Newsletter

A teacher of ours shared this joke with me: “What is blue and doesn’t weigh very much? Light blue.” A beautifully crafted dad joke. So simple yet classic. Do you ever wonder where jokes originate from? Is there some mastermind grandfather churning out copious amounts of jokes for dads around the world to torture their kids with? 

The bible references the word joy over 150 times. It is in our DNA to laugh and share the laughter. God is a generous God who created us in His image therefore joy resides in Him and is a gift for us to cherish. There is an enemy though. The great thief. Satan is a joy thief and is at work robbing people of joy and laughter. As Christians we need to find the joy of the Lord to strengthen us in this time. Romans 15:13  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. My prayer is that as we work together in community, asking God to continually fill us with joy and peace, we will have an overflowing sense of hope for a brighter future for the community here at Belmont Christian College.

Praise Points:

• We thank God for the time spent together at the Reconciliation Week Morning Tea. We pray that we will honor His name as we continue to partner together.
• We praise God that our students have the opportunity to hear the truth about His love for them and of their God-given purpose. What a tremendous hope we have to share! 

Please Pray for: 

• Families in our community who are grieving. Please pray for the ministry of God’s tender love and grace to be their comfort and their strength.
• Members of our community who are unwell and for those who are on the long road to recovery.
• Our Primary School musical, for the many staff and students involved in the lead up. For blessing over the decisions being made and for the plans to come together in a wonderful, exciting way.
• Our Year 12 students as they continue to work through the demands of the HSC Course. 
• The upcoming College Tour – that many will come to see, first-hand, the ministry of BCC.

Reconciliation Week

National Reconciliation Week (27th of May – 3rd of June) is a time when as a nation we reflect on the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. We consider our past, present and future and explore the ways in which we can partner together. At BCC, we acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land, the Awabakal People, and recognise the significant contributions their past, present and emerging Elders have made to our community. We also value our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their families. On Monday, we held a Reconciliation Morning Tea for our Indigenous students and parents. Our Executive team and student prefects also joined the morning tea. Together, we discussed opportunities in which we could enhance our existing partnership across College life.          

Heavenly Father,  

You are the Creator of the heavens and the earth. You made all people in your image and, as such, have bestowed upon all of us great honour, dignity and value.

We praise you for diversity and difference.

We praise you for the richness of language and culture.

And Lord, we praise you for the extraordinary contributions the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have made to Australia and their communities through Music, Art, Sport, Academia, Agriculture, Politics and every aspect of our society.  

You have asked us to love our neighbour as ourselves. We are sorry for the times we have not done this. We pray for your Holy Spirit to renew our hearts and minds. 

Lord, you are the great reconciler. You have brought all people to you. We pray that you will guide us in our process to value diversity in your College. We pray that you will equip and gift our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to become emerging leaders, while they are with us at BCC, and in the wider community in the future.

Amen

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

Year 7 spent an action packed three days at Crusaders Galston. Students had a great time abseiling, trying their hands at archery, bush walking, and climbing the giant ‘Leap of Faith’. At night there were plenty of fun and exciting games. Christian Discovery saw students take part in a worship time followed by talks from Crusader leaders and small group discussions. Students enjoyed awesome food (and lots of it), a little bit of sleep (for some!) and lots of laughs throughout the camp. 
 

Year 8 went to Camp Crusaders also but hiked to the bottom of Galston Gorge staying in tents. We asked some of the Year 8 students what they thought. “It started with a small hike which took a long time. To be honest some of us loved it, some of us not so much. When we got to the campsite we were pretty tired but excited to begin setting up for the next couple of days. After setting up the tents we began making our own dinner, this was an interesting experience for many people as they were not used to cooking for themselves.
 After a dreaded clean up, Luke (one of the camp leaders) lead a devotion where we learned how important it is to find forgiveness. Then we got to have a campfire. After a bunch of stories and random fun (Luke’s ‘story’ about “hardships” went forever) we got dragged away from the fire and sent to bed.
Breakfast was bacon and egg rolls from the ‘excellent’ cooks. The teachers were happy when the coffee arrived. On day two we began with jam sessions with all the leaders followed by a day full of kayaking, rock climbing, catapults, and strategic games.
Night time brought a carb-packed dinner of burgers and bread and then night activities began with a devotion by our main man Luke, followed by spotlight and another campfire.
After a restful sleep, some of us were becoming a little stinky as we hadn’t had a bath for a couple of days now… Bacon and egg rolls were becoming a tradition for breakfast and then it was time to pack up all of the gear. As the morning cleared up we were able to play laser tag and field games. Finally after lunch we packed the coaches and made tracks for home”.

