Welcome back everyone to Term 2. I do hope you were able to have a relaxing break over the holidays. We certainly had a lot of good weather to enjoy. When you return, you will notice our school values displayed on our new side entrance stairs. Mrs Amber Robson has done an excellent job designing them and I am pleased that we have been able to have them installed over the break.
Last week I had the blessing of joining several of our School Prefects at the Wyong RSL ANZAC Day Dawn Service. It is always encouraging to see so many people from the Wyong community prepared to get up early and be part of the service; that we might all pause and reflect on the great sacrifice of our armed forces across many wars and many decades. Each year I am challenged to reflect on how thankful I should be for the peace and safety we enjoy. Sadly, I feel too often I take that security for granted. Wars that are occurring globally, and even horrific events in Sydney over the holidays are a reminder that things can change so quickly.
The Bible regularly reminds us of the importance of having a thankful heart. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 reads, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I find it a challenge to give thanks in all circumstances. Contentment is not a virtue that our society does well. Advertising companies are charged with the task of breeding discontent to instigate purchases. Events such as ANZAC services are a helpful stimulus to grow in my gratitude. I am looking forward to our school ANZAC service tomorrow (Tuesday 30th April) at 12pm. We warmly welcome you if you can join us.
As I think about the importance of being thankful for the peace and security I enjoy daily, it reminds me how much more I should be thankful for the ultimate assurance we can have of our eternal destination. As you walk up our new side entrance stairs this term, you may like to glance to your left and be reminded of the words in Romans 10:9 that clearly articulate how it is we can have that assurance of our salvation.
I wrote to you all at the end of last term regarding some staffing updates. To confirm, this week you will see two new staff members who have joined our ministry over the break. Mr Patrick Farrell is a welcome addition to our Grounds Team. It is always heartening to welcome former students back into the school in a staffing capacity. Mrs Jenny Charker will also join us this week in the Science faculty as a replacement for Mrs Jaimie Bailey who is currently on maternity leave.
God Bless.
Community News & Prayer Points
Dates For Your Diary - Term 2
Secondary School Play 'Robin Hood: A Bard's Tale' Matinee Performance at 11am - Tuesday 2nd July (Week 10)
Secondary School Play 'Robin Hood: A Bard's Tale' Evening Performance at 6:30pm - Tuesday 2nd July (Week 10)
Secondary School Play 'Robin Hood: A Bard's Tale' Evening Performance at 6:30pm - Wednesday 3rd July (Week 10)
Junior School Celebration Assembly at 9am - Friday 5th July (Week 10)
Secondary School Celebration Assembly at 11:45am - Friday 5th July (Week 10)
Community News - Week 1, Term 2
WELCOMING ABIGAIL ASPEN BAILEY
Congratulations to Mrs Jaimie Bailey and her husband, Chris, on the birth of their daughter, Abigail, on Saturday 6th April 2024. Please pray for Jaimie and Chris as they settle into life as a family of three.
IMPORTANT REMINDER - ALLERGIES
Please be reminded that we are a “High Risk Foods – Minimised” school. This means that parents, students and staff are requested to refrain from bringing fava beans, peanuts, tree nuts, and peanut butter or Nutella (chocolate/hazelnut) spreads to the school. Please adhere closely to this policy, as we have numerous students throughout the school who have an anaphylactic allergy to nuts and fava beans.
YEAR 5 BAKE SALE
Late last term, our Year 5 students held a Bake Sale to raise funds for our Compassion children. A big thank you to everyone who purchased a treat on the day or participated in some of the games. Together, over $970 was raised for Compassion. This is a fantastic effort! Well done, Year 5!
CHANGES TO LUNCH ORDERING PROCESS VIA MUNCHMONITOR
Starting from Term 2, our Canteen will be implementing a change to the way orders are placed through MunchMonitor, to better accommodate the different lunch break times for our Junior School and Secondary School students.
New Lunch Ordering Process
When placing lunch orders for your child, please ensure that you select the appropriate category based on their school level:
For Junior School students, please select the category 'Lunch - Junior K-6'.
For Secondary School students, please select the category 'Lunch - Secondary 7-12'.
Please see the screenshot below of how this will appear in MunchMonitor.
Orders for recess will not change, and can be placed under the same category of 'Recess'.
Thank you for your support.
ANZAC SERVICE
Families are invited to attend our K-12 ANZAC Service on Tuesday 30th April (Week 1, Term 2) at 12pm in our Multi-Purpose Centre.
ATHLETICS CARNIVALS
Our Athletics Carnivals will take place at Mingara Regional Athletics Centre, Tumbi Umbi, in Week 2 on the following dates:
Secondary School - Monday 6th May
Junior School - Tuesday 7th May
Details about the carnival have been emailed to families.
