Newsletter

The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) is responsible for monitoring the compliance of non-government schools. At the end of last term, the College was inspected by this authority and I’m pleased to report that we comply with the requirements of the Education Act 1990. We have been granted registration for the next five years which is the longest period of time given. It feels like we have passed a rather large test.

It has consumed much time of the Executive, however, our policies and procedures have all been refined and reworked. We have a suite of policies that are not punitive and in fact reflect God’s grace and love.

Preparing for our inspection over the last four months, reminded me of how our students feel when they face a large test or exam. Much hard work is required if students want to be able to produce the best of which they are capable. It also reminded me of how God brought Abraham through many tests. In Genesis 12 he was called to leave his home and family to go to a land that God would show him. He was challenged with the family test.

Abraham arrived at the promised land only to find a famine. He lacked resources and had to decide whether to trust God or not. He had the famine test. In Genesis 13, Abraham’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen had a conflict in the promised land. There he encountered the conflict test. In Genesis 14, he went to fight against the four armies of the east with his 300 men and a few alliances. Abraham had the warfare test.

While Abraham followed God, he faced many tests, and we will as well.  God has great plans for each of his children, tests are preparation for greater works, just as tests in school. As believers, we go through tests to build and strengthen our faith. As God’s children, tests can therefore be expected because we must be prepared for the things God desires us to accomplish.

I pray that as we learn to expect God’s tests, that we might understand that God has already prepared us and so let us actively depend on Him.

Our focus in Chapel and Rise Up is Compassion, focusing on our connection and commitment to support our Compassion children, calling our students to ‘act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with their God.’ 

Praise Points:

• New families have started with us this term. It’s such a joy to have the opportunity to partner with them and sow into the lives of their children.

Please Pray for: 

• The upcoming election. Pray that we as a country will be able to keep our religious freedom. This election is critical.
• Families of staff members and our students who are experiencing challenging times, including significant health concerns. Please lift them up before God’s throne of grace. 
• Preparations for our Primary School Musical. Many staff and students are involved. Please pray for blessing over the decisions being made and for the plans to come together in a wonderful, exciting way. 
• Our Principal Sharon and the College Board, that they might know God’s leading and have every confidence as they trust Him for the future development of BCC.

Thank you for praying. 

As we settle into the second Term of the year we are now just over one week away from the Federal election on Saturday 18 May.

I’m sure that most of you will have seen the television advertisements, social media posts and coverage in the news media. While for some voting may seem to be a chore, in many places around the world it is a hard fought privilege. We should not take this fundamental right for granted. 

At this election there is another fundamental right at stake – our freedom of religion.

During the last term of Parliament there was a lot of debate around religious freedom and one of the other fundamental rights – the right to be free from discrimination. Much of this debate was misinformed and politically motivated. It was disappointing to see Christian schools misrepresented in the media and Parliament and to see legislation proposed which would have trampled on the
rights of parents to choose a school reflecting their values and beliefs.

We know that there are many issues you will consider as you vote. Your vote in the House of Representatives, and the Senate, will decide who forms Government and what direction protecting our beliefs, values and freedom takes. We hope that this will be one factor you consider. 

By now you should have enrolled to vote or have updated your details. You can check them online here – https://check.aec.gov.au/. 

If you don’t know which Federal electorate you live in your can find out at the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) here – https://electorate.aec.gov.au/. The AEC also has some practice voting tools to ensure that your vote counts in the upcoming election, they are interactive and help ensure that you vote correctly – https://www.aec.gov.au/Voting/How_to_vote/practice/ 

On behalf of Christian schools around Australia the ValuEd Voices FaceBook page,https://www.facebook.com/valuedvoicesaus/ has also been developed to be the online ‘home’ for those concerned about the values of our Christian school being eroded.

Content is being developed for the page to encourage, equip and enable parents, carers, grandparents, staff, students and the wider Christian school community about the vital issues of religious freedom. Can I encourage you to ‘like’, ‘follow’ and ‘share’ this page amongst your social networks and those you know care about our values being preserved? 

Could I please urge you to earnestly pray for the upcoming election. Pray that we as a country will be able to keep our religious freedom. This election is critical.

Ms Sharon Sopher
Prinicipal

Awarded Gold Medal

Archie Wilkinson from Year 9 was recently awarded a Gold medal for his involvement in the worldwide 2019 Humanities Championship. Without any prompting, Archie entered the competition, an event which attracts over 25,000 young people from all around the globe. Archie answered more than 2000 online questions as part of the competition. Well done Archie for using your God given gifts.

