It has been an enormous week in the life of the College, with the Executive team attending a Leadership Conference and planning days, as we dream and envision what God might have planned for the College across the next 10 years. Throughout this process, reviews of our current Quality Improvement Plans uncovered the extensive amount of work that our College staff and community have been able to achieve across the past 6 months. I’m excited to share that information with you in the coming weeks.
Design & Technology and Music HSC students have completed their practical examinations this week and I have been encouraged by the feedback received from our staff who have tirelessly educated, inspired, encouraged and uplifted students in order to realise their full potential. I, along with each of our students await their results and in the meantime, please keep them in your prayers.
And finally, this morning’s Father’s Day breakfast was a tremendous celebration of the roles that fathers and significant men in the lives of our students play each and every day. Thank you to all of those who were able to be here and we look forward to opening the campus once again to our community next Tuesday, for Grandparent’s Day.
Felicity Marlow Principal
God of all seasons
I have always been the type of person to really enjoy Spring and Autumn, not so much the seasons of extreme cold or heat. I prefer the milder temperatures rather than feeling the heat of the sun or the cold winter winds. I like to be able to enjoy being outside without complaining about the weather. So, now that we have lived through another Winter and have entered Spring, I notice a newfound energy and ‘spring’ in my step.
Farmers certainly have a very good understanding of the value of each season and what this means for their work on the land. Gardeners also understand what needs to happen for their plants throughout the seasons in order for them to produce fruit. The Bible also talks about the seasons and that each season has it’s worth “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. Eccl 3:1”
I would imagine that God enjoys every season, even the times of extreme heat and cold. These extreme temperatures are not a distraction as there is a purpose behind it all which sometimes is not always obvious. Snow is an excellent insulator, protecting plants and trees until Spring arrives. When the summer months are too hot, the tree's ability to photosynthesise slows or stops completely during the hottest parts of the day. The tree does this to protect itself and save energy as the enzymes are unable to work efficiently in such a climate.
The Bible often refers to the seasons, producing fruit in season and being planted in fertile soil. During one of the College’s Professional Development days for staff, our talented Librarian, Sarah Frost, created a stunning painting of a tree planted by a stream. Teachers and staff watched over the days as the painting slowly came to life and it reminded me of how God often works in our life over time to create a beautiful masterpiece. This work happens over seasons of drought, waiting and persevering through winters and summers and then, at the right time, flourishing and blooming into a spectacular creation. Galatians 6:9 says ‘And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.’ I am so thankful that God is God of all seasons and He is working to create good things regardless of the season.
Suzi Scott Director of ELC and OSHC
Grief
Grief was once thought of as a linear process. Grief Counsellor Elisabeth Kubler-Ross explained the model as the Seven Stage of Grief:
Shock
Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance and Hope
Processing Grief
Research now suggests that it a process that can take months, years and perhaps decades for people to process. As part of that process, they go in and out of loss-oriented to restoration-oriented grief in our everyday life experiences life we are in a black hole, and we come out for a while into life then something triggers us back into that black hole.
Sometimes people hide their grief, or they don’t think it is socially acceptable to cry or go in and out of joy and depression. The truth is that if we deny our physical bodies the ability to grieve it affects our physical and mental health. Grief is a strange thing it can catch you unaware when you are least expecting it, and one minute you are laughing and the next minute you are crying. The graphic below shows the oscillation between loss-oriented and restoration-oriented grief. We can move between both states through our everyday life experiences. Disenfranchised grief is chronic grief, and the word came from a study of parents who had children with a disability – that they would never get better and that they would miss out on all the opportunities and stages for growth that children without a disability have.
What helps us to process grief?
We can journal our feelings and let them out as write about what we have lost.
Focus on a picture that helps us focus on our grief and give words to it. It may be a bare tree in winter it looks dead, lifeless, isolated, abandoned, rejected, alone and without purpose.
It may be a picture of a bush fire destroying all the landscape around it.
We can develop our own metaphor for how we feel - like floating in the ocean desperately clinging to a life raft.
We can watch sad movies that help us let out our tears and cry about experiences like our own.
