Dear College families,

While we’re enduring this marathon of a lockdown, I have been seeking out creative ways for each day to be different. Whilst I enjoyed the movie, Groundhog Day, I am not really enjoy living it and I’m sure you are feeling the same. I thought I would share some of these thoughts with you, in the hope that they might inspire you in the coming weeks.

One of our College families challenged their children during lockdown in 2020, to create something unique in order to move them from what could be a period of passivity to a period of purpose. What they discovered is a love of building furniture out of recycled goods. Without lockdown, I wonder if they would they have ever known that. Other families have challenged their children to learn all the books of the Bible, or perhaps your daily challenge is just to get out in the sunshine each day. Maybe you could start a gratitude wall, listing all of the things that each of you are thankful for during this unique season.

Whatever it is that you decide to focus on, please make sure you are celebrating the wins as you go. Reward yourselves each weekend for getting through the week that was. Order takeaway, take some time out for you, enjoy a block of chocolate, whatever brings you joy.

Felicity Marlow
Principal

Living through a global pandemic is something few of us will forget. Lockdowns in Sydney have prompted a range of responses and actions, some of which are helpful and others less so. It seems to me that one of our first responses is to check if we have everything we need. In these times, groceries, toilet paper, hand sanitiser, masks, and home office supplies have all been in high demand! But sometimes it can be hard to determine what we truly need, and we end up looking in the wrong places. Checking we have what we need is a prime concern when times are tough and understandably so. 

This year I have the privilege of teaching a Year 12 Biblical Studies class. We recently focused on John Chapter 6:25-59 which follows Jesus’ miracle of feeding the five thousand. From a small amount of food, Jesus had provided enough food for thousands of people to eat all they could. When the people were finished eating there was more food left over than what they had started with. The next day, some of the same people sought out Jesus and were asking him for more food. Perhaps they thought Jesus would give them another miracle meal or that he would do something even more amazing. Jesus challenges them to consider what they really need and what will truly satisfy. In John 6 verse 35 Jesus declares, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” The people came to Jesus wanting bread, but Jesus tells them “I AM the bread”. Jesus makes it clear that He is speaking of spiritual bread rather than literal bread. Jesus was talking about food for the soul.

As a community, we persevere to do the best we can to navigate this COVID era. It can be difficult to feel like life is on hold, wondering when “normal” will return. This can be especially difficult for our young people. When God has created us as relational beings, the emotional cost of isolation can take its toll and leave our souls troubled. These troubles are real and should not be disregarded. In facing these challenges, it can only be a blessing for us to keep returning to Jesus’ promise, “I am the bread of life.”

Feasting on the bread of life helps us to rest knowing God’s great plan for our lives. Knowing the bread of life satisfies us with everything we need for our salvation is the good news that never changes. Every blessing is in Him. He is the satisfaction of our souls that we need now and always.

Daryl Hinton
Head of Secondary Years

It was only a short seven months ago, at Christmas that most of us thought that we had this mystery virus COVID-19 under control in Australia. We had our normal celebrations and people across all cultures and faiths celebrated their community rituals for the Christmas holiday season with all their traditions. For Christians this involved celebrating the birth God’s son Jesus Christ our Saviour and the giving of gifts to each other as a symbol of God’s gift to us. As a nation we had no idea that there would be more extreme measures imposed on our country and many more than we had ever seen in 2020

The question now becomes how we manage in these times of grief, loss and trauma. It is grief and loss as we can’t do any of the things we would do as a normal part of life. Go to school, go shopping together, go out for dinner and mix with family and friends. Our exercise and our ability to travel outside of our local government area has been restricted by the Premier of NSW. Some Local Government Areas have had even tighter restrictions on their local community. It is also a form of trauma because of the uncertainty of the present time and then what the future may hold.

Dr Gabor Mate’s definition of trauma is: "Trauma is a psychic wound that hardens you psychologically, that then interferes with your ability to grow and develop. ... Trauma is not what happens to you, it's what happens inside of you as a result of what happened to you. Trauma is that scarring that makes you less flexible, more rigid, less feeling and more defended.”

So then, what can we do to help ourselves in this crisis?

