Newsletter

Commissioning Service

This week at the College we celebrated our annual staff Commissioning service. During the service,  Board members, foundational & church members, parents and BCC prayer warriors, staff and students, declared their commitment to supporting Christian education and to celebrate how God has been gracious to our College community.

When reflecting on the significance of almost 41 years of operations, and the faith of those who trusted to God their tithes and service in building our College, we remember how God has been faithful. Such a service affords the opportunity to acknowledge this, formally recognising God’s love and dedicating the College community to His service.

Similarly, in Exodus 12, Moses reminds the people of Israel to always celebrate the service of the passover. In remembrance of God’s grace to them in sparing their firstborn, rescuing them from slavery in Egypt, Israel should celebrate annually in the form of a service. In vs 26 Moses says “And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service’, you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel’….and the people bowed their heads and worshipped”.

No doubt our students may find it a little odd to conduct such a service, albeit unique to our culture. Like the Israelites, we bow together in worship, celebrating the grace of God to our community, in prayerful dependence, trusting God to continue the good work that he started 41 years ago at Belmont Baptist Church. Please join us in celebrating and responding in faith, knowing that only He can empower us to serve in community, not from ourselves, trusting His provision to establish a continuing partnership. (Eph 2: 8-10). 

Alex Cameron
Head of Secondary

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

Miss Ciara Atherton – Learning Enrichment Aide

Tell us about your photo.
My beautiful kelpie Jimmy. I spend a lot of time training and caring for my pup! He is full of energy and love. I couldn’t imagine life without him.

What church do you attend?
Grace Evangelical

What church ministries excite you?
Fellowship with other believers and studying the Bible together.

What makes you look forward to working at BCC?
The best thing about working at BCC is working with a beautiful community of staff that really care about each other and the students.

Miss Alison West – Learning Enrichment Aide

Tell us about your photo.
This is my dog Ludovico (Ludo for short). He could possibly be the best dog in the world and I love our adventures together and his cuddly nature.

What church do you attend?
As I’ve just moved here from Nambucca Heads I am on the lookout for a church to call home.

What church ministries excite you?
I love being in the band playing bass or acoustic guitar. It’s a privilege to provide music that people can connect with God through.

What makes you look forward to working at BCC?
The kids! And being able to share my faith with them, letting them know how very much God loves them.

Mrs Alla O’Regan – Secondary Teacher

Tell us about your photo.
Globe – travelling and maps (I love maps), pine – nature/one of my favourite trees, black cat (we’ve got two), Maths.

What church do you attend?
Macquarie Life Church

What church ministries excite you?
Kids ministry and Missions

What makes you look forward to working at BCC?
Staff and students! They are wonderful!

• Contacting students via the College office rather than calling or messaging during the day, interrupting learning and adding unnecessary temptation
• Helping your children to make wise choices outside of school hours to reduce their overall usage. This might include keeping their bedrooms device free, reducing interruptions and improving sleep patterns
• Enjoying a screen free sabbatical one hour a day, ideally around the dinner table. You might be surprised how much fun it will be for the family, chatting or playing board games while withdrawing from tech
• Challenging your own dependence on mobile devices, reducing where possible. How might you benefit from a one hour sabbatical a day? 

Together, we are embarking on a significant culture shift at BCC. I have appreciated the support from our community so far and ask that we continue to give our permission to tap out of the reliance on these devices during learning. Please continue to pray for our students and families in this space.

Good news regarding the afternoon buses. More than 80% of students are now using Opal cards, which is an incredible improvement from 20% two weeks ago. Staff have also been managing the loading onto buses, supporting drivers and students. We are hopeful that Newcastle buses will provide larger buses for the high demand routes, and take onboard our suggested route changes, supporting the growing demands of our College. Thanks for your continuing support.

BCC Prayer Warriors

This year we are privileged to be able to run a monthly prayer morning. It’s a treat to pray for new families, students and staff, share some Coffee and cake and enjoy great conversation. Everyone is welcome to join us on the first Monday of each month from 8:45am – 9:30am to pray alongside parents and local churches. Come for a bit, or come for the whole time. 

Please sign-in at the College Office. We meet near the Weathershed in the newly created College Garden. Simply follow the signs. 

For more information or to ask for personal prayer, please email prayerwarriors@bcc.nsw.edu.au.

Check out the prayer focus areas and upcoming dates in the image below. 

