Newsletter

During class this week, I challenged my students to a friendly competition to find the best good news story. What a treasure trove we found! We learnt about Winston, a rare Eastern bongo calf being born at Denver Zoo, heard about Polish citizens leaving prams, blankets and food at the train station for Ukrainian refugees, and were shocked to read that the Newcastle Knights were having a great start to the season – although I think this one might not end up having a fairytale ending…

While many found some good examples, most noted how difficult it was to find a positive story in the news. This comes to no surprise to most of us. Everybody knows the media thrives when there is conflict, negativity and tragedy. It almost seems routine now when our social media feeds become flooded with news articles, videos and images depicting the latest disaster in microscopic detail. 

At the College, we encourage our young people to strike a balance between engaging with world events and safeguarding their own wellbeing. Here are the sorts of strategies we suggest:

~ Including moments during the day where they do not talk about the news, even when they are with their friends and family

~ Prioritising filling their mind with positive things; worship music, scripture, words of encouragement, gratitude lists, etc

~ Finding time as a family to discuss the news, researching the issues together and talking about what a better world may look like

~ Spending time praying through world events in the news as a family

~ Considering ways to advocate or volunteer to help support those in need

One of the best examples of maintaining this balance was the Prefects’ Fiver for the Floods’ Appeal. Moved by what the Prefects saw online, they prayed on how the College could make a difference. The Prefects consulted with students, staff and our executive team and identified a school in a flood affected area which would benefit from our donations. It was such a pleasure to see their prayer answered when, despite not getting anything in return, our community gave generously to support those facing hardship caused by the floods, raising over $2800. This was a great encouragement and illustration for how to respond to distressing events in the news in a way that is appropriate and safeguards people’s wellbeing. Thank you for your generosity! 

If your child has been feeling distressed or worried about world events (or for any reason), please contact the College. Our counsellors are here to talk to your child about their concerns, help them process their emotions and develop strategies. Our Chaplain, Stage Leaders and Connect teachers are also available to offer pastoral care. 

Praise Points

~ Answers to prayer for staff and their families
~ Christian education
~ Thankful for Easter and what Jesus did at the cross – that we as Christians might have a new revelation of what this means for us personally

Prayer Points

~ Protection from Covid and its disruption for staff and students and their learning
~ Peace and calm in the world
~ Assessments and exams that students will be undertaking
~ School camps at the end of this term – safety, fun, new relationships and friendships, resilience and self discovery
~ The upcoming Easter holidays that school families remain safe 
~ Surrounding state schools and the work they do in the community
~ Our students know a real sense of belonging, are led to believing in Jesus as the Life-Giver and are becoming all He has purposed for them
~ Our leaders – State and Federal leaders, the College Board, Principal & Executive

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

Prayer Warriors

Parents are invited to join our prayer group on Mondays at 8:15am and Fridays at 2:15pm. We meet at the College flag pole after signing in at the College office. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions our meetings can also be held via Zoom. For more information please contact Wendy Robinson wendy@wendyrobinson.com.au or phone 0409987939. Everyone is welcome to join in.

Current COVID-19 Regulations

As you know, COVID-19 continues to have an impact on our society, and so, maintaining the health and well-being of our students, staff and College community is a priority for us all.

Our website will be kept up-to-date with the current COVID-19 regulations. Parents and carers will receive all official communication via Skoolbag and email as well.

Harmony Day Mufti Day this Friday, 25th March

Australia is proudly multicultural. We are represented by over 300 ethnicities and cultures. To signify the richness and diversity of our society, as a nation we are observing Harmony Week from Monday, 21st March to Sunday, 27th March. This week is a fantastic opportunity for us to learn more from one another, deepen our connections within our community and continue to build an inclusive society.

This year’s theme is ‘Everyone Belongs’ and we are asking all students, Beginners to Year 12, to wear something ORANGE (or close to) on Friday, 25th March to recognise Harmony Week. Orange is the colour associated with day and represents cultural diversity. Gold coin donations accepted on the day will be donated to Zara’s House, a refugee support service in Newcastle.

