Grandparents’ Day Grandparents’ Day 2015 was such an enjoyable event. What a joy it is for us as staff to see the level of commitment our GCC grandparents have to their grandchildren. The feedback at the end of the day was so encouraging and we were thrilled that our visitors enjoyed the morning tea, concert …
Term 3 will be a busy term with Grandparents’ Day this week and Book Week in a few weeks’ time, Talent Quest for Legacy Cup, P – 2 Athletics and many other events. The Theme for Book Week this year is “Books Light up Our World” and our Annual Book Week Parade will be held …
As Term 2 closes and the children prepare for the three week break, I believe that the best article I can leave you with over the June/ July holidays is this little devotional entitled “What are your Children Watching?” As a College, we are often concerned to find out some of the programmes our students …
PRIMARY ATHLETICS CARNIVAL – ANOTHER GREAT DAY For those of you who were at the Primary Sports Carnival last Wednesday I am sure you would agree with me that there was such a lovely “feel” about the day. The venue, Skippy Park, was perfect for this event and the expanse of park area and the provision …
The past two weeks have been filled with important school and national events. Open Day on 16 May was an amazing showcase of the wonderful things which are happening in the College in both Primary and Secondary. Your presence with your children on the day made Open Day such a success and the feedback from …
The highlight of the past two weeks has definitely been the culmination of class Run Around Australia practices – our GCC House Cross Country competitions. It was so wonderful to have so many parents and friends at the Primary and Prep – Year 2 (including 8 year olds) competitions last week. Your presence at these …
As you know from my email which was sent out before the beginning of Term 2, Mr Curtis and Heads of School were in New Zealand on a study tour from 19 – 25 April. We visited six christian schools and Laidlaw College (Christian Tertiary Institution) in the North and South Islands during the week. …
Term 2 Changes For many years we have always encouraged a “sense of community” where families meet of a morning and chat together as the children play. It creates a lovely environment for both children and parents and builds relationships. However, for some time there have been some concerns with students playing on the junior …
Induction of Primary Leaders The Induction of Primary Leaders was held last week on 13 March and we look forward to an exciting year of opportunities for all our student leaders – Primary Captains, House Captains and Student Council Representatives. This year we introduced two more leadership positions – Performing Arts Captains. After the assembly …
CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA It was a hive of industry last Friday as students and staff put their shoulder to the wheel and worked together to clean up their individual House Area of the school. The team of judges allocated scores for House Spirit, Industriousness and Total Student Involvement. As the icing on the cake, the …
SWIMMING CARNIVAL What a wonderful day the Primary Swimming Carnival in Week 2 turned out to be! One student who is new to the College made a comment to me which I believe is worth passing on in this article. She said “I’m having so much fun Mrs Bryers. At my last school in NSW …
WELCOME TO 2015 AND THE PROMISE OF ANOTHER GREAT YEAR Last week I sent a letter with some of the contents of this article but additional information is now included in this Newsletter. The new school year, for staff, started some time ago as we have been making preparations for 2015. Even before the Pupil …
Hi, my name is Shalene Geldenhuys and I am the new Year 6G teacher. My family and I have just moved down from Townsville where I worked as an Upper Primary teacher at Calvary Christian College. I have three beautiful daughters, two of which go to this school and one who has recently graduated. I am …
Hi, my name is Donna Andrews and I am the new year 5G teacher. I have been teaching for five and a half years and have a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Graduate Diploma in Education. I love reading and have a passion for English and History. When I am not at school …
This will be the final newsletter before the last week of the year which has so many important Primary College events. Here is the summary – Monday 1 December – Orientation Day for all students for 2015 (current enrolments and new students). In some cases we have new staff who are coming from Christian Schools …
Time to Shine 2014 And indeed the students in the Primary College really did take this opportunity to show us what they could do and they did SHINE. In a College where there are about 450 students in the primary sector alone it is very difficult to actually be aware of the talent which is …
Legacy Cup Talent Quest This week we started auditions for our Legacy Cup Talent Quest which are being done in two sessions at lunch breaks – Prep to Year 2 and Years 3 to 6. These auditions will be happening over the next couple of weeks every day. Students are so excited and the judges, Mrs …
