School Newsletter

There are many things about the God we worship that I find wonderful. If you are one of the families that had a conversation with me before your child/ren joined our community, you may recall that I spoke about how we believe that all of the students God has brought into our community are uniquely created with their own gifts from God. The Psalmist recognised this when they wrote the words in Psalm 139 which read ‘I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.’ Jesus shared a similar sentiment when he explained that God has numbered all the hairs on our heads.

It is great to reflect on how intimately God knows us; I also find encouragement that He is gracious enough to allow us to relate to Him in our own unique ways. Over the years I have met many wonderful people who call Jesus their Lord; I’ve also recognised that at times their relationship with Jesus looks very different from mine. I don’t think it necessarily means that either faith is better or worse. Rather, we worship a Saviour who can engage people in ways that work best for them.

This morning in Devotions I showed our staff a prayer from a Southern Baptist Minister in the United States. He prayed in a way that I could never see myself doing. That doesn’t mean that my faith is any less authentic than his, just different. I think it is important to recognise that I don’t believe God contradicts Himself. If we are praying or behaving in ways that contradict what God has already taught us through the Bible, then I would suggest that it is us who has got things wrong, not God. At the same time, one of the great joys of serving in a K–12 community is that we get to see the students' faith grow and flourish throughout their journey through school. It is often beautiful to hear the simple child-like prayers of our youngest students, and equally encouraging to hear the well-thought-out, detailed prayers of some of our senior students.

However you feel comfortable relating to our Lord and Saviour, may I encourage you that it doesn’t have to be like anyone else. The Bible is clear that God wants us to repent and believe and then live out our personal faith. Each of us is on a journey of discovering what that authentically looks like. I look forward to sharing that ongoing journey with you.

God bless,

• Year 7 Orientation Day - Wednesday 13th November (Week 5)
  
• K-12 Orientation Day - Thursday 21st November (Week 6)
• Junior School Grandparents' Morning - Friday 29th November (Week 7)
• WCCS Christmas Fest - Tuesday 3rd December (Week 8)
• Junior School Carols - Tuesday 3rd December (Week 8)
• Year 6 Graduation - Thursday 5th December (Week 8)
• Kindergarten Graduation - Tuesday 10th December (Week 9)
• Celebration Assemblies - Wednesday 11th December (Week 9)
• Secondary Thumbs Up Award Day - Thursday 12th December (Week 9)
• Last day of Term 4 - Thursday 12th December (Week 9)
• Presentation Evening - Thursday 12th December (Week 9)

CHRISTMAS FEST

We will be holding Christmas Fest this year before Junior School Carols Evening on Tuesday 3rd December. For further information about this event click here.

STUDENT TRAVEL INFORMATION - A MESSAGE FROM TRANSPORT NSW
Applications are now open for 2025 School Student Transport Scheme (SSTS) travel.
Students in the Opal network applying for an Opal card (including a Term Bus Pass) for the first time will receive their School Opal card at their nominated postal address from mid-January 2025.

Students who require a School Opal card or travel pass but have not yet applied need to apply or update their details as soon as possible.

In the Opal network, students should travel with a Child/Youth Opal card until they receive their valid School Opal card. If outside Greater Sydney, parents should contact their local bus operator to discuss their travel needs.

Students living in rural and regional areas will receive their travel pass from their nominated transport operator. It may be issued via their school or be sent directly to them at home. Note: some rural and regional operators do not issue travel passes. Students/parents should confirm with their nominated operator if they do not receive a pass.

Students using School Opal cards must tap on and tap off in line with the Opal terms of use.

This includes travel within the approved times between 6.30am and 7.00pm from Monday to Friday on school days only. Students must use their Child/Youth Opal card for any travel outside these times.

All students are required to comply with the Student code of conduct. The code of conduct aims to ensure the safety and well-being of school children and other passengers. Parents/Guardians must ensure their child is aware of this, as failure to comply with the code of conduct can result in a suspension from travel.

• Give thanks for our wonderful school community, and the blessing of living in Australia.
  
• Give thanks to God for our beautiful school grounds and the amazing Grounds Team who care for God's creation with excellence.
• Pray for our students who are experiencing or recovering from injuries and illnesses, that God would heal, comfort and strengthen them and their families.
• Pray for those who may be asking questions about Jesus around the Christmas season, that their hearts would be curious and open to the Gospel.

