I continue this week to highlight elements of our GPCC philosophy of education and practice. Follow this link to the document: Link to PoEP

Three issues any educational philosophy must address are: metaphysics (what is real/reality), epistemology (how do we know anything) and axiology (what is right and good). Don’t worry about the big words because all of us actually think about these issues even if we don’t know the terms for them.

Metaphysics: The philosopher Sartre said, ”Something is there, rather than that nothing is there.” We all recognise that there is a reality to be known, grasped and dealt with. The Christian faith believes in a world that does exist, designed by a personal loving God, which is orderly and able to be explored.

Science cannot provide any answers for us unless we accept it is exploring an essentially orderly universe, that is regulated and able to be explored and understood.  Faith is involved by all who wrestle with reality.  Christians have faith in the real possibility of a Creator God who has ordered the Universe and made it possible for us to know it.

Epistemology: A common human question is, “How can we know anything?”  We recognise that knowledge comes to us through various means such as sense, perception, reason, intuition, language, memory etc.  Epistemological systems assume certain means of attaining knowledge and each construct their view of the world on that basis.

Christians look to God as the source of knowledge through revelation via the creation itself, especially through God’s self-revelation in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and the person of Jesus Christ – God made plain to us.  Because we believe in a God who reveals Himself, we can confidently explore the world, finding in it evidence of the Creator, and our reason for existence.

Axiology: The preceding positions allow us to hold a position on ethics (how to behave rightly) and aesthetics (what is good and beautiful).  The Christian view holds that the world is not as it should be, it is broken by disobedience to the Creator and so we suffer the consequences.  People behave badly and there is ugliness in the world as well as beauty.

A Christian ethics is not grounded in a belief that we cannot fix ourselves or the world, but in the belief that through the grace of God in Christ, we can have our relationship with God restored and so begin a recovery process toward a wholesome personal and social ethic.

We are drawn to the beautiful and creative because we made in the image of the Creator God. While sin distorts this in us and the world, we can again experience a recovery of this through the work of Christ in restoring us.

The Christian school bases its approach to education on the foundation of these beliefs.

Phillip Nash

Principal

Mr Peter McLellan | Head of Secondary

We are now in Week 9 of Term 2; we are nearly halfway through the year.  It has been an unusual year which we have learnt a lot through.

Next week we will be running NAIDOC Week where we want to focus on valuing and learning about the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander peoples.

We are also heading into a very important time for Year 12 who need to remain focused and motivated.  The upcoming holidays are vital for completion of study notes, completing Major Works and catching up on any difficult areas.  Please keep Year 12 in your prayers.

Certain key practices will make life easier for everyone in the family when it comes to study time and study organisation.  However, some of them may require an adjustment for other members of the family. 

Turn off the Television. Make a house rule, depending on the location of the set, that when it is study time, it is “no TV” time.  A television set that is on will draw youngsters like bees to honey.

What about other audio devices?  Should it be on or off?  Contrary to what many specialists say, some youngsters do seem to function alright with their device tuned into their favourite music. 

Designate specific areas for homework and studying. Possibilities include the child’s room or the kitchen or dining room table.  Eliminate as much distraction as possible.  Since many young people will study in their own rooms, function becomes more important than beauty.  Most desks for young people really don’t have sufficient space to spread out materials.  A table that allows for all necessary supplies such as pencils, pens, paper, books, and other essentials works extremely well.  Consider placing a bulletin/planner board in your child’s room.  Encourage the use of a small book or pad for writing down assignments so that there is no confusion about when certain assignments must be handed in to the teacher. Keeping general supplies on hand is important.  Check with your child about their needs.  In fact, make it their responsibility to be well supplied with paper, pencils, note pads, notebook paper, etc.

Regularity is a key factor in academic success. Try to organise the household so that dinner is served at a standard time, and once it and family discussions are over, it’s time to crack the books.  If the student doesn’t have other commitments and gets home reasonably early from school, some homework can be done before dinner.

Consider your child’s developmental level when setting the amount of time for homework.  While Secondary School students can focus for over an hour, allow your child to take breaks, perhaps as a reward for finishing a section of the work.

