IMPORTANT DATES

TERM 2

Wed 25th– Fri 27th May Year 4-6 Camp

Fri 3rd June Report Writing Day– Student Free Day

Wed 8th June Year 7 in 2017 Information Night 7:00pm in the Auditorium

Mon 13th June Queen’s Birthday Holiday– Student Free Day

Fri 17th June Primary Student Reports Issued

Wed 22nd June Secondary Parent Teacher Interviews

Thur 23rd June Parent Teacher Interviews (Primary)

Fri 24th June Last Day of Term– 2:30pm finish

TERM 3

Tue 12th July Students return for Term 3

Thur 14th July Parent Teacher Interviews (Secondary)

2016 TERM DATES

Term 1 1 February - 24 March

Term 2 12 April - 24 June

Term 3 12 July - 16 September

Term 4 4 October - 7 December _____________________________________________________

Geelong Baptist College

590 Anakie Road,

Lovely Banks, Victoria, 3213

Phone: (03) 5276 1674

Email: enquiries@gbc.vic.edu.au

Web: www.gbc.vic.edu.au

Principals: Mrs Trudy Knol and Mr Neil Wetmore No. 14 May 19th 2016

DEVOTION – OUT OF THE RUINS

He has granted us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins. Ezra 9:9

In the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem you’ll find Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue. Built in the 19th century, the synagogue was dynamited by commandos during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

For years the site lay in ruins. Then, in 2014, rebuilding began. As city officials set a piece of rubble as the cornerstone, one of them quoted from Lamentations: “Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old” (5:21). It takes time, but we can always trust Him.

Lamentations is Jeremiah’s funeral song for Jerusalem. With graphic imagery the prophet describes the impact of war on his city. Verse 21 is his heartfelt prayer for God to intervene. Still, the prophet wonders if that is even possible. He concludes his anguished song with this fearful caveat: “unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure” (v. 22). Decades later, God did answer that prayer as the exiles returned to Jerusalem.

Our lives too may seem to be in ruins. Troubles of our own making and conflicts we can’t avoid may leave us devastated. But we have a Father who understands. Gently, patiently, He clears away the rubble, repurposes it, and builds something better. It takes time, but we can always trust Him. He specializes in rebuilding projects.

Lord, You have reclaimed us, and You are remaking us. Thank You for Your love and Your care despite our self-centered and destructive ways.

Thank You for true forgiveness and unity in You.

http://odb.org/2016/05/04/out-of-the-ruins/

WHOLE SCHOOL NEWS

ANNUAL SCHOOL PERFORMANCE REPORT Every year the government requires schools to make public an Annual Report about the previous year’s school performance. Guidelines are provided as to what information needs to be incorporated into the report.

GBC's Annual Report is now available as a hard copy in the office and also in the library. Parents may come and read it at their leisure, or borrow the copy from the library. The report has also been added to the College's website and over the next few weeks, some snippets from the report will be included in the newsletter.

Furthermore, families may request to have a copy of the report sent to them by contacting the College office.

Below is the first snippet from the Annual Report:

Staff Professional Development 2015 Some examples of Professional Development that took place: • Short training sessions in Staff Meetings • Extended training sessions on pupil free days • External conferences, seminars, and professional development courses – both for individuals and small groups of staff • Staff Retreat – team building • Staff Appraisal as well as mentoring and coaching

Teachers have enjoyed being challenged and having the opportunity to further develop their teaching styles, methods and strategies. Teachers have participated in a large array of programs allowing us, as a school, to focus more intensely on improving student engagement and interest in learning, and consequently aiming to enhance their learning outcomes. We are very excited about the many new strategies that were explored and implemented.

Total cost of Professional Development in 2015 was $23,126 This represents an average cost of $889 per teacher, including all the part time teachers. This amount includes costs for the Professional Development activities and teacher replacement costs.

PRIMARY PATCH As we continue with our assembly theme of “helping others”, it has been great to witness this in action amongst our students. I often see students helping each other in all sorts of ways - for example on the playground equipment, or helping little hands to unwrap a well-protected lunch, or retrieving sport equipment or even allowing someone to go before them in line.

In our assemblies we also ask students to appreciate people who help us and we remind them that saying thank you is really important.

Hopefully students are practising these positive values at home as well, and as we all work together on such goals, that we are developing these behaviours as good habits in our children.

PRIMARY AWARDS

This week’s student awards go to: Foundation/1: Stevie Lewis and Pheonix Oswell Year 1/2: Tatiana Rogan and Harry Gigas Year 3: Chase Schembri and Aidel Sibi Year 4/5: Erin Eastway and Noah Petrovski Year 6: Emma Sobey and Jacob Bertucci

The class award went to Year 3 for playing nicely and fairly on the playground.

School Banking Day Reminder – now Tuesdays!