So please, this Friday, add a splash of orange to symbolise harmony because the Good News about Jesus crosses all boundaries. On Harmony Day, we seek to reflect God’s unconditional love as a forgiving, accepting and inclusive community.

Uniform Shop News

College uniforms are provided by our uniform partner, Alinta Apparel.

To make an on-site fitting appointment, review prices or place an order online, create an account with Alinta Apparel here.

For enquiries phone: 0403 587 385 during opening hours or email: belmontchristian@alinta.com.au.

For further information regarding the College Uniform, please visit our uniform summary page and FAQs on our website at www.bcc.nsw.edu.au/uniform/

Opening Hours

Our on-site Uniform Shop opens during term time on:

Tuesday 1pm – 3:30pm
Wednesday 1pm – 3:30pm
Thursday 8am – 11am

Senior Secondary Blazers

A reminder for all Year 11 students who haven’t purchased a blazer for Term 2 to visit the Uniform Shop for a blazer fitting. 

Uniform Donations

The College office is no longer able to accept used uniform donations at this time as our supplies are full and overflowing. Please use the parent run Facebook page Belmont Christian College Buy, Swap and Sell School Uniforms or charity donation bins.

Staff Update

We are pleased to have many new staff that have recently joined us here at the College.

Mrs Jessica Brown – Secondary Science / Maths Teacher
Miss Maisey Chaffe – Primary School Teacher
Mrs Beverly Eastaway – Finance Officer
Mrs Celeste Gill – Learning Enrichment Aide
Mrs Anna Gray – Learning Enrichment Aide
Mrs Laura Ioannides – Receptionist
Miss Trinity Maurer – TAS Aide
Mrs Rayanne McLean – Learning Enrichment Aide
Mr Joel Procter – Secondary Music Teacher
Mr Benjamin Prozinski – Secondary English Teacher
Mrs Rochelle Scoular – Secondary TAS Teacher
Miss Emily Shield – Secondary Music Teacher
Miss Sarah Taylor – Learning Enrichment Aide
Mrs Tahlia Todd – (Temporary) Secondary PDHPE Teacher

Over the term you will have the opportunity to learn more about them in our Newsletter.

You may also like to read the Our People page on the College website to find out a little more about all of our staff.

Introducing…

Mr Ben Prozinski – Secondary English Teacher

Where have you come from? 
My wife Danielle and I moved to Newcastle at the start of the year from Lismore (which is a lovely spot when it isn’t underwater). Previously I was working at Casino Christian School.

What church do you attend?
Since moving to the area we have been attending Hunter Bible Church. It has been really encouraging to be welcomed into a new church family and hear the Gospel proclaimed so faithfully each week.

What are your interests?
I am a fairly competitive person so I love sports, board games or anything where there is a bit of friendly banter while doing something fun. I also really enjoy taking the dogs to the beach with my wife and having people around for a good meal.

A little bit about your new position at the College.
I have joined the English Faculty and am really enjoying working with such an excellent group of teachers. Having classes from Years 7-11 has been a lot of fun – it is great being able to get to know the students across the Secondary School.

Any other information you’d like to share?
I’m really looking forward to this new role at the College and am excited to be part of a Christian community that loves Jesus and the students that come to BCC.

Miss Trinity Maurer – TAS Aide

Where have you come from? 
I did an Education Support Traineeship at St Philips Christian College for my last 2 years of schooling and then I did after school Drama Teaching at Highstreet Productions, which I still do, and now I am here as the TAS Aide.

What church do you attend?
I attend LiveFree church in Adamstown.

What are your interests?
I like cooking, sewing, musicals and reading.  

A little bit about your new position at the College.
I am the TAS Aide where I assist the Food Technology department by helping to prep all practicals and clean up after them!

Each year NSW Health works in partnership with schools to offer the vaccines recommended by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) for adolescents as part of the school vaccination program. Immunisations are held at the College at the beginning and end of the year for Years 7 and 10.

The following vaccines are part of the program:

Year 7 – 1 dose Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis; 2 doses 6 months apart Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
Year 10 – 1 dose Meningococcal 

Please be assured that these are the only vaccines that are given at the College and that a signed parent consent form is essential.
 