Organise study and homework projects.  Get a large planner/calendar, one that allows space for jotting down things in the daily boxes.  Have your child use a bold colour felt tip pen to mark exam dates in one colour, reports that are coming due in a different colour, etc.  This will serve as a reminder so that things aren’t set aside until the last dangerous moment.

Teach your child that studying is more than just doing homework assignments.  One of the most misunderstood aspects of schoolwork is the difference between studying and doing homework assignments.  Encourage your child to do things like:

· take notes as they are reading a chapter

· learn to skim material

· learn to study tables and charts

· learn to summarise what they have read in their own words

· learn to make their own flashcards for quick review of dates, formulas, spelling words, etc

Note-taking is a critical skill and should be developed.  Many students don’t know how to take notes in those classes that require them.  Some feel they have to write down every word the teacher says.  Others have wisely realised the value of an outline form of note taking.  Well prepared teachers present their material in a format that lends itself to outline form note taking.

Should notes ever be rewritten?  In some cases they should be, particularly if a lot of material was covered, and the student had to write quickly but lacks speed and organisation.  Rewriting notes takes time, but it can be an excellent review of the subject matter.  However, rewriting notes isn’t worth the time unless they are used for review and recall of important information.

Help your child to feel confident for tests.  Taking tests can be a traumatic experience for some students.  Explain to your child that burning the midnight oil (cramming) the night before a test is not productive.  Better to get a good night’s sleep.  Students also need reminding that when taking a test, they should thoroughly and carefully read the directions before they haphazardly start to mark their test papers.  They should be advised to skip over questions for which they don’t know the answers.  They can always return to those if there’s time.  Good advice for any student before taking a test: take a deep breath, relax, and dive in.  Always bring an extra pencil just in case.

During a homework session, watch for signs of frustration.  No learning can take place and little can be accomplished if the child is angry or upset over an assignment that is too long or too difficult.  At such times the parent may have to step in and simply halt the homework for that night, offering to write a note to the teacher explaining the situation and perhaps requesting a conference to discuss the quality and length of homework assignments.

Year 12 Students

The new dates for our HSC Trial Examinations are 17 - 31 August 2020.  Our timetable is below for your information.

Please note the HSC Examinations have also been pushed back by a few days.  They will now start on 20 October and finish on 11 November 2020.

Beauty and the Beast Musical

Yes, we are back on for our musical, starting serious preparations for 14-16 October (Week 1 of Term 4).

This is such an exciting opportunity and while we have had to close down rehearsals for a whie, we are now starting up again.  There will be Wednesday afternoon rehearsals for Principals on Wednesday 24 June and Ensemble to join them Wednesday 1 July at 3.30pm - 5.30pm.

The school holidays will see us meet on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday – not everyone will be required every day, but we will be blocking some big numbers so the more we can get there, the better.

Stay tuned for a holiday schedule – it will be emailed and placed on Teams. It will of course, be dependent on MPC availability as we continue to observe social distancing and work within the Government’s COVID-19 guidelines.

Year 11 Biology class conducting water quality tests in preparation for their Field Trip.

Primary and Secondary School Bands resumed last week led by J P Fleury

Progressive Reporting

This year we have moved to Progressive Reporting where you will receive detailed feedback on your child's performance in each Assessment Task throughout the year.

The advantage of Progressive Reporting is guidance on a student's performance and how they can improve in each area of the task they undertake. This will give you a much clearer picture of your child's progress.

You will no longer receive a Half Yearly Report and at the end of the year you will receive a summative transcript of your child's academic year.

Please see instructions below for how to access the Parent Lounge Progressive reporting.

Enrolments for Kindergarten 2021 

Kindergarten 2021 Information Night - Wednesday 29 July @ 6:00pm

For those enrolled or looking to enrol your Kindergarten child for 2021, this is an essential event to hear from our Head of Primary, Mrs Nicole Smith, and to meet our Kindergarten and Primary staff.

They will be sharing about our programs and co-curricular opportunities, and there will be time to ask questions as a group as well as one-on-one.

