School Newsletter

Recently, I had invitations to two different social events that coincided with each other. At the time, I was caught up in indecision about which one I should attend. One of my adult children overheard the dilemma and simply said, "When you look back in five years, which one would you have wished you went to?" Instantly, I was able to make a decision based on their question. I was amazed and pleased that one of my own children was able to display such wisdom.

This year, I am listening to the Bible in a year and am currently in King Solomon’s wisdom writings, Proverbs and the philosophical reflections of Ecclesiastes. I have found them inspiring and am amazed at how these writings still resonate today. In some ways, it is a shame that we don’t turn more frequently to this wisdom when seeking counsel, but rather to contemporary writers or commentators who may write from an understanding of current challenges, but lack the deep wisdom of Solomon.

As we disciple our young people, we want them to be confident in who they are, not because they are self-made, famous, wealthy, or based on their appearance, but because they know who they are and how special they are to our loving God. I also want them to seek God for wisdom.

Proverbs starts with a fundamental truth:

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Proverbs 1:7).

And continues with other offers of wisdom in navigating life, such as:

Proverbs 15:32 – "He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding."

Proverbs 15:22 – "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors they succeed."

Proverbs 12:11 – "He who works his land will have abundant food, but he who chases fantasies lacks judgement."

Proverbs 16:16 – "How much better it is to choose wisdom than gold, to choose understanding than silver."

Proverbs 18:2 – "A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinion."

Whilst I want each of my adult children to have a successful life, it is by far my greater prayer that they will know God and who they are in Him. May they, and your children too, always seek Godly wisdom as they navigate the challenges of this world.

God bless,

WINTER UNIFORM CHANGEOVER

Our winter uniform changeover date is next Monday 25th May (Week 6). All students must be wearing their full winter uniform from this date.

For details on our uniform policy, please refer to the 2026 School Information Handbook found here. Uniform requirements can be found on page 37 onwards.

SCHOOL PHOTOS

School Photos have been scheduled over two days this year in Week 8.

• Secondary School - Wednesday 10th June (sibling photos will also be held this day)
• Junior School - Thursday 11th June

These days will be organised by The School Photographer. All orders for photo packages and sibling photographs can be placed securely online at https://store.theschoolphotographer.com.au/ using our school’s code: R67ZP6P5.

An email with further information was sent to families on Thursday 14th May.

EVERY TRIBE AND TONGUE EVENT

On Friday 5th June (Week 7, Term 2), we will be celebrating our Every Tribe and Tongue Event as part of Wellbeing Week.

Students will have the opportunity to experience all the different countries and cultures that make up our school community during this event.

We will also have a Compassion Stand where students can write Letters of Hope to Compassion children as well as purchase Gifts of Compassion (backpack, food, livestock vouchers).

If you are interested in setting up a Country Stall on the day, please click here for more information and to register.

We look forward to celebrating our wonderfully diverse school community.

WCCS SCHOOL REUNION FOR 2019-2024 GRADUATES - THIS WEEKEND

Our School Reunion for 2019-2024 Graduates is this weekend (Saturday 23rd May 2026 from 3:30pm to 6:00pm).

Our staff are really looking forward to reconnecting with past students.

To RSVP, please click here.

• Secondary School Athletics Carnival - Monday 18th May (Week 5)
• Understanding Faith Course - Night 1 (6pm) - Wednesday 20th May (Week 5)
• School Reunion - 2019-2024 Alumni (3:30-6pm) - Saturday 23rd May
• Winter Uniform Change Over - Monday 25th May (Week 6)
• Understanding Faith Course - Night 2 (7pm) - Wednesday 27th May (Week 6)
• Wellbeing Week - Monday 1st to Friday 5th June (Week 7)
• Understanding Faith Course - Night 3 (7pm) - Wednesday 3rd June (Week 7)
• K-12 Combined Chapel (12pm) - Thursday 4th June (Week 7)
• King's Birthday Public Holiday - Monday 8th June (Week 8)
• School Photo Day (Secondary School) - Wednesday 10th June (Week 8)
• School Photo Day (Junior School) - Thursday 11th June (Week 8)
• Secondary School Production (PM performances) - Tuesday 30th June, Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd July (Week 11)
• Junior School Celebration Assembly (9am) - Friday 3rd July (Week 11)
  
• Secondary School Celebration Assembly (2pm) - Friday 3rd July (Week 11)
  
• Last Day of Term 2 - Friday 3rd July (Week 11)

• We give thanks for the recent baptisms of several of our WCCS students.
• We give thanks for the many Bible study groups meeting each week at school.
• We pray for our Years 3 and 4 Camp to be a safe experience for our students as they attempt new things and reflect on who God says they are.
• We pray for our teachers as they construct reports for our students across the next few weeks.