This term we are changing our Banking Day.

School Banking will now be on a Tuesday and this is when students should bring in

their weekly deposit for processing.

For every deposit made at school, no ma�er how big or small, students will have their

deposit recorded and once they have deposited on 10 separate occasions, they will

be eligible for an exclusive School Banking reward item in recogni#on of their regular

savings habits.

Thank you for suppor#ng the School Banking program at Geelong Bap#st College.

PRIMARY INTERSCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY On Wednesday 4th May, 18 students from Year 3-6 went to Geelong Grammar to represent GBC at the Moorabool District Cross Country. It was a windy, yet warm day, with all students participating to the best of their abilities. Congratulations to all who participated and a special congratulations to the following students who finished well enough to progress through to the next round which is on Tuesday 24th of May!

Haydn Miller (9/10 boys) who finished 7th Adie Noonan (7th) and Ruby Glenister (8th) (9/10 girls) Delainey Hill (3rd) (11 Girls) Ashleigh Winter (4th) (12/13 Girls)

SECONDARY NEWS

MID YEAR EXAMS All students from Year 7-12 will be sitting mid year exams and have been provided with a timetable of when these are being held. Year 7-10 MESH exams will be in Week 9, Monday– Thursday during Homeroom– Period 2. Year 11& 12 exams have been scheduled for Week 8 as per timetable. Please find enclosed copies of these timetables.

MELBOURNE BECKONS!

The City Camp is always an anticipated highlight of The Edge programme, and this year was no different. We had a marvellous time in Melbourne, walking, experiencing and seeing the sights of the city. Unfortunately, this semester we couldn’t work with ‘the big umbrella”- always a highlight of the camp. However we did discover a new youth project that does amazing work with the homeless and was so happy to accept our backpack and would like to liaise with us in the future. The Edge students put together backpacks filled with clothing, bedding, books, stationery and toiletries to give to homeless or needy people and we gave them out to homeless people through Urban Seed, Youth Project and others. Again, we visited ‘Urban Seed’, who work with Collins St Baptist Church, and saw first-hand the work they do with the poor, the homeless and the drug affected. Evan talked about the stereotypes of homelessness and how it can affect anyone. The work they do is redemptive and life changing for those caught up in poverty and homelessness. It was a challenging experience for all of us and our perspectives on various issues were certainly confronted. Interspersed with these activities were recreational pursuits- one of the highlights was bike riding along the Yarra River on a sunny and quiet early morning. Another was the revamped Amazing Race that relied on students’ map reading skills and memories of places visited on our walks through the city. Incidental skills like catching a tram, reading a timetable, navigating the Queen Vic Market were developed on camp too. We walked all over the city to further explore the theme of the camp- ‘the poor, the marginalised and the oppressed’ and how we can help make a difference to these people in our own communities. The students are to be commended for their exemplary behaviour on camp- they were a delightful group to take away. It was a fabulous camp, greatly enjoyed by all!

Year 9 Edge Market Day On Friday May 27th at lunchtime, Year 9 students will be taking part in their Entrepreneur project. Each student will be opening a market stall selling a product or setting a fun challenge. All games and products will range in price from 50 cents to $2. All monies raised will be donated to an overseas charity. Year 9 students promise to make this afternoon a carnival atmosphere with loads of fun for Foundation to Year 12. Please support this day.

Mrs. Gordon Mrs. Findlay

Meg and Erin pacing

themselves around the course

Delainey Hill finishing off the

race strong

Jacob Bertucci passing an

opponent to the finishing line The 12/13 girls getting ready

for their race (Amber, Annia,

Paige and Ashleigh)

SECONDARY SPORT On Wednesday 11th May, the Year 7&8 girls netball team competed against Kardinia International College. They say a close game is a good game and this one was. Goal for goal was scored throughout the match and both teams were equally matched. The final score favoured Kardinia. Our girls showed the following skills: Felicity's keen sense of timing in defence turned most rebounds over to our advantage. Sara's goal shooting was sharp and accurate and her height proved to be an advantage. Alex and Jorja's versatility were valuable playing in goals, as defenders and court players. Alanah played an excellent Centre and the wing positions were dynamically played by Kristal, Kiara and Charlotte. We are glad Brodie is on the road to recovery following her injury and we thank her for coming along to support the team. Great teamwork girls - we are very proud of your efforts!

SECONDARY ART Year 8 students have been working on painting a Geelong identity. These paintings, when completed will be entered in the Geelong Galleries 'Who’s Who' Portrait exhibition later this year. Below are a selection of works in progress. Artists Zack Kinnersly, Noah Foster, Sebastian Marks, Kaine Eden, Zoe Overall and Melanie Bevan

Kaine Eden Sebastian Marks Zack Kinnersly

Noah Foster Melanie Bevan Zoe Overall