Term 2 has been full of engaging and enriching experiences. Day one saw the colour and excitement of the Primary Athletics Carnival, complete with records broken and other fabulous performances. However, it’s always the NBCS students’ commitment to do their best for themselves, their Community Team (House) and their school which comes to the fore. This was again evident in our Cross Country event where many students pushed themselves beyond expectation.

Our ANZAC Day and Reconciliation activities were abuzz with students collaborating, researching and reflecting on these significant aspects of Australia’s past and present in highly engaging ways. It was wonderful to see the students’ creativity shining through as they were immersed in activities.

From a Creative Arts perspective, our Choir and music groups have all grown in number. This term, they have delivered fabulous performances during in-school and external events. The involvement of Primary students in the recent musical, Annie was most impressive, with students praised for their reliability, commitment and stage presence.

Our Project Based Learning units including Maker elements saw students richly engaged in authentic, varied, relevant, collaborative learning with growth in responsibility and ownership of learning celebrated along the journey. Various Beyond Borders units and GO Speak were amongst the many opportunities for students to celebrate and grow their talents.

In sport, NBCS once again proved it is a force to be reckoned with, recording 1st place in four out of seven PISA competitions this term, 2nd in two, and 3rd in one competition. A truly amazing performance! We also had 22 Cross Country runners advance to Combined Independent Schools level - an exceptional achievement. Excellent results are important, however it is the constant feedback about our students’ sportsmanship, caring approach and controlled enthusiasm which is most pleasing.

Depth in character is something modelled by Primary staff and stands above all other elements in importance on the learning journey. Our students are regularly expressing compassion for others through their actions. Recently a Year 1 student tugged my shirt in the playground, said he wanted to pray for my injured hand. Following Grandfriends’ Day, a visitor witnessed a young boy crying because his grandparents were leaving. They reported seeing three other boys surrounding the upset student, showering him with words of encouragement. The guest commented that they had never seen such compassionate actions by students within a school.

Primary staff pray for God’s blessing over our children and families. We are thankful for his guidance and covering as we seek to grow and nurture precious lives.

We wish you a wonderful and safe break with friends and family.

Farewell and Welcome back!

Karen Mitchell
At the end of this term we farewell Karen Mitchell, who has done an outstanding job as the Acting Head of Primary Sport, filling in for Lisa Mallard during her Maternity Leave. Karen’s fantastic organisational skills, passion for her craft and caring approach to everyone she comes in contact with has shone through. We wish her every blessing for the next chapter in her career.

Lisa Mallard
We are very excited to be welcoming back Lisa Mallard when she returns from Maternity Leave at the start of Term 3. We are also looking forward to seeing more of her beautiful baby boy, Charlie.

Mr Peter Grimes
Head of Primary​

It all began with a few boys running around the playground yelling, “Fire, Fire.”  Thankfully there was no fire, just children busy at play. The boys’ attention had turned to the sticks and rocks arranged in the sand and their imagination was the beginning of our journey.  We observed the children’s continued interest in putting out fires all over Preschool and decided over the coming weeks to provide materials, tools and props that would help the children shape their ideas and develop their knowledge. We asked the children what they knew about fire. After exploring many of these ideas through play, literature, music and technology we invited the Rural Fire Brigade to visit. This was a huge ‘hit’ and has further sparked our interest as we apply our newly acquired knowledge.

What our 3 and 4 year olds now know:
Kids shouldn't play with fires or walk in fires cause they could catch on fire.
Tell your family if there is fire in the house.
If there's a fire we need to think about what is the safest way to get out.
You have to roll down on the ground if your clothes get on fire.
When you get out call 000 and say you need the fire people.
I was just scared of big fire engines ‘cause they're big, but it was very fun.

Ruth Pugh
Preschool Teacher - 2 Day Group

In the last few weeks, all Primary students have presented a poem to their class in preparation for our major event for the term, GO Speak. It has been a wonderful time of encouragement and enjoyment for the students and teachers.

Yesterday our GO Speak finalists braved the MPC stage in front of their teachers, friends and parents to present their poems. What a delightful afternoon of poetry! Congratulations must go to all the finalists, who spoke with amazing confidence, eloquence and a touch of humour as well.  Thank you to Mr Brady Halls and Miss Anna Coombe who had the tough job of being our judges for GO Speak. We appreciate you giving up your time to be a part of our special event. We enjoyed celebrating the talents of our amazing students in a new and exciting way.

