As I reflect over the year, I am humbled by how God has provided for us at Nunawading Christian College in 2020. 

Instead of floundering, our school has flourished. We have grown in numbers with record enrolments in ELC, Primary and Secondary. Despite the challenges posed in this new digital landscape, our students and staff have remained resilient, resourceful and unassailable throughout the year. Our students have made the best out of a difficult situation and for some, that has meant over 100 school days or 20 weeks online. Many of our students have however flourished academically, grown spiritually and matured emotionally and they certainly have developed some resilience. Our teachers and support staff have displayed enormous flexibility and resilience as our profession underwent a radical transformation that made us reinvent our skillset. Parents too have had to adapt and support the learning of their children. The support from our community in this year has been outstanding.

People keep asking me how I have coped in a new role, running a school while dealing with a pandemic. It certainly hasn’t been easy for me, or for any of us, but I can see how God has strengthened and led through difficult times.

I keep going back to the Bible text found in Isaiah 41:10 –

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” 

Time and time again, I can see where God has blessed our school community. This year, perhaps more than any other year, we have learnt the value of a strong community and it is not something to take for granted. This community has banded together to support each other, to pray together and to allow God to lead. For your emails, calls, gifts, cards and prayers, I thank you all.

We stand by our motto that we are ‘Nothing without God’ and He has certainly led us through 2020. We look forward to a new year but are very thankful for the provision that God has given us in this one.

We wish you a restful and enjoyable holiday break. May you enjoy time with your families and with God, reflecting on the past year and preparing for the next. 

All the best,

Ms Meggan James, Nunawading Christian College Principal

I want you to close your eyes and picture your perfect Christmas. The smell of the BBQ, the kids playing in the pool or the sound of Uncle Joe snoring from the recliner in the lounge room. The twinkling lights on the Christmas tree, Christmas crackers on the table and Grandpa with a Santa Claus hat on his head telling really bad jokes. 

We start December with very high expectations, and by the time Christmas day comes around we are often frazzled and some would even say stressed. The joy of the season diminishes as we race around to find that perfect gift and open our doors to the whole family and friends. But this year can be different. Here are two simple things that will definitely help you have the best Christmas ever. 

1. Make the main thing the main thing.

The best way to maintain joy this Christmas is to simply remember the point of the holiday. Christmas was not supposed to be a massive to do list to complete or a burden that seems to keep going and going. It is a celebration of what Jesus did so that we could be freed from sin.

In Christmas movies and carols, we hear these words from the Bible “To us a child is born, to us a son is given” (Isaiah 9:6), and conclude that Christmas is a birthday party for the birth of Christ. But Christmas is a birthday celebration for us all because it marks the day Jesus was born so that we could be free! Make the main thing the main thing this season by remembering that Christmas is a celebration of God’s ultimate gift of salvation.

2. Choose peace over chaos.

In the book of Colossians, the apostle Paul is writing about peace. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful” (Colossians 3:15). This is extremely relevant for us today. We are to live in peace, looking at our lives with thanks for what we have instead of complaining about what we don’t have.

When we let peace take control in our lives, the stress of our everyday life begins to disappear. The chaos of the holidays becomes invalid compared with the grace of God and the peace He brings to our lives.

So wake up uncle Joe, move away from the gift wrap and take the time to rest in God’s peace. Your house may not smell like a BBQ and your tree may not sparkle, but spending time with Jesus and experiencing His peace this holiday season will help you to have the best Christmas ever.

We love exploring our school community, walking past students and teachers as we move around our learning environment. As we walk to the Library and Music rooms each week our Explorers are able to take in all that is happening around them and develop an even greater sense of belonging at NCC. The children love visiting Mrs Godfrey in the Library each week and are very good at remembering the rules that they helped to establish – use a quiet voice, feet stay on the ground and we only take one book at a time and put it back in the same spot. In Miss K’s music room, the children have the opportunity to learn in a different space as they sing, dance and play a variety of songs and rhymes. It’s always so much fun!

As we move into the Christmas season and celebrate what has been a very mixed up year, it is a joy to see how much all of our Explorers have grown and developed throughout the year. They have shown incredible resilience throughout change and have developed some beautiful friendships that will carry on into the new year. Well done Explorers – you are all such stars!

With school orientation being a major focus for our Inventors, we have also set up a mini school classroom in our dramatic play space. The children have been dressing up in school uniforms, ‘heading off to school’ and practising their handwriting on mini whiteboards. Role playing this major event helps to alleviate any fears or concerns our children may have.

