The necessity of Godly character

“Leaders of tomorrow” … Head Girl Chanelle W and Deputy Head Boy Harry D, flanked by Deputy Principal Student Welfare Hayden Scally (far right) are pictured receiving a Western Australian flag recently from the Hon Steve Martin Agricultural Region MLC. We all have a part to play in shaping the character of the next generation.

By Sophia de Lange
Acting Principal

It is with a grateful heart, full of humility and thanksgiving, that I look back over the past 14 months, while Principal Gavin Hirschhausen has been on sabbatical leave. Gavin will return at the start of Term 3.

It has been a privilege to serve you as Acting Principal.

Thank you for the support and trust that you have placed in the College in Gavin’s absence – and for partnering with us in the education of your children. They are a gift from God.

I would also particularly like to thank our new families, who have integrated into our school community with grace and positivity.

This year the College celebrates its 44th anniversary.

The ongoing fundamental challenge for the College is to align with the core values of the school’s mission and vision – and, most importantly, with God-breathed Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

The tension between changes to equal opportunities legislation and our core values needs to be carefully scaffolded and navigated to protect the school’s vision.

Essential questions we all must ask ourselves are:

How will we honour God in our daily lives?
What will authentic Christian education look like in the next 44 years?
What is our purpose as an authentic Christian School in Geraldton?
Do we make a difference in our community?

These questions need careful consideration.

Authentic Christian education emphasises the development of a fully educated person, not just an economic or industrial unit.

A well-rounded education aims to develop skills, knowledge, and understanding, convicted by a commitment to values and character, based on practised values.

These beliefs should underpin every area of the College.

Effective Christian teachers are committed to more than just the transfer of knowledge.

Rather, they seek character transformation – people who will practise humble wisdom, peace, patience, kindness, respect and self-control.

Wisdom is knowledge with character.

“A non-competitive effective education is not satisfied with mediocracy, laziness or educational unfaithfulness.” – Ken Dickens (former chief executive officer of Christian Education National, of which Geraldton Christian College is a member school).

An effective Christian school redefines excellence and quality, considering Biblical teaching. The most excellent way is the way of love, which calls for authentic learning and academic and vocational integrity as a call to responsive discipleship.

God has a plan for every student, to prosper them, serving in His kingdom, according to God’s purposes to glorify Him (Jeremiah 29:11).

Therefore, Christian teachers do not indoctrinate, coerce, or enforce their beliefs on students to accept the gospel.

Students’ opinions and beliefs are treated with respect and sensitivity, just as Christians are entitled to respect for the Christian perspective.

As a community we all have a part to play in cultivating a flourishing, nurturing covenant community with a shared vision under the lordship of Jesus Christ, investing in the future of our children, the leaders of tomorrow.

We call it “Learning God’s Way”.

Enrolments open for Kindy 2024

By Fiona Davidson
Enrolments Officer

Enrolments for Kindy 2024 are now open. Please contact enrolments@gcc.wa.edu.au if you have a child whose birthday falls between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2020 so we can send a link to complete enrolment paperwork online. We will have some “Come and Play Days” at Kindy next term – invitations will be emailed to families in July, so please make sure you have your child’s name on the Kindy list!

Places are filling fast in other year levels too. If you have friends who are interested to enrol their children at GCC next year, we would suggest that they contact us as soon as possible.

NAIDOC Week student art competitions

By Dynika Abetz
Student Support Counsellor

The College will hold art competitions for Primary and Secondary students in the lead-up to NAIDOC Week celebrations next term (14 to 18 August).

Primary students can enter a colouring-in competition. Entries were handed out to students this week.

Interested students are asked to please hand back completed entries to their class teacher or at Student Services, with the student’s name and class written in pencil on the back of the entry, by Wednesday 28 June (last week of this term).

Categories are Kindy to Year 2, Years 3-4 and Years 5-6.

There will be a prize for the winner of each category, donated by Turtle Cove Early Learning Centres.

Entries will be displayed during our NAIDOC week celebrations and winners will be announced at whole school assembly on Monday 14 August.