Finalists:
Early Stage 1: Maddie O'Connor, Max Power, Madison Williams
Stage 1: Summer Simmons, Levi Wysman, Natalie Pearse
Stage 2: Riley Dennings, Tommy Aivazian, Fynlay Nicholls, Tiah Shaw
Stage 3: Seb Gerdelan, Charlotte Raspass, Jade Daly, Ben Worthington,
              Tom Beken

Winners:
Early Stage 1: Maddie O'Connor
Stage 1: Levi Wysman
Stage 2: Finlay Nicholls
Stage 3: Charlotte Raspass

Miss Natalie Wade
Year 1/2 Teacher

During the month of June, the Primary students have had the privilege of some lunch time music entertainment! We have been heading over to Rhythm & Blues to listen to some fabulous music from our talented Secondary students. The Primary students have loved listening to different music genres, meeting new Secondary friends and learning the names of some of the instruments they play. We can’t wait to use the facilities in Rhythm & Blues ourselves! Thank you to all the musicians who shared their talent with us. We really enjoyed the lunch time concerts.

Miss Natalie Wade
Year 1/2 Teacher

Last week students gathered in their Community Teams (Houses - Bennelong, Macquarie, Phillip and Chisholm) to encourage each other and celebrate being part of a team. These meetings provide the students with a sense of belonging as they have the opportunity to form friendships across grades from Kindergarten to Year 6.

With no carnival looming, students had the opportunity to think about what it means to be part of a group made up of so many different people. In the Bible, Paul speaks of the family of God as being like a body. It would be useless if we were all hands or all feet. Each of us has a God-given uniqueness and a God-given purpose. It is unhelpful to spend our time longing to be like someone else.

Students spent time sharing about their strengths and talents, and encouraging the gifts and talents that they see in others. Students were then challenged to continue these conversations into the classroom, the playground and their homes.

In the classic movie Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear lamented being a toy. He really wanted to be a Space Ranger. It took the words of his best buddy, Woody, to change things. With Woody’s encouragement, Buzz saw that the joy he brought just by being a toy was far more special than being a Space Ranger.

It is good to identify the gifts that God has given us and use them to bless others.

Here is the challenge….
How have you used your gift today?
Who have you encouraged today?

Mrs Jo Barrett
Early Stage 1 Teacher and Stage 1 Manager

Throughout Term 2, the Stage 2 Beyond Borders Group has been investigating Noah’s Ark. Students conducted a significant amount of research; reading through the Bible, checking articles by experts and watching documentaries. We discussed many of the questions we had about the existence and evidence of Noah’s Ark, both face-to-face and using online forums.

The aim for the unit was to understand the scale and design of Noah’s Ark as well as problem solve some of the logistical issues that Noah would have had to navigate. Students had to use many mathematical strategies throughout their studies. To demonstrate understanding, students were required to produce a scaled model of Noah’s Ark. They took on the role of ‘expert’ as they presented these models to Stage 2 and to a Year 9 Mathematics class.

It was exciting to see the different ways students chose to present their models. Some students created theirs out of cardboard, some used wood, others used Lego and some even used Minecraft. A selection of the models will be displayed in the SCIL Building for a time.

Miss Chantelle Morrison
Year 3 Teacher and Stage 2 Learning Leader

Stage 3 Beyond Borders students created a product to help change the culture of NBCS. Last Thursday all these ideas were exhibited. It was such an encouraging time as the ideas students had created were so unique and innovative. As well as creating a product, students had to consider ways to market it to their audience. This led to the Zone being filled with giant board games, basketball hoops, sticky goo and cookies, all with the aim of enticing an audience to see their products.

The competition was of such a high standard that two winners had to be awarded. Owen Borg, Bailey Pike, Joshua Newham, Jack Hilderbrandt and Hugh Cowdery took out one of the places with their ‘Ban the Bullies’ clothing range that will be worn on buses and in the playground by leaders.

The second award went to Max Vardanega, Peter Herbert, Caleb Crossley and Noah Vumbuca for their ‘NBCS Privilege Points’ phone app. This app will allow teachers to award students on the spot using the app on their smart phone!

Thank you to all Beyond Borders students for your hard work and the mature attitude you displayed throughout this wonderful learning opportunity.

Mr Dan Wearne
Year 6 Teacher and Stage 3 Learning Leader

State Motor Cross Event
Congratulations to Beau van der Wallen who competed in the State Motor Cross event at Port Macquarie on the June long weekend where he placed 15th. Beau is currently coming 12th in the State for 9-12 year olds on 85cc division. A great effort for a 10 year old from the beaches whose home club is Lithgow. Well done, Beau!

