Fantastic news from Farm Fantastic

Some of you may be aware that the College had a stand at Farm Fantastic two weeks ago. The weekend went even better than we hoped. There was a lot of interest from new enquiries however, even more encouraging was the feedback from people who had heard about the College.

Comments such as, “Your College has such a great reputation,” and “I have friends who go there and they rave about the College,” were often repeated over the three days of Farm Fantastic.

I want to thank all our College families for your wonderful ‘good gossip’ about the College. When we have new students enrol we ask the families how they heard about the College. Overwhelmingly, the response is that they heard about the College from friends who have students here. GCC families are our best ambassadors and our most powerful marketing tool. Thank you.

Table Tennis gift and Berlei donation

Last week Moreton Bay Table Tennis Association in Caboolture donated a full table tennis set to the College. I would like to use this opportunity to publicly thank Lionel Rose, Paul and the team from MBTTA for their generosity. They have also donated some free passes which are available at Main Admin for those who would like to try the game.

We were also the recipients of Berlei’s generosity when they donated undergarments and smalls for our senior Interior Fashion and Design students. The students will be using them to turn them into completely different garments for a curriculum project they are working on.

Special one-off pupil free day swap

It is still a long way off but I want to let you know that on 4 November the College has the opportunity to host world renowned educational expert, Alan November. Alan is one of the foremost experts on how schools can best prepare students for the 21st century and the future. Alan has two bestselling books, has been named as one of England’s 15 most influential thinkers of the decade, was selected to speak during the Nobel Prize Festivities in Stockholm and is co-founder of the Stanford Institute for Educational Leadership through Technology.

This is a very rare opportunity for Glasshouse Christian College and we want to take full advantage of what the teachers can learn from Mr November for the long term benefit of the College and its students.

To maximise this opportunity we have decided to call a one-off pupil free day on Wednesday 4 November so that Alan can work as closely as possible with the teaching staff and together we can learn as much as we can.

We explored every other possibility of learning from Mr November but, due to the demand for his services, this was the only date he is available.  Our senior students will not be affected and closer to the date we will advise you of options available for younger students.

Normally we would have a pupil free day for Verification Day on Monday 19 October but, due to the event on 4 November, we are treating this as a normal school day. In summary, students will be required to attend College on Monday 19 October but not on Wednesday 4 November.

There will be information on alternative arrangements for younger students closer to the date.

How to help your child become a better student

In Term 1 I mentioned a couple of small tips which hopefully helped you encourage your child in their studies. Here are two more tips that I thought would be particularly helpful.

Check your child’s homework, and then have them explain it to you.

It’s not enough for students to just get the answers right. To make sure your children aren’t guessing, sometimes ask them to explain what they did and why. This lets you know that the child has completed the task and when the child actually explains their work, it helps their learning.

Don’t compare your child with others.

Don’t put pressure on children to be just like others. There’s no such thing as a child who is like every other child. They are all different. They all have strengths and weaknesses, they all have talents and challenges.”

Mike Curtis

Principal