Due to Covid-19 the vaccination program was postponed for 2021. However teams are now returning on Friday, 25th March for the routine School Vaccination Program for Years 7 & 10 and any Year 8 or 11 vaccinations that were missed last year can be caught up.

ALL students in Year 7 (2022) and Year 10 (2022) will receive further information and consent forms next week. Students are required to have a consent form to be eligible for vaccination. Please sign and return the consent form to Mrs Evans in the College Office.

ANY students in Year 8 (2022) and Year 11 (2022) who missed vaccinations have the opportunity to catch up. Parents must have completed a consent form in 2021 to be eligible for catch up vaccination. These students DO NOT need to be directed to their GP to receive missed vaccine doses.

On the day please ensure your child has breakfast and arrives to school on time as vaccinations start in Period 1.

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).

~ 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.

OSHC provided by Camp Australia

Belmont Christian College are pleased to offer a before and after school care program on-site through Camp Australia. The service is available from 7.00am to 8.40am and 2.50pm to 6.00pm each school day.

Register, book and manage your before and after school care bookings at www.campaustralia.com.au or call the Customer Service Team on 1300 105 343. Further information is also available on our website https://bcc.nsw.edu.au/oshc/

UAC Admissions Forum Year 12 Conference

Universities Admission Centre are running an information session for Year 12 students and their parents/carers on Tuesday, 26th April at 6pm. Institutions will provide a summary of their course offerings for 2023. 

Upcoming UAC Digital Webinars

The UAC Digital webinar program for 2022 is full of fantastic information, from talks on the UAC process, including ATARs and changing preferences, to discussions with academics and student recruiters on study areas and interviews with current uni students about their experiences, hopes and dreams. There are over 30 webinars on the playlist, so lots of information to help make informed decisions.

Click on the links below for further information and to register for the upcoming events:

Year 12 Conference: Wed 30 March 2022 at 9am

Let’s Chat – Medicine: Wed 4 May 2022 at 6pm

Let’s Chat – Health Science: Wed 18 May 2022 at 6pm

Let’s Chat – Construction and Engineering: Wed 25 May 2022 at 6pm

Let’s Chat – Teaching: Wed 1 June 2022 at 6pm

Let’s Chat – Mental Health and the HSC: Wed 8 June 2022 at 6pm

UCAT Test 

Students interested in pursuing medicine and dentistry need to sit the UCAT test in July/August 2022. MedEntry is a government accredited Registered Training Organisation specialising in UCAT preparation. MedEntry offers discounts of 40% for groups of two or more, and many other discounts including for those nominated by their teacher. For more information, please visit www.MedEntry.edu.au

Parent/Carer Support

The following activities and services are offered by external providers which may be beneficial to your family. These services focus on strengthening student’s wellbeing or academic capacity. While these are not explicitly from a Christian worldview, they do provide insights based on human wisdom and evidence based research. However, personal discretion will be required in whether these services align with your own beliefs. These are NOT fully endorsed by the College but are made available for families to make their own judgement and decision. 

Helping Boys Cope Better at School

Maggie Dent has written an interesting article that details reasons why some boys are struggling at school. It provides strategies, tips and tricks for helping boys in particular to cope better at school. Click here for the article.

Safe on Social – Roblox

Safe on Social writes an informative article for Primary and Secondary Stage 4 students about how to ensure our children are safe on Roblox.

Roblox is a sandbox game that many parents think is cute and completely fine for little kids to play. It can be, if you have the proper parental controls, but most parents don’t. It is also fine if you sit and supervise your kids’ use of Roblox, but let’s be honest, we are all busy, and most of us use our kids’ gaming as time for ourselves – a little time out. And that is ok as long as you have everything set up correctly.

There is always a risk of grooming and your child seeing something that makes them feel upset or uncomfortable.

In every session that we ever hold with kids, a vast percentage say that they do not tell their parents when they see something terrible online or something happens because they are scared you will ban them from gaming.

Please never ban your kids from using games if they speak up,if you do, you may drive every conversation you want to have with them underground and be entirely in the dark about what is going on. Absolutely ban them if they break a rule like having their phones in their room after a 6pm curfew for example. But please never ban them is they speak up. They are often just asking for help. 