Secondary students are invited to enter a boomerang decorating competition.

There are only 50 boomerangs available, so get in quick. Come to the Wellness Office in the Library to put your name down for one.

Boomerangs will be handed out on 21 June to those who have signed up and are due back at the Wellness Office by Friday 28 July (first week of Term 3).

Boomerangs will need to be decorated with acrylic paint or paint pens. Instructions will be given with the boomerang.

If needed, the art shed will be open during some selected lunch times to give students an opportunity to paint at school in the first week of Term 3.

Turtle Cove Early Learning Centres have donated a $100 voucher for first prize and two $50 vouchers (students will have the option to nominate where the voucher is from).

For more information, please email dynika.abetz@gcc.wa.edu.au. Please note I work Wednesdays and Fridays only.

Readers to vie for prizes and House points

The Library is excited to announce an Accelerated Reading Competition between classes, with prizes up for grabs and the opportunity to earn point towards your House faction at the same time.

The Competition is open to students from Years 2 to 10.

The way it will work is, after reading your Accelerated Reader book and taking the quiz, your quiz points will be converted to tokens.

These tokens will then go into your class jar, situated in the library.

Each week Library staff will calculate the tokens and add to the class chart on display.

The class chart with the highest number of tokens at the end of Term 4 will be awarded a class prize.

To even the score between age groups, there will be three groupings of classes and three class prizes.

Points will also go towards your House. Go Alpha and Omega!

Every student can contribute.

So let’s get ready to read … and to help your classmates and your House faction.

‘Cray-zy good’ development for Outdoor Education program

By Andre Steenekamp
Director of Sport and Outdoor Education

The College is pleased to announce the successful launch of the Coro Park Outdoor Education base camp at Coronation Beach, with the exciting prospect of hosting College programs and community activities.

The recent and successfully completed Year 10, 11 and 12 expeditions and the staff team-building event at Coro Park has sparked the College community into an exciting joint venture, with God’s goodness and provision on display.

God, community and unity are the three key ingredients to launching this vision into action, which aligns with the College’s mission statement: In partnership with parents, Geraldton Christian College aims to make known the Lordship of Jesus Christ, through excellence in education, to equip students for works of service.

Staff, students and members of the community have been actively involved in the planning, construction and execution of this initiative, which aims to make known the Lordship of Jesus Christ by creating opportunities to discover creation, and more importantly the Creator, by being in touch with and taking care of His magnificent and diverse creation.

As always, the God of relationships is at work, uniting His people and allowing them to have fun along the way…

After completion of the mesh area (and a special thanks to the expertise of Mr Harrington and Mr Richards) College staff and their families had the opportunity to open the facility.

The College’s senior Outdoor Education expeditions followed, involving environmental-sustainability research and planning, accompanied by the opportunity to acquire a recreational skippers ticket, boating, canoeing, snorkelling, fishing, crayfishing, surfing, stand-up paddle boarding, wind-winging, hiking, orienteering, mountain biking, survival skills, and of course the all-important camping skills, with a bush “master chef” to finish off the camps.

In a world that seems to lose traction every day, we would like our students to discover God’s first love for them by utilising the natural environment, free of the bombardment of worldly distractions, with a deep hope that these experiences will connect them with The Way, The Truth and The Life found in Jesus Christ.

Members of the College community will have the opportunity to be involved in this ongoing venture, joining forces for future busy bees and activities.

Partnership with parents is invaluable.

Internet outage a chance to give voice to history

By Huia Woods-Smith
Secondary Teacher Humanities and Social Sciences

During the recent internet outage affecting the Geraldton region, Year 8, Year 9 and Year 10.1 HASS students were given the opportunity to put their knowledge of their topics into song.

Songs are used by cultures to convey and transfer knowledge where there is no written alphabet, or to add political commentary on current topics or injustices in society.

Year 8 students wrote about the Black Death. Year 9 students wrote about the Industrial Revolution or World War I and Year 10.1 (General) students wrote about World War II.

Students were to write notes on their topic first before choosing a lyrical style to reproduce the information. They then presented their creations to the class.

