“Are you the new principal?” a young ELC student asked me this week while I was on primary car park duty.
“Yes”, I replied smiling.
“Well, I know who your boss is”, he exclaimed.
Curious I responded with “Who do you think is my boss?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Your boss is God”.

Of course, the young ELC student was right: God is the leader of this school and our motto- Nothing Without God- is at the core of how we do things at NCC. God is at the centre of what we believe, what we do and where we want to go as a school community.

I am very passionate about Nunawading Christian College and leading the school in 2020. My career in Christian education started a mere 26 years ago when I began teaching practice with Grade 1 students in the UK. Since then I have been involved in primary, secondary and tertiary education in many parts of the world. But the one constant throughout my career has been my belief that Christian education in general and Seventh-day Adventist education can change lives.

As a school, we focus on building character for life. We believe in developing students to be independent thinkers and not merely reflect back what the world tells them to believe. We base our curriculum on sound teaching principles and ensure that we embed Christian principles into our teaching.

It is not only a new year, but a new decade and we have a new school structure. I am humbled to lead Nunawading Christian College but know that I have an excellent, supportive team around me. Along with myself, Leanne Munchan as Director of Early Learning, Tracie Hailey as Head of Primary, Hanna Stekla as Head of Secondary and Mark Roberts as Business Manager are supported by an amazing team of teachers and administrators, who are all committed to seeing students at NCC thrive. But as a little boy in ELC will tell you, we all report to our boss- God.

May you find much joy in the journey ahead.

Meggan James

Congratulations to Mrs Davilla, who teaches Art, English, Psychology and History in the Secondary. She was named Adventist Schools Victoria Early Career Teacher of the Year for 2019. This award is given to a first year teacher who shows outstanding abilities in the classroom and excels in their work. This is an outstanding achievement and we are very fortunate to have Amy on our teaching team.

Pr Simo is our new Nunawading Christian College Chaplain for Early Learning to Year 12. Pr Simo was chaplain at Northpine Christian College in Brisbane for seven years before joining our Nunawading staff. This week, we asked Pr Simo a few questions to help get to know him a little better.

What made you want to be a chaplain?
Watching God work through young people and the opportunity to be part of that journey!

What are you most looking forward to this year?
Becoming a Dad in April and Seeing where God leads NCC.

What do you love most about your job?
Seeing God at work.

What’s one unique thing you’ve noticed about NCC so far?
The sense of community

If you weren’t a chaplain, what would you be and why?
Professional Jelly Bean Eater… I just love jelly beans

We are delighted to welcome Pr Simo to Nunawading Christian College and hope you make him feel welcome when you see him around campus.

Before students arrived back at school and even before registration day began, our NCC staff were back at school preparing for a big year ahead.

To start the school year on the right note, all teaching and administration staff from Early Learning to Year 12 travelled to Jumbunna Lodge to talk about ABIDE, the plan for Spiritual growth at NNCC.

Staff switched off their devices for the day, shared meals together and spoke about our spiritual strengths and areas for growth in 2020.

“ABIDE was an amazing start to the year. It was a great reminder to place God at the centre of our education, from ELC to VCE” – Mr Marsh, Secondary Teacher.

Staff also attended two days of Professional Development at our sister school, Gilson College in Taylors Hill. The theme of the two days was voice and staff learned and spoke about how we can increase the voice of our students to improve our school.

In 2020, NCC has appointed Mrs Elizabeth Allen as NCC’s Community Care Officer. Mrs Allen will be working alongside the chaplaincy team to assist any parent or family who are in need of prayer or support. Mrs Allen has a heart for people in need and we know she will provide wonderful support to many families at NCC.

It was a day of high excitement and high temperatures (of 40-plus) on the day the 2020 Prep students began their school journey! After finding their bag lockers and name tags, the new Preps settled to some fun desk activities before a quick hug and wave goodbye to their parents. During this first week the Preps have visited the Library, chased balls in PE with Mr Tee, made music with Miss Kapusi, been creative in the Art Space with Mrs Pincheria, and begun Chinese lessons with Mrs Wong – all on top of settling into class work and opening their new books!

