After a year when many events had to be cancelled due to COVID-19, the last seven school days have been the biggest week of the year with nine huge events!
There have been a lot of recent changes to the COVID-19 rules but unfortunately, not enough to allow parents to participate in many of the events in person. This is why we have live-streamed almost all of the events and/or had multiple photographers plus videos where appropriate. Another bonus of this week’s events is that all the photos and videos are on our photo-sharing platform, Pixevety. This means that parents can download a special photo in high resolution for printing or using as a gift.
Eagle Awards on Tuesday 17 November
The Eagle Awards is the only event that wasn’t videotaped or livestreamed and that is because it is always an event just for the students with photos for the parents. We enjoyed a Dance item called Big Yellow Taxi before the presentation of the awards. There are too many students to congratulate all of them but I would like to formally acknowledge our Middle School leaders for 2021 who are:
Middle School Captain: Jake O’Grady-Schroter
Middle School Captain: Joanna Zelazko
Faith and Community Leader: Joel Newell
Faith and Community Leader: Indiah Loveday
Faith and Community Leader: Jessi James
Faith and Community Leader: Tyler-Rose Pearton
Arts Leader: Madeleine Mullins
Arts Leader: Mackenzie Godwin
Academic Leader: Amyliah Harrison
Academic Leader: Sebastian Catton
Ararat House Leader: Joshua Ramke
Ararat House Leader: Lily Breen
Sinai House Leader: Max Cashin
Sinai House Leader: Brooke Gledhill
Zion House Leader: Ruby Ciantar
Zion House Leader: Jared Moss
Zion House Leader: Brayden Dakin
If you haven’t seen the photos already, GCC families can see them all on Pixevety on the following link: Middle School Eagle Awards.
Middle and Senior School Presentation Ceremony Thursday 19 November
This is one of our largest events of the year so it was challenging to tackle it with the change of venue, time, attendees and program. Due to the COVID-19 regulations, we, unfortunately, could not fit any parents into the Sports Centre and therefore live-streamed it for our families.
It was a lovely ceremony and we were able to keep most of the traditional elements that make this a special event. Congratulations to all of our Diligence, Academic and GREAT Awards and in particular:
- Adelie Tomokino for receiving the Middle School Principal’s Award
- Arno Mens for receiving the Middle School Dux
- Lize Kasselman for receiving the Middle School All Rounder.
Congratulations also to our Senior School leaders for 2021 who are:
College Captain: Tate Doneathy
College Captain: Chelsea Johnson
Faith and Community Leader: Kiana Reeves
Faith and Community Leader: Jack Kirkitscha
Faith and Community Leader: Kylie Bam
Faith and Community Leader: Jared Post
Arts Captain: Alex Cameron
Arts Captain: Isabel Holley
Sports Captain: Cassidy Ferris
Sports Captain: Jacob Broderick
Ararat Captain: Nicole Sainsbury
Ararat Captain: Mitchell Hart
Sinai Captain: Kirra-Leigh Crouch
Sinai Captain: Damelzah Roser
Zion Captain: Ellie Thompson
Zion Captain: Anaya White
We have two photo galleries of the event on Pixevety:
MS & SS Presentation by Brad Evans
MS & SS Presentation by Adore You Photography
Year 12 Graduation and Clap Out Thursday 19 November
Following closely on the heels of the MS and SS Presentation ceremony, we held our Year 12 Graduation and Clap Out. Before the service, a sumptuous morning tea was enjoyed in the Hospitality Courtyard before students donned their gowns and headed to the Sports Centre for the formal event.
There were happy tears overflowing with good memories and proud achievements and sad tears of saying farewell to friendships – some of which began 13 years ago. Our ‘GCC Originals’ are students who have been attending GCC since Prep and each year the number seems to grow. In 2020, we honoured the following students as GCC Originals: Amy Boyer, Emma Giles, Lacey Hall, Matthew Johnson, Amelia King, Travis Kuijpers-Weeks, Patrick McKenzie, Julian Munyard, Charlie Robertson, Casey Rowe, Dominic Ruhle, Joel Woodhead, and Noah Woolston. A highlight was seeing the students’ cute Prep photos beside their Year 12 ones. Some were easy to identify but others were barely recognisable after 13 years of growth.
There were many awards but I want to acknowledge the following students in particular:
Emily Lord Award: Bakani Kombanie
Senior School Principal’s Award: Madeleine Roulston
College Dux: Robyn Harmse
ADF Long Tan Youth Leadership and Teamwork Award: Cerys Richardson
ADF Future Innovators STEM Award: Jacques Theron
CWA Community Service Award: Paige Thompson
The Year 12 students (along with help from Year 11 and our Property Team) gifted us a beautiful bush chapel and arbour as their Legacy Gift. This will be a delightful place for all of our students from Prep to Year 12 to have special gatherings. I’d like to especially thank Bert Kasselman for his leadership on this project.