Greetings friends of Junior School.

We have had a very fun-filled, action-packed term so far. This term has seen our wonderful Junior School students participate in major sporting events like our Athletics Carnival, gala days, da Vinci Decathlons, Grandparents’ Mornings and Mother’s Day stalls just to name a few. We were even blessed with the company of our new Kindergarten students for 2027 who joined us for Kindy Starters.

As we approach the midway part of Term 2, you may see your little ones become tired and a little cranky. This has been a busy term, and it is perfectly normal to see your children start to struggle to come to school. Rest assured, as the end of the term draws near, they spark up again and finish strongly.

I have the privilege of sharing each day with your children, either teaching them in the classroom, chatting to them in the playground or car lines and I delight in their achievements.

Last week I was shown a piece of writing from one of our Year 3 students. Reading his work gave me goosebumps. His creativity and love of what he was doing was so evident. Year 3 were learning last week about the different zones within our oceans. They love to share fun facts with me each Wednesday afternoon. I couldn’t pass up this writing and I had to share it with you. Thank you, Tom (3J).

CAR LINES

Due to heavy afternoon traffic, staff are concerned for student safety. Please park and meet your children under the shelter instead of letting them run to your car. Our priority is keeping students safe.

Many students remain in car lines until after 3:30pm. Junior School finishes at 3pm; staff supervise classes until 3:15, with one teacher on duty until 3:30. We ask that students be collected as close to school finish time as possible. WOOSH is available each afternoon after school to care for children.

YEARS 3 & 4 CAMP TOUKLEY

This week sees our Years 3 and 4 students attend Camp Toukley on Thursday and Friday. Our lovely Year 2 students will be coming to visit on Friday so they can see the fun our students have at Camp. We would appreciate your prayers over our students and staff over this time.

Please refer to the permission slip for what to pack, as well as drop-off and pick-up times.

UNIFORM CHANGEOVER

As the cooler weather is approaching, our uniform changeover date is Monday 25th May (Week 6). This will see our students move into their Winter uniforms. An abundance of school jumpers and jackets may be left behind in the classrooms and playground so please ensure your child’s name is clearly labelled on all clothing. We understand the cost involved in having the correct uniform and it makes it easier to return lost items if they have a name.

We are noticing jewellery in the form of oversized earrings, bracelets and necklaces appearing. Students will be asked to remove this jewellery and take it home. Hair colour is another issue that is presenting at school. If you have any questions regarding our uniform policy, please see the School Information Handbook or ask our staff and we can assist.

Have a wonderful week

God bless,

Term 2 is always full of life in our Secondary School, and this one is shaping up to stay true to that experience!

Today, all our students are at our Athletics Carnival, doing their best to run fast, jump high and cheer loudly for their friends, their peers and their house teams. These days are always a wonderful time of fun and memory-making as we see students come together to compete, celebrate and connect.

• Throughout this term, our students have opportunities to be involved in sporting teams and gala days, the Duke of Edinburgh hike (Year 9), excursions to the city (Year 7 Geography), the theatre (Year 8 English) and the court room (Year 11 Legal Studies).
• As part of our on-site activities, our Year 9 students participated in an incursion focusing on Aboriginal storytelling and connection; our Years 11 and 12 Studies of Religion students will hear from a Rabbi about Jewish customs, beliefs and ethics; and our Year 7 and Year 12 CAFS students will hear about experiences of disability and support networks.
• For our many students with a heart to serve, we are involved with Coast Shelter after school, running Chapel at a neighbouring Christian school, serving coffee at our Mother’s Day breakfast and hearing more about how we can partner in our Compassion Sponsorship program.
• In just a few weeks, our Year 8 and Year 10 students will consider their subject selections for 2027 through teacher presentations, taster lessons and our Subject Selection Evening (Tuesday 18th June – more info to come). We will interview our Year 10 students to discuss how they might foster and grow the gifts and talents God has given them to serve His purposes and build His kingdom as they make choices about their future career paths.
• There is also the usual busyness of seasons of assessment load and course work, particularly for our Year 12 students as they begin to look towards their last term of formal schooling and all that is to be achieved and enjoyed in these final months.