Prayer Points

1. New families continue to settle in and adjust to their new environment at BCC, and they feel welcomed

2. New staff

3. Secondary camps

4. Monthly Prayer Warrior meetings at the College

5. That students learn about Jesus and are able to apply Biblical principles learned to their lives

6. Students are settling into good routines and study habits, and are finding the balance between work/ school and pleasure activities

Upcoming Important Dates

Primary

27.02.23 | Primary School Assembly
09.03.23 | Rise Up
09.03.23 | Primary CSSA Swimming

Secondary

01.03.23 | Secondary Zone Swimming

Whole College

28.02.23 | Parent Connect
03.03.23 | COMPASS Student Leaders Conference
06.03.23 | Parents & Carers Prayer Morning
09.03.23 | International Women’s Day
10.03.23 | Science & Engineering Challenge

Our College Calendar is available on our website where you can be kept up-to-date with events throughout the year. Closer to the event parents and carers will receive communication via the Sentral Parent App and/or email.

Our BCC Annual Festival – A celebration of learning and community is back on in 2023! Pop the 5th December, 2023 (T4/Wk9)  into your calendar, and look forward to a fantastic evening of celebrating student learning and being together as one big BCC community. More details to follow in the coming months.

Download the Sentral Parent App today!

For all major announcements regarding College Life, student reports & absences, calendar access, newsletters, excursion permissions, fee payments and much more, the College uses the Sentral Parent App. If you have not already, please please download the Sentral Parent App by searching ‘Sentral for Parents’ in the App Store on your smartphone and ensure that notifications are enabled within the App. Set up instructions can be found here. If you have any trouble registering, please email the College on sentral@bcc.nsw.edu.au and our friendly IT department will support you through the process.

Primary Music Ensembles

At BCC, we provide many avenues for students to grow in musical ability and appreciation. 

Enrolment for our key extracurricular music ensembles is now available through our brochure here. Or to enrol your child, please fill out the google form here.

Music Tutors

You may also like to see the details for our wonderful music tutors here. This includes our new guitar and bass tutor who is excited to take on new students. We have a wonderful tutoring team ready to teach your child one of the following instruments:

• Vocals
• Piano
• Guitar/Bass
• Clarinet/Saxophone
• Flute
• Violin
• Drums/Percussion
• Brass- Trumpet, Trombone

Secondary Musical – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Our Secondary Musical rehearsals are well underway and our cast is already sounding and looking amazing! It is wonderful to see such well-loved characters come to life as our students explore the world of Willy Wonka and his amazing chocolate.

Primary Swimming Carnival

We were blessed with very warm weather for our Primary Swimming Carnival and students
seemed to do a great job adhering to the multiple calls for sunscreen application!
There was a great atmosphere on the day with students competing in the 50m pool, while
others were earning points and having fun in the 25m pool events.
There was 1 record broken on the day, with the Junior Boys Liddell relay consisting of Ashton
Millett, Zirk Lombard, Taylor Monika and Bexley Paterson taking a ridiculous 16 seconds off the
existing record set back in 2015.
It was great to be able to get back into House groups after a few years of sitting in Year groups.
The competition between the Houses was intense, with Cuthbert winning their first ever
Swimming Carnival ever and first carnival of any type since Cross Country in 2017.
Booth are under pressure early on if they wish to claim their 4th consecutive annual title.

The following students are our 2023 Age Champions:

HOUSE POINTS

Zone Swimming

The Primary Swimming Team have gone back-to-back, winning the Zone Swimming Carnival for
the 2nd consecutive year!
33 students from Belmont competed at Newcastle University last week against 14 other schools
and came away with top spot after some sensational performances.
We had 8 students win medals in their Age Championships, and 17 students have qualified for
NSW CSSA Swimming in March.
Congratulations to our Swimmers for this outstanding achievement.
The following students won Age Champion medals:

College Office Hours

The College Office hours are 8am – 4pm.

College Office Contacts

Our Administration Team can be contacted by phoning the College on 4922 8300 and following the prompts or by using the email format firstname.lastname@bcc.nsw.edu.au.

• Primary Administration Assistant: Mrs Debbie Paardekooper – Primary enquiries, absences, medical information etc.
• Secondary Administration Assistant: Mrs Kathy Evans – Secondary enquiries, absences, medical information etc.
• Registrar: Ms Teena Knott – enrolment enquiries
• Receptionist: Mrs Sarah Bell & Mrs Laura Ioannides – payments, general enquiries
• Assistant Business Manager: Mrs Michelle Mazzantini – school fee enquiries

Bus Transport

A range of buses service the College. Information on the catchment area, routes and timetables can be found by visiting our Transport page on our website.

Bus pass applications and updated information need to be completed online. The application will be endorsed by the College and then the Opal Card is mailed directly to the address provided on the application.

Bus Safety Week reminds all road users to ‘Be Bus Aware’

Our school bus operator Busways is reminding all road users, parents, and students to ‘be bus
aware’ as part of Transport for NSW’s Bus Safety Week campaign, running Feb 20 – 26.
Bus Safety Week, part of the ‘Be Bus Aware’ campaign, sees Governments, bus operators, and
emergency services raise awareness about the importance of being safe in and around buses and
spread the message to ‘Be Bus Aware’.

