Newsletter

Our desire for students at Belmont Christian College is that they become empowered learners. We encourage them to be flexible thinkers with skills and knowledge to respond critically and creatively to their world.  This has been evidenced by what we see happening in our classrooms, from our youngest in Beginners through to Stage 3 and beyond. Confidence building naturally occurs in students as they develop strong relationships with their teachers and each other in their learning. All  of this can take place not only in the classroom and outdoor learning spaces at school, but also outside this environment. An example is just this week whereby Stage 3 students had the privilege of attending a ‘bonus’ three day, two night stay at the Great Aussie Bush Camp. This came almost as a surprise because of current COVID restrictions. However, it was another opportunity for students to be challenged and grow their learning – specifically spiritually, socially and emotionally in developing their relational skills in a setting that fosters fun and inclusion for all. 

As we continue to serve and partner with our College community, we pray for blessings and good health as we journey together strongly throughout the remainder of Term 4. 

Praise Points

~ We are blessed to report that the Year 11 Camp went well and our students have shared that they had a great time. We are so pleased that in this year of change and restrictions, that they were able to head off together at the beginning of their next step towards the HSC.

Thank you for praying for our precious community. We would appreciate prayer for:

~ Our Stage Three Camp – heading off this week to the Great Aussie Bush Camp! Please pray for good weather, safety, and lots of fun for our wonderful students and their dedicated teachers. 
~ Our HSC students would be appreciate continued prayer. Please pray for those still preparing for exams. This time next week it will all be finished!
~ Our families who have been affected by cancer and other medical challenges, and for families in the midst of that journey.

‘For such a time as this…’  Our journey in prayer has far greater purposes than we can imagine. 

Prayer Requests

In deeply challenging times such as these, we find our rest in the unchanging nature and faithfulness of our Heavenly Father.

As a Christian community we understand the significance and purpose of prayer. It is the heart-beat of our College. Together we boldly pray to our Father, through the work of His Son, in the power of the Spirit.

If you have a prayer request please complete the form here. We would love to pray for you specifically, and for your family, during this time of change.

‘We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express’ Romans 8:26b

Praying Parents

Parents are invited to join our prayer group on Mondays at 8:15am and Fridays at 2:15pm, meeting at the flag pole after signing in at the College office. For more information please contact Ang Proctor mailit2us@gmail.com or phone 0409 288 000. Everyone is welcome to join in.

At the moment we are covering the Year 12 students in prayer as they prepare for the HSC and their final months at BCC. COVID-19 has added an extra layer of complexity to their year, but we know that our God is faithful and He has a plan for each of them. We are praying for their studies, but also that they grow in revelation of God’s faithfulness and understanding that when we are weak, He is strong.

If you would like to volunteer to commit to covering two Year 12 students in prayer from now until the end of HSC exams (mid Nov), please email wendy@wendyrobinson.com.au.

Here are some suggestions for what ‘covering the two Year 12 students in prayer looks like:
(a) When praying for your own children, include a prayer for these two young people.
(b) Every time you drive into the school grounds, ask for God’s blessing and favour on them (can be prayed in your mind, doesn’t have to be prayed aloud).
(c) Every time you wash your hands, ask for God to give them a sound mind, the mind of Christ, and strength to do each day well.
(d) Ask God to give you a specific scripture to pray for them.
(e) Ask God what He wants you to pray for them.

Year 7 2021 Orientation Day & Virtual Information Night

The dates for our Year 7 Orientation 2021 schedule are as follows:

Tuesday, 10th November – 6.30pm | Information Evening (Virtual)
Tuesday, 17th November – 8.50-11am | Orientation Day morning (Kiss n drop)

On Tuesday, 10th November from 6:30pm there will be a Virtual Information Session provided for parents and
caregivers of Year 7 students for 2021. The relevant link and more information will be emailed closer to the date.

Secondary School staff will present a number of key points relating to Stage 4, and I am sure that you will find
this session most informative as you begin to prepare for your child’s enrolment in the Secondary School. This
information provided is for parents and caregivers, however, students are welcome to join in as well.

Further, your child is invited to attend our Secondary School Orientation Morning to be held at the College on
Tuesday, 17th November. Your child will join a class for the morning, between 8:50am and 11:00am. The session
will give each student an opportunity to meet future classmates and experience a ‘typical’ morning in the
Secondary School.

Your child should come dressed in their current Primary School uniform and should bring a hat, morning tea and
a drink.