This is just a snapshot of the full and varied community life of our Secondary School. Please make sure to check the school calendar and ‘Dates for Your Diary’ section of the Newsletter to ensure you and your children do not miss the important milestones of this term. Our ‘Every Tribes and Tongues’ Event is an annual highlight, and our theatre lovers are hard at work preparing their July 2026 production of ‘This Murder Was Staged’. Information regarding excursions, incursions and other school events is sent directly to parents and so we encourage you to regularly check school communications to ensure your child is prepared, on time and positively anticipating any changes to their usual school routine.

One of God’s good gifts to us is the rhythm of nature – new days, different seasons, shifts in colour and in life. In fact, in the Old Testament, God reminds us that ‘there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens’ (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Schools are also places of daily, weekly and even annual rhythms. And the rhythm of Term 2 has the potential to be one that is full of life, energy and opportunity.

We are so heartened to see so many of our students embracing new challenges and growing in maturity through showing resilience, courage and perseverance. For those students who are still feeling new or for those who are still finding their feet, we encourage you to consider stepping into some of these activities and pray that you might find connection and belonging in this way.

God bless,

DA VINCI DECATHLON

Congratulations to our Years 5, 6 and 7 da Vinci teams who, after placing 1st in the Regional da Vinci Decathlon, went on to compete in the State da Vinci Decathlon at Knox Grammar School last week. An outstanding effort from all three teams saw them each earn a place on the Top 15 leaderboard.

Our Year 5 team achieved remarkable results, placing 1st in Code Breaking, 4th in Legacy, 4th in Engineering, and 8th in Ideation. Their result was an exceptional overall placing of 5th out of 74 teams in this highly competitive State event.

Our Year 6 team also performed brilliantly, placing 8th in Legacy against 83 other high-performing teams.

Our Year 7 team are to be congratulated on their outstanding results, placing 4th in Science, 7th in Code Breaking, and 9th in Art and Poetry, earning an impressive overall placing of 15th out of 75 teams!

WORLD SCHOLAR'S CUP

This year, we are providing students with the opportunity to participate in another exciting competition, the World Scholar’s Cup. This is an extension and enrichment opportunity that brings together over 50,000 students from more than 70 countries each year. Working in teams of three, students have the opportunity to write creatively, debate respectfully, think strategically, and build meaningful connections with like-minded peers. This year, we are planning to take 8 teams (Years 6 to 10) to the World Scholar's Cup Hunter Valley Regional Round, to be held on Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd June 2026 in the Hunter Valley. More information can be found at https://www.scholarscup.org/ .

WRITING EXTENSION

I am looking forward to taking our Years 5, 6, 7 and 8 Extension Writing students to Ripples Writing Workshops, to be held at the new Gosford Library and Campus of the University of Newcastle in Week 6. Our young writers are looking forward to meeting successful authors, being inspired by great talks and extending their skills through writing workshops.

Our Years 4 to 9 budding authors may like to enter the Words on the Waves Ripples Poetry Competition. They can submit a poem or spoken word piece, based on the theme ‘Symphony’ to compete in this Central Coast Competition, by Monday 8th June. For more details see https://wordsonthewaves.com.au/ripples-writing-competition/?mc_cid=5d27a2c063&mc_eid=UNIQID

ICAS

We are looking forward to once more offering our students the opportunity to further develop their higher order thinking and problem-solving skills through ICAS, a highly acclaimed online academic competition. Every student who participates is celebrated and recognised with a printed certificate in each subject area, and a results report to track their development each year. Top performers are eligible for one of the highly coveted ICAS medals.

The dates of this year’s competitions are as follows:

• ICAS Digital Technologies competition: Monday 3rd - Friday 7th August (Years 2-7)
• ICAS Writing competition: Monday 3rd - Friday 7th August (Years 3-12)
• ICAS English competition: Monday 10th - Friday 14th August (Years 2-12)
• ICAS Spelling competition: Monday 17th - Friday 21st August (Years 2-7)
• ICAS Science competition: Monday 17th - Friday 21st August (Years 2-12)
• ICAS Maths competition: Monday 24th - Friday 28th August (Years 2-12)

If you would like your child to participate in ICAS this year, you can

• read about ICAS subjects and prices (icasassessments.com/products-icas/)
• go to the Parent Portal to sign up to chosen subject areas (https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/parent-payment/YUV807)
• enter our school’s access code – YUV807
• enter your child’s details, select the subject areas your child would like to participate in, then proceed to payment.