This is a registration only event to ensure adherence to limitations for the space being used.

Please register below via the form on our website.

Registration Form for Kindergarten 2021 Information Night

Term 3 Open Day and Tour

Thursday 13 August 10:00am - Lunch

Open Day is an excellent opportunity to hear from our Principal, Mr Phillip Nash, to meet our Heads of School and other teaching staff, and to be hosted by our students as they lead tours of the College.

Please register via our online form to assist with numbers for catering and space requirements.

Registration for Open Day Thursday 13 August 2020

Commuter Parking in Gosford

Federal MP Lucy Wicks has notified us that the Government has committed $30 million towards commuter parking in Gosford and $5 million towards parking in Woy Woy. We have also been advised that Central Coast Council are currently in the process of choosing their preferred site for the Gosford car park. As a number of our families are train commuters, we would like to suggest you consider responding to the following issue. 

The Central Coast Commuters Association is concerned that Central Coast Council will use the funds to construct parking close to the Central Coast Stadium rather than the train station. This is a 20 minute walk for train commuters and they are requesting we all consider completing the online survey the Council is conducting on the issue. The survey can be found at the this link:  https://www.yourvoicecoast.com/parking

Uniform Shop 

The Uniform Shop has recommenced normal trading hours, however will close on Friday 26 June (one week before end of term) to allow for a system updgrade.

Earlier Shop Closure due to Alinta System Upgrade

Shop_Closure_System_Update.pdf

Shop_Closure_System_Update _pdf 876.64 KB

Canteen 

NOW AVAILABLE at The Munchery

$2 HOT MILO before school and at recess.

Be sure to check out the daily lunch specials on Munch Monitor – including NACHOS on Tasty Tuesday.

The Munchery (Canteen) has now resumed full time operating hours.

Parent Lounge Details

The College has a legal requirement to keep our records up to date. 

Please review your details on Parent Lounge to ensure that all your information is correct.  This includes medical information on your child/children (only complete the immunisation question if your child is not immunised).

Please note: Should you require both parents/carers to receive SMS notifications, please tick the appropriate boxes.

Thank you.

Green Point Trader

• Low food miles
• Minimal waste
• Eggs, bread, coffee, sauces and dry pantry products also available
• Easy online ordering system 
• Pickup on Tuesdays from Green Point Hub between 2:00pm and 5:30pm

If you would like to place an advertisement in the Green Point Trader, please email details to Marie Hay at newsletter@gpcc.nsw.edu.au

Green Point Baptist Church

In light of the current COVID-19 crisis, Green Point Baptist Church has suspended all regular Church activities and has encouraged any Church member who is not in a high risk category to find ways to serve the vulnerable in their community.  If you are in need of assistance, please contact the Church office on 4369 1585 or office@gpbc.net.au

GPBC has moved their services online:

SERVICE TIMES

Sundays

9:30am

6:00pm    

Sunday Service

Green Point Baptist Church invite you and your family to join the Sunday service LIVE on Facebook at 9:30am every Sunday.

Thrive is on hold for now, but kids can join via Zoom from home each week during the school term. Join the “Thrive Green Point 2020” facebook group for information.

Over the past few weeks, Green Point Baptist Church has been partnering with Kincumber Neighbourhood Centre to help those who are doing it tough in our neighbourhood as a result of Coronavirus. The One + 1 Food Aid Project is based on a simple idea - when you are out shopping, buy a few extra items each week and build up a food hamper that can be passed onto a family who really needs it.  

We would love for you to get involved with us in this project.

Each Wednesday morning, Kincumber Neighbourhood Centre runs its Food Pantry Program.  For a gold coin donation, recipients are given two generous bags of groceries, often supplemented with a loaf of fresh bread, various fruit and vegetables, even eggs sometimes.  In the half hour before the food program begins, a line of 10 people quickly grows to 60 people or even more, stretching the entire the length of the carpark.  Leanne who heads up the program, says the last few weeks the number of people seeking food aid has been growing. Three weeks ago, there were 80 people and they nearly ran out of food.