1. We can validate that this is a challenging time and acknowledge that we all have different feelings about this pandemic. All feelings are valid, and we can have a variety of emotions during this time. Let your loved talk about all their feelings listen and acknowledge it is normal to feel like this at this time. Be prepared to ask questions about how your loved ones are managing their feelings of distress, stress and anxiety at the moment and give them hope and encouragement that this will end.  
2. Maintain your connections by starting a chat group, connecting through email or video conferencing such as zoom. Share something positive or funny with family or friends to keep a smile on your face. Don’t physically isolate from those in your family and give them a hug or usual physical greeting such as a kiss or high five during the day.
3. Set a routine - get up at the same time, go to bed at the same time, set boundaries on additional screen time and have regular exercise and breaks. Have meals together at the same time as usual and have some relaxation time at the end of the day. Allow yourself to wind down at the end of the day.
4. Take a break from the newsfeed updates. Do an activity that nourishes and entertains your heart and mind. Read a good book, watch a Netflix or Stan series or movie, or play a new game on your device.  You can play online with extended family or friends you can’t connect with at the moment.
5. Help others who may not have family to support them. We can always drop goods or supplies at other’s doorstep. Check in by ringing people you know and ask how you can help. Church groups are dropping fun activities for families with children to provide craft activities as a break from all their schoolwork. We build resilience and gain a sense of personal happiness when we help others.
6. Stay connected to your local community. Local businesses especially the hospitality industry is doing it tough at the moment, so if possible, grab something take-away and share it with the family. Churches are meeting via zoom or livestream so that we can stay connected to our church communities. We can always ring someone from church or a friend and ask how they are doing especially if they are alone. You may be the only person who rings them and communication and connection with other people is vital for our mental health. God has made us to have relationship with others.
7. Unleash your creativity by taking up a new hobby, cooking, gardening, learn to draw online. The digital world has thousands of things you can learn to do including YouTube exercises, dancing, and making your own home gym using everyday items.
8. Have a balanced perspective – this is not permanent; we don’t know how long restrictions will be enforced but like last year they will slowly ease, and life will start to get back to the routine we had at the end of 2020. Our country is doing its best to keep everyone safe and protected. We are living in a country with some of the best healthcare systems in the world. That is something to be grateful for.
9. Look after yourself. Eat a balanced diet, get plenty of sleep, exercise regularly, rest when tired, get a break from the screen, enjoy some treats such as comfort food occasionally and stay motivated by keeping your mind and body active. Look after your mental health as well as your physical health.
10. Online for everyone is stressful as it isn’t normal. Parents are working from home and children are learning remoting. Often people in household are spread out the best way they can. So be kind to one another and if someone says ‘I need a break’ give them a mental health day. We can’t all be superheros and conquer the situation we find ourselves in. We can only do what we can only do and that is parents and students. We need love, connection, patience and understanding to help us get through this time. We are all in this together and I know the College is supporting our community the best way it can.
    

Catherine Redwood
Counsellor

Some concepts have been taken from “Dealing with Stress and Anxiety During COVID-19” ACON 2020.

If you need help or assistance, they provide confidential counselling to people in our communities seeking support in relation to their mental health and wellbeing. The other option is to see your general practitioner for a mental health care plan to have 20 telehealth sessions with a psychologist.

Support services available:
ACON (02) 9206 2000 or 1800 063 060
beyond blue 1300 224 636
Lifeline 13 11 14
Reachout website -  https://au.reachout.com/

We love having your family as part of the College community, and look forward to partnering with you in 2022 to continue to realise your desire for your child to have a Christ-centred education that inspires and equips them to build a purposeful life. However, if you are considering withdrawing your child/ren from the College for 2022, a friendly reminder to please notify the College in writing to [email protected] by the last day of Term 3, to ensure you provide the full term’s notice required as per your Enrolment Agreement.

International Youth Day – “there’s no present like the time”

Thursday, 12 August is International Youth Day and the College would like to give families the opportunity to invest in their children on this day. We are encouraging all families to plan to set aside time (30 – 60 minutes) next Thursday for a juice, milkshake, donut, toast, hot chocolate, ice-cream, whatever works for you and your children and that feels like a treat and to simply have a chat.