Last week Secondary students from the College attended the Empowering Conference hosted at NEX. Youth leaders from around the area and beyond shared their personal journey with Jesus and inspired our young people to find the light of the the good news of the gospel and shine it in their world.

On Tuesday 21st of May a selection of Year 8 students travelled to the University of Newcastle Great Hall to compete in the annual Build ME a Future Day. Students completed a range of half day activities such as bridge building, communicating via light signals and building a bionic hand among others. The students competed well all day, with many winning their events, but we were ultimately pipped at the post with valiant a second placed finish! Special commendation must go to Sophia H and Alyssa C who built the best tower of the week “by a country mile” (according to the event coordinator).

Individual Student AchievementsCSSA State Basketball 
Congratulations to Rozlyn Kloos of Year 8 who represented CSSA NSW at the National Christian Schools Games for Basketball picking a Bronze Medal.

NSW Open Boys Fencing
15yr old Colby Robins of Year 9 is the Under 18 NSW Schoolboys Epee Champion, after winning the titles last weekend, defeating 2 of his Australian teammates along the way. Colby will go on to fence in the Open Boys Nationals in August, and has the Under 15 NSW Schoolboy Titles in 2 weeks, in which he is currently the defending NSW and Australian Champion. Great work, Colby.

CSSA NSW Hockey 
Congratulations to both Joshua Bruton of Year 11 and Rohan Henderson of Year 8 for recently representing CSSA NSW in the Under 16 Boys Hockey Team at the CIS Carnival. Both boys competed extremely well.

Joshua has been selected to further represent CIS NSW in the Under 16s and Open Boys teams. He has also been selected to attend the NSW All Schools Training Camp, with the view to being selected in the NSW All Schools Team. Congratulations Joshua.

CSSA State Cross Country

Congratulations to all students who represented Belmont Christian College at CSSA State Cross Country last week. From 7 year olds through to 18 year olds, our students gave their best in races that often had more than 180 runners. 4 Primary and 9 Secondary students finished in the top 30.

A special mention goes to the following students who excelled finishing in the top 10. They will now go on to represent CSSA NSW at the NSW CIS State Cross Country:
Ellie-Sue Lusis  6^th – 12 Years Girls
Tobias Maddison  3^rd – 14 Years Boys
Isaac Carroll  4^th – 16 Years Boys
Isaac Smith  7^th – 17 Years Boys

Outstanding Teams Results:
10 Years Boys – 10^th Overall – Myles Black, Hamish Rae, Harrison Baker, Kristian Hallin
12 Years Girls – 2nd Overall – Ellie-Sue Lusis, Natalie Benn, Amalie Ford, Ciara Martin
13 Years Girls – 10th Overall – Jorja Simolin, Lily Johnson,  Julie Ellem, Grace Haub
14 Year Girls 6th Overall – Sophia Hart, Rozlyn Kloos, Jayne Fairweather, Jazmyn O’Neill

Zone Netball Gala Day

Last Week 6 teams of girls and boys represented the College at the annual THACCCSA Zone Netball Gala Day, all teams represented well. Congratulations to the Open Girls Division 1 Team who defended the title winning again this year. They now have set their sites on regaining the CSSA Title which they narrowly missed last year. Thanks to one of our Mum’s, Mrs Sam Elder, for coaching the Open Girls. Well done girls.

Sydney Symphony Orchestra Performance

On Friday 24th May, Stage 1 was treated to a performance at Town Hall by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Students sat, stared and listened in awe for the hour long concert as they witnessed the incredible musicianship of the orchestra.

Educationally, appropriate classical music is a fantastic way of exercising the musical palette of young impressionable ears and provides a starting point for hearing music that is dynamic and full of expression and imagination. Stage 1 particularly enjoyed Roar, by Maria Grenfell, whose composition depicts several acts of an exciting circus.

Rotary Morton Music Awards

Congratulions to the BCC students who won prizes in Rotary’s Annual Morton Music Awards. The following students were acknowledged for their commendable musicianship and performance and were invited to perform at the prize ceremony on Monday 27th May. Thanks to Mrs Vicki Quick and Year 11 Hospitality for catering for the event.

Rebecca Wigney (Violin)
Aleta King (Violin)
Lily Johnson (Violin)
Daniel Culjak (Saxophone)

Saxophone Ensemble
Our College music program has recently expanded to include a Saxophone Ensemble directed by our Woodwind tutor, Damien DJ Cotton. The group comprises our five very capable sax players in the Secondary Concert Band, Jorja Simolin (Alto), Archie Wilkinson (Alto), Daniel Culjak (Alto/Soprano), Alex Rogers (Tenor) and Noah Edwards (Tenor/Baritone). We are grateful to DJ for taking the ensemble pro-bono and look forward to the progress these young musicians will make in this dedicated ensemble.