A note from Mr Bray - 31 March 2017

Every morning I have the amazing privilege of being involved in a short devotional time with our staff team at NCS. Devotions are presented on a rotational basis and each new day I eagerly look forward to discovering what will be presented from God’s word. What is more, I delight in the incredible variety of stimulating ways in which staff choose to present these challenging devotions. This might involve music and songs, video clips, personal reflections, dramatic skits, flash cards, favourite Bible passages and so much more. How fortunate we are to belong to a Christian school community where we share a common faith and recognise the authority of God over our lives!

The focus Bible verse that I have chosen to share comes from one of this week’s devotional sessions. It is an amazing verse that powerfully reminds us that God is the loving creator of everything around us. This is the very reason why Christian schools such as NCS exist. We recognise that God is the ultimate source of all wisdom and knowledge and this is the reason why we develop all curriculum from a Christian worldview perspective. This verse comes from Psalm 19 and it states ‘The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands’ Psalm 19: 1 (NIV).

I am also delighted to add that this is how our students begin each day at NCS as well as they participate in age-appropriate devotional sessions. They also regularly have the opportunity to attend assemblies where God is praised through singing, prayer, drama and presentations from guest speakers. This is just one of the places where our 2017 theme of ‘Who is this King?’ is further explored. Even more importantly, a God-consciousness is present in all classrooms because of the fact that our teachers are trained and encouraged to ‘teach Christianly’.

For over a month now, we have been actively promoting our NCS Open Week through radio advertising, on our website and via the most important method of all which is word of mouth. We certainly wish to thank our school parents for the way in which you have actively encouraged your friends to come along during Open Week. We have been delighted with the response that has resulted in over 30 families taking the opportunity to tour our school and speak with Heads of School, various staff members and students. Most tours have been guided by trained student leaders and I wish to publicly acknowledge the exceptional manner in which they have carried out this task. Time after time, our visitors have commented on how impressed they have been with the professionalism of our students as they have courteously and confidently led them around our school. Many have commented that these student leaders have been wonderful ambassadors for NCS!

As part of our Open Week program, we held a special information evening in the Library on Wednesday evening. The advertised topic for this event was ‘Preparing for Kindergarten: What really matters?’ Our special guest speaker for this event was Gai Lindsay who is currently an Early Childhood lecturer at the University of Wollongong. Gai has also had 22 years of previous experience as a pre-school teacher and director. She provided a wealth of practical advice on this very important topic and many parents stayed on well after the presentation had concluded to speak further with Gai and with key NCS staff members who were also available to answer questions. Once again, we were delighted with the excellent attendance at this meeting and we were encouraged by the commitment shown by these parents to the important task of bringing up their children.

Last Saturday I was delighted to visit the Nowra Showgrounds with my wife Sharon to spend some time chatting with NCS parents, staff and students who were there both as participants and supporters of our NCS ‘Prime Movers’ Primary ‘Relay for Life’ Team. It was a very colourful sight as a wide variety of teams from our local community participated in this important initiative with all funds raised going directly to the Australian Cancer Council to assist in the fight against this insidious disease. I would wish to personally congratulate everyone involved and to also thank the many NCS families who made donations towards this worthy cause.

Today (Friday) has been another amazing day at NCS and a fitting way to conclude a busy school week. I attended the K-6 Primary Assembly and was most impressed with the contributions provided by our Infants classes. They were keen and enthusiastic and presented their items with gigantic smiles on their faces! Another very significant part of this assembly was the presentation of badges to our SRC leaders. It was a special moment when the many family members who were present were invited to come forward to pin the badges on their sons and daughters.

Without doubt, one of the highlights of this assembly time was the first ever public performance by the members of the Primary Concert Band. They did a fine job, playing with confidence and determination. The audience certainly gave them a rousing round of applause at the completion of each item. All band members are to be congratulated on this wonderful debut performance. Thank you also to Mrs Lawrence who conducted the band and to all music staff and instrumental music teachers who have dedicated their time and effort to train our students over many months now.

Next week we will bring Term One to a close and staff, students and parents will have the opportunity for a few sleep-ins and special family times together. I trust that you will also take the time to reflect on the many valuable learning experiences that have occurred throughout this action-packed term.