Students were given a choice of Haiku poems (5 syllables, 7 syllables then 5 syllables), re-write of a popular song lyrics or a freestyle original rap. Year 8.1 students Taylor A and Mackenzie D wrote a brilliant rap about Black Death.

These exercises in creative poetry/lyrical masterpiece drafting coincided with the Poetry Slam held in Primary School.

Mental maths game multiplies students’ skills

By Annette Kuhlmann
Acting Inclusive Education Coordinator

Earlier this term, students of the newly-created Primary Numero Group attended a professional in-school workshop in the game of Numero by IETPL’s Julie Richards.

Independent Education & Training Pty Ltd (IETPL) is the WA-owned and operated publisher of “Numero®”, a world-class mental maths game.

IETPL’s Julie Richards runs professional learning for staff and student or parent workshops to instruct, develop and promote the use of Numero® in all areas of maths education.

Numero® is a mathematics card game that teaches speed of all four operations (and on higher levels fractions, decimals, percentages, squared and cubed roots, multiple equations and point-scoring).

It requires a high level of problem-solving skills and an understanding of strategy, which develops from basic stages with young students to complex moves that will challenge the brightest mathematical minds.

Students had the opportunity to learn the rules and tricks of the game by the daughter of the founder of the Numero® game, who – in a very engaging way – challenged students’ mental maths and problem-solving skills.

The group meets once a week and is working towards sending a team to the AFG Primary Interschool Numero® Challenge, held in Geraldton towards the end of Term 3.

It has been a great start to the new group created this term, as part of the College’s commitment to offer meaningful and engaging enrichment/extension opportunities to a wide range of students at the College.

Armed for Life director Adam Przytula, who was bullied throughout high school, wants to help others live healthy and resilient lives.

Bouncing back: Adam’s top tips for resilience

By Tamicah Pettigrew
College Chaplain

On Tuesday this week, we had a visit from Armed for Life Director Adam Przytula who came to talk to our Year 8 and 9 students.

Armed for Life does presentations in schools with a special focus on equipping young people with the tools to lead a healthy and resilient life.

Adam has a passion for helping teenagers and adults with mental health issues, having experienced anxiety and depression as a young person due to difficulties at home and being bullied throughout his high school years.

Adam’s main topic for this visit was resilience, particularly when experiencing bullying.

Here are just a few of the keys that Adam shared with our students:

Develop relationships with people you trust and can call on in times of need. Just one person can be enough, although three to five is ideal.
Understand yourself. Know why you’re experiencing negative emotions. Then acknowledge and deal appropriately with these feelings so you don’t get stuck in them.
Change your thoughts. Negative thoughts and emotions keep us bogged down, but positive people will acknowledge feelings like hurt and then choose to move on.
Rebound – we can choose to react or respond.
Stay calm. If anger is rising, get out of the situation.
Problem solve. Choose to believe that there is a solution and do something proactive like asking for help.
Choose what is right. Make a conscious choice to respond instead of reacting.
Know when to ask for help. It is so important to ask for help when we need it. This not a sign of weakness. Asking for help from people we trust can help make us stronger and helps get the problem under control before it becomes overwhelming.

One key thought that Adam emphasised is that every person is valuable and deserves to be respected and treated well.

CHRISTIAN JAM

On Tuesday mornings this term, we started running Christian Jump Jam before school. We start at 8.15am and it’s a great way to warm up on a cold winter morning and praise Jesus at the same time!

Christian Jump Jam is open to all students, with parents and younger siblings also welcome to come and join the fun!

Our Wellbeing Team is here to assist students on their wellbeing journey. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you think we can be of assistance.

Curtain drawn on Term 2 drama classes

By Shelley Cox
Primary and Secondary Drama Teacher

Throughout Term 2, Year 3 students have been learning about mime and freeze frame tableaux.

They have been having a wonderful time on stage.

Year 7 students have been learning circus skills, while students in Year 8 have been learning about puppetry and making their own puppets.