Thank you so very much for your support of our Pyjama Day. We truly do appreciate the support of schools like yours when raising funds to support children in out of home care. The funds raised this year will allow us to train even more community volunteers to be matched with the growing number of …
Welcome to Term 4 and everything we will experience in the nine weeks left of school. This is the busiest term of the year and culminates in the Prep – Year 2 and Year 3 – 6 concert nights in the last week of the school year. Preparations are already underway and we believe these concerts will …
As the term comes to a close I just wanted to leave you with a message which I shared with our fathers at the Father’s Day Chapel last week (photo gallery below). I hope it is an encouragement to everyone who reads the primary section of the newsletter this week and blesses you as you fulfil …
We are again excited to report that GCCC came 3rd for French in the recent QLD State Language Perfect Competition. This comes after a marathon 1st place finish in a three week Sunshine Coast Competition. These results indicate that our students have continued to improve on their earlier excellent Worldwide Championship results in May, when …
GCCC comes third in Qld State Language Perfect Competition Read More »
Book Week Activities Week Five was such an exciting week for the Primary College. Our annual Book Week celebrations culminated once again with a fabulous Book Week Parade which is always the highlight of the week. Every year Mrs McKellar and her wonderful team in the library coordinate a programme of activities which focus on …
In Cheryl’s absence, it gives me great pleasure to share with you, some of the ‘wonderful happenings’ in the Primary School over the past fortnight. Our students have been involved in many interesting and exciting activities and they have also had the opportunity to compete in a range of sporting activities. On Friday 8 August, …
Funfest As you are no doubt aware, last Saturday was our Funfest, the fourth in the history of the College. Funfest was a wonderful day and another fantastic display of our community: staff, students, parents and grandparents all coming together to make a tremendous day. Funfest provided entertainment and fun for everyone. We had all …
CHANNEL 7 HELICOPTER VISITS GCCC Did you all watch Channel 7 News on Wednesday night 30 July? After many practices since the beginning of Term 3, the big day arrived on Wednesday and our students did an amazing job. The formation was GCCC FUNFEST in big letters with multi coloured helium balloons (held by staff …
Welcome to Term 3 which promises to be another busy term starting with FUNFEST on 2 August and finishing with Parent/Teacher Interviews in the last week. Years 3 – 6 interviews will be somewhat different this term and more information will be coming out over the next couple of months, well before the actual dates …
After another busy term I would like to wish all our families a safe and restful Semester one holiday. I know that most of our parents and caregivers appreciate the change of pace during holidays as there is a break from the flurry of making lunches, checking homework and all the day to day aspects …
STUDENT PRINCIPAL FOR A DAY Last Wednesday Tyler Atherton in Year 6 spent the day shadowing me as part of the “Student Principal for a Day” programme which is an initiative of “Principals Australia Institute”. Mr Atherton, as he was addressed by students throughout the day, visited classrooms, attended enrolment interviews, handed out citations at …
TEKKIE BREKKIE – TEACHERS AS LIFE LONG LEARNERS Last Thursday at 7.30 am a number of teachers gathered in Mrs Beaden’s room for a quick breakfast and then a presentation of computer programmes which can be used in the classroom to enhance learning. Mrs Beaden who is our Primary Education Technology Support Teacher demonstrated ways …
Junior Cross Country What a wonderful event the Junior Cross Country was last Friday. Every year, the profile of the Cross Country throughout the College has gained more and more momentum and the 2014 Cross Country was no exception. Students had been practising their war cries over the past couple of weeks and they really …
Welcome To New Staff We would like to welcome Emma Buchanan-Jeffs and Louise Bocxe who have joined our staff this term. We are delighted that Mrs Buchanan-Jeffs and Mrs Bocxe have so quickly settled into GCCC life and the students have had such a smooth transition. Both teachers will write an article for the newsletter …
PARENT PIPELINE PRESENTATIONS For those of you who were able to attend, I know you would have been blessed by the Reading Sessions presented recently by Mrs McLaren and Mrs Robinson. These were just the beginnings of an exciting new initiative to provide a “pipeline” for parents to connect with learning which is happening in …
Induction of Primary Leaders The Induction of the 2014 Primary leaders was held on Friday 14 March with a wonderful group of young people making their pledge and receiving their badges in a special assembly attended by Year 3 – 6 students and family and friends. Leaders were reminded after listening to Dr Seuss’s book …
WHAT SHOULD YOUR CHILD DO IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO THEM AT SCHOOL? Inevitably during their years at the College, there will be times when an incident occurs for your child at school – either between friends or with other students. For some time, we have been speaking to students in class and in assemblies about …