Snow Skiing
We have 21 students, ranging from Kindergarten to Year 12, representing NBCS at the Interschools Ski and Snowboard Event in the July school holidays, 2 - 5 July.

The 21 students listed below will make up 19 teams and 37 race entries as several students are competing in more than 1 event.

This is the third year we have entered a school team in the competition. When we started in 2012 there were just 6 students in the team.

Snowsports Team:
Max Dowling, Noah Dowling, Jack Herbert, Peter Herbert, Ben  Hutchison, Zachary Johnson, Sammy Johnson, Nicholas Koen, Charlotte Korczynski, Emilie Korczynski, Oliver Leigh, Jordan Leigh, Matthew Noble, Giselle Orr, Mila Randall, Matthew Sorbara, Charlotte Thomas, Jay Walsh, Kai Walsh, Taj Walsh, Benjamin Worthington

Good luck to the team and many thanks to our parents for your support and in particular Tracy Dowling for coordinating the team.

CIS Cross Country Championships
A very big congratulations to our large team of 22 NBCS students who competed in the CIS State Cross Country at Eastern Creek on Thursday 12 June. The standard of competition was a huge step up and all of our runners had to tackle nerves and reach out of their comfort zones to participate at this level. All NBCS runners did a fantastic job and we are very proud of you.

Special mention to the following participants:
Cayla Phillips exceeded her PB by 45 seconds, placing 10th out of 97 in her age group, 24 seconds from 1st place and 12 seconds from 6th place, narrowly missing the PSSA team. 
Tiah Shaw came in 30 seconds after Cayla and also exceeded her PB. 
Liam Parker placed 20/92, only 1 minute behind the leader and 28 seconds from making the PSSA team.

Well done to all runners at CIS level: Jamie Allen, Harrison Bragg, Claudia Callaghan  - Placed 23/90, Lucy Clark, Bridie Cross, Mackenzie Davie, Matthew Dollar, Max Dowling, James Dyer, William Elliott, Alex Lefevre -  Placed 21/76, Bebe Longhurst, Emma O'Reilly, Liam Parker - Placed 20/92, Aiden Parker, William Pascoe, Cayla Phillips - Placed 10/97, Tiah Shaw, Beau Van der Wallen, Campbell Wem, Chris Wyatt, Jordan Wysman.
 

NBCS State Gymnastics Competition
The NBCS gymnasts had a great day on Thursday 19 July. The team, which  included Jordan Wysman, Levi Wysman, Lucy Clarke, Isla Waddy, Maxime Schrader and Natalie Pearce, met bright and early at Sydney Olympic Park and had a challenging and fun day of competing.

Three of the gymnasts were awarded overall placings for their levels: Maxime 3rd, Natalie 2nd and Jordan 1st. The other team members also put in a great effort with Lucy and Levi getting individual placings and all the team putting in 100% on every apparatus.

It was an awesome day to make new friends with other Christian Schools in CSSA and we look forward to more competition in the future.

Jordan Wysman
5W

In Term 3 we welcome back Ms Lisa Mallard from Maternity Leave. I would like to say thank you to the students, staff and parents for the wonderful support and friendliness you have shown me over the last year. I feel God has blessed me richly and I will miss many wonderful things here at NBCS.

Karen Mitchell
Acting Head of Primary Sport

Congratulations to our Most Improved Students from Semester 1 2014, who enjoyed pizza for lunch on Wednesday 18 June.

Allie Barry, Lara Heath, Jasmine Siljic, Tom Butler, Luca Halmagyi, Zackary Tate, Michaela Siu, Poppy Kopelke, Ashton Fordred, Max Horder, Peter Herbert, Sasha Clark, Alesha Lucey, Brayden Lee, Grace Twigg, James Reisp, Lyndon Frazer, Robert Djogo, Zoe George, Sophie Lazich, Hamish Glen, Jake Laforest, Emily Nalbandian, Sascha Duncan, Olivia Lord, Ruby Tiger Dewhurst, Matthew Upshon, Jai Dawson-Hopcraft, Joshua Stanwell, Noah Rawley, Samuel Johnson, Finlay Bragg, Indiana Irwin, Georgia Blair, Ashleigh Robson, Joshua Iliffe, Skye Mayatt, Frankie Dewhurst, Abbey Elphick, Byron Tonkes, Elena Robinson, Archie Buttrose, Riley Redman, Jay Walsh, Caitlin Hill, Alana Pittard, Brianna Laforest, Will Beken, Mia Schaffler, Julia Pearce, Jocelyn Lockyer.