Supporting Local Business: Zarraffas Coffee

At Belmont Christian College, we love supporting local business. We have teamed up with Trent and Oli from Zarraffas Coffee and together, we want to bless our community with a free coffee and upgrade card. If you are yet to collect your cards from staff at pick-up time, feel free to grab them from the front office. Hold on to the upgrade card, as you can use it anytime you visit the team at Zarraffas. This is an exclusive offer for parents, staff and students from Belmont Christian College.

From 14 – 24 May our Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 will participate in NAPLAN Online.

One of the main features of the NAPLAN Online format is that it is a tailored (or adaptive) test. The tailored test provides a more precise assessment of your child’s performance in the areas of Reading, Language Conventions (Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation) and Numeracy by adapting to responses. As your child progresses through the test, questions may be easier or more difficult, to better assess his or her ability. Your child should not be concerned if he or she finds the questions more difficult than expected – the pathway may be more challenging. Many of the same questions appear in both paper and online tests, but not every student doing the online test will be answering the same questions in the same order. Your child’s NAPLAN results and scores are based on the number and complexity of questions he or she has answered correctly.

Further information will be sent home this week. If you have any questions about NAPLAN Online, please contact your child’s teacher or the links below: 

learn how to support your child during NAPLAN
read more information for parents and carers
view types of questions on the public demonstration site
access translations of the parent information brochure
watch a video that explains the NAPLAN Online tailored test 
download the frequently asked questions on tailored testing
https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site

The collection of tinned vegetables and milk powder was a great success. Families and staff gave generously to provide the necessary supplies for the remainder of the year. We also contributed two additional pallets of weetbix, which will provide breakfast for every student, each day, for the remainder of the school year. Thank you to the College community for giving generously, as the Lord provides generously to us, providing opportunities to serve.

Anzac Day 2019 dawned with a beautiful sunrise and turned out to be a glorious day as ex-service men and women, school students and family members marched to remember those who have gone before and fought for our freedom.

Thank you to all who came and marched united behind the BCC banner as we paid our respects.

Lest we forget.

The last three days of Term 1 saw Years 7 to 11 embark on their annual camps.

Years 9 and 10 travelled to Sydney to take on the activities of the Urban Challenge. Year 9 were tasked with a variety of activities including clue chases, Hip Hop dancing, Dragon Boating, 10 Pin Bowling, and dining at various locations throughout the CBD.

Meanwhile, Year 10 found themselves cooking up a 3 course meal for their teachers in the MasterChef Challenge on Cockatoo Island, Synchronised Swimming at the famous Bondi Icebergs swimming pool, and trying their best to solve a case in the Escape Room. Year 10 also participated in the Cook4Good program run by the Kids Giving Back organisation. As part of the program the students cooked over 350 meals for the homeless around the city, delivering the meals to a local care centre.

A big thank you to the students for their great behaviour and for all the hard work by the teachers.

We will feature Years 7, 8 and 11 camps in the coming weeks.

Year 7 travelled back to Ancient Egyptian times on Monday, as they journeyed through the impressive Tut Road Show trailer. Students saw and held artefacts that were thousands of years old, learnt about the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen and wrote their names in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Importance of Opal Cards use on Hunter Valley Buses

For families using the Hunter Valley Bus services to the Westlakes area please take note of the letter attached from Hunter Valley Buses regarding the importance of students using their Opal Cards when getting on and off the bus. This will greatly assist in providing a more efficient and effective service and ensure the service is able to continue to be offered. Your support would be appreciated. Click here for the letter from Hunter Valley Buses.

Students Achieving Outside of School

During the school holidays Jack Paterson of Year 6 competed in the 2019 Australian O’Pen BIC Sailing Championships in the Whitsundays and placed 7th! He has also received Club Sailor of the year. This is a tremendous result.

Ryan Morris of Year 5 and brother Jadon of Year 4 have also achieved exceptional results receiving awards also. Ryan competed in the Flying 11 Nationals and placed 12th! Jadon is a Skipper for the Pelican Stormboys boat with his brother Ryan. 

It is great to see our students performing well outside of College life. We are proud of your efforts boys, well done.

Colby Robins 

Also over the holidays Colby Robins of Year 9 has won Bronze for Australia in the New Zealand U15 National Championships, in Wellington, New Zealand.

After qualifying for the elimination rounds in 8th place, he went automatically through to the round of 16, where he won 15-13 and then had a nail-biting 15-14 win in the quarter-finals against the no.1 ranked fencer.

After leading for most of the semi-final, Colby went down in the bout 13-15 and claimed bronze. 