During worship time we have explored the ‘Good Samaritan’ story. We have asked, “Who is our neighbour?”, “Who is easy to be kind to?”, “Who is difficult to be kind to?” This has led us to explore, in different scenarios, what we can do to be more like Jesus. 

This week our Year 5 and 6 students enjoyed a day out at Gumbuya World. Despite some questionable weather conditions, the students made the most of it and had a great day out. They had the opportunity to see and pat a range of animals, jump on some rides, enjoy a relaxing time on the lazy river or get an adrenaline rush with the giant water slides. The fun day was a great change of environment from the classroom, and 2 terms of remote learning.

So what happens when you can’t bring yourself to Presentation Night? We bring Presentation Night to you! It has been a tough year for students in many ways, including the fact that our usual school concert could not go ahead. To keep some of our performance spirits up, the Primary School organised two special items to be recorded on the large oval. Prep to Year 2 students performed some fun actions to the song ‘Counting on God’, while the Year 3-6 students performed to the song ‘Way Maker’. With the help of 26 movement leaders, 4 recording sessions, several cameras and 1 amazing editor, these items will debut at Presentation Night this year. Thanks to all the staff and students for their willingness to give of their time and do something different for 2020.

Mrs Yuen and the Year 1 students have welcomed Mrs Nupur Singh into their classroom this term! 

Mrs Singh is in her second year of a Masters of Teaching. This is her first teaching placement and she is finding that she is learning much more in this practical experience than through her study – she feels like she is one of the students in the classroom! 

For 15 years Mrs Singh has worked in finance and banking, but she says that this was a sidetrack for her, as she’d really wanted to be a teacher right from when she was a child.

When asked why she wants to be a teacher, she passionately explained, “I think teaching has more meaning and is more real. It’s rewarding to see the difference you are making in a child’s life. In other professions, you have your work and responsibilities, but you’re more talking to numbers and files. You might achieve some things, but don’t see a real worth out of what you’re doing and your efforts aren’t noticed. Here in a classroom, your efforts are noticed in how kids are thriving after spending a year with them.” 

As for how she is finding her NCC experience, Mrs Singh said that she feels comfortable here because of Mrs Yuen’s planning, organisation and guidance. She has also been inspired by morning staff worships. “The morning dose of motivation from the Bible and prayer time is really striking about this school. These meetings are such a boost of morale for the teachers. I would like to have that in the mornings at my future schools, praying together for students. The students might not even know that their teachers are praying for them, but it’s such a personal touch.” 

Mrs Singh, we welcome you into our community with gladness that our students can learn from you as you start your teaching journey! 

We were blessed to be able to hold a Poetry Night this year for our Year 10 class. Students helped to transform the quadrangle into a magical wonderland under the stars! Two of our wonderful office staff, Audrey Brewis and Isabelle Stravens catered the evening – COVID style! Students received an individualised box of treats. They also enjoyed a piece of cake that some students helped to decorate with Mrs Stekla. We then enjoyed watching and listening to students perform poetry and music, some of which was original. Thank you to all of the students and staff that helped to make the evening a real success.

Throughout remote learning, Taylor had to make adaptations to her Year 12 final Art piece. As director, producer, photographer, videographer, actor, editor, writer and composer, Taylor created her film under the constraints of lockdown. Her video was accompanied by an 80 page folio of works, experimentation and investigation of her theme.

Her external assessor’s feedback recognised her huge efforts on this project, giving her 50/50 for this final piece. Congratulations Taylor!

Our Year 9 students have worked hard on developing their skills in using illustration software. They have created digital still life ‘paintings’ inspired by the work of artists David Hockney and Lucy Roleff. You can view a gallery of some of their final pieces on our Instagram and Facebook pages. Read below some of our Year 9 artists’ reflections –

Sean 

This was definitely an interesting experiment. For this piece, instead of being able to see the piece in full colour, I set it so that the piece was in black and white, so that only the values showed. So I picked values according to the reference, regardless of what hue they were in, and painted them in. This resulted in a more abstract render of the reference, and I found the result interesting. Despite the proportions being a pretty minor aspect of this specific piece, I would have liked to get a little more of an accurate sense of it. Next time I would try to work more on the readability of the piece, so that the objects in the composition are easier to define.

Jessie 

This painting was slightly harder to do as there was less control over the brushes, however, it was easier as colours could be saved. Some of the challenges I had were blending and making the border between colours stand out and become sharper. Next time I will work on balancing the colours so the right parts stand out more than others. It was interesting playing around with the brush settings. I learnt that digital painting is harder than expected, but can help you adapt and learn new skills.