Please contact Kathy Evans, our Secondary School Administrator at the College Office on 4922 8312 or email
kathy.evans@bcc.nsw.edu.au to let us know if your child is able to attend the Orientation.

BCC Beginners 2021 Orientation Schedule

The dates for our BCC Beginners Orientation 2021 schedule are as follows:

Tuesday, 17th November – 9:30am to 11:00am – Orientation Morning #1 (Kiss n drop)
Friday, 20th November – 9:30am to 11:00am – Orientation Morning #2 (Kiss n drop) 

Further information regarding the Beginners Orientation Program has been sent via email and in the post throughout Week 9, Term 3.

Kindergarten 2021 Orientation Schedule

The dates for our Kindergarten Orientation 2021 schedule are as follows:

Tuesday, 17th November – 9:00am to 10:30am – Orientation Morning #3 (Kiss n drop)   

Further information regarding the Kindergarten Orientation Program has been sent via email and in the post throughout Week 9, Term 3.

Keep Informed with the BCC Website

The College website continues to grow and evolve as a fantastic resource for parents and students. Make sure you take a look at our Community Hub. Why not share the weblink with friends and family and give them a look inside the BCC Community. 

BCC also communicates home to parent/caregiver’s via the Skoolbag App. Skoolbag provides an easy and convenient means of communication of essential information including the College Newsletters, notices and alerts which are communicated directly to parents and caregivers through the Skoolbag Mobile App on your iPhone, iPad or Android device. We encourage parents to download the Skoolbag App and check-in to the App on a regular basis for any announcements to keep you informed.

2021 Tuition Fees Calculator

As previously advised there will be no increase to our fees for 2021. The fee schedule used for 2020 will remain the same for next year. We pray that this decision will bless our families who have all faced the challenges and uncertainty of this year. 

To assist with budgeting for 2021 we have a fee calculator available on our College website https://bcc.nsw.edu.au/fees/ 

2021 Term Dates

The 2021 term dates are now available on our website https://bcc.nsw.edu.au/term-dates/

Virtual College Tours

Do you have friends and family who cannot make it onsite to check out the College on a personal face-to-face tour? Maybe you know of folk who are considering a relocation to the Hunter region? Why not encourage them to join our College Registrar, Ms Teena Knott, on a Virtual College Tour. For more details and to book a face-to-face or virtual tour, click here

Entertainment Book Available Now

Entertainment Memberships are now 100% digital. Saying goodbye to the iconic Book wasn’t easy but the new Entertainment Memberships start anytime and are valid for 12 months from activation. Packed with thousands of substantial savings to delight and inspire, an Entertainment Membership is your pass to exclusive offers and quality experiences, activities and benefits. The digital membership is easy to download to start using instantly. New offers are added weekly for ongoing value all year round.

Benefits of the App include:

• User-friendly: Instantly search and redeem offers or check out the Near Me tab to find offers, wherever you are.
• Memberships start anytime: Flexible start date, Memberships are valid for 12 months from when you activate (16 months if you take advantage of the Early Bird offer now).
• New offers automatically added: As soon as a new offer is available, you get access to it. No more waiting for the next print run!
• Multiple devices: You can still share your Membership with your family. Encourage your partner and kids to download the App so they can access valuable savings when out.
• Convenient: The App means that as long as you have your phone, you have your Membership too (no more lugging around the book).
• Easy gifting: We’ve made it simpler than ever to gift an Entertainment Membership – simply purchase from your chosen fundraiser and the gift Membership will be delivered instantly to your inbox.

Primary Athletics Carnival

Last week it rained every day except for Friday – our Athletics Carnival – where we praised God for perfect weather in an unfamiliar time of year. It was great being able to get out and compete, with lots of fun, laughs and the odd moment of serious rivalry among friends.

Thank you to the staff who worked very hard without being able to utilise the help of Secondary students or parents.

Due to the nature of the day, including the need to bus students to and from the carnival, the final block of field events were run on Tuesday, back at the College.

Congratulations to Booth – Athletics Champions for 2020! Will this be the year that they finally crack the overall prize for the first time?

Congratulations to our Age Champions for 2020.

The carnival boasted 9 new records! Perhaps the warmth of the day, and our carnival running at the same time as the start of the Little Athletics season has had an impact. That’s not to take away from our students’ performances of course!

