Newsletter

Time to Pray

I have always been an ‘early riser’, as I believe I get more out of my day, even if it is just to spend a few quiet minutes in prayer.  Some mornings my thoughts and prayers are crystal clear and I feel so close to God, however, other mornings I am distracted and only offer a quick prayer. It has always bothered me that I don’t seem to be consistent in my prayer life, but one thing I have come to learn, is that when we pray, God either opens the doors of opportunity, sends divine help, casts mountains into the sea, or simply, just fills our hearts with delight and a sense of closeness to Him. A life of prayer is a life of purpose and direction. Miracles and victories are the fruit of a zealous prayer life.

Many great men and women of the Bible lacked much of what is required today for success. Most of them gained very little by way of education. However, they all called upon the Lord by praying! They often asked God for the impossible. God answered with the incredible.

 “Much time spent with God is the secret of all successful praying.  Prayer which is felt as a mighty force is the immediate product of much time spent with God.  Our short prayers owe their point and efficiency to the long ones that have preceded them” E.M. Bounds (American pastor).

No time will be better spent today than the time you spend in prayer.

Praise Points:

• We had a wonderful student-led Secondary Chapel last week. There was a moment when one of the Prefects led the student body in prayer and there was a tangible sense of the presence of God – it was something special. 

Please Pray for: 

• Focus Point: Year 12 students this term as they complete their Trial HSC Exams that are happening this week and next week.
• The upcoming Primary School musical, and Stage Three Camp, that all the plans and programs will come together well and that our students will be blessed as they participate. 
• Families in our College who are experiencing challenging times. Please continue to uphold them before God’s throne of grace. 
• Some of our Executive team are in Perth attending the CSA Leadership Conference. Our Principal, Sharon, is delivering a devotion on Friday morning. Please pray for Sharon and for a productive and safe time for them all as they attend the conference and fly home. 

Thank you for praying for our community.

Student Achievement

Jonah Pedlow from Year 11 has been selected to attend the Rotary National Youth Science Forum in Canberra for two weeks in January next year. He will join 400 distinguished students nationally (as well as some past College Alumni), living on campus at the Australian National University, and enjoying meeting like-minded students and academic staff whilst engaging in rich Scientific learning opportunities. Jonah is congratulated for his excellent achievement and we pray God’s richest blessing for him while he’s away. 

Year 8 into 9 Information Night

We invite all parents and students of Year 8 to attend our Year 8 into 9 Information Night held in our College Library Theatrette on Tuesday, 27th August at 6.30 pm.  

The evening is planned so parents and students can find out more information for the Stage 5 courses on offer in Years 9-10 2020-2021 and your child’s transition into Year 9 in 2020. 

Tea and coffee will be served after the presentation and we would love you to stay and talk to the various subject Co-ordinators and teachers to gain advice about selecting subjects and your child’s options. It is anticipated that the evening will end at 8.00pm. 

Please click here to find the Year 9 & 10 Subject Elective Booklet for your perusal prior to this evening.

Thursday 29 August

Gifts from $2 to $15

We need lots of volunteers to sell gifts on the day from 8:30am – 12:30pm. It’s a fun social day. Morning tea will be provided for the helpers. Please contact the College office on 4922 8300 if you can help.

Belmont Christian College is privileged to host their annual Charity Golf Day at the beautiful Cypress Lakes course, Pokolbin on Saturday, 19th October. This is a four player Ambrose team event, with all proceeds supporting our sister school in Thailand, New Light Christian School. 

To book your spot, and for information on the various sponsorship opportunities, please click here
There will be a free bus running from the College on the day. 
We look forward to seeing you on the course.

Our Primary Debating team represented the College with excellence at the CS Lewis Debating Competition held at Wyong Christian School. Students did an amazing job, having to present one prepared and one impromptu debate.  BCC did not take the shield home, however, they did their best and have learnt and gained so much confidence through this experience. 

Volunteers Needed

Every Wednesday from 12.45pm we will be in the BCC Common Grounds Community Garden and we would love your help! Your child is able to join you during their lunch time too.

If there are other days that you are available please call Wendy Abel on 0438 461 949 as she would be happy to accommodate you. 

Volunteers will need to provide the College office with a current Working With Children Check. Please ensure you sign in and out at the College office.

Are Smartphones Making us Dumb?

Power is rapidly transferring to those who understand how to leverage technology. We want our students to be on the right end of that shift. To quote James Curran, founder of the Australian Computer Academy and the creator of Grok, “Be the masters of digital technologies, not the slaves.”

Last week Professor of Neuroscience, Mark Williams, presented the findings of his research into smartphone use in a speech entitled “Are Smartphones Making us Dumb?”

Key points include:
• Smartphones make us antisocial. The more time children spend on them, the less empathetic they are and the less they are able to process and recognise facial expressions. This means their ability to communicate is decreased. Parental use can also be detrimental, with studies showing 12-month-old children whose carers regularly use smartphones have poorer facial expression perception.

• The more friends you have on social media, the less friends you are likely to have in real life, the less actual contacts you have and the greater likelihood you have of depression.

• Information acquired on digital devices often doesn’t always transfer well to the real world. 

• Smartphones can mess with our sense of direction and make us feel less connected to physical spaces because they perform navigational tasks for us.