Cross country runners give their all at Perth meet

By Andre Steenekamp
Director of Sport and Outdoor Education

‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.’ (Hebrews 12:1)

Well done to the cross country runners who represented the College at the recent Associated and Catholic Colleges carnival at Perry Lakes in Perth.

It was pleasing to see every student give their absolute best, pushing hard to leave nothing in the tank as they ranked themselves among the 300 runners in their different peer groups.

Some students found another gear and even ran the 4km course, with the odd niggle being examined by our own physiotherapist and ex-student Kyle Wennekes.

With the support of their team-mates at the finish line every student finished strong and accomplished their goal for the day, emphasising once again that character is the building block for advancing skill.

Keep going strong!

Four teams contest Secondary interschool netball

By Annalise Edwards
Secondary Teacher

Praising God that last Friday was a beautifully sunny day to get out in the fresh air and enjoy some interschool netball!

The College took four Secondary teams to compete in the Year 7, Year 8/9, Year 9 and Year 11/12 divisions.

All teams showed great sportsmanship and worked well together on the court – facing teams from all high schools in Geraldton and even Kalbarri, Jurien Bay and one team from Perth.

Our Year 8 team came second overall in their division – winning four of their six games.

Praising God for opportunities to use our God-given talents, grow in teamwork and perseverance – while having fun.

Board members Mr Shaun Krause (Deputy Chair), Mr Grant Wilson, Ms Marli van Wyk, Dr Khim Harris (Chair) and Mr Stefanus Strydom (Secretary). Absent: Mr Brunno Santos, Mr Dean Solman and Mr Jose Silva.

Three new Directors join Association Board

Geraldton Christian Community Schools Association held its annual general meeting on Monday 29 May 2023. It is one of two main opportunities each year when Association members can ask questions or raise any concerns they may have about the school’s governance or management.

The Meeting reviewed a Proposal to Amend the Association Mission Statement and voted to make some minor changes to the Association Constitution.

Three new Directors, Ms Marli van Wyk, Mr Grant Wilson and Mr Jose Silva, were elected to the Association Board. Two Members, Mrs Lorena Bennett and Mr Andrew Beard were also acknowledged for their service to the College, as long-serving Directors and past Chairs .

The Board now comprises: Dr Khim Harris (Chair); Mr Shaun Krause (Deputy Chair); Mr Stefanus Strydom (Secretary); Mr Brunno Santos; Mr Dean Solman; Ms van Wyk; Mr Wilson; and Mr Silva. Acting Principal Mrs Sophia de Lange and Business Manager Tracey du-Pont attend all Board meetings.

Long-serving Board members and past Chairs, Mrs Lorena Bennett and, far right, Mr Andrew Beard, with current Board Chair Dr Khim Harris.

Calendar

Monday June 19

08:30am – 11am OLNA Numeracy: Yr 10 – Yr 12

3:10pm – 4:30pm Country Week boys volleyball training – after school

3:15pm – 4:15pm Country Week netball training at Hangar (NOT on public holidays)

Tuesday June 20

3:10pm – 4:15pm Sub-junior hockey training – at hockey stadium

3:10pm – 5pm Homework Club – Years 3 to 12 (in-Term only and NOT on public holidays)*

Wednesday June 21

Optional: House shirt day (Alpha/Omega) for Secondary students

09am – 11am Yr 10 Immunisations in Hall

10am – 12pm Yr 9 Career Taster TAFE – revegetation and erosion control

2:06pm – 3pm Primary Assembly PP to Y6 in Hall

3:10pm – 4:30pm Primary after school netball training

3:15pm – 4:15pm Country Week after school Girls Volleyball Training

3:15pm – 4:15pm Drama rehearsals – speaking roles TP&TP

3:20pm – 4pm Maths Support – Years 7 to 12 (in-term only)

Thursday June 22

3:10pm – 5pm Homework Club – Years 3 to 12 (in-term only and not on public holidays)*

Friday June 23

Yellow Ribbon Day – Leukaemia Foundation fundraiser

07:15am – 08:15am Country Week before-school hockey training in Wonthella

09:20am – 2:30pm Hockey Carnival Yr 5 and 6

Sunday June 25