No matter how busy the end of the year is I couldn’t forget to write my final newsletter so I will try to round off the year with some words about the last of the 2018 events.

Firstly, I’d like to thank all the students and parents who have given me such beautiful messages and gifts to farewell me. The words have been so kind and I will treasure them as I move into retirement. Students also have blessed me with words, cards and gifts and I have been so humbled by them. I have shed many tears these last weeks and I think there’s more to come. The citations which were read to me on assemblies by Aimee, Oliver and Tenacity as representatives of Years 5 / 6, Years 3 / 4 and Prep-Year 2 made me feel so humbled yet at the same time overjoyed.

If I haven’t thanked you personally, please forgive me. The spirit was willing but the flesh is weak – particularly in the busyness of the end of year.

Week 8 has been a time of proofing reports and finalising of them for the end of Semester 2. If your child has been identified by the teacher to receive a GOLD COMMENDATION I will complete these and the hard copy of the report, with the commendation will be posted to you in the first week of the holidays. Congratulations to every student who has been chosen for these. Your amazing efforts have been recognized.

Wednesday we enjoyed the Year 5 Band Concert which was such a wonderful performance. I am very excited about the calibre of the music performances this year and I know that Mr Yusupov did a special arrangement of one piece for the Year 5 Band. Parents who were here on Wednesday would agree with me that the students performed beautifully. For those of you who were held up after the accident on the highway or couldn’t wait when the starting time had to be changed because of traffic delays. You can see all the photos and watch the videos here. 

Presentation Ceremonies for the primary awards and ICAS (distinctions and high distinctions only in Years 3-6) were made at a special ceremony on Thursday to give these awards the honour which they truly deserve. This has added two extra formal assemblies to an already busy time of the year but has given these awards a higher profile than simply at the end of our Christmas Concerts. We will have photos of these occasions on Facebook this week and in a photo gallery for next week’s Eagle.

Our Year 3 Smart Strings Concert on Friday was a celebration of what children can learn in a 30 minute violin lesson here at school once a week over a school year. The Rock and Roll theme will give students and staff the chance to dress up in their 1950’s outfits as this year’s theme was “Let’s Rock”. I took a trip down memory lane and had a circular skirt and 3 tiered multi coloured tulle petticoat made for the concert. I have fond memories of the 1950’s as I was about 10 years old when I was given a petticoat like that for a Christmas gift. I felt like a million dollars and wore it “to death”. Photos will be coming soon.

I can’t comment on next week’s Christmas Concerts and Year 6 Graduation at this stage but I am absolutely confident that each of these wonderful celebrations will be amazing. I have heard the children practicing and I feel so proud to be involved in some small way in each event. The Year 6 Graduation is always such a special ceremony as we celebrate this “rite of passage” with our students in their last year in the Primary College.

My closing remarks in my final newsletter after 17 years at Glasshouse Christian College is this – Glasshouse Christian College is a very good school. It’s not a perfect school. There’s no such thing as a perfect school. Here your children are nurtured in every way – academically, spiritually, socially, emotionally and behaviourally in an environment based on strong pastoral care. When issues arise and they do, as soon as we are made aware of them we address these issues straight away. Our management team and staff are one hundred percent committed to providing the very best christian education they can for your children.

The foundation scripture for the College given to elders in the church in the early 1990’s was Psalm 78:1-4. This word was a command to tell the next generation the amazing things which God has done. That’s our mandate and it has been an honour for me to have served God in this place and to have been a part of this vision and I am taking so many beautiful memories with me into my retirement.

May God bless you and your families as you celebrate Christmas. In a world where traditional biblical values and God’s Word are being eroded at an alarming rate, there is peace and hope for us and our families if we know the Saviour. Remember – WISE MEN STILL SEEK HIM.

Cheryl Bryers, Head of Primary