1 Corinthians 13:4-5 is a very well-known verse. It tells us “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”

A reflection I like to do is to insert my name into the verse instead of Love. “Steve is patient, Steve is kind. He does not envy . . . “. There are some parts which are mostly true but there are statements I know I cannot say with integrity, such as this week when I found myself easily angered!

I am asking the students this term at assembly to reflect on whether they are kind, and what they can do to improve in this area. A focus has been on realising being kind is not a passive or a neutral action. For example, to say “I am not excluding someone” is not kindness, but to invite someone to join in is. “I never say anything bad to them” is not kindness, you would need to be saying a friendly word to be kind.

Kindness involves going out of your way to do something to make another person’s day better. Our students do a good job of this but as we focus on it more, we will all benefit from an environment where people are taking positive steps to positively impact others.

Year 9 Boys AIM Mission Trip

From the 9 - 16 August a group of Year 9 boys travelled to the towns of Brewarrina and Gulargambone on a mission trip. The students that attended were: Lukas B, Zayne B, Noah F, Hamish M, Sebastian M, Michael O, Jacob S, Mitchell T and Fin V. The boys were a wonderful witness for the communities that they visited and the people that they met. They spent time with the locals of Brewarrina at youth group on Friday night; sharing lunch with Aunty Jo and Aunty Vera at Weilmoringle on Saturday; church on Sunday in Brewarrina where a couple of boys shared their testimony; visiting the Old Mission site on Monday with Pastor Isaac, followed by time at Brewarrina Christian School that afternoon.

On Tuesday, they headed to Gulargambone where they set up camp for three nights, one of which was quite wet!

On Wednesday, the team headed into Gilgandra to pick up Pastor Henry and share the day with him at Hickeys Falls and The Warrumbungles. It was wonderful for the boys to be encouraged by Pastor Henry and listen to his stories. On Thursday, the boys travelled to Pillaga where they enjoyed a relaxing soak in the hot bore bath. There they met some travellers who were also Christian and this was a great source of encouragement to the boys. We then went to the other side of town to the church that Henry preaches out of and again, some of the boys shared their testimony. We had a time of prayer with Henry before heaading back to the campsite.

After an early start on Friday, the boys arrived back at school by 2:30pm and then unpacked the van and headed home for some much-needed rest.

Overall, the trip was a wonderful success with a number of the boys reporting that they felt much closer to God after the trip. The boys all co-operated and got along very well.

Mr Andrew McGillivray

Backflips Against Bullying

At GPCC we take the issue of bullying seriously, and continue to build a culture of respect and resilience amongst our students and school community. Today our Year 7 students were captivated by a performance from 'Backflips Against Bullying'. This unique program uses aerobatics and audience participation to engage students while addressing the critical issue of bullying.

Pertussis (Whooping Cough)

There has been a recent increase of whooping cough (pertussis) amongst primary-school-aged children and a modest increase in high schools.

Coughing spreads the infection to others nearby. Whooping cough caught at school can spread to any younger brothers and sisters at home. Whooping cough can be especially dangerous for babies.

Whooping cough starts like a cold and progresses to bouts of coughing that can last for many weeks. Older children may just have a cough that is persistent and is worse at night. The infection can occur even in fully-vaccinated children.

• Children with symptoms should see a GP.
• If your doctor diagnoses whooping cough, please let the school know and keep your child at home until they have taken 5 days of antibiotics. Keep coughing children away from babies.
• Whooping cough vaccines give good protection against infection but immunity fades. If your school-aged child has younger siblings, it’s a good idea to check that they are up to date with their vaccines.

For more information from NSW Health please follow this link: Information for Childcare and Schools - Whooping cough (nsw.gov.au)

School Vaccination Program: Catch-up Clinic

If students missed attending the recent Vaccination Clinic (Year 7 and 10) a Catch-Up Clinic will be held at the College on Tuesday 3 September 2024 between 8.45am and 10.30am.

In Year 7, students are offered free vaccines for diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (dTpa) and human papillomavirus (HPV).
In Year 10, students are offered the meningococcal ACWY vaccine.

Vaccination will only be provided at school if consent has been received.

How to provide consent:

To complete online consent for your child’s school vaccinations, visit: https://nswhealth.service-now.com/school

Follow the steps to log in to your existing ServiceNSW account. This is the same account you may already use to renew your driver’s licence. If you don’t have a ServiceNSW account, refer to ServiceNSW to create one. 

Update or confirm your personal details in ServiceNSW as required. 

Complete the School Vaccination Consent Form for your child/ren. You will need to:  

Enter your child’s personal details 

Provide the Medicare card details for you and your child  

Read the linked Parent Information Sheet and privacy statement

Provide consent  

If you or your child do not have a Medicare card, consent can still be provided by requesting a paper-based consent form directly from your child’s school.

The benefits of providing consent online:

Easily update your child’s details

Receive SMS and/or email notifications when vaccinations are given 

Faster upload of vaccination records to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR).

For more information on routine school vaccinations, please visit: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/schoolvaccination.

If you require information in your language, please visit www.health.nsw.gov.au/immunisation/Pages/school_vaccination_language.aspx