PRIMARY SPELLING PROGRAMME A few years ago, after considerable research, we made the decision to change from our current spelling programme (Spelling Mastery) to Words Their Way. Last year we organized to have one of the authors of this programme to come from Melbourne this week and spend time in small groups with teachers …
WELCOME TO TERM ONE, CHANGES TO THE PRIMARY COLLEGE 2014 AND OTHER NEWS I would like to extend a warm welcome to everyone for 2014! It has started well with both students and new staff settling in quickly. New staff will write a “thumbnail sketch” about themselves in the Newsletter over this term so you …
Once again, this has been an incredibly busy and successful year. This could not have been be achieved without the leadership of Cheryl Bryers, our Head of Primary who is presently in Europe enjoying some long leave and our amazing Primary staff and chaplains. I would like to express my sincere thanks to you all. …
What is Bullying? Teachers have requested we include an explanation of bullying in this week’s newsletter article. It is important that parents and students understand what bullying IS and what bullying IS NOT. When children work and play together, there will be times when one student does something inappropriate and upsets or hurts another student. …
Time 2 Shine – Talent Quest Over the past two weeks in a very low key way students have self nominated to have the opportunity in our Primary Time 2 Shine Talent Quest to show their individual or group talents during lunch time auditions. Mrs Mitchell gave each student or group a number – just …
Can you believe that we have just begun Term 4? How can the year go so quickly? Because of the holiday break, I would like to write about some of the Primary events from the last couple of weeks of Term 3. We have had a visit from a group of people from a church …
What’s Happening in the Primary College? The past fortnight has been such a busy time with Book Week and Fathers’ Day activities as well as sporting and academic programmes. The Book Parade on 22 August was an outstanding success as staff and students alike entered into the spirit of Book Week and nearly everyone came …
Primary Student Council Representatives Organize Assistance We are very grateful to all families who gave food for those in need in the Sunshine Coast area. The letter below expresses how the generosity of our GCCC Community provided so many items for them. Mrs Mitchell, Mrs Jen and the Year 3 – 6 Student Council collected …
Learning Connections During the Pupil Free Week, staff attended a two-day professional development on Learning Connections. These sessions covered issues which can impact children’s progress developmentally and some strategies to assist these delays. The Learning Connections Approach The brain is the centre of all learning. We now know that the brain is ever changing and …
PRIMARY NEWS Welcome to another new term. The recent holiday and pupil free week have been an exciting time for the primary school. Over the holidays, Mrs Mitchell and I spent a week in New Zealand visiting some schools and spending time with someone who had been a colleague of Mrs Mitchell’s when she was …
Well Done Primary Students and Families In an age when we sometimes wonder if society even cares about others, we were thrilled to see the response from our Primary College Community as the donations of items for (a) RSPCA (b) Foodbank for needy families and (c) toiletries for homeless youths in the Sunshine Coast area …
GRANDPARENTS’ DAY…… FRIDAY 21 JUNE…DATE CLAIMER WHEN Friday 21 June Morning Tea from 11.00am Concert starts at 11.30am WHERE Morning tea on the church verandah and then concert in the church. Following this grandparents will move to the College grounds and visit classrooms. CORRECTION Invitations have been emailed to parents. Please pass on to grandparents …
GRANDPARENTS’ DAY…… FRIDAY 21 JUNE…DATE CLAIMER WHEN Friday 21 June Morning Tea from 11.00am Concert starts at 11.30am WHERE Morning tea on the church verandah and then concert in the church. Following this grandparents will move to the College grounds and visit classrooms. DETAILS Invitations will be posted to grandparents next week. Please give grandparents …
THE GOLDEN RULE AND RESPECT We are continuing to focus on aspects of RESPECT and VALUES in the primary school and are very pleased with the response from the students. It is so encouraging to walk around the school and hear children greeting students and staff and calling them by their name, being helpful, inviting …
Primary Culture Over the past weeks students in Years 3 – 6 have participated in a Bullying Survey and the information was collated throughout the holidays. Historically we have done this survey annually, to keep our finger “on the pulse” in terms of the culture in the Primary School. The feedback from students was consistent …
LATE ARRIVALS It is important that all students arrive at school on time. Not only is this good training for later in life and for a good work ethic, but it disadvantages the actual student and others in the class. Home readers are sometimes changed first up in the morning so late arrivals impact on …