House Points

Age Champions

Record Breakers

Secondary Athletics Carnival

Last week we were able to celebrate our first major sporting event since Term 1! What a great day we had…hot conditions, hot competition and outstanding student participation. The 2020 Secondary Athletics Carnival was a day to savour. Massive thanks to Mr Hall and the amazing PE department for such a well run carnival. Congratulations to all participants, especially those students who achieved their athletic goals on the day, achieved age champion or broke a College record.

House Points

Age Champions

Recorder Breakers

Primary National Aerobics

Our Primary aerobics teams featured in their first National competition last weekend.

Under normal conditions, the top 3 from each State competition would travel to Brisbane to compete in this event.

Similar to the NSW Championships, where our teams all claimed bronze, this event involved the girls filming their routine and submitting online.

On Saturday, the videos were all played and judged on a live stream for all to watch.

Our Stage 2 team, the ‘Robix Rockers’, did very well in their second video entry and finished 2nd, claiming a national silver medal!

The Stage 3 team (‘The Violets’) also medalled, claiming a bronze and our Kinder/Stage 1 (‘Go Girls’) team finished 5th.

We are very proud of these teams, who are in their first year together. They’ve had a great time training twice per week at lunchtime, and look forward to doing it all again next year, hopefully in front of a live audience.

Alumni

We are proud of our students past and present and we’d like to highlight the success of some of our Alumni students in the sporting arena.

Focusing on men in rugby league, two of our Alumni have gone on to forge successful careers.

Michael Young attended the College from Years 9 to 12 from 1998 to 2002. During his time at the College he represented CIS NSW in Rugby League all through High School, attending the National All Schools’ Championships. Michael was often awarded the full back of the tournament. After leaving the College on completion of his HSC Michael pursued a career as a professional Rugby League player. Michael played for the Newcastle Knights from 2004 to 2008 debuting in first grade off the bench as replacement hooker, he went on to fill the utility roll up until he retired in 2008. 

Samuel Johnson attended the College from Years 7 to 10 from 2002 to 2005. While in Year 9 at the College Samuel was selected in the CIS NSW Under 15s Rugby League Team, where he played in the National All Schools’ Championships. The Australian Under 15s Schools Boys’ team was selected from this tournament and Samuel went onto Tour Europe with the Under 15s Australian Schoolboys’ team. Following his schooling Samuel went onto play for the Wyong Roo’s First Grade side in the NSW Cup Competition.

NAIDOC Week

NAIDOC Week is next week from the 8th of November to the 15th of November. NAIDOC Week celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It is normally held in July but was postponed because of COVID. Part of our Strategic Plan is to, “in respectful and authentic ways, understand our Aboriginal heritage”, “celebrate the uniqueness of each student” and “respect cultural diversity.” Keeping with this, we will be acknowledging NAIDOC Week as a College. Throughout the year teachers have been integrating Indigenous perspectives into our classrooms and during next week we will be doing activities themed around NAIDOC week. Our Secondary students will be hearing from Bianca Manning, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Coordinator from Common Grace, share her testimony as an Aboriginal Christian growing up in Newcastle. 

On the Friday, 13th November we will have a mufti day where all staff and students are invited to dress up in the colour/s of the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander flags. Money raised from the mufti day will be donated to Common Grace; specifically to Bianca Manning and her work in her ministry. 

Celebrating our 40th birthday in 2022

Throughout 2022, we will be giving thanks to God for 40 years of Belmont Christian College. Together with our Board, staff, parents and students, I am thankful to God for our College founders. In the late 1970’s, they prayerfully cast a vision for our College to provide a dynamic Christ-centred education that transforms lives. It is a great privilege to be part of the College history.

The 40th year provides an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to the College vision, “that we might be a community that nurtures and trains young people to grow up into Christ.”

Our 40th celebration year will be a time to remember and honour, but also to tell. Just like Israel in the Old Testament, after crossing the Jordan, they set up a memorial. It acted as a marker to help the Israelites remember what God had done and to remind them to tell the generations to come. In 2022, it will be time for our College community to also set up markers to both help us remember and to tell the generations to come.

With this in mind, I would like to personally invite you to consider joining a group of staff, students and parents to help plan events for our 2022 40th year celebrations. Our Alumni is gathering momentum, and part of the reason for the Alumni is to be able to bring them back on site in 2022 for our celebrations.

If you would like to be a part of this taskforce group that will help the College celebrate the last 40 years and prepare to entrust God with our next 40 years, please register your interest through the following link. https://form.jotform.com/202987951634871 

Thank you all and praise God for our College.

Sharon Sopher
Principal