Anjanaa

My main objects such as the candle, ceramic and the book came out quite distinctively. I was really happy with how the peacock feather turned out. One difficulty I faced when doing the peacock feather was to really emphasise the individual lines to make it more realistic rather than it all just being blended in together. The individual lines and little imperfections ironically make it more realistic. The shadows surrounding the objects came out well, but the creases in the background sheet proved to be more difficult. It was a challenge to make these creases look like creases and not just random lines. If I do this still life painting again, I would like to try it on actual paper with acrylic paint. If I do this digitally again, I would try out the water paint more and experiment with the blending of different colours, to create different layers of the painting.

Every year, Week of Worship (WOW) is anticipated and enjoyed by students. It has high student involvement and we see strong spiritual growth in our students. This year, we didn’t even attempt an online version – it just wouldn’t have been the same. However, this week we were able to bring each year level into the chapel, in consecutive periods and have face to face worship for the first time since Term 1.

Pr Trent Martin spoke to our “20/20 Vision” theme, focusing on the difference it makes to see ourselves through God’s eyes, and to “Walk by faith, and not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)  

We also all enjoyed fresh, crusty croissants as a lunchtime treat.

Year 7 2021 parents, students and teachers met online to share an overview of the Year 7 program. Bryan and Miss Courtney shared about the peer support program, 7/11. Various staff members spoke about organisational aspects of the transition into High School. Unfortunately COVID restrictions have not allowed our usual Orientation Day event to go ahead, so this will be built into the first week of school for all of our Year 7 students. We are so excited to welcome them into our High School community.

Fundraising update! Our Year 10 students have now raised $13,960 for Light of Hope in Cambodia. They recently set up a very profitable car wash, out the front of the admin building. 16 staff members signed up to have their cars washed, and the Year 10 students enthusiastically cleaned interiors and exteriors. 

Their latest fundraising venture was today’s casual day and water play afternoon, which were enjoyed by other year levels. There was a slippery slide, buckets of water and sponges for our students to engage in some fun in the sun!

Thank you to all students for supporting this event. It was a great opportunity to build connections while supporting a very worthwhile cause. 

“NCC Year 10 students – your efforts are astounding!! In the midst of so much yourself, you have given so much to some who have so little. On behalf of Light of Hope and all the precious kids you have invested in, we thank you with all our hearts.” – Sheree Hughes, Light of Hope

Our Year 9 Phillip Island camp was transformed into three day trips, as an adventurous way to finish off the Challenge program for 2020. 

Day 1 kicked off with a day of stand up paddle boarding. Students had fun paddling individually or with partners amongst the mangroves. 

Day 2 saw our Year 9 students kayaking in the ocean and then snorkelling. They lapped up the sun and cool sea waves and even saw some stingrays! 

Day 3 was our surf day, where students spent the day catching waves at YCW beach. As the sun came out and the day went on, it was great to see more students standing up on their boards and trying to keep up with Mr Kutschker!

Thank you to our Year 9 Challenge team for organising these special experiences for our students.

Our students have again found a way to show their French skills and knowledge, despite having missed all the major French competitions this year due to COVID-19. From November 9-13, a “Year 7 vs Year 8 Battle” was organised by Mr Njock in order to revitalise the French levels of our students. 9

78 students from the two year levels learnt and practised French vocabulary to score points while competing against their friends and toughest rivals in our other French classes within the school. In the space of one week, students spent 425 hours practising their French, answered 218,284 questions and earnt 145,760 points. This led to 16 awards being presented. 

To celebrate our determined French students, we held a special lunch and award ceremony.

For over 25 years thousands of people have come to experience the Road to Bethlehem—an outdoor theatrical presentation of the true story of Christmas. Sadly this is not possible in 2020 and so the Road is VIRTUAL this year.

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC LESSONS AT NUNAWADING CHRISTIAN COLLEGE WITH MR RICHARD HUNT FOR 2021

Richard is offering music lessons at school, on the following instruments in 2021.

Guitar (Electric & Acoustic)   –   Drums   –   Modern Piano/Keyboard   –   Bass Guitar  

Lessons on the first three instruments listed above can be for ELC and Prep through to Year 12 students. 

Bass guitar lessons are offered from Year 3 onwards. 

Richard specialises in Guitar at VCE level and above.

Should you wish your child/children to learn one of these instruments from Richard, an application form (which has all the relevant details regarding costs and times) can be obtained from the school office or direct from Richard via email. (Contact details are below.)

Please fill in the form, sign it and return via email or hard copy to Richard or the school office as soon as possible, as vacancies may be limited.

Should you have any queries regarding music lessons or need advice regarding purchasing an instrument, Richard can be contacted via huntdeb@gmail.com anytime, or via phone, 0412 821 684, outside of school hours.