The initiative provides a timely reminder to parents to have a talk with their children about bus
safety; to motorists when giving way to buses; to pedestrians to make sure they are alert of their surroundings; and to cyclists to ensure they can see where buses are. We all have a part to play in
bus safety.

The ‘Be Bus Aware’ campaign has been developed with input from Bus NSW, NSW Police and
Transport for NSW.

For more information on bus safety or to learn about Transport for NSW’s ‘Be Bus Aware’
campaign, visit https://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/campaigns/be-bus-aware/ or visit the
Busways website www.busways.com.au

Medical Action Plans

If your child has a medical action plan, please contact the Administration Assistant for your Primary or Secondary school student at the College Office so that the management plan can be implemented or updated for your child.

Manage Your School Fees

Belmont Christian College uses our Student Management System, Sentral, to manage our school fees. School fees statements and further information has been emailed this week allowing you to register and set up your payment plan via the Sentral Parent Portal. The Portal gives you payment options and flexibility to break up your payments over the course of the year. For further information on fees and payment options you can visit our website, or email Michelle.Mazzantini@bcc.nsw.edu.au and she will be happy to assist.

Parent Volunteers

Parents/Carers have many opportunities to assist the College in a variety of ways. Opportunities for parent/carer help include sports coaching, community garden, working bees and excursions. Notices requesting help regularly appear in the College Newsletter.

Please note that all volunteers who assist at the College must read the Volunteer Handbook which is available at the Office or from classroom teachers.

When volunteering parents need to sign in and out at the College office.

It has been a great start to the year, with children settling in well to their new classes. We have welcomed a few new families and we hope you enjoy using our service.

We are celebrating Brazilian Carnival this week at OSHC with masks being made and some rain forest puppets as well as other experiences.

We have been listening to your children and this week we are cooking some mini pizzas for afternoon tea. Let’s hope the children enjoy these.

Our program continues to be based on your children’s interests so many ideas are coming from them. If you have any suggestions for experiences and activities, we would love some input.

Have a great couple of weeks and until until then please enjoy some pics of your children
engaging in the experiences provided at OSHC.

Pic 1 – Esther’s beautiful oil pastel drawing, Pic 2 fort building in groups and Pic 3 – a new friend from Beginners, Sienna, Pic 4 – Fun with air dry clay

Take care, Michelle and team 😊

To registor and book, visit www.campaustralia.com.au

An introduction to myfuture (for parents and carers)

Wednesday 08 March 2023, 1:00pm – 2:00pm

This webinar will be an introduction/refresher to the myfuture career information service. The presenter will demonstrate how the platform can be a useful tool in career and transition planning, highlighting resources that are most relevant to your child/ren. This will include reference to myfuture’s psychometric career interest test (My career profile), the occupation and course information, videos, pathway infographics, and resources mapped to the Australian Curriculum Work Studies sub-strands. This webinar aims to provide attendees with confidence to support their child/ren with their career exploration. 

National Careers Institute Little Ripples

National Careers Institute Little Ripples 

The National Careers Institute in association with CICA, have developed an information page for parents within the Your Career website. The page is called Little Ripples. It is about having conversations about career options with young children. Have a look at the video that has been produced. You may find some resources that you could use when you are talking to parents about having career conversations with their children.

https://www.yourcareer.gov.au/resources/little-ripples

If you have any queries about the College uniform, make sure you visit our dedicated Uniform page on the College website. Alternatively, get in touch with our uniform partner, Alinta Apparel.

Uniform Requirements and Pricelist

Please click below to view the uniform requirements and current pricelist.

Uniform Shop Hours

Primary Parents and Carers of K-6 girls

In preparation for the coming school year in the Winter months of Terms 2 and 3, this is to inform you in advance that we are introducing ‘optional’ girls blue pinstripe pants (slacks) to the Winter uniform for K-6 girls. These are to be worn with the normal BCC Winter uniform blouse.

Slacks are currently available to purchase at the Uniform Shop. However, due to rapidly growing children and possible size increases, parents may decide to hold off buying slacks until closer to the time. This is obviously a parent/carer choice, but we wanted to let you know that the slacks are available for purchase.

For formal occasions and school photographs, girls may wear either the Winter tunic OR blue pinstripe pants (slacks) with the Winter blouse. Items such as school shoes, socks, hair accessories and BCC jewellery stipulations that are part of the school uniform should be adhered to.