Mrs Anne Livette-Vial | High Potential & Enrichment Teacher

In our last Newsletter, I wrote about how in the Old Testament times the Hebrew people were often drawn to worshipping the gods of other nations rather than God. This was still an issue in the time of the New Testament and the Apostle Paul wrote about this in some very practical ways. One such example we can read in 1 Corinthians 8 where he writes about food sacrificed to idols and what to do about it.

Corinth was a cosmopolitan city that had a number of shrines and temples where people could make offerings to the gods. Apollo was the most significant god as patron of the city, but others included Aphrodite (the goddess of love) and Poseidon (god of the sea). Amongst the worship of these gods, people would offer meat sacrifices which were then sold in the marketplace. So, for the early Christian church had an issue with what to do if they wanted steak for dinner.

Paul writes to them with lots of advice, and in Chapter 8 of 1 Corinthians we read his wisdom around this food issue. Just as in the Old Testament, Paul points out that the idols worshipped in the temples and shrines of Corinth are powerless, and the followers of Jesus are to only rely on God, the One True God. His encouragement to the believers in this chapter is to look out for each other, especially those who are new to the faith, and to help each other draw closer to Jesus. That old saying, “It takes a village” rings true here.

In 2026, people don’t necessarily worship Apollo and the other ancient gods of Corinth, but if you are fortunate enough to travel, you will find that millions of people still make offerings to idols. In Australia, the dominant god appears to be ‘self’ as people choose to worship themselves. The ideology that says I am the master of my own destiny is lived out religiously by so many of us. It effects how we spend our money, how we spend our time and how we treat people around us every day.

On the weekend I was privileged to witness the baptism of a bunch of young people from our school. They publicly declared that Jesus was their Lord and Saviour and symbolically demonstrated that through the watery act of baptism. They made a public commitment to have Jesus, and not themselves, as king in their hearts. They are a part of a growing number of young people across the globe who are choosing Jesus. My question for you today is, “Who is sitting on the throne of your heart?” If you haven’t thought about this before then today is a good day to ask that question because the answer will be very revealing.

On Friday 1st May, Year 11 Geography students headed to the impressive Stockton Dunes as part of their study of Earth’s natural systems. The excursion was a great chance for students to see these concepts in action and get out of the classroom.

The day kicked off with a 4WD trip into the dunes, which gave students a real sense of the scale of the landscape. Along the way, we looked at how the dunes are formed and shaped by wind, and discussed processes like erosion, deposition, and the importance of vegetation in keeping the system stable.

The highlight of the day was definitely sandboarding. While it was a lot of fun, it also tied into our learning, as students were able to think about how tourism activities can impact fragile environments. This led to some good discussions around the positive and negative effects of tourism, particularly in relation to dune ecosystems.

Students also visited Tin City, a unique and somewhat hidden settlement behind the dunes. Made up of huts built from corrugated iron and driftwood, Tin City has a long and interesting history. It gave students a chance to think about how people live in and use remote environments, as well as how places like this are managed and protected.

Throughout the day, there was a strong focus on sustainability and environmental management, with students considering how areas like Stockton are protected while still allowing for tourism and recreation.

Students gained a better understanding of coastal processes and human impacts, and it was great to see them engaging with the environment in a hands-on way.

Mr Jonathan Eloff | HSIE Learning Leader

Yarning circles are an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practice that fosters sharing, listening and connection, creating a safe space where each participant can be heard and respond to others.

During the yarning circle, students introduced themselves by sharing their names and the Country or place they call home. Participants then explored words and language they know, reflecting on the meaning and intention behind greetings. Students also engaged in a hands-on weaving activity, creating their own bracelets.

Thank you to our Year 10 student, James, and his mum, Debbie, for leading the afternoon activities. This experience strengthened our sense of connection and community. We value the relationships built through the yarning circle and look forward to further opportunities to learn, connect and grow together.