Roblox has an issue with what we call “Condo” games. They are there for a short time (usually only an hour or so) before they are reported to or discovered by the Roblox algorithm and taken down in a reasonable attempt to keep kids safe.

Here are a few tips for your child’s Roblox account:
~ Make sure your password is at least eight digits long with upper and lower-case letters, plus a number included.

~ Change the passwords at least every school holidays.

~ Enable account restrictions by clicking here and following the steps. Through this above link, Roblox has some great safety tips. Please take the time to work through them all with your child. They will then learn to do this with every game they use with your guidance.

~ Keep gaming consoles and use of games in the family room. 

~ Make sure your kids know that if anyone threatens or bullies them on a game if they speak up and tell you or another trusted adult immediately that you can help them. Teach them how to take a screenshot.

~ Please make sure you tell them that they can talk to you about anything they see online that makes them upset or feel uncomfortable without the risk of being banned from playing. 

Kids always tell me that they get anxious, angry, and agitated when gaming. Especially if time is up when they are right about to complete something. Some kids, who are Neuro Diverse, often love gaming but struggle a little more than others to control their anger when they have been gaming. 

One thing I have suggested, and I have seen it work through experimenting with close family and friends. Buy them a sketchbook and encourage them to draw and design their games. It is like journalling for a gamer – it calms their mind, helps them regulate, engages creativity. They love it! You will soon see them spending hours working on the drawings of the characters, writing the script and design of their game. I have even seen kids plan it right down to listing the songs they want to use in their games.

We can never discount the fact that there is a lot of opportunity for kids in the gaming industry – everything from being a music producer through to gamification of training in the corporate sector. Encourage the good stuff through responsible gaming – check the classifications and set restrictions that work for you and your kids.

Cross Country Carnival

The Cross Country Carnival will be held on Friday, 1st April off site at Croudace Bay Park for students from Years 2 – 12. Students will travel by bus to the park from 9:00am and return to school from 11:40 pm.

Parents/Carers are most welcome to attend, however we ask that you observe several regulations in order to assist the smooth running of the carnival, the safety of our students, and remain COVID aware.

~ Parents/Carers are asked to be conscious of physical distancing in the area. Please park near the boat ramp carpark at the Eleebana end of the park

~ Any unauthorised individuals who approach students will be questioned by a staff designated Course Marshall

~ Parents/Carers are NOT permitted to leave the Start/Finish area. The course is a looped course around the park allowing for spectators to see the students run past at least twice

~ If you wish to take your child home from the Carnival, please sign them out with the teacher who is their Bus Supervisor so all children can be accounted for at the end of the Carnival.

~ Please send a written note, to be given to the supervising teacher upon departure, even if you are physically present. If your child is leaving from the Carnival with a family member or friend, your child must have a written note from their parent/carer. However, it is encouraged that students return to the College after the Carnival for a Sausage Sizzle and Connect.

The College Prefects and Student Council will be holding a Sausage Sizzle at the College for students when they return to the College at lunchtime. Funds raised on the day go to support representative sports students.

To place a Sausage Sizzle pre-order, login into https://www.munchmonitor.com/  then click on “School Shop” and proceed from there. Pre-orders through Munch Monitor only, no cash purchases available on the day.

THREE types of order ‘packs’ are available. Each one is $5:
#1 Sausage Sandwich and can of drink
#2 Sausage Sandwich and popper
#3 Sausage Sandwich and bottle of water

Orders close on Tuesday, 29th March @ 1.30pm

Sporting Champion

Congratulations to Taylor Donaldson of Year 11 who was selected as Shadow Reserve for CIS NSW 17s Water Polo Team.

BCC Sport Website

For all Belmont Christian College event information, announcements, 2022 sports dates and results throughout the year visit: http://www.tinyurl.com/bccsport.   

Cross Country Sausage Sizzle Friday, 1st April

Students from Years 2 – 12 are invited to enjoy a Sausage Sizzle after the Cross Country Carnival on Friday, 1st April.