and Early Learning Centre

Email: office@burdekincc.com

2-12 Melbourne St, Ayr QLD 4807

Phone (07) 4783 5552 Fax (07) 47835926

www.bccollege.net.au

Wisdom &

Discipline for

Tomorrow’s Leaders

C

A

R

E

Courtesy

Attitude

Resilience

Excellence

Newsletter 5 — Thursday 25th April 2013

End of Term 2

Friday

21st June

at 11am

School Uniforms

New school

uniforms are

here! We have

all sizes in stock.

From the Principal’s Desk

Andrew Evetts, Principal

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to the start of term 2. We have certainly hit the ground running with the grade seven’s enjoying a wonderful camp in the Whitsunday’s. This was not just a camp of lying around beautiful beaches. Students had the opportunity to investigate all of the different types of marine life that live on the Great Barrier Reef. They also had the pleasure of an up and close encounter with some large salt water croco-diles. No I didn’t want to feed any of the students to the crocodiles. This whole camp was an amazing experience for all, thank you Mrs Haller and Mr Knight for a great time.

By now everyone would know that Fiona has had a bouncing baby girl called “Scotia” which means Scotland. I’m sure this has made Grandad very happy. A big congratulations to Graeme, Fiona and Cam on their joyous arrival. Mum and baby are doing very well.

A lot of talk about how the government is going to fund education in the next six years has been in the media lately. Mr Prasser has written a paper recently that states ‘an exclusive focus on schools is bound to be inadequate. Expecting schools alone to bridge the gap is unreasonable.’ He adds: ‘schools can make a difference, but their influence has limits in the face of social, cultural and individual factors. There are many other multiple factors that need to be addressed also, which will in-tern help schools to achieve better educational outcomes. The fundamentals of good education are to be found in the home, the community, the culture as well as the classroom, but reformers continue to look for shortcuts and quick answers.

At Burdekin Christian College we will continue to work hard as a collective group to achieve the best possible outcome for the students. Governments will come and go and policies will chop and change but we are fortunate that God is constant and has called us as a school to deliver a Christ centred education that will prepare your children for life after school. Thank you for your support and for allowing us the privi-lege of walking the education journey with you and your child.

Yours in Christ

Dates for your Calendar

Queensland state term dates - 2013 (College Term tba)

NB: The first day of each term is usually a Pupil Free Day. The last day of each term

usually finishes at 11am.

May

Friday 10th May Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea 2pm—3pm

Monday 13th—16th May Book Fair in the Library

Tuesday 14th May NAPLAN Language convention and Writing tests

Wednesday 15th May NAPLAN Reading test

Thursday 16th May NAPLAN Numeracy test

Monday 20th May BCC Year 1-3 Under 8’s Day 11:40am—1:20pm

Monday 20th May National Simultaneous Storytime

Monday 20th—27th May ELC Under 8’s week (Check flyer for session times)

June

Friday 21st June —end of Term 2—school finishes at 11am

July

Monday 22nd July —ELC Photos

Tuesday 23rd July—School Photos

Tuckshop Special Notice

The Tuckshop ‘Special Combo’ day planned for the 29th May, will now be on Wednesday 22nd May. The 29th will now be a normal tuckshop day and the 22nd will be Spaghetti combo with spaghetti, drink (popper or milk)and icypole for $6.

Queensland term dates - 2013

Term Dates Length

Term 1 Tuesday 29 January - Thursday 28 March 9 weeks

Term 2 Tuesday 16th April - Friday 21 June 10 weeks

Term 3 Monday 8 July - Friday 20 September 11 weeks

Term 4 Tuesday 8 October - Friday 6 December 10 weeks

Year 7 Camp

Last Monday, on Tuesday and Wednesday,

the year 7 students along with Mr Evetts, Mr

Knight and Mrs Haller travelled to Airlie

Beach for the year 7 camp.

It was an excellent camp as we all had fun

and visited many different places such as

Hydeaway Bay, Daydream Island and a

Crocodile Safari on the Proserpine River.

Whilst on daydream we got to feed the stingrays and other fish such as barramundi

and mangrove jack as well as hold a baby shark. We went for a rainforest walk and

then went on the banana ride which took in all the sights of the island. It was an

awesome day.

On the Crocodile Safari we saw many differ-

ent crocs. We saw them sunbaking on the

sand and got up close and personal with the-

se fascinating creatures. We also saw many

baby crocodiles in the river. We were told by

Steve our tour guide that there are over 200

crocodiles that inhabit the Proserpine River, a

large number indeed!

We stayed in cabins at the BIG 4 Cabin Park at Airlie Beach. It was a very nice re-

sort. We watched a movie under the stars and also played on the giant jumping pil-

low! The resort also had a nice big pool and a couple of water slides which were re-

ally fun.

We learnt a lot on the camp about different types of marine life that inhabit our wa-

ters and we also learnt some-

thing about ourselves. We

were all very blessed to have

such a wonderful experience.

A big thank you must go to Mr

Evetts, Mr Knight and Mrs Hal-

ler for helping out on camp. It

was one that we will never for-

get!

