Newsletter

I hope you and your family have had a wonderful term so far and are happily in the rhythm of school life. As it is now a year and a half since I commenced with the College, and after being in the industry for many years, I thought to share my perspective of the strong and positive commitment our College has made in engaging with the current level of educational extension, which, sadly, remains a rarity in schools.

It is the College’s commitment to deliver exceptional Christ-based education to our students and within this, build strong foundations for the delivery of Learning Enrichment extension. These strategic directions incorporate classes focusing on social obligation and academic challenges in support of encouraging such practices in our young people. The blessing of supporting this delivery builds capacity for lifelong learning and opens students’ eyes to the responsibilities we have within the economic privilege with which we are blessed.

Discovering and embracing passions and strengths is something we celebrate at Belmont Christian College, whether it be in Church life, on the sporting field, or within academic or cultural pursuits. As a wider nation, this is not always the case. Traditionally, Australians are quick to champion our sporting heroes; with academic and cultural successes often left unrecognised.

At Belmont Christian College, I have noticed the Christ-like community support and recognition given to all succeeding students, making my job of academically aligning students to where they need to be, much easier; with the community not only accepting, but embracing, new students into their cohort. Our parents, an integral part of this process, are also quick to build their own and other children up, and congratulate where deserved. These small and seemingly natural tendencies play a huge part in championing the strengths God has placed in our little ones.

We all know the power of kindness is boundless in any school or situation. In addition to this power, having our most powerful Christ as the foundational College cornerstone, our holistic education far surpasses anything attainable under our own steam. I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you for being an integral part of our College community and embracing student diversity that brings individuals together in God’s workplace.

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. The Secondary Musical – health, team work, fun, and an expression of God’s goodness as we give Him glory for all that we do

2. Health for the College community- that we can finish the last 3 weeks of term well

3. For the Year 12 students as they are coming into their last term of schooling

4. Coins for Compassion

Prayer for HSC Students

It’s that time of year again when we ask people to volunteer to pray for the 2023 HSC students. Our goal is for each HSC student to have at least one person from the school community committing to pray for them each day from the beginning of Term 3 until when the HSC exams finish on 3rd November. We are asking people to commit to praying for two specific HSC students, the names of whom we will provide to you.

Why start specific prayer in Term 3? Well, in Term 3 the HSC gets more real for the students as they have their HSC Trials in August, Major Works (Art and D&T) are due towards the end of August, and Drama and Music performances, along with language oral exams in September. The HSC exams start on 11 October.

As part of our wider community focus, we also ask that you please pray for the HSC students at Belmont High School. It can be a challenging time for so many young people.

If you are interested in committing to praying for two of our HSC students, please contact us via prayerwarriors@bcc.nsw.edu.au

Upcoming Important Dates

Primary

19.06.23 | Yr 1 Awabakal Excursion
20.06.23 | Futsal Gala Day
20.06.23 | Yr 6 Cooking Excursion
26.06.23 | AFL Auskick program
27.06.23 | Parent/Teacher Meetings
28.06.23 | Kindergarten Excursion – Civic Theatre Cinderella
29.06.23 | Rise Up!

Secondary

19.06.23-24.06.23 | Musical Production Week
27.06.23 | Helping your child handle the HSC (Live Webinar)
29.06.23 | Industrial Technology Factory Tour

Whole College

30.06.23 | Coins for Compassion Day
01.07.23-23.07.23 | School Holidays

Save the date

05.12.23 | BCC End of Year Festival – A celebration of learning and community

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.

Friday, 30th June 2023

We are excited to be holding another Coins for Compassion day on Friday, 30th June. The day will be similar to those in the past with the Primary School having a class competition for the longest line of coins and the Secondary School holding a Fair with Connect groups running stalls. The day is mufti and is a great way to end the term. 

We are endeavouring, as a College, to raise $5000 to pay for the sponsorship for our children for the next twelve months as well as family gifts for each of the families. On top of this we are aiming to raise $3450 to contribute to Compassion’s 345 challenge to fight global hunger. Presently there are more than 345 million people living with food insecurity – they simply do not have enough food to eat each day. We have talked to our students about this and want to encourage them to have a heart to help others less fortunate than themselves.

We are holding a Sausage Sizzle for lunch on the day.

Primary School students will need to pre-order. The children are able to purchase a meal deal with a sausage sizzle, drink and small packet of chips. Orders can be made by clicking here. Orders close 28th June.

Secondary School students will have a range of food options to purchase on the day.

Please note that the canteen will be closed on Coins for Compassion Day. 

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 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.

A huge thank you to the sponsors of our Secondary Musical!

Our upcoming Secondary School Musical has been backed by a number of BCC family local businesses. What a privilege it is to partner alongside parents in such an amazing learning experience for our students. Sponsorships such as these enable our Creative Arts team to produce a memorable show. In response, why not support these local businesses when you next make your way through the checkout! 

Secondary School Musical

At BCC, we provide many avenues for students to grow in musical ability and appreciation. We are so excited to share this year’s Musical – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! Secondary students have been hard at work behind the scenes preparing for Production Week. Tickets are still available for the Thursday and Friday Matinee shows with the other showings filling up fast!

We recently caught up with some of the Secondary Musical Cast to talk about their journey preparing for the big show. Be encouraged by the maturity and insights of these fantastic young people.

Hunter Zone Girls Soccer Champions

Our Primary Girls soccer team are Zone champions after a dominant display in Taree.

With only a few training sessions under their belt, the Girls hit the ground running and didn’t look back. The team were exceptional as they moved the ball around the park and scored an incredible 23 goals in their 5 games, whilst conceding just 2.

The team will go on to the NSW CSSA Finals.

PSSA Hockey Representative

After being selected in the NSW CIS team, Willow Barry travelled out to Tamworth to play in the NSW PSSA (All Schools) Hockey Championships.

CIS did well finishing 5th out of the 13 teams, missing out on a semi-final place on goal difference.

Willow played a starring role for CIS, where she was voted Players Player for the week away.

Many BCC students were able to watch and support Willow back here with the games being livestreamed on Youtube.

Not only that, but Willow becomes our first Primary Hockey player to be selected in the NSW side to play in the National Championships. She was the only CIS student selected in the side and will travel to Hobart to represent her state in July/August. 

Congratulations Willow!

NSW CIS Cross Country

Congratulations to Mya Terbeeke and Zirk Lombard who competed at NSW CIS Cross Country last week. Mya finished  in 21st place from 94 runners with a time of 12m12s for her 12Yr 3km race; a time she has continued to reduce since our College event.

Zirk has been very consistent with his times this year and finished 33rd from 110 runners in the 10Yr event, running in 9m13s for his 2km.

A very commendable result for both of our athletes! Well done!

Zone Netball

On Tuesday, 6 June both Senior and Junior Netball teams headed out to Tamworth to play against various schools. Our Senior girls team went undefeated all day and won the grand final by 1 point. Our Junior girls also played exceptionally well, winning every game but sadly losing by 2 in the grand final. Both teams played exceptionally well and showed great sportsmanship. They should all be very proud of themselves as they were outstanding as they represented the College.

Zone Soccer

Our Primary Junior and Senior Football teams had the opportunity of representing the College on what was a successful day of Football competition in Tamworth this week. 

In an event that was cancelled last year, both our Junior and Senior teams were keen to get back onto the field for the resumption of the annual Gala Day.

Both teams played brilliantly and both made the finals, with the Senior boys bowing out in their semi-final and the Junior boys being defeated 2 -1 in what was an exciting Grand Final finish. All students are to be commended on the way they represented the College. 

Congratulations to our Primary Football teams!

THACCCSA Football Gala Day

On Friday, 2 June Students participated in the THACCCSA Football Gala Day in Tamworth. 4 Teams represented the College with great enthusiasm and skill. The girls had mixed results during the pool rounds both bowing out narrowly in the Semi Finals. The Junior boys were dominant in their pool rounds and unfortunately lost in a nail biting penalty shootout. The Senior boys played exceptionally. They were undefeated during their pool rounds and went on to win the Grand Final by a convincing 3 – 0 scoreline. From this success they will represent the region at the CSSA State Football Tournament on 19th June in Sydney. Well done to all teams and let’s go Senior boys!

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

Staying Connected – workshop for families and carers

One Door have kindly shared the flyer for the Staying Connected workshop for families and carers to be held at Club Macquarie on August 25. It is designed specifically for families and carers impacted by loved ones experiencing emotional dysregulation. RSVP at the following link:

https://events.humanitix.com/staying-connected-when-emotions-run-high-newcastle

FREE Live Webinar – Helping your child handle the HSC

Parent and Carer Workshop – Understanding autism: Relationships, Sexuality and Pornography

A special workshop organised by the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network will be held at John Hunter Hospital on 24 July for parents and carers of autistic young people to understand the interactions between autism, sexuality, technology and pornography, and how we can support autistic young people to navigate respectful, consenting and safe sexuality and relationships.

The presenters of the workshop are Dr Wenn Lawson and Maree Crabbe, both experts in their fields. Attendance is free, registration is essential.

Workshop details:
Monday, 24 July 2023, 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM
At John Hunter Hospital – RNC Lecture Theatre – Lecture Theatre 3114
Lookout Rd, New Lambton Heights, NSW
This event is free for all registrations.

You may RSVP by 10th July via https://www.eventbrite.com/e/porn-is-not-the-norm-young-
people-autism-and-the-impact-of-porn-tickets-626756765357

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.