We have successfully reached the end of another term this week.  Like many others, I am not sure we can speak of a "new normal" yet as we are really in a holding pattern while we wait to see what will happen next.

All credit to the students and staff who have persevered and made it through the term.  It has taken, and is taking, its toll but with the right attitude, strength comes from such challenges.  Our role as staff and parents is to help the children in our care, know how to do that well.

This week we see the Year 12 students graduating. Disappointingly, family members will not be there to see them but we are live streaming it so that they can at least see what their son or daughter is going through. We will be making an edited video of the event as a keepsake for them as well.

Our school motto is "Equipped for Life" and our challenge has been to see how we can help our students be better equipped for the future through this experience.  As parents, you also need to work with them to help them see how they can learn life lessons through these experiences.  Too often our culture teaches them to be victims, but we want them to be overcomers.

The Christian view of the world is a realistic one.  We live on an amazing planet seemingly designed perfectly for human, plant and animal life. Yet we recognise that there are faults in this world and in us that get in the way of the potential of this planet being fulfilled. Christians, through the words of the Bible, learn that because of a bad decision made early on in humanities existence, brokenness and disobedience entered the world and we still suffer the consequences of that. There is a rift between the Creator and the creation.

But the Creator did not give up on His creation. He has been working out a plan of restoration and reconciliation and offering us the opportunity to be restored and to assist Him in the process of restoration. Ultimately, the final chapter of the Bible story speaks of a total restoration when everything will be put right.

This gives us hope to persevere when things get tough. We are reminded that the future of the world is not in our hands but in His, and while we must bear responsibility for our mistakes, one day it will be okay. We do need to submit ourselves to His authority, admit we have done wrong and accept that we cannot put things right ourselves, only He can.  But when we do that, we are released from a burden we cannot bear and find strength to do what He calls us and to experience something of the final restoration.

GPCC tells this story to its students and invites them to consider joining in this great hope-filled adventure of learning to be fully human and engaging in the purpose for which they were made. Our task as a school is to equip them for this work and to help them to grow in character into the people God wants them to be.

Even in the midst of the pandemic we do not lose sight of this exciting opportunity.  I trust that as you enjoy the term break, remember that we are partners together in giving our students this hope.

Phillip Nash

Principal