We can create a ritual to remember the loss and think about that person such as lighting a candle
Changing the picture!
We can look at our ritual, picture, metaphor, or movie and think about what could make this picture different, have hope, purpose and meaning in our life?
The journal might explore what things would look like if things were different in life
The tree could be in the season of winter and although it looks life-less, spring is coming
The bush fire always brings about regeneration of foliage and green shoots of life
The person clinging to the life raft could be picked up by a boat
The sad movie could be replaced with a funny one that makes you laugh
The lighting of the candle can bright light to the darkness of grief
The ritual could be remembering the good things about the person you enjoyed sharing together and the qualities you most admired about them.
Catherine Redwood Counsellor
Christmas Card Design Competition 2022
Christmas Card Design Competition
Calling all creative minds! Submissions for the NWCC Christmas Card Design Competition are now open. All College students are welcome to enter. The only requirement for entry is that it is a Christmas-themed design, so your imaginations can run wild.
Please email your submissions through to [email protected] by Friday, 14 October 2022.
2023 Notice Reminder
We love having your family as part of the College community, and look forward to partnering with you in 2023 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 2023, a friendly reminder to please notify the College in writing to [email protected] by the last day of Term 3 (Friday, 23 September), to ensure you provide the full term’s notice required as per your Enrolment Agreement.
Grandparents Day 2022
Grandparents Day Tuesday, 13 September 2022
We invite you to attend our annual Grandparents Day. Morning Tea will be from 11:20am. ELC and Primary Classrooms will be open from 11:40am. Student Performances from 12:40pm in the Quad.
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 Community Workshop Evening
The P&F are excited to host the next Community Workshop on Tuesday, 13 September 2022 at 7pm to 8:30pm in the College Atrium.
Following on from the high level of interest indicated in our community survey responses regarding building resilience and supporting our children in their mental health, we have been able to secure Kylie Warry from the Resilience Centre to present a session to college parents titled "Building The Resilience of Your Children and Young People". This is a session designed for parents to better support their children of all ages with developing resilience for life, and utilises the Resilience Doughnut model. All parents from ELC, Primary and Secondary are invited and encouraged to attend. Why not chat with some other parents from your year group, and come along together to the session.
Given the importance and high level of interest shown in this topic, we are very keen for as many parents to access this session as possible. We are therefore pleased to be able to offer this workshop as a fee-free event with costs covered by recent fundraising efforts. It would however be very helpful if you could please click here to RSVP.
The P&F will have a small canteen available for purchasing refreshments during the evening.
Year 12 Graduation 2022
Year 12 Graduation Assembly Class of 2022
Friday, 23 September 2022 College Atrium 11:30 am (doors open 11:00am)
Please join us for this special event celebrating the Class of 2022 and their achievements. Following the ceremony there will be a photographer available for graduation photos with families.
An email with more detailed information will be sent to families of Year 12 students closer to the date.
Rivo Spring Club
Rivo Spring Club Friday, 7 October
Norwest Christian College and Riverstone Baptist Church are looking forward to welcoming back our Rivo Spring Club! Come and join to find the greatest treasure with our 'Lost & Found' theme that we'll explore through the Bible with games, drama, craft, music, Bible talks and puppet shows.
Requests for Consideration for Primary Class Placements for 2023
Staff are beginning the process of creating classes for 2023. This is a complex process, where staff consider the academic and behavioural mix of students in each class, gender balance and friendship issues. There is much prayer and reflection in the organisation and creation of classes. You are invited to communicate with the College about class requests for your Year 1 to Year 6 child. Your submissions will be taken into consideration but cannot be guaranteed. Please let us know if:
there are social concerns with your child and another, and you would like some consideration about whom your child is placed with in class.
there are other concerns we are not already aware of that should be considered when forming classes.
Please note that requests for specific teachers are not considered as we believe every teacher in our team is professional, capable and God's appointment at the College.
This information is due to the College no later than Friday, 14 October, the first Friday of Week 1, Term 4. Submit your request here.
Primary Communication Notes
Click here to read the Primary Communication Notes.