By year 7 class.

CONGRATULATIONS! Congratulations to Miss Fiona and Graham on the birth of their second child. Scotia Christie

Oats (said Sco-sha — it’s Latin for Scotland ). A sister to Camden. Born on 11/04/2013.

Mother and baby are doing well.

To all our Mums and Grandparents Please join us for our annual

Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea Friday 10th May

Burdekin Christian College Hall

2pm to 3pm

Catering by

Burdekin Community Church Women’s Ministry

Could you please phone the school office on 47835552 by FRIDAY

3rd May if you are attending – we need to know we have enough cheesecake for everyone!!!

Please visit our Scholastic BOOK FAIR which will be open on this day.

We will be selling books past 3pm. It’s a great opportunity to visit without the

students before 3pm or with them after 3pm.

Volunteer blue card application form If you are a regular volunteer at the Burdekin Christian College I would encourage you to go through the simple process of obtaining a ‘Working with Children’ Blue Card. Applications for volunteers are processed free of charge and are current for 3 years. The Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian Act 2000 re-quires anyone over 18 seeking to work with children under 18 years of age in certain categories to obtain a blue card.

Some examples of people who need a blue card are: Volunteers assisting children in classroom activities, Volunteer cleaners or groundskeepers at a school, Volunteer tuckshop or canteen staff.

The Woolworths Earn & Learn program is back! Please help support students at the Burdekin Christian College by collecting stickers and either sending them to school or putting them in our Earn and Learn box in Woolworths Supermarket, Ayr. This community program enables our school and Early Learning Centre to earn educational re-sources simply through the school community shopping at Woolworths. Last year our school benefitted from the many points earned by purchasing great items such as guitars, musical in-struments, reading books and educational resources for Maths, English and Science. The more points we earn the more great items we can select from. From Monday 8th April until Sunday 9th June 2013, when you shop at Woolworths you will be given a Woolworths Earn & Learn Point. There’ll be one Woolworths Earn & Learn Point for eve-ry $10 spent. Collect these Woolworths Earn & Learn Points and our school will be able to re-deem these for more educational resources. So please get behind this great initiative and start collecting for our school.

School ANZAC Ceremony Our school ANZAC ceremony was held on Wednes-

day 24th April. We are grateful to our visitors Mr

Christie, who played The Rouse on the bagpipes

and Mr Leon Stucas, who played The Last Post on

his trumpet. BCC extends a huge thank you to them.

It was also our pleasure to have Mr George Chris-

tensen address the students. Finally, a huge

thankyou to parents, guardians and grandparents

for coming and celebrating ANZAC day with the stu-

dents.

ANZAC Day Parade

Library News

WOW!!! What a busy month May is panning out to be.

First up we have the Premier’s Reading Challenge

which all our classes are participating in….so please

make sure that all the books you read at home you

pass on to your classroom teacher for them to record.

It is that time of year again…… yes ‘BOOK FAIR’.

This year’s Book Fair will be held from Monday 13th to Thursday 16

th of May. Make

sure you pop into the hall and check out all the books available. It would be greatly

appreciated if we could get some parents to help out manning the Book Fair either

before or after school. If you can help, please put your name down at the office.

National Simultaneous Storytime is an important annual campaign that aims to en-

courage more young Australians to read and enjoy books. Now in its 13th successful

year it is a colourful, vibrant and fun event that aims to promote the value of reading

and literacy using an Australian children's book that explores age appropriate

themes.

Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustra-

tor is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family

homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. At Burdekin Chris-

tian College, our storytime will take place in conjunction with under 8’s day on Mon-

day 20th May.

This year’s book is ‘The Wrong Book” by Nick Bland. The week leading up to under

8’s day the students will be learning about the book and author. All students will be

encouraged to get dressed up as their favourite character from the book.

Lastly, I would like to thank Miss Maria and Crystal for their help in the library. If any

mums, dads, aunties and or grandparents would like to volunteer some hours in the

library, please let Miss Kim know or speak to Mrs Saunders in the office.

Thank You

Miss Kim

Kindy/Pre Prep

Jayne Orchard, Director & Kindy/Pre Prep Group Leader

ELC

Last week was ANZAC Day. At Kindy we made ANZAC biscuits by mixing some flour, oats, sugar and butter together to make a yummy mixture. We then took them to school and put them into the oven to cook. They were very yummy to eat.

Then we went to school to join in the ANZAC ceremony. Even though it was a bit long we sat very still and quiet throughout the whole ceremony. We really liked the bagpipes and the trumpet playing. We placed wreaths that we made at the foot of the flag pole to remember the fallen men and women who went to war for us and we said thank you. We sang Advance Australia Fair.

We placed two wreaths at the foot of the flag pole.

Family Photos Could you please provide a family photo for our wall? The children love to show off their families to everyone.

Parent Input If you have any skills or cultural activities you would like to share with the children we would love for you to come and share it with the group. The children love differ-ent experiences and activities.

