School Newsletter

I would like to say a huge welcome back to everyone! 2025 is upon us and there is so much to be excited about. I do hope you were able to have a refreshing break across the Christmas season and are now looking forward to all that God has in store for us.

This year we will welcome 130 new students to our community. A number of these will be in Kindergarten but it is also true to say that we have new students commencing in every grade within the school apart from Year 3 (due to waiting lists) and Year 12. Along with all the new students commencing we also have 10 new staff who have commenced with us across all departments within the school.

There have also been a number of developments that have occurred over the holidays across our campus. Our brand new C Block rooms will be operational for the students. We have a delay on the balustrades but we have established a short-term resolution. We are excited about our Bible Timeline that was installed over the holidays. In the Junior School, the new basketball/netball court has been laid and the posts have been installed. We are waiting for the asphalt to cure before it gets painted and lines marked. Similarly in our Secondary School, the area between C and D Blocks has also been laid with asphalt. Once it cures we intend to paint it and have handball courts and pickleball courts marked. Four of our Secondary classrooms have also been renovated to enhance the learning environment. This includes H1 (the classroom in the MPC) which has now become a fully fledged gym with treadmills, rowers, weight stacks and boxing equipment.

Physical resources are important, but we are a school and all about learning. It was wonderful to celebrate the achievements of our outgoing Year 12 cohort. For the first time in our history, almost 20% of the grade achieved an ATAR above 80. You may also have seen that in Term 4 last year, the Daily Telegraph published an analysis of NAPLAN results for schools on the Central Coast. WCCS was ranked third for Year 9 results across all Secondary Schools, which is a wonderful achievement and a testament to the work of your students and our teachers.

Hopefully, by now you have also read about the exciting developments that are planned for 1 North Road. I have written to you separately regarding that matter so I won’t go into detail about that here.

It truly is a great joy to serve alongside so many wonderful staff as we seek to minister to your children. We are looking forward to the return of our students. I am confident God has a lot of adventures planned for us this year – Week 1 is already packed with several events. As exciting and busy as all of these happenings are, we want to ensure we continue to live out the words of Hebrew 12:2, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”

God bless,

• Wellbeing Week - Monday 3rd to Friday 7th March (Week 6)
  
• Kindergarten, Years 5 & 7 (for 2026) Information Evening - Tuesday 4th March (Week 6)
• Years 3, 5, 7 & 9 NAPLAN Testing Commences - Wednesday 12th March (Week 7)
• Junior School Crazy Hair Day & World's Greatest Shave - Friday 21st March (Week 8)
• WCCS Twilight Tours Open Evening - Wednesday 26th March (Week 9)
• Years 3 & 4 Camp - Thursday 27th to Friday 28th March (Week 9)
• Junior School Athletics Carnival - Thursday 3rd April (Week 10)
• Years 7-11 Parent Teacher Interviews - Monday 7th April (Week 11)
• Years K-11 Parent Teacher Interviews - Tuesday 8th April (Week 11)
• Years K-12 Cross Country Carnival - Thursday 10th April (Week 11)
• Years K-12 Easter Service - Thursday 10th April (Week 11)
• Junior School Celebration Assembly at 9am - Friday 11th April (Week 11)
  
• Secondary School Celebration Assembly at 2pm - Friday 11th April (Week 11)

WCCS SCHOOL APP

If you are utilising the subscription settings within our School App, please remember to reset your subscriptions for 2025.
Customising your subscriptions allows you to receive notices and alerts that are relevant to your child's/children's year group.

How to update your subscriptions:

• Open our School App
• Click on Settings
• Click on Subscriptions
• Click on each category and select the specific tags you would like to receive notices about

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.

NEW BABY ANNOUNCEMENT

Congratulations to Mr Luke Bull and his wife Bec on the arrival of their baby girl Sofia. Sofia was born on 2nd January, weighing 2.98kg.
Please keep the Bulls in your prayers as they settle into being a family of three.

WCCS OPEN DAY

If you have friends or family members considering WCCS for their child/ren, our upcoming Open Day will be held on Wednesday 19th February, 2025. For further information, please click here.

• Pray for the start of the 2025 school year. That our students would have a smooth return to school and that those who are new to WCCS would have a great start and settle into our community.
• Pray for safety, protection and a sense of joy for staff and students at our upcoming carnivals, excursions and camps.
• Thank God for our incredible community and the blessing of Christian schooling.

Greetings friends of Junior School and welcome to another fun filled year of love, laughter and learning at WCCS.

Firstly, thank you so much for supporting our staff in their Professional Development. We were able to learn and consolidate so many things that will ultimately support our precious students in their education this year.

Researcher and author Brené Brown, referring to her research on Wholeheartedness and Vulnerability, suggests that our kids are hard-wired for struggle and worthy of unconditional love and acceptance.

This is such a vivid reflection of the words of Jesus, in the Gospel of John 16:33, when He shares that, “In this world you will have trouble (tribulations, sorrow) but take heart (fear not) for I have overcome the world.”

Our students are going to struggle at times this year, with relationships, learning new concepts/skills and family or community issues.

Guess what? They need to struggle, in a supported environment, in order to develop their problem solving, resilience and coping skills.

BUT FEAR NOT! TAKE HEART!