Greetings friends of Junior School.

Our Infants Swim Scheme is going well. Humble thanks to our wonderful volunteers who are assisting us by driving the bus. Our new venue is working out really well and the kids seem to be enjoying their lessons. We are expecting the kids to start to fade by the end of this week (Week 3). You might experience some pretty tired and grumpy Kindergarten kids next weekend. Next week we will make the changeover to 2B and Year 1 classes for Swim Scheme.

Our school reports are well underway, and the teachers are preparing their comments to celebrate the success of our students. These will be emailed to you in the last week of school (Week 9).

Last week, our JS Chapel talk was about keeping Jesus the foundation of Christmas this year. We spoke about how Christmas decorations and trees are already on display in our shopping centres, and that Friday marked two months until Christmas. Some beautiful Kindergarten helpers were on stage with some mighty Year 6 students. The children helped decorate a Christmas tree. The children said we needed some decorations, lights and a tree. After decorating the tree, Year 6 students let the tree go. When they did it fell over and the children realised it had no base or stand. Once we added the base to the tree it stood.

This served as a reminder that Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus. Jesus is the foundation of our life. Without Him, our lives can look messy, or even fall over and break. When we have Jesus as our base, we can stand strong in His glory, knowing He has us. He is the strong foundation we need in our life.

The children were asked to remember this when their Christmas trees go up this year. Their tree needs a solid base, a firm foundation, just like we do, and that firm foundation is Jesus.

Year 1 are off to Rouse Hill today (Monday 28th October), so we are praying for God’s travelling mercies and some wonderful learning experiences for our precious kids.

Just a quick reminder that we also have our Years 5 and 6 Cricket Gala Day on Wednesday 30th October. Mrs Ormsby and Mrs Thomson are really excited about helping our kids learn some new cricket skills.

God bless,

Hello to our wonderful Secondary families,

We are well into Term 4 now and we would like to commend our students for the way they have returned to school and their learning.

Some highlights are:

• Year 12 have reached the halfway point of their HSC Exams. All HSC Exams at WCCS will be completed by Thursday 7th November, with Physics and Food Technology on that day.

• Year 11 students have now embarked on their HSC journey, with most HSC courses commencing this week. Students have maturely considered their patterns of study and made some changes, ready for the final destination of the HSC in 2025!

• Year 10 students started their Examinations today (Monday 28th October) and they will conclude on Friday. We are praying for them as they complete this milestone towards their Year 10 ROSA (Record of School Achievement).

• Year 9 are completing their final preparations for their Exams, which will commence in Week 4.

• Our Years 7 and 8 students are also very productive, as they are engaged in learning and completing their end-of-year assessments.

It has been a blessing to overhear conversations between students as they discuss how they can prepare for their upcoming Exams and support each other.

A shout-out to our incredible staff who are creating great resources for students, providing feedback on drafts and engaging in collaboration with each other to provide quality learning experiences and authentic assessments for our students.

Our first Orientation Day for Year 7, 2025 will take place on Wednesday 13th November. We are excited to welcome new students and families into Secondary School.

We’d like to bring attention to a couple of areas that as a Secondary School we could improve on collectively:

• All students are reminded of their responsibility to arrive at school/class on time.

• Full school uniform is required for all lessons. Students should change into their sports uniform for practical lessons – this should not be worn all day. This is the same for practical Merge groups.

• Chewing gum is not permitted onsite at any time.

• As already prompted by our Assistant Principal, Mr Moody, students are to be dropped off and picked up from the back carpark to assist with traffic congestion and access to facilities for church members.

We would like to encourage you with the following verse:

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others” (1 Peter 4:10).

As you know, one of our five School Values is Service. As we head into the final weeks of the year and towards Christmas, we encourage our students to look for opportunities to serve and support one another.

God bless,

DEBATING
Congratulations to our Year 5 and Year 7 Debating teams who won their debates in Week 2. Both teams argued for the affirmative, convincing their adjudicators that, ‘All Australians should be vegetarians’ and ‘School start times should be mandated to start later in the day’! These two teams of clever arguers are so far undefeated, and we wish them all the very best in the upcoming quarter-finals of the Australian National Debating Competition.

