Dear College families,

This week brought it’s challenges, but none that we couldn’t handle together.

For Year 3 and 5 students, it was their first experience of NAPLAN, and for Year 7 and 9 students, whilst they are familiar with NAPLAN, preparing for and sitting exams are always a challenging process. In speaking with our Educators, I have been really encouraged to hear that students have been calm, focused and regularly reminded that there is a much larger picture of living a purposeful life, than their NAPLAN results.

For our Primary students, yes, Wednesday’s Athletics Carnival was cold and wet, but it was a great expression of celebrating God’s gifts and abilities, and joining together for some fun at the same time. Thank you to all those parents and carers who came to cheer on our students. I really hope you enjoyed a warm cuppa tea or hot chocolate at the end of the day.

Felicity Marlow
Principal

Every Friday morning, a group of educators gathers at College to participate in a Teaching for Discipleship course where they reflect on a key question - How do we encourage children to respond to the call of God in their lives? This group of educators have been considering how we role model and live out the call of God in our own lives as a testimony and example to our students who are starting to embark on understanding God's calling and purpose for their life.

These reflections reminded me of a leadership training I attended a few years back where the question was raised - Are you on the right bus? The leadership training compelled us to consider not only if we are on the right bus but also if we were in the right seat on the right bus. In other words, are you living the life that God has called you to? Are you positioned in God's best for you? Are you moving towards the purpose that God has anointed or chosen for you?

As Christians we seek to respond to the call of God for us or wait to get on the right bus. I remember as a teenager ending up on the wrong bus home from school and feeling quite disoriented, lost and anxious. My surroundings were unfamiliar and I remember feeling more and more agitated and wanting to get off the bus as soon as possible. I eventually made it home but from that day on always double checked the bus number before climbing onboard.

We can often have these same feelings of being disoriented, agitated and anxious when we haven't responded to the call of God, when we choose a different path or an easier option. And then the opposite is true for when we have responded to the call of God. There is a level of comfort, assurance and flow when we are living in God's best for us. The book of Proverbs says, 'Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.' There is confidence then if we happen to miss the bus the first time, there will be another one coming!

Suzi Scott
Director of Early Learning Centre and OSHC