Yours truly

ELC

Toni Smallman, Group Leader, Toddlers

Toddlers

We have been playing outside longer in the mornings recently as the days have been so lovely. Climbing the dome and playing in the boat have been favourite activ-ites. The slippery slide is also popular along with the see-saw. The children enjoy doing the obstacle course. We have been busy doing our Mother’s Day presents for our Mum’s. We hope you like them. During group time we have been reading the story of Simpson and his Donkey called Duffy as part of our Anzac Day activities. We coloured a picture of Simpson and his donkey. We also made a slouch hat out of felt. They are hanging up on the wall and they look good so please have a look. Please remember to send in a family photo if you have not already done so, the chil-dren enjoy looking at their family during the day. We will be having a Mother’s Day morning tea on FRIDAY, 10

th MAY commencing at

9.30am. This will be held in conjunction with Qld Cancer Council’s Biggest Morning Tea. We are asking for a gold coin donation on the day which will go to this worthy cause. Please support us and come along to the morning tea. Picture Plates will be available to do on the day with your children if you wish. The cost is $25 for a plate and $30 for a clock. We have extended the date to include this day. We hope to see you there.

ELC Under Eights Week 20TH – 27TH May 2013

“Celebrating Community, Sharing Music Movement and Culture, Think

locally

Under Eights Week is about children and their community. To celebrate this the ELC

staff have organised activities every day throughout our under 8’s week. All families

are invited to attend.

Below are the special events organised for this celebration:

Monday 20th May

9.30am – Morning tea with the children. Activities include parachute play, fence painting, bubble blowing, sensory walk and goop play.

It would be appreciated if you could please bring either a plate of savoury or sweet

food to share with the children and families on this day.

Tuesday 21st May

10.30am – Local Police Visit to share their experiences with the children.

(Depending on availability)

2:30pm – Mr & Mrs Christie playing the bagpipes.

Wednesday 22nd May

10:00am – Pastor Les Henaway will be visiting and sharing his culture.

2:00pm - Monya Hutton will also be visiting and speaking to the children about the

French culture, language and landmarks. She will be reading a story, speaking and

singing songs in French. Monya is from Belgium.

Thursday 23rd May

10.30am – Librarian Visit from the Burdekin Library. Reading “The Wrong Book”

by Nick Bland. There will be related craft activity and also reading other stories

and singing.

Friday 24th May

10:00am – Karina (Felipe’s Mum) will be sharing her language (Portuguese) and

culture with the children.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Mrs. Gessi Wilson (Organiser)

BURDEKIN PCYC

Primary School Sock Hop

(NO SHOES)

Fri May 10th

7.00 – 9.30pm

$6.00 entry

LUCKY DOOR &

OTHER GREAT PRIZES

NO PASSOUTS – POLICE SUPERVISED

ALL CHILDREN MUST BE WITH A PARENT OR AUTHORISED PER-

SON TO LEAVE THE VENUE

164 MacMillan St Ayr Ph: 47831009

Year 2 Nursing Home Visit

This week year two had a

visit to Lower Burdekin Home

for the Aged. This was a

great experience for the stu-

dents. The visit was part of

our history unit. One of the

residents spoke to us about

life in Ayr when they were

growing up. We all had a fan-

tastic time.

Sarah Watson

Year 2 Teacher

Reminders

If anyone is visiting the following Theme Parks between April

12th and June 30th please call into the office and collect some

50% off vouchers . The Theme Parks are:

Wet’n’Wild

Movie WB World

Sea World

Paradise Country

Australian Outback Spectacular

Please remember, when picking children

up from school after 3:00pm, do not park

in the school grounds. The new school Pick Up Zone is

in Chippendale Street. This is a Health and Safety issue.

Meet the Team Andrew Evetts—Principal

Brooke Vucetic—Prep Teacher Heather Mackay—Year 3 Teacher

Fleur Vigerzi—Year 1 Teacher Sarah Watson—Year 2 Teacher

Daniel Walsh —Year 4/5 Teacher Chris Knight —Year 7 Teacher

Judy Kedar—Year 6 & Year 1 Teacher Sandra Fowler—Year 6 Teacher Ray Caine— IT & HPE Teacher

Wally Ford—Music Teacher Kim Smith—Teachers Aide & Library Assistant

Leeza Goon-Chew—Teachers Aide Sandra Saunders—Teachers Aide

Ronda Downs—Prep Teachers Aide Audrey Heppell—Teachers Aide

Joanna Ford—Teachers Aide Paul Haller—Year 4/5 Teachers Aide

Jayne Orchard—Director and Team Leader—ELC Toni Smallman—Team Leader—ELC

Gessie Wilson—ELC Natasha Patterson—ELC

Raywin Mayor—ELC Jill Sutcliffe—ELC

Cheryl Taylor—ELC Rob Harper—Groundskeeper

Bronson Hutchen—Groundskeeper Jackie Gudge—Cleaner

Zilya Bunakova—Cleaner

Rose Giardina—Financials (Church and School) Fiona Christie—Reception/Principals Assistant