In 2023 the following vaccines will be offered:
If your child is in Year 7 or Year 10 this year, you can now provide online consent for their
routine school vaccinations.
In Year 7, students are offered free vaccines for diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (dTpa) and
human papillomavirus (HPV). In Year 10, students are offered the meningococcal ACWY
vaccine.
Vaccination will only be provided at school if consent has been received.
How to provide consent:

1. To complete online consent for your child’s school vaccinations, visit:
   https://nswhealth.service-now.com/school
2. Follow the steps to log in to your existing ServiceNSW account. This is the same
   account you may already use to renew your driver’s licence. If you don’t have a
   ServiceNSW account, refer to ServiceNSW to create one.
3. Update or confirm your personal details in ServiceNSW as required.
4. Complete the School Vaccination Consent Form for your child/ren. You will need to:
   a) Enter your child’s personal details
   b) Provide the Medicare card details for you and your child
   c) Read the linked Parent Information Sheet and privacy statement
   d) Provide consent
   If you or your child do not have a Medicare card, consent can still be provided by requesting
   a paper-based consent form directly from the College.

The benefits of providing consent online:
• easily update your child’s details
• receive SMS and/or email notifications when vaccinations are given
• faster upload of vaccination records to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR).

For more information on routine school vaccinations, please visit
www.health.nsw.gov.au/schoolvaccination.

The College partners with EdStart to support families with flexible payment options of their school fees. We are also in the middle of a Rugby Union revival at the College, with many of our students keen to take up the sport. 

The Edstart Rugby Scholarship Program aims to promote junior rugby and help players develop their skills as well as foster their love for the game. The Program is designed to assist players with their registration while providing support such as development opportunities and equipment for the 2023 season.

This has been a great opportunity for our students with two BCC students previously being awarded the scholarship – Elijah Evans in 2021 and Nathaniel Evans in 2022.

Parents and students can find out more and apply for the scholarship at https://edstart.com.au/rugby

I would like to take a moment to say thank you. We were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and respect displayed at our recent Meet the Teacher Night in the Primary School. It was wonderful to see so many parents at the College, eager to learn about their child’s classes for the year ahead. We love seeing our parent community come together like that! Importantly too, we want to thank you for the overall parent support we receive from our College community. We know that it can sometimes be challenging, but your encouragement means so much to our students and staff. Your consistent backing is invaluable in helping us create an environment where learning and development come first. Thank you for your commitment to our College.

We have many exciting events planned for the upcoming academic year, involving parents in many ways. We look forward to seeing parents and carers participate and get involved in these great bonding experiences! Your presence and involvement in our community make all the difference. Thanks again for your ongoing support at Belmont Christian College.

Head of Primary

Leoni McNeill

Mathseeds

Mathseeds is a comprehensive online Mathematics program for children aged 3-9. It offers a huge range of carefully structured lessons and activities that build mathematical skills over a broad range of number, shape and measurement topics. The Mathseeds program is packed full of enjoyable child-focused activities that makes learning a rewarding and meaningful experience. It teaches fundamental concepts in a fun, motivating and engaging way, whilst rewarding children for their efforts.

The benefits of Mathseeds include:

~ A wide variety of lessons and activities that have been created by educational experts. Each lesson is carefully structured to build early mathematical skills.
~ Once a lesson is complete, it can be repeated as many times as needed.
~ Mathseeds provides parents with a simple “dashboard” to show each child’s mathematical progress.
~ Children can progress at their own level.
~ Each child can create their own avatar/online character.
~ Golden Acorns rewards can be used to add items to the child’s online treehouse or avatar.
~ Children love collecting the Pets – a new pet hatches at the end of every lesson.
~ Children receive a certificate after successfully completing the quiz at the end of every map.

If you would like extra information please refer to the website at https://mathseeds.com.au/?_ga=2.131044809.739665369.1583202549-294607997.1583202549.

Registration and payments can be made by contacting Mrs Deborah Paardekooper at the College Office. A yearly subscription is available at a discounted price of $30.

Reading Eggs

Learning to read is one of the most important skills children can learn. ABC Reading Eggs makes the learning to read journey fun, interactive, and highly rewarding for ages 2-13. ABC Reading Eggs were created by a highly experienced team of Australian Primary school teachers, writers and developers to help children become fluent and proficient readers. The multi-award winning early learning resource supports your child’s learning to read journey with carefully designed online reading games and activities that are easy to follow, self-paced, and highly engaging for young learners.

~ The lessons use colourful animation, fun characters, songs, and rewards to keep children motivated.
~ The program is completely interactive to keep children on task.
~ When children start the program, they can complete a placement quiz to ensure they are starting at the correct reading level.
~ Parents can access detailed progress reports as well as hundreds of full-colour downloadable activity sheets that correspond with the lessons in the program.
~ The program includes over 2000 online books for kids – each ending with a comprehension quiz that assesses your child’s understanding.

If you would like extra information please refer to the website at https://readingeggs.com.au/.

Registration and payments can be made by contacting Mrs Deborah Paardekooper at the College Office on 4922 8311 or deb.paardekooper@bcc.nsw.edu.au. A yearly subscription is available at a discounted price of $30.

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.

~ 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.