The Vine Newsletter

Mrs Felicity Grima - Principal

It has been a busy Term 1 - the first 'normal' Term 1 since 2019 - and we have enjoyed all the opportunities to gather together as a College Community. This week we welcomed families to the College for the Primary Easter Hat Parade, Primary Cross Country and the Whole College Easter Chapel. Thank you for all your support. I hope you all have a safe and restful Easter break.

1 Peter 1:3 NIV
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! 
In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Mrs Ljubica Mansell - Deputy Principal (Primary)

Dear Families

I pray you are all well and I am excited to share some of the recent events and activities that have taken place in the Primary School over the past few weeks.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate all our students who participated in our recent Easter Hat parade. It was a joyous occasion where we were able to come together and celebrate the true meaning of Easter with our theme, "Jesus is alive, Go tell the world!" Our students did a fantastic job with their creative hats and we were all able to appreciate the significance of this special day. A special thank you to the families who joined us on the oval for this event. I know how hard it is to organise your days with work and commitments, so your attendance was truly appreciative. We trust that you were all able to meet and get to know new families over coffee throughout the morning also.

I would also like to acknowledge all of our students who participated in our Primary school Cross Country event. It was great to see our students displaying determination and sportsmanship as they ran around our course. Well done to everyone who participated and congratulations to our runners who have qualified for NASSA.

Last week, we were fortunate to have Year 10-12 students from Trinity Grammar School join us for 3 days to share the Gospel with our students by visiting classes, attending BIG and sharing their testimonies during Chapel. It was amazing to have these young men part of our College and we were thankful for their time as they served our community.

As we approach the school holