primary Rugby Union 7’s team finished third at the Regional finals last Friday. They lost just one game on the day, but played well and are now awaiting other results to see if they qualify for the state finals. Well done team.

Morning Sport Training Sessions

Morning training sessions have been running for a few weeks. Students can come along to the College early to practise their sporting skills, seek technique improvement or work on their fitness. To date, we’ve had fitness sessions, along with many students getting in some javelin, discus and shot put practice ahead of next term’s Athletics Carnivals.

The sessions are at 7:45am Tuesdays and Thursdays (weather permitting), and are open to both Primary and Secondary students. For more information contact PDHPE@bcc.nsw.edu.au or our Sport Coordinators: Mr Robins (Primary) or Mr Hall (Secondary).

Sporting Representations

CIS NSW Gold Representation
Congratulations to Kiana Toole and Max Duffy-Smith for being selected to represent CIS NSW in the Open Girls and Boys Team.

CSSA NSW Team Representation
Congratulation to Zac Liebenberg for being selected to represent CSSA NSW in the Open Boys Touch football Team and Grace Middleby being selected as a shadow player for Under 15 Girls Touch football Team. 

Cross Country Carnival

We were blessed with another beautiful day, as students ran, walked and even strolled around Croudace Bay Park at the annual College X Country Carnival. Both the day and competition heated up and many age groups closely contested. Congratulations to all those that attended and competed. 

SCHOOL AGE CHAMPIONS

HOUSE CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

Primary Athletics Carnival

Our K-6 Primary Athletics Carnival is Tuesday 7th May (Term 2, Week 2), and will be held rain, hail or shine at the Hunter Sports Stadium, Glendale. 

The day will start at 8:30am. Events and activities will begin at 8:45am.

Kindergarten and Year 1 students will also participate in “The Gym Experience”, a program run by Hunter Sports Centre. For Kindergarten and Year 1, students’ activities will conclude at approximately 1:00pm and parents are free to take their children home. There will be supervision by class teachers until the conclusion of the carnival if you are unable to take them home at 1:00pm.

For all other students (Yrs 2-6) the carnival will conclude at approximately 2:20pm. 

OOSH will operate as normal and a College Bus is available for students who are not able to make their way to and from the carnival.  

We may require some parents to assist with some of the events at the carnival. Please let your child’s teacher know if you can help or contact Mr Robins at ben.robins@bcc.edu.au if you can help at an event.

More details will be sent home early next term.

AFL Auskick available after School 

Our Auskick program started this week, but it’s not too late to join! Students were given a note to take home last week to register. The great news is that you can use the NSW Government’s Active Kids Voucher ($100) for this program, so essentially, it doesn’t cost you anything. 

The program runs through all of Term 2 on a Monday afternoon from 3:05pm – 4:05pm on the College Oval. It is available to all K-6 students. Click here to register, enter code 2280 and select ‘Belmont CC AFL Auskick Centre’.

Primary AFL 
On Wednesday, K-6 students enjoyed a 30min AFL session provided by NSW/ACT AFL. They played games involving handpassing, catching and kicking and had a great time running around outside.

Lead Roles for ‘Seussical Jnr’ Primary Musical Further to last weeks announcement of our leads, we would also like to congratulate the following students who have also been given roles in the show:

Phoebe Duffy-Smith – Bird Girl #1
Olivia Smyth – Bird Girl #2
Abigail Kidd – Bird Girl
Lilianna Nemeth – Thing #1
Chloe Asher – Thing #2