It has been a big start to the new school year. We jumped into the new decade with a combined primary and secondary worship which focused on our theme of JUMP- Jesus Understands My Purpose. 

Of course this theme necessitated the need for a Jumping Castle which all students (and quite a few staff) enjoyed.

In primary school, students participated in an Amazing Race themed session that focused on team building and resilience. Working in groups of six, students raced around the school to complete a range of fun but challenging activities. Some of these included a water relay, brainy Bible quiz, scavenger hunt, and block building challenge.

Secondary students also took part in an amazing race and some community building activities which focused on the core PB4L values.

We hope that the students had a fun morning and learnt that we must remain resilient when faced with challenges. With such a positive start to the new year, and because we now know that Jesus understands our purpose, we are confident that 2020 will be sensational!

Year 9 is a very important year in the lives of our students at NCC. Throughout the year, students participate in the Challenge program. This program runs every fortnight and actives are designed for students to build skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, communication, citizenship and character.

This Tuesday was the first day of Year 9 Challenge. As is the tradition, NCC students, parents and staff gathered at Mt Dandenong for sunrise. Students, parents and staff each read a pledge, before students symbolically took a step away from their parents on the journey to becoming a young man or lady. Students were asked to reflect on the memories from their childhood and leave them behind, stepping boldly into the future.

Following sunrise, students enjoyed breakfast, pool activities and then were challenged on the high ropes course at Tree Top adventures.

We look forward to sharing all the adventures from Year 9 Challenge this year with you through the Newsletter, Facebook and Instagram.

At the start of each year, before our student body was back at school, NCC Year 12 students attended a leadership retreat to discuss their plans for the year and how they will best lead our school.

Over the 24hr retreat, students developed leadership skills and built stronger bonds as a class. The theme Year 12 have chosen for our school community this year is 2020 Vision. This theme will be celebrated at our College Dedication Night tonight.

100% of our Year 12 Class of 2019 have received university offers for 2020. We are proud of their results and can’t wait to see what the next stage of learning holds for each student.

Year 7 students along with Year 11 mentors started at NCC one day before the rest of our school. In the morning, students were welcomed to NCC by our Principal, Mrs James, who spoke about the value of education. After a quick ‘selfie with the Principal’, students walked to Blackburn Lake where they got to know each other and learned how to improve their teamwork with their Year 11 mentors. In the afternoon, students worked in teams to create outfits out of garbage bags before the final fashion parade at the end of the day. Before heading home, staff and Year 11 students helped our new Secondary students figure out their lockers and get everything ready for day one of school.

It has been a big start to the new school year. We jumped into the new decade with a combined primary and secondary worship which focused on our theme of JUMP- Jesus Understands My Purpose. 

Of course this theme necessitated the need for a Jumping Castle which all students (and quite a few staff) enjoyed.

In primary school, students participated in an Amazing Race themed session that focused on team building and resilience. Working in groups of six, students raced around the school to complete a range of fun but challenging activities. Some of these included a water relay, brainy Bible quiz, scavenger hunt, and block building challenge.

Secondary students also took part in an amazing race and some community building activities which focused on the core PB4L values.

We hope that the students had a fun morning and learnt that we must remain resilient when faced with challenges. With such a positive start to the new year, and because we now know that Jesus understands our purpose, we are confident that 2020 will be sensational!

Don’t be surprised if you start to see more muscley teenagers around the campus this year! The NCC Home & School Committee has donated $5000 to purchase gym equipment to establish a “Strong Room” for Secondary students to use to build up their fitness. Mr Selent will be working to make this a great space for students to use and will gradually build up the range of equipment available. In addition to the Home & School donation, some funds from SIP (PIP) have also been used to establish the room, so thank you to all those who have contributed to the SIP program financially.