Last week I announced the establishment of a new company called the Melos Foundation, which will co-ordinate the operations of a number of Christian schools including Green Point Christian College.  This is a move to try to ensure that the governance and management of our school is strengthened through the opportunity to have skilled directors and a sharing of academic management and business expertise amongst the joining member schools.

We have selected the name Melos, which is a Greek word for the term "body" and is used by the Apostle Paul in his New Testament letters.  He used the metaphor of the body to describe the healthy functioning of the Church. It is made up of many different members, but all need to play their part for the body to function strongly.  A cluster of Christian schools, working together will be stronger than the same schools operating individually.  Each school will bring its own specialisation and strength such that the whole becomes stronger than the parts.

The other exciting venture that GPCC is involved in is the establishment of a small school in Brewarrina in far north-east NSW, an hour from Bourke.  For some years now, we have had a link to the community in Brewarrina and have sent teams of Year 9 students to learn about Aboriginal history and culture and to connect with the Church in the Shire.  The local people have been asking us to establish a Christian school for them and we have been seriously exploring this idea for the past 18 months.

We are currently looking to secure a property on the edge of town and convert it into a small school. This will be a school for children from the Brewarrina Shire and eventually we plan to open a boarding school so that children from far west NSW towns will also have an opportunity to receive Christian schooling.  While GPCC will be involved in the planning and establishment of the school, it will become a member of the Melos Foundation and add significant factors to the group – remote, rural and largely indigenous.  We see great opportunity for our students to connect with students from Brewarrina and beyond, and learn first-hand about rural Australia and Aboriginal culture.  The local people are keen for their children to visit GPCC and learn about life on the Central Coast, see the ocean (some for the first time) and have ready access to Sydney.

The pandemic has brought many plans to a halt, but we believe we should press on with this idea and use it to strengthen what we are doing in GPCC.  The way we will need to deliver education in Brewarrina will challenge us to re-think how we do things at Green Point.  In this way we can grow stronger together.

Again, let me remind you that this school will be independent, having its own funding and being self-supporting, so while GPCC Ltd may contribute a start-up loan, it will be repaid with interest and not be a drain on our own resources or plans for the future.

During the term break, Michael Lowbridge the Business Manager and I visited our school Architects to progress work on our Master Plan for the GPCC site.  We are excited at the ideas that have already been floated about renovations to existing facilities and additions to the site to improve what we have already.  I will share the Master Plan with you once it is finalised.

Phillip Nash

Principal