We will be loving them, supporting them and, most importantly, pointing them to Jesus, who is our ever-present help in times of need and our only true hope for the future. Amen!

We are definitely in the Philippians 4 mindset, so we present our prayers and requests to Jesus and He will bless us with a peace that transcends all understanding.

Many visitors to WCCS comment on the incredible culture of our school and the outstanding behaviour and attitude of our students. This is a real blessing for our wider school and church communities. One of the areas that visitors comment on is the beautiful manners of our students. This reflects the supportive families in our community and their desire for their children to engage in traditional values and manners. To this end our students will be expected to demonstrate good manners to their teachers, peers and parents.

Some of the words, phrases and behaviour that we teach our students, and expect them to demonstrate, include;

• Please
• Thank you
• I’m sorry
• Excuse me
• May I?
• I appreciated that
• Can I help you?
• Would you like to share this with me?
• Would you like to join us?
• Using kind and encouraging words at all times.
• Respecting elders including students.
• Inclusive and respectful behaviour at all times.
• Allowing others to play, speak and disagree with you.
• Play with someone else if someone is consistently unpleasant.
• Seek teacher assistance if disagreements escalate and/or tempers flare.

We believe that these elements are in alignment with our 3 Junior School Rules.

BE KIND

WORK HARD

SHOW RESPECT

We will be unpacking our school rules in our first Chapel gathering in Week 2. You are cordially invited to join us at 9am on Friday 7th February in our school Multi-Purpose Centre. The baristas in the Good Day Kiosk will happily fill your latte tank before and/or after the service.

We are super excited about our new teachers commencing this year; Mrs Yates (Year 6); Mr Worrall (Year 4); and Mrs Hoken (Year 3). They are feeling so blessed to be part of such a vibrant and supportive community.

You are no doubt aware that we will roll straight into our Junior School Swimming Carnival and Water Fun Day (Years 1-6) on Friday 31st January. Please pray for good weather and safe participation for our precious students.

Some relatively boring but important house-keeping reminders to start the year.

Towards the end of last year we were seeing a growing amount of jewellery in Junior School. Please note that our precious girls can have a watch and one set of safe earrings.

Please leave the dangly earrings, necklaces, bangles, bracelets, anklets and signet rings at home for safe-keeping.

Our staff will be checking on jewellery and gently asking students to remove these items. This may cause our precious kids some embarrassment and frustration that does not need to happen. It would be super helpful and greatly appreciated if you support us in this endeavour. If you see your child heading out the door with a necklace, bracelet, ring or unsafe earrings please ask them to remove these items and put them somewhere safe.

Afternoon pick-up will be very busy this first week. We ask for your patience during this busy time. Our Kindergarten students will finish around 2:45pm to allow them to escape the overwhelming crowds. All remaining classes in Years 1 to 6 will be in car lines at 3pm. Please meet your child in their class groups under our shelter rather than at different points along the path. This will help the teachers immensely. We ask that all parents meet us in this designated area rather than stay in cars as the car park becomes a very busy and dangerous place during the afternoon. Our desire is to start the year safely and establish safe routines for our students.

We are really excited about what God is going to do this year, in and through our apprentice disciples and we are absolutely looking forward to working with our wonderful community.

God bless.

Chat soon,

Welcome Back to a New School Year!

It’s that time again! We’re so excited to welcome you back to another school year filled with new opportunities, friendships, and growth. Whether you're returning or joining us for the first time, we're grateful to have you as part of the WCCS Community. This year is sure to be full of laughter, challenges, and moments we’ll cherish together.

As we step into this new chapter, let’s remember that God is with us every step of the way - guiding us, encouraging us, and giving us strength for whatever comes our way. Our prayer is that this year will not only be one of academic and personal growth but also a year where we deepen our faith, share His love and serve one another with compassion.

In our future newsletters, we will be showcasing each of our Grade Teams and you will be able to learn more about our Year Advisors and Home Room Teachers.

We are looking forward to having students back in our classrooms and hearing about their holiday adventures.

God bless,

LIBRARY NEWS

The library staff would like to extend a warm welcome to all new students and parents who started WCCS this year. The following information provides a brief overview of our Library services.

Library Staff

• Teacher Librarians: Mrs Hutchings (Monday-Friday) and Mrs Stubbs (Monday & Tuesday)
• Library Assistants: Mrs Creanor (Monday-Thursday) and Mrs Hughes (Wednesday & Friday)

Opening Hours

• 8:30am-4pm on school days

Canvas

All library information can be accessed on Canvas via the Library page (students use their usual network login). The following can be found on Canvas:

• Oliver: The library catalog Oliver is where students can search for books and other resources.
• Clickview, Encyclopedia Britannicia and ebooks.
• Junior School Resources: Accelerated Reader, Storybox and Premier’s Reading Challenge.
• Secondary School Resources: These guides provide information on referencing, plagiarism, subject resources and HSC Resources.

Reading

The library holds a wide variety of books from picture, fiction, young adult and senior fiction, and non-fiction. We also have a parent section. Parents are welcome to borrow for themselves and younger children.

Mrs Bronwyn Hutchings | Head of Library & Mrs Christina Stubbs | Teacher Librarian

During Term 1 we will be introducing you to our Year 12 Student Leadership Team in our Newsletter. This fortnight we are introducing Ella B and Charlotte L.