BEBRAS CHALLENGE
Over the past two weeks, sixty-five students from Years 3 to 8 have participated in the BEBRAS Computational Thinking Challenge during their Mathematics Extension groups. It is always such a delight to hear thoughtful Maths talk and positive collaboration around the room, as students work together to solve some very tricky problems! We look forward to hearing their results in the coming weeks.

ICAS COMPETITION
A huge congratulations to the 149 students who took part in the 2024 ICAS Competitions in the subjects of Mathematics, English, Science, Writing and Spelling. ICAS is a high-level academic competition entered by only a select number of students across Australia. This year, WCCS students earned 3 High Distinctions, 20 Distinctions, 50 Credits and 16 Merits – which translates to 60% of our WCCS competitors receiving a Merit or higher. This is very impressive, yet no matter what result was earned, each of our competitors is to be commended for their participation and should be very proud of their achievements!

EVENING OF EMINENCE
Each week throughout Semester 2, 40 inspired K-6 students have been diligently working on a very exciting project – the Evening of Eminence. Each of these students has chosen someone who has made a positive impact on the world to learn about, and ultimately become. I’d love to invite our WCCS community to join us on Tuesday 26th November, from 5pm in the MPC, to hear from and meet some inspirational people, from Neil Armstrong, to Beethoven, Audrey Hepburn, Isaac Newton, Queen Esther, Corrie Ten Bom, Sir David Attenborough, Cristiano Ronaldo, Eric Liddell, Eddie Woo, Rosa Parks, Abraham Lincoln … and many more! We would love to see you there.

Mrs Anne Livette-Vial | High Potential & Enrichment Teacher

Recently, Mrs McKendry and I had the pleasure of taking our Junior Boys, Junior Girls, Senior Boys, and Senior Girls teams to the HCZS Basketball Gala Day at Broadmeadow Basketball Stadium. All students demonstrated excellent sportsmanship and played with great enthusiasm. A special congratulations to the Junior Boys team for making it to the Semi-Finals!

We'd also like to extend a huge thank you to Joel A, Zac S and Grace R from Secondary School, who gave up their lunch times to coach the teams and attended the Gala Day to support the players.

Mr Rob Higgins | Junior School Teacher

9 PDHPE GYM CIRCUIT

Year 9 Red started off the term with a bang! Students embraced an invigorating and challenging Gym Circuit during their PDHPE class to kickstart the term. Rotating through various stations, they engaged in exercises that challenged their strength, agility, and endurance.

It was encouraging to see our students push themselves physically but also socially as they participated in quite an impressive workout session. Here is a small sample of what Year 9 was able to accomplish together as a class: 500 sit-ups, 3,500 reps of skipping, 350 pushups, 1,500 bicep curls, 900 tricep dips, 5kms of rowing and much more! Well done Year 9 for your sustained efforts as you reinforced the importance of teamwork and steps in creating healthy habits.

CIS NSW STATE ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

Cody C from Year 7 recently competed at the annual CIS NSW State Athletics Carnival at the end of last term. Cody competed in the 1,500m event for the 12 Years Boys and managed to secure 5th place and also created a new personal best with a time of 5 minutes and 11 seconds. Congratulations Cody!

Orlando G from Year 7 also competed on the day. Orlando qualified by placing inside the top 3 at CSSA earlier in Term 3. Orlando competed in the 800m 14 Years Boys event where he managed to dig deep to earn himself a 3rd place finish with a time of 2:14 which is an outstanding achievement. Congratulations Orlando!

Micah B from Year 11 ran an outstanding 1:59 800m race at the Carnival. He managed to create a new personal best by 3 seconds! Micah also ran well in the 1,500m event where he secured an impressive 3rd place. After CIS, Micah competed at the NSW All Schools Athletics Carnival for the 17 Years Boys representing CIS and ran an incredibly close race and managed to secure 7th place at this level. We are very proud of his commitment, hard work and dedication in the lead-up to this event. Congratulations.

We pray that all of our athletes will continue to let God shine through their efforts and achievements and we can’t wait to see what they can do next year!

SUPER 8s CRICKET

Upcoming this term, Secondary students have the opportunity to try out for our Super 8s Cricket Team that will be held in Maitland during Week 6. Due to the unpredictable weather forecasted for this week, students hoping to attend are encouraged to stay updated on our ‘Secondary Sport 2024 ’ Canvas page for more details regarding tryouts.

Mr Nathan Irvine | Secondary School Sports Coordinator