On behalf of everyone at Glasshouse Christian College, I would like to wish the Year 12 graduating students of 2020 all the very best. I look forward to learning of their accomplishments in the future.
There were lots of photos taken on the day and you can find them on Pixevety in the following albums:
Year 12 Graduation Service by Adore You Photography
Year 12 Clap Out by Adore You Photography
Year 12 Clap Out by Josh Whysall
Year 12 Clap Out by Brad Evans
Year 12 Clap Out by Karen McQuade
Year 12 Clap Out by Sandy Johnson
Year 3 Smart Strings Concert Friday 20 November
We missed the parent audience but there was no way this group of students was going to miss out on the tradition of dressing up for the Smart Strings concert. The theme was cowboys and cowgirls, although I did see a few pirates among the staff!
The students played exceptionally well and I hope you enjoyed their performance (via Facebook and Pixevety) as much as I did. Most people wouldn’t believe that 90 violins played by eight and nine-year-olds could be enjoyable but they’ve never heard our students! They not only played perfectly in time with each other but you could see how much they were enjoying themselves – especially during their favourite item, “Pizzicato Hiccups”.
For those who want to see the photos or watch the video again, you can see them on Pixevety in the following album: Smart Strings
Year 12 Formal Friday 20 November
For the first time, we held the Year 12 Formal at Sandstone Tavern. The extra space provided came in handy when it looked like the restrictions were here for a while. However, the easing of restrictions just prior to the formal meant we could not only go ahead as planned but we could dance!
The formal was a delightful event celebrating the end of 13 years of school. The students arrived on the red carpet transformed from school girls and boys to elegant young men and women. As the night wore on, it was good to see the students relaxing more and enjoying themselves.
If you missed the photos on Facebook you can see them on Pixevety in the following albums:
Year 12 Formal by Jordan Bull
Year 12 Formal by Karen McQuade
Prep to Year 2 Presentation Ceremony Monday 23 November
Little Voices began the event with their item “Well done” and that summed up the whole ceremony.
For the first time ever, our 2020 Preps had their turn on the stage receiving awards and presentations at the Prep to Year 2 Presentation Ceremony. It’s a big stage and an even bigger audience so I was very proud of how well they handled themselves. All of our Prep to Year 2 students are to be congratulated and especially those who earned rewards for their efforts over the year.
We live-streamed the event so you didn’t miss anything and there are lots of photos on Pixevety here.
Year 3 to 6 Presentation Ceremony Monday 23 November
Music Makers began the Year 3 to 6 ceremony with their item ‘Angels Singin’ Glory’ before the presentation of Maths awards, ICAS awards and then the class awards. This event was also live-streamed for our families and lots of photos were taken to capture every moment. (Photos here).
I’m very proud of our Year 3 to 6 cohort and they are to be congratulated for their achievements and character which were obvious during what was a tough year.
Year 6 Graduation Tuesday 24 November
This was a special event in the Curtis household and I’m sure it was full of emotion for all the other Year 6 parents out there. It is the end of an era – our Primary students are moving into Middle School and it is at times like this, we realise how fast time flies. I’m sure the next six years until their graduation will fly by.
We enjoyed Cool Voices singing ‘What a Wonderful World’ and ‘Over the Rainbow’. Both songs seemed especially appropriate for this occasion.
I’d like to congratulate all the prize winners and make special mention of some of them plus our Year 6 leaders for 2021.
Principal’s Award: Mozaia Juste-Constant
Dux: Jarrett Coulson
Servant Leadership Award: Krystal Scheiwe and Isabella Buckland
All Rounder Award: Chelsea Brown
House Captains:
Ararat: Brent Tomokino and Maddison Rowlands
Sinai: Flynn Lewis and Isabelle Goodwin
Zion: Archie Cruise and Sophie Sharma
Performing Arts Captains: Isabella Ross and Luther Capps
Faith Captains: Naarah Harvey and Philip Kasselman
Primary Captains: Amelia Hughes and Eli McLean
Photos on Pixevety: Year 6 Graduation
Year 5 Band Concert Wednesday 25 November
Our final big event of our big week was the Year 5 Band Concert. I was blown away by how well the students played together. Their talent and enthusiasm was even more astonishing given that they had very few opportunities to perform in 2020.
Another highlight of the concert was seeing how much the students enjoyed playing and listening to others play. There were several students who couldn’t stop bopping to the music – especially during the percussion items!
Music and a love of arts is live and well at Glasshouse Christian College and I can’t wait to see these events given the surroundings they deserve in our new performance hall which will be ready mid 2021.
If you missed the photos and video of the concert and would like to see them, they are all on this link to the Pixevety album.
Mike Curtis, Principal