MOTHER'S DAY STALL
Our Mother's Day Stall will be held on Friday 10th May (Week 2, Term 2). Gifts will range from $2-$8. Cards will be available for $1.
Students are encouraged to bring coins or small notes. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer IOUs. Money raised will go towards supporting our Compassion sponsor children.
During lunchtime in the Library, Secondary School students will have the opportunity to purchase a TearFund Mindful Gift of a $5 Chicken, or $10 Farming Seeds & Tools sent in support of a Developing Nation. Cash only.
If you are able to volunteer to help run the stall on the day, please contact Mrs Lynda Lucas via email. Thank you for your consideration.
MOTHER'S DAY BREAKFAST
We will host a Mother's Day Breakfast next Friday 10th May (Week 2, Term 2) at 7:45am to celebrate and honour the women in our community.
JUNIOR SCHOOL GRANDPARENTS' MORNING
Our Junior School Grandparents' Morning will be held on Friday 17th May (Week 3, Term 2).
The morning will commence with Chapel at 9:30am in the Multi-Purpose Centre. Please note that Chapel has been moved to a later time of 9:30am on this day, to limit congestion in the car park around school drop-off and allow for Grandparents to find a parking space with greater ease.
ALINTA UNIFORM SHOP
Please be advised that the Uniform Shop now has a new style of Secondary School girls' long-sleeve blouses available to purchase. This blouse has been added to the uniform range to provide a warmer option for Secondary girls during winter.
EVERY TRIBE & TONGUE - LUNCHTIME EVENT
On Thursday 23rd May (Week 4, Term 2), from 1:15-2pm we will be celebrating our diversity and uniqueness by gathering as a whole community. We are all part of God’s Big Family! The vision for this day, as part of our Wellbeing Week, is to provide an opportunity for students to interact with many people, from many cultures, and to learn more about their uniqueness and value.
We are calling on you! Are you interested in setting up a ‘Country Stall’, presenting cultural themes from your country of origin? This could include artwork, music, costumes, food samples etc. You may even be keen to set up a game or share a performance on the day.
If you are interested in setting up a ‘Country Stall’, putting on a cultural performance, running a game or have another brilliant culturally aware idea, then please email Rev Matt Shorten (Chaplain) before Thursday 16th May. Please include your family name, country, food and/or the activity you would like to share with the students on the day; and any other needs such as power points and tables for your stall.
Thank you so much for bringing your story so that we all might grow from sharing together in our beautiful school community.
ROBIN HOOD: A BARD'S TALE - SECONDARY SCHOOL PLAY
We are delighted to invite you to our Secondary School play, Robin Hood: A Bard's Tale.
Many of our talented Secondary School students have been diligently preparing for this play, and are excited to showcase their hard work during the performances in Week 10 of Term 2.
The performance dates are as follows:
Tuesday 2nd July - Matinee Performance
Tuesday 2nd July - Evening Performance
Wednesday 3rd July - Evening Performance
Further details and ticketing information will be emailed to families soon.
CHESS TUITION
Learn to be a chess champion! Coaching for students at Wyong Christian Community School is held on Tuesdays from 3:15pm to 4:15pm, starting on Tuesday 30th April 2024.
Learning and playing chess helps children develop their logical thinking and problem-solving skills, improves their concentration and focus, while also being a great source of enjoyment.
Activities include group lessons on a demonstration chess board or interactive whiteboard, puzzle solving and fun practice games.
Students earn merit awards by making checkmates, or by displaying skills and positive qualities, which all good chess players strive to develop.
Each student in the Chess program will also receive access to Chess Squad https://www.chesssquad.com/ which is an online teaching/playing platform.
If your child is interested in taking part in the class, please click here for more information or email office.sydneyacademy@gmail.com for an enrolment form.
For all enquiries, please contact Sydney Academy of Chess on (02) 9745 1170.
Prayer Points - Week 1, Term 2
Give thanks for the new students and families who have started at our school this term. Pray that they will develop relationships quickly, and praise God that we have these new families in our school community.
Pray for our upcoming Athletics Carnivals. Pray for good weather and for God’s protection over our students.
Please pray for the building project at school, that it will come together smoothly and be a blessing to our school community.
Junior School News
Junior School News - Week 1, Term 2
Greetings friends of Junior School.
We pray that this newsletter finds you well and the students rested. We hope you had some time off during the break to enjoy some wonderful family adventures and make some lovely memories with your beautiful kids.
As usual, we will hit the ground running this term with a stack of exciting events for the students to enjoy.