Just like times when parents are invited onto the College campus, we hope that families will be able to block out a chunk of time in the day for some one-on-one time with each of their children that provides encouragement for both of you.

We’d love for parents to share what the experience would’ve been like for you at their age if you were required to “learn from home” (for most of us parents it wouldn’t have been called “online learning”). Discuss:

• From your perspective – what would your day have looked like?, how and where would you have connected with others?, what were your favourite subjects?, what would you have done for break time (did screen time exist)?
• From each child’s current experience – what would they like to do more of each day?, which subject has been the most fun?, what are you looking forward to doing at school when everyone returns? What sort of holiday would they most look forward to?

The most crucial element of this opportunity is that the College wants this to be “guilt free quality time”; meaning that it isn’t at the cost of learning time. On this day, teachers will not schedule anything from 1:30pm onwards which will enable families to plan their day with this window of time available. If it suits your family to spend time together earlier in the day the afternoon block could be used to catch up work.

Please give us feedback on how this goes or other elements of learning at home and we will seek to tweak our programs to provide the best experience in terms of learning outcomes that can be achieved through sustainable structures.

Primary
To begin, teachers have been doing their own devotions with students to encourage student connection with their teachers during online learning. When students return, we’ll be continuing our way through ‘God’s Plan’ through an overview of the Old Testament where we can see how God is unchanging and faithful in amongst all the things that go wrong in our life and world. If you are looking for some devotion materials you can do with your child during online learning, here are some ideas:

• Local churches are running online services, including kid’s programs. For example, you can check out ‘Bernie and Ben’ from Riverstone Baptist Church here. 
• Compassion Australia have produced a number of videos in partnership with Kids entertainer, Colin Buchanan, that you can check out here.
• QuizWorx regularly visit Norwest for puppet shows and have produced ‘QuizWorx Home Delivery’ with videos, activities, crafts, and a whole range of other resources here.

Secondary
In Secondary, we are beginning the term with conference calls in Home Groups where students complete a variety of activities with their mentors to foster interaction and to look towards God as a firm foundation in a stressful world. Such activities include Bible verse hunts, Kahoot memory verse games and prayer time. Later in the term, we will be starting a series called ‘Freedom’ looking at how it is ‘for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). We’ll be exploring how to find and use that freedom in Christ rather than still living as slaves to sin.

Discipling Secondary Students: Exploring what God has to say on the topic of freedom can open up some really important discussions with your family around what you and they are living for. You could do a short Bible reading plan together, listen to a podcast together or watch a video to introduce that discussion about what burdens and pressures they face and what to do with them. 

Christmas Card Design Competition

We know it’s early, but we thought it might be a good time while most families are home together, to open up our Christmas Card Design Competition.

We have a new challenge which will involve your whole family. We would love to see what Christmas means to you. You are only limited by your collective creativity.

Some examples might be a drawing, a collage, or a sculpture. You may want to take a photo of your Christmas in July feast, or perhaps build a nativity scene out of Lego. The options are endless.

Please email your submissions through to [email protected] by the end of August and the winning family will be notified before cards are posted out to our community.

Wednesday, 11 August at 7:30pm

The next P&F Meeting will be held on Wednesday, 11 August commencing at 7:30pm on Zoom. Zoom meeting details have been sent on the College App. Regular P&F items (events and reports) will be discussed. Additionally, Mr Daryl Hinton and Mrs Tara Waller will be the College representatives. They will be talking about the Norwest Challenge.

We look forward to seeing you there.

P&F Executive

It's been a little quiet at Seed Academy lately...but hopefully not for too much longer! We are currently in discussions with tutors to see which classes we may be able to launch in the coming weeks. Keep an eye on your emails and the College App for updates.

We would also like to wish our Year 12 Seed Academy students all the best in their Trial Music HSC exams coming up on Thursday, 11 August. Please keep these students in your prayers along with all of our Year 12 students at the College.

Click here to read the Early Learning Centre Communication Notes.

Click here to read the Primary Communication Notes.