This research from Macquarie University is a timely reminder for teachers to ensure learners are involved in “high value” activities on their digital devices – tasks that not only teach them technical skills, but enable them to acquire valuable secondary skills and a feeling of empowerment and control.

The findings also support the argument for a “digilogue” approach to teaching and learning, i.e. a strategy that doesn’t lean too heavily into digital technologies but engages students’ hearts and minds in the “analogue world” as well. 

As parents and teachers we’re preparing our students to thrive in the future. I can’t think of any future scenario where weak minds, bad memories, depression, and poor social skills will be helpful. We need to “out smart” smartphones and digital technologies by being wise in the way we use them in our classrooms and manage them in our homes.

Code Camp Early Bird Discount

 These Spring holidays Code Camp are returning to Belmont Christian College to teach your child to code, or to help them continue on their coding adventure! 

Code Camp has already taught more than 50,000 students in Australia and is a great way to spend time over the holidays as kids have lots of fun with friends while learning important new skills including logic, creativity, problem-solving, app development and game building. It’s fun and engaging, and gets them prepared to take on the digital world of the future.

This season from Wednesday 2nd – Friday 4th October, Belmont Christian College will be hosting Spark and 2D Game Makers. 

The price break has been extended, so get in quick and use this code for $20 off: belmont20 and this expires next Monday night at midnight. 

Bookings can be made by clicking here

Code Camp has also been working with Service NSW  and it a eligible provider for the $100 Creative Kids rebate! Just enter your rebate code to receive $100 back on your enrolment. Please click here for more information.

Individual Acheivement

This year sees an anomaly in the Athletics Carnival season, with the National SSA Carnival being contested before the NSW PSSA Carnival. This had to happen as the national event is being held in Darwin and had to be brought forward to avoid the heat. Last week NSW PSSA held a qualifying event to pick the team for Darwin. Victoria Robinson of Year 6, won her discus event to book her ticket to Darwin, representing NSW at School Sports Australia Athletics. This will be Victoria’s second National titles, after she won bronze at last year’s event in Melbourne.

Congratulations Victoria on another stunning result.

Secondary Athletics Carnival 

Last Friday around 50 students represented the College in the annual Zone Athletics Carnival. The students competed in very trying conditions, a bitterly cold south-westerly made for very fast 100m times but also tested abilities in other field events like Javelin and Long Jump. BCC came 3rd in both the outright competition and Challenge Cup.

Outstanding Individual Results include:
Age Champions
1st – 17 Yrs Girls – Kiana Toole 
2nd – 12 Yrs Girls – Michellie Robins
2nd – 14 Yrs Boys – Tobias Maddison
3rd – 12 Yrs Girls – Ellie-Sue Lusis
3rd – 17 Yrs Boys – Isaac Smith

Record Breakers
Tyler Ford – 12 Yrs Boys – Shot Put
Daisyanne Linnane – 16 Yrs Girls – High Jump
Ellie-Sue Lusis – 12yrs Girls – High Jump
Tobias Maddison – 14 Yrs Boys – 1500m
Michellie Robins – 12 Yrs Girls – Shot Put & Long Jump
Isaac Smith – 17 Yrs Boys – 1500m

Primary CSSA Athletics Carnival
 A perfect day of sunshine greeted us at Blacktown last week for the Primary CSSA State Athletics Carnival. 8 Belmont students competed on the day, with more ‘Personal Best’ results and outstanding achievements.

Amos Maddison won the 12yr Shot Put and was 2^nd in Discus, placing him 4^th overall in the Age Championship and putting him through to the NSW CIS Carnival.
Victoria Robinson also qualified for NSW CIS by winning the Multiclass 100m and Discus, 2^nd in Long Jump and 3^rd in Shot Put. Victoria broke the NSW CSSA Multiclass Discus record, with her throw of 14.95m (48.48%) beating the mark set 4 years ago.
Kari Croxford finished 4^th in both the 8yr 100m and 200m, missing a CIS place by an agonising 0.04s and 0.09s respectively.
Our Junior Boys relay finished 5^th overall.

Congratulations to our athletes.

Vocal Tutor Recital

Our Vocal Tutor, Sophie Aked, is also a local singer/song writer. She will be performing her favourite songs, from a very extensive repertoire, during a performance that is sure to impress any music fan. The eclectic recital will feature music from the 17th century to the present day from the likes of Purcell, Mozart, Dvorak, Strauss and Cole Porter.

Date: 1st September 2019 
Time: 2.30pm 
Cost: Entry by donation 
Where: Adamstown Uniting Church

Drama Course

Through his outstanding commitment to his craft Year 10 Drama student Peter Hyslop was given the opportunity to attend a week long course during the holidays with the Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney.   

“Over the holidays, I completed a week-long course at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). What an adventure! In a proper university building, there were five studios, three editing suites (not rooms, suites!) all of which were fully equipped for professional film production. What a scream! I learned so much at that course, all of which is hard to list, but the main thing I learned was that even the best technology doesn’t make the best film. It’s all about the storytelling, what you want the audience to see and why. The most fandangled gadgets and the latest software won’t get you there. It’s all about what’s in a film that makes it good”.  Peter Hyslop

Suessical Jnr Parent Volunteers Needed

As we approach production week for Seussical Jnr, our production team would value the help of parents who are willing to assist students with hair, makeup and costumes. Please fill out the form below and indicate which performance you are available for. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.