Welcome back to GCCC in 2014

I trust you had a wonderful break and feel refreshed and ready for an exciting year ahead. There have been lots of exciting things happening at the College during the holiday break and I hope you enjoy reading about them.

A special welcome to all of our new families. I pray your time at GCCC will be long and enjoyable.

Parking

Thank you for your patience as we finalised the western car park ready for use. We were a day late and I was very impressed with how well everyone behaved themselves with such limited parking on the first day of school. The newly sealed car park not only creates more defined parking places, it also increases the safety of our students and families.

Although the newly sealed car park will help, the need for more parking bays is still our top priority. We hope to begin work on a brand new 95-bay car park later this year.

Parent Collection Details for Primary Students

Prep

• Students are delivered to Prep by either parent or sibling for those students who are arriving close to Prep opening time of 8.30
• Students who are arriving via bus or parent drop off earlier than 8.25 will need to report to the Senior Undercover Area (SUA) until they are collected by a Primary Staff member and taken to Prep
• Students are collected from Prep by parents or siblings in high school
• Students catching the bus are walked to the bus shelter by a Primary Staff member
• All other students (not part of After School Care) are walked to the Junior Undercover Area. At 3.05 pm they are walked to the SUA where they will meet there primary aged siblings and from there they will be collected

Year 1-2

Students are either:

• collected by parents from the Junior Undercover Area (JUA) for Year 1 or the Dance room/playground area for Year 2
• or they are escorted over to the SUA to meet with their Primary aged siblings over there or
• If they are catching the bus…they are to wait at the Admin gate where they will be escorted to the bus by a staff member

Year 3-6

• Students are escorted to the SUA at 2.55
• Students are either collected from the SUA by parents or secondary school siblings or they make their way out of the school if they walk, ride or go to the Kiss and Go from that point
• If they have younger siblings they will be brought to them via the procedure outlined above

Being neighbourly to our neighbours

The people living opposite the College in Roberts Road have been very good neighbours to us for many years. Before we could afford security, they would keep an eye on the place and let us know if there were any problems. They graciously put up with the traffic that goes past their place every morning and afternoon and are delightful neighbours. However, it seems that we have not been returning the favour lately. Some College families are parking in or too close to this driveway, blocking the access and mounting the kerbed nature strip to park their cars. Please treat our neighbours with respect. Respect is one of our five core values and is especially important for instances like this.

Sad beginning to a new year

This week we had some very sad news that one of our Year 12 students, Christien Festa, was involved in a life-threatening motocross accident last Sunday. Christien is in an induced coma and the next ten days will be critical for his recovery. Please join with us as a College in praying for Christien and the Festa family.

New Staff

Due to the continued growth of the College we have quite a few new staff members and they are introduced in this newsletter. I am excited by the quality of the new appointments and know they will complement our already excellent College faculty.

E Block is finished

I am pleased to report that the new E Block is finished and being fully utilised. Downstairs E1, E2 and E3 are being used for our three Year 3 classes and upstairs is being used as a Primary staff and work room (E4) while E5 and E6 are being used by our Year 4 classes. Landscaping is still being undertaken outside the classrooms but work is moving along nicely.

Parents and Friends (P and F) Association

Many of you are already familiar with the GCCC Parents and Friends Association. It is a group of parents (mostly) and volunteers who work closely with the College to achieve common goals, making things better for our children. All parents are guardians of students are warmly welcomed to join. Meetings are usually held on the first Tuesday of the month at 7pm in the College library.

Every second year the P and F hold a Funfest which is like a huge fete. This is not only a fantastic day of fun but is the major fund raiser for the College and contributed many thousands of dollars towards improving the education journey of our students. Being such a big event, it does take a lot of people to make it work and volunteers are welcomed with open arms. The old adage, ‘many hands make light work’ has never been more true than when it comes to Funfest.

P and F Family Fun Day – Saturday 15 February 10.45am to 1.45pm

This is an annual event held at the beginning of the year so families can get to know each other and just have a really good time. It is held on the College grounds in (almost) all weather conditions and is a great fun day for all ages. Sizzling sausages, juicy watermelon, friendly games and the famous tug-of-war between parents and students are just some of the activities that make this a day not to miss.

GCCC Facebook Page

The GCCC Facebook Page is open to everyone interested in the College and I would encourage current and new families who are on Facebook to ‘like’ the page. There are a couple of ways to find it. Visit the home page of our website www.glasshouse.qld.edu.au and click on the link next to the Facebook icon or click on this link.

Once you have ‘liked’ our Facebook page, you will receive regular updates on things that often don’t make it in the general newsletter. The news is immediate and gives followers a special insight into school and class activities.

GCCC’s Facebook page does not mean that students can use Facebook on campus. It also doesn’t mean that we want students to have Facebook access at home unless their parents approve them as being mature enough. GCCC’s Facebook page is mainly for parents, friends and anyone interested in our school and older students are also welcome to follow the page.

New sports shirts

Last year Keaton Maksimous won the competition to design Sporting House logos for our new sports shirts. These are currently in development and will be available as soon as we can have them ready.

Mike Curtis, Principal