 In the U17 Oceania Championships, Colby fenced well in the Round Robin stages, but was in a very tough poule. He was eliminated in the Round of 32 by the eventual winner, to finish in 23rd place overall. Colby was also selected in the Australia B team in the U17 Oceania competition, where they finished 2nd in the Teams challenge.

Congratulations Colby!

Upcoming Secondary Athletics Carnival

Our Secondary Athletics Carnival is Friday 17 May (Term 2, Week 3), and will be held rain, hail or shine at the Hunter Sports Stadium, Glendale. The day will run from 8:30am to 2:40pm. Students to arrive from 8:20am. Events start at 9am.

Attendance is compulsory for all students. Carnival participation will be used in Years 7 – 10 PDHPE Assessment. The greater the participation the higher the mark.

We require student helpers, so if your child is not that fond of athletics they can assist with jobs on the day, and this will NOT affect their PDHPE Assessment.

College buses will be running from the College for those who cannot make their own way to and from Hunter Sports Centre. If you wish for your child to catch a College bus, have them place their name on the bus rolls at the office. However, there are limited numbers available on the bus. These buses may arrive after the start of the carnival and will have to leave before the conclusion, so this may affect your child’s ability to compete in events in these time slots. Please consider this if your child is aiming for Age Champion.

More details have been sent home this week or click here.

Primary Athletics Carnival
What a spectacular day for a carnival. We were truly blessed with perfect weather for the day, and the carnival itself ran wonderfully well. There was excellent performance on the track and in the field, while Kindergarten and Year 1 enjoyed games outside and some gymnastics inside throughout the day. Congratulations to Robinson, who were crowned Athletics Champions once again, and look set to keep their overall title for another year.

We had 7 records broken on the day. Victoria Robinson broke her own Multiclass 100m, 200m, Discus and Shot records. Kari Croxford broke the 8yr 200m, Flynn Johnson took the 11yr 200m record, and Amber Millett added over 1m to the 12yr Discus!

Thank you to our helpers from Yr 7-10 who were outstanding with their support at the carnival.

Finally congratulations to our Age Champions for 2019. Our Zone team will be posted in the coming weeks.

Primary School’s Paul Kelly Cup AFL Gala Day

Last week our teams played in the Zone Paul Kelly Cup competition at Warners Bay.

The Boys team won two matches and lost one with just minutes to play. James Chesterfield deserves a special mention, using his ‘soccer skills’ on the field well, taking plenty of marks and kicking accurately. 
 
The Girls team won one match and lost two, but their performances were very impressive, especially as the only experience for most of them, is our AFL school sport competition. Poppy Whyte, Ava Haub, Abby Vromans, Eden Rogers and Georgia Fallis played brilliantly. They showed great determination to get to the ball, and always looking to make tackles.

It was an excellent day. The students represented our school with honour, showing great sportsmanship throughout the entire day.

Students Achieving Outside of SchoolOne of our amazing Year 12 students Adelle Austin, has entered the Exclusive Piano Group and Steinway Galleries Australia National Online Piano Competition playing the – Rachmaninoff Prelude in G minor Opus 23 No 5. It is well worth a listen. To vote click here. Amazing!

Year 6 Student, Phoebe Duffy-Smith, participated in the recent Wizard of Oz Arena Spectacular show at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre. It was an amazing show, if you didn’t get a chance to see it. Phoebe joined 600 school age children who were an amazing compliment to the national touring lead cast members. Well done Phoebe and congratulations for all your hard work.

Secondary Vocal Ensemble
 When: Thursday 7.45 – 8:30am
Where: A Block Secondary Music Rooms
What: A vocal group learning a range of styles including a capella, blues/jazz, musical theatre, gospel and pop.
Who: For any Secondary students who enjoy singing and want to grow their singing ability, especially in harmony/parts.

The group will be directed by Sophie Aked, our Singing tutor specialist here at BCC. Sophie comes with a host of experience including a BA (Music), Music Theatre, Pop and Jazz as a soloist, and has performed in many choirs, including Echology, a local award winning choir. 

STARTS NEXT THURSDAY 16 MAY

Sign up with this enrolment form https://forms.gle/qwdfanL2GzSTKn86A

Our Year 10 Theatresports team won second place this week in the Impro Australia competition heats!

Theatresports is improvised performance, and teams have only five seconds to think before they must perform a 1, 2, or 3 minute scene in front of a live audience. Our team pulled off an impressive, clever and entertaining series of performances, and even got the highest single round score of the night. They’re now through to the semi-finals next month!

Congratulations team!