Open Day

As I write this the College students and staff are gearing up for what promises to be our biggest and best Open Day yet. This Saturday 17 May between 10am and 2pm we are expecting approximately 400 visitors and can’t wait to show them the quality of our students and our school facilities.

This year there is more student involvement than ever before. Students are not only volunteering as greeters, tour guides and in the Hospitality Kitchen, they are also running interactive demonstrations and activities in Science, Maths and English.

I am often impressed by the dedication, commitment and leadership of our students and Open Day is a time when these qualities really stand out. It is a big sacrifice for our students to give up a chunk of their weekend but it is this very sacrifice that makes GCCC Open Days one of the best on the Sunshine Coast.

I also appreciate the help of all the parents bringing their children to school on a Saturday so they can perform their various roles.

Something else that is new this year is a free jumping castle and animal nursery for children in Prep to Year 2. The animal nursery will be set up next to our Agricultural Science stand so visitors can learn more about this new subject for Year 10 students.

Once again our mighty P and F will be running a sausage sizzle with all proceeds going back to the College. The Hospitality students are offering a free high tea (small cost for specialty coffees) and Fiyah Flayvas will be selling wood-fired pizzas with $1 from every $10 pizza being donated to GCCC.

Open Day is not only for new families but it is an ideal time for current families to see their child(ren)’s classrooms, work displays and performances. We continue to hold Open Day on a Saturday so working families can visit their child(ren)’s school without having to take time off work.

Prep to Year 2 Cross Country

This race may have the youngest students in the whole College but these little champions ran their hearts out to gain house points and feel the pride of competing well. It was especially exciting to see all the new sporting house shirts with the iconic logos created by Keaton Maksimous last year. You can read more about this event and see all the photos in the Sports’ section.

New look website

For anyone who has had the opportunity to visit our website during the last week you may have noticed a difference. The new colourful format brings our website up-to-date with modern trends and should make it easier for first time visitors to navigate around the site.

The website is now multi-device friendly so you will be able to easily access it from your smart phone, iPad, notebook, tablet, laptop or desktop computer.

The Home page has entry to Primary, Middle or Senior School sections and if you scroll down a little there is a section for new visitors (Enrolment), a welcome from the Principal (me) and a link to the most recent newsletter. Just below that you will see important calendar dates and the most recent news postings.

The links at the bottom of the page are new but the tabs at the top of the page are very similar to the old website.

The biggest change is the Family Portal under My GCCC. Current parents will be given a personal login and password which allows them to access exclusively their child(ren)’s behaviour reports, academic timetables, attendance and lateness records. We are hoping to send out the personalised logins and passwords by the end of next week.

I believe the introduction of the Family Portal will be another important step in supporting the College’s mission statement: ‘The College seeks to work together with parents and will endeavour to provide the human and practical resources, the environment, the encouragement and opportunities to develop the gifts and talents God has given their children so that they may respond to and fulfil the call of God in their lives.’

‘Rubber hitting the road’ values

Hopefully most of you know that the GCCC values are G.R.E.A.T. and stand for Godliness, Respect, Excellence, Attitude and Teachability. These values encompass so much of everyday living but unless they are put in practice they become meaningless words.

Most of the time it is fairly easy to abide by these values but one area where the rubber really hits the road is respecting the parking rules and signage. Most schools have parking challenges however, unless we respect the rules and other drivers, we are at the very least causing unnecessary inconvenience to others and could be ultimately putting children’s lives in danger.

At the moment we have to ask a staff member to be at the Kiss and Go to ensure people are respecting the rules and asking drivers to move on when they exceed the maximum time limit. This is a costly exercise which could be avoided if everyone did the right thing. Another problem is parents parking in the section that is for staff only. We only reserve a small section of parking for staff who often have heavy bundles of books and resources to carry to and from their car but we do ask parents to respect this section.

For the one and two who cause problems, there are hundreds of you out there doing the right thing, respecting others, being patient and kind toward one another. Thank you for modelling such great values to your children and our students.

Recent damage to locker locks

Many of you may have heard of the break in at the College early Tuesday morning. Intruders climbed through the gates and broke the locks off many of the lockers. Although it is always disheartening to see the damage done, I am pleased to report that not much of value was taken. Better still, the culprits have been caught and all stolen goods recovered.

This is a good time to remind students to please take home their iPads, laptops and valuables each night.

Funfest 2 August 2014

Hot on the tails of Open Day we have our P and F Funfest on Saturday 2 August. This is our biggest fundraiser and only happens every second year so we want everyone to give it all that they have to make the event a success.

On Thursday 22 May Mandy Ward is holding the Biggest Cuppa for Cancer in the Junior Undercover area (more information is in the Kitchen Garden article). The P and F will be using this get together to collect crucial donations for Funfest. If you have something to donate, would you please bring it along on the morning. The Funfest committee are particularly interested in donations of:

• wrapped lollies, craft items, jewellery, toy cars, hair ties, bouncy balls and action figures
• books, magazines, games, puzzles, board games or DVDs
• Soft toys, teddies and pretty clear glass bottles/jars with lids
• Chocolate bars and blocks, glass jars with lids for jam
• All items in good repair for a trash and treasure stall

There will be the traditional Funfest auction and the team are after larger donations for this event. Business owners and tradespeople in particular are asked to consider what they could donate. Auction items could be anything from accommodation, meals, products or time. For example, a tradesperson may donate one or two hours electrical or plumbing work.

Talk to Nic or Leisa on the 22 May to find out more ways you can help Funfest 2014 to be a great success.

Mike Curtis, Principal.