When you look at the line, there is mix of older and younger people but they are mostly women.  They wait quietly and patiently.  When the volunteers begin serving people, they do so with generosity, dignity and kindness.  Without exception, every person they speak to brightens and some even manages a smile when they realise they would not be judged.  Every time we deliver food hampers, Leanne and Collette from KNC speak about the quality and thoughtfulness of the grocery items that are given and how it gives them options and helps them to respond to particular needs.

Remember, once you have completed a food hamper, items can be dropped off at the kitchen in the Church office between 9:00am and 12:00pm, Tuesday to Friday or the College office if it needs to be earlier.  For more information, feel free to call the Church office on 43691585. 

Coast Shelter Restaurant

346 Mann Street, Gosford

Due to COVID-19, Coast Shelter have had to suspend dinners and are not allowing volunteers to enter.

For those interested in attending Macquarie University after finishing school, you may like to apply for the Macquarie University Leaders and Achievers Program.  

The Careers Newsletter is emailed to Years 10 – 12 students and their parents. 

It is also available on the College website under the “Education & Learning” menu in the “Student Careers” section.

For more details, please see this week's Careers Newsletter or visit the "Student Careers" section on the GPCC College website.

Mr David David Russell
Curriculum Co-ordinator (7-12) | Student Advisor (7-12)

Nathan Lambert  |  K-12 Sport Co-ordinator

Patience  

Mo Farah, the amazing distance runner from Great Britain, showed a lot of patience to wait for the right time in the big 10,000m race at the 2016 Rio Olympics.  

Farah started at the back of the pack and after moving into position just under halfway through the race, he tripped and fell.  These precious seconds lost would be important. Farah picked himself up quickly and kept his composure, pushing himself back into a decent position, heading into the final stage of the race. 

 

3 laps to go … Farah moved into 2nd place, kept his composure and was patient, waiting for the right time to make his move and go for it. 

2 laps to go … still in 2nd place but the Kenyans were moving into position to strike. Farah makes his first move, taking the lead and setting a faster pace.  They all moved for position, as the commentator is heard saying, “They’re all jostling now, to get into the right place at the right time.”  

1 lap to go … everyone starts sprinting! Running sub 55 second 400m times in this race meant that this last lap would be fast and furious.   

Farah, coming into the last lap, surrounded by the ultra-quick Ethiopians and Kenyans - the last lap would have to be timed to perfection.  

300m to go … Farah sees competitors moving quickly on his outside, so he goes faster. He wants to be in the right spot to make his final move. 

200m to go … it is a fight to the finish, pushing themselves harder and faster than they have ever gone. Farah is in 2nd place and ready to go. 

100m to go … Farah pushes to the side of the Kenyan Tanui and turns on the jets, making his last sprint to the finish line his strongest yet.  

Finish line … Farah wins Gold by 3m, cementing his place in history as one of the greatest long distance runners ever!  To win such a fast race, after falling over, is truly inspirational.  He timed his final sprint to perfection.  He was patient, waiting for the right moment.  

Farah won in a time of 27:04mins. 

To say that he is a superb athlete is an understatement.  He not only won the 10,000m at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, but also repeated this feat in the 5,000m (which he ran in 13:02mins in 2016).  Now that is unbelievably fast.

There are so many students at our school who love to play sport, who love to train and who love to compete.  

It has been a challenging year for everyone, not being able to be involved in the sport as usual.  Not having the chance to train every Tuesday night, work hard at polishing those skills required to improve your game, hang out with your mates, has been a difficult time for our budding sport enthusiasts. 

Although this has been a tough time, it has still been an opportunity to develop a number of characteristics and traits with one in particular … patience.  Patience is definitely a hard trait to master.  To wait for something calmly, for a certain amount of time, is not an easy skill to have and one that we all need to practise.  

Being patient with sport in 2020 is one thing we have all had to demonstrate. We want to get out and train; we want to get out onto the track or field and push ourselves to exhaustion, knowing that we are better for it; we want to get out and be involved, competing against peers and testing ourselves to see how our skills are holding up. 