You are most welcome to join us for our K-12 ANZAC Service tomorrow, Tuesday 30th April, at 12pm in the MPC. Our amazing Mrs Makepeace has put together a wonderful service to highlight the military service of many community members and their families.
Next Tuesday 7th May, we have the Junior School Athletics Carnival and Infants Fun Day at Mingara. Please join us in prayer for great weather for this wonderful community event. We are still waiting on confirmation regarding the use of the middle oval for Infants Fun Day. Regardless, we will still have a great day and all of our students will get to participate in the activities. The amazing Mr Knibbs has prepared the detailed information and it was emailed to families today.
On Wednesday 8th May, we have the Maths Olympiad scheduled for our numerically gifted students. Humble thanks to Mrs Livette-Vial for her hard work with our extension students.
On Friday 10th May, we will be hosting a Mother’s Day Breakfast from 7:45am and, during the day, the students will have the chance to purchase a Mother’s Day gift from the stall. All proceeds will be going towards our Compassion Children. The feedback we have had from the Father’s Day Breakfast is that mums like bacon and egg rolls just as much as the dads, so in the spirit of unity and fair play, let’s celebrate with a cereal-free breaky. Woohoo!
In Week 3 on Thursday 16th May, our wonderful Mrs Livette-Vial will be taking a group of our Years 5 and 6 students to the da Vinci Decathlon.
On Friday 17th May, we will be hosting our Grandparents’ Morning. Mr Milligan has a cracking message prepared for our community. This is a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel with our extended families and friends in a non-threatening environment. Please join us and bring a guest. Mrs Lucas will be catering for the event so you can be assured that there will be no shortage of sweet treats. Our Year 6 Student Leaders will assist in the set-up of morning tea and happily serve our guests.
In Week 4, we will enjoy our Wellbeing Week with a combined K-12 Chapel at 12:15pm in the MPC on Thursday 23rd May. Naturally, you are cordially invited if you are available to join us for this wonderful community event. This will also coincide with our Every Tribe and Tongue event at lunchtime, where the students will be exposed to the various cultural groups that make up our diverse school community.
In Week 5 we have our Winter Uniform changeover. Please don’t stress about this if uniform items are difficult to source from the Uniform Shop. There is always a transition period as the weather decides to fully embrace winter. Just a quick reminder for student jumpers and jackets to be labelled with student names because the kids will take them off in the playground when they are running around and heat up; without a name tag it is difficult for these items to find their way home. One minute of preparation could save you a lot of money in lost clothing.
In the following weeks, we have Zone Soccer and Cross Country events, plus a couple of Kindy Starter days and we still haven’t made it to June.
One big event this term is the Years 3 and 4 Camp Toukley overnight adventure, from Thursday 6th to Friday 7th June. This is a highlight on our calendar because our students get to put their faith into action and overcome some significant fears, not the least of which is staying away from home for the night. We are anticipating a faith-filled and challenging program for our newly minted Primary Students.
As you can see, there are a stack of exciting events coming up for our students this term and, in the midst of all the excitement, the teachers are preparing Academic Reports that will go home in the final week of Term 2.
Chat soon.
God bless.
Secondary School News
Secondary School News - Week 1, Term 2
Welcome back to all our Secondary School families for Term 2.
We do pray that you have been able to rest and enjoy some quality time with your loved ones over the holiday break.
As the school grows and new families join the WCCS family, we thought it may be helpful to remind families of some existing policies, and also to inform you of some alterations we have made to an existing policy.
ASSESSMENT TASK APPEALS
During Term 1, we saw increased numbers of Assessment Task appeals submitted from students in Years 7-12. Many of the reasons or documentation provided for the appeals did not meet the requirements of our policy.
Appeals are available for students to utilise should they be unable to sit a task or complete a task by the due date. The assessment process should always be fair and equitable for all students, and our policy is designed so that we can be as fair and equitable as possible given that, from time to time, there will be illness and/or misadventure.
At the start of the year, each student is given a copy of the appropriate Assessment Handbook for their year group. These handbooks are also available electronically on the Secondary School CANVAS page. We would encourage students and families to familiarise themselves with the appropriate handbook that includes the Assessment Policy for that year group, so that students can ensure they are working within our policies. NESA requires schools to adhere to their published polices so that students are being treated fairly and equitably.
There are two parts of the policy that we will highlight below, as they are two of the more common reasons students are submitting appeals
Years 7–12: The taking of holidays outside normal school holiday periods is not an acceptable reason to miss an Assessment Task or Examination. We encourage all families to consult the Assessment Handbooks prior to arranging holidays or to take family holidays during the school holiday period.