The saying “patience is a virtue” is something to consider.  Having the ability to display composure, perseverance and diligence are important assets to any athlete’s arsenal.  This self-control helps you to make the right decisions at the right time.  

As in Mo Farah’s races, he showed great patience and perseverance to wait for the right moment to make his move, to take the lead and make a break for it.  We can all learn something from this; we need to be patient in waiting for restrictions to be lifted; patient to begin training, to being competition, and to begin resuming our normal sporting schedule. 

Gary Player, a professional golfer, states that, “Patience, practiced correctly, is a powerful mental tool that unlocks so many other positives and that will also give you the kind of perspective others may lack under pressure.” 

Even though it has not been an ideal sporting year, developing our patience will give us many other positives in life. 

SPORT EVENTS UPDATE 

With sport starting to show signs of normality at school and on the weekend, we have recently been notified that the following sport events have been cancelled for Term 3: 

PRIMARY		SECONDARY
Thursday 6 August	CSSA State Metro Cup Netball	Thursday 28 July	Zone Secondary Basketball
Thursday 6 August	CSSA State Metro Cup Soccer	Thursday 6 August	Zone Secondary Athletics Carnival
Friday 7 August	Zone Primary Athletics Carnival	Thursday 20 August	CSSA Secondary Athletics Carnival
Friday 14 August	CSSA Primary Athletics Carnival

This means that unfortunately, both CSSA Cross Country and Athletics events have been cancelled, along with their level pathways (CIS, PSSA).  Though there are no representative carnivals for students to qualify for in cross country and athletics, we are still planning on holding school carnivals (both Primary and Secondary) in these events.  These will probably be held towards the end of Term 3 and/or during Term 4. Further information will be communicated to parents once details have been finalised. We love to have students participate in these carnivals, not just for their own experience at competing in athletic and running events, but also for the sense of community that this brings.  We are also keen to continue rewarding our top competitors with Age Champion trophies and the winning House for each carnival. 

We still have a number of representative events scheduled for next term and Term 4 that we hope will run, but we still need to wait for confirmation.  These are: 

 

PRIMARY		SECONDARY
Wednesday 2 September	CSSA Primary Oz Tag	CSSA Secondary Oz Tag
Friday 11 September	CSSA Primary State Futsal	CSSA Secondary State Futsal
Wednesday 15 October	Zone Primary Basketball	Zone Secondary Oz Tag
Thursday 22 October	CSSA Biathlon	CSSA Secondary Triathlon
Monday 23 November Yrs 5/6	CSSA Primary Basketball
Monday 30 November Yrs 3/4	CSSA Primary Basketball

With the cancellation of a number of representative events this year, we are still planning at providing opportunities for students (both Primary and Secondary) to trial for a specific school team, and then once this team has been finalised, playing some friendly matches against local schools and/or playing in a round robin tournament. More details about these trials will be communicated to students. 

 

Coming up

Monday, 22 June, 2020

Year 11 Biology Excursion

Wednesday, 24 June, 2020

Kindergarten at Year 8 Puppet Show

Year 2 at Year 8 Puppet Show

Friday, 26 June, 2020

Parliament Video Conference for 6T 

Monday, 29 June, 2020

Parliament Video Conference for 6M

Uniform Shop 

Operating Times

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday during the School Term:

8:30am - 11:00am

(Closed Wednesdays)

Afternoons by appointment only.

Contact (02) 4367 9954

gpcc@alinta.com.au

Canteen

The Munchery

The Munchery (Canteen) has now returned to full operating hours.

Visit The Munchery page on our website

Munch Monitor

New to Munch Monitor?  Order your school lunches each morning before 8:30am via Munch Monitor from home, for a hassle free start to your mornings.

We have daily menu specials as well as popular items available every day of the week.

www.munchmonitor.com
Username: greenpoint
Password: munch2251

TERM DATES

Term 2, 2020

Wednesday, 29 April 2020 to Friday, 3 July 2020 

Term 3, 2020

Monday, 27 July 2020 to Friday, 25 September 2020

Term 4, 2020

Tuesday, 13 October 2020 to Wednesday, 9 December 2020