Years 9-12: In the case of illness, the student should produce a Doctor’s Certificate for the period of absence. If a student becomes ill during a task, he/she should leave and visit the Doctor that day to obtain a Doctor's Certificate. We do recognise that obtaining a Doctor’s Certificate can be problematic in a short amount of time, but we would ask families to ensure they do seek out this documentation. Often, when it is mentioned that it is required for a school Assessment Task, especially Stage 6, medical practitioners understand the circumstances and will do what they can to help.
ENERGY DRINKS
As we continue our focus on having settled learning environments in our school, it is concerning that we see some students arriving at school consuming energy drinks. Most of these drinks contain higher levels of caffeine and the consumption of caffeine can cause dehydration, anxiety, digestive problems, and sleep problems. Many energy drinks include guarana, which contains caffeine and adds to the drink’s caffeine content.
To help ensure we have positive learning environments, students are not permitted to consume energy drinks at school, and if they are found with them, staff may confiscate them. We also encourage students not to consume these drinks before they arrive at school.
WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY (YEARS 7-10)
As technology continues to develop and with many adolescents being early adopters of new technology (if they can afford it), we have updated our mobile phone policy to now include the term ‘wearable technology’. We are seeing more students with smartwatches that have the same (or very similar) communication capabilities as mobile phones. We are sure that in the future there will be other wearable technology items that may become more common amongst students at school.
Students who have a school documented Health Plan or IEP explicitly detailing the need to use technology are the only students permitted to interact with their phone or wearable technology at school for the reasons detailed in that plan.
It is also worth mentioning that Years 11 and 12 students may use their phones at school, but only in class with direct permission from their teacher.
Our school values positive partnerships with each family in our school. We appreciate your ongoing support as we continue to enhance the learning environments at our school.
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: BIBLICAL & RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Biblical Studies
Years 7-10 have spent Term 1 diving into the four different Gospel narratives. Year 7 studied the Gospel of Mark, tackling the big questions of ‘Who is Jesus?’ and ‘What did He come to do?’ Year 8 jumped into Matthew’s Gospel, focusing on the Sermon on the Mount and the grace that is on offer through Jesus. Year 9 conducted some historical investigations by looking at the Gospel of Luke. Students were able to compare other historical sources with the New Testament and could confidently conclude that the New Testament is a very reliable historical source, especially compared to other secular historical sources of similar antiquity. Year 10 focused on the Gospel of John, unpacking some of the different signs of Jesus being the Messiah, with a focus on understanding more about the Jewish culture and the fulfilment of various Jewish festivals – in Jesus. All students from Years 7-10 have been practising their skills in locating Bible passages, as well as analysing Scripture in its context, furthering skills in Biblical literacy.
Year 11 Studies of Religion 1 Unit
Students have been studying the nature of religion and beliefs in Term 1. This has allowed for constructive conversations and discussions, as well as opening a space for students to ask questions about a variety of topics in relation to belief systems and the structures of religions. Students have now begun their deep dive into the depth study of the religion of Islam. Students will learn about how the religion began, its principle beliefs, as well as the characteristics of the Islamic religion. Students will attend a tour of the Gallipoli Mosque in Auburn in Week 2 of Term 2.
Year 11 Christian Ministry & Theology (CMT)
Students have been engaging in a variety of studies around different theological topics in relation to Christianity. CMT students have been away on their first retreat, and all found this to be a really special experience, learning more about Jesus and His Word, whilst gathering together with other like-minded students. Students came away from this retreat with a new understanding of the need to spend time personally with God, in His Word and communicating with Him through prayer. Students also completed an Assessment Task where they chose a theological topic they wanted to learn more about, researched the topic and then presented findings to the class. All students found this to be a very beneficial task, as they all learnt not only about their own topics, but also from the research their peers presented.
Year 12 Studies of Religion (SOR) 1 & 2 Unit
Year 12 students are maintaining excellence in their commitment to their studies in SOR 1 and 2. Students have been studying Islam (SOR 1&2) and Judaism (SOR2). Students are immersed in their learning in the classroom, which is reflected in wonderfully deep and conscientious discussions and questions. Students are working hard to complete essay plans, turning these into drafts and then turning these into practice essays for feedback – all in preparation for the HSC. Students have completed another Assessment Task in Term 1, with a general culture of a high working ethic. Early in Term 2, students will attend an excursion to the Islamic Science and Research Association, where we will be able to hear lectures on our 3 depth study topics for Islam and be able to ask questions. Classes have been putting together a list of questions for the day so that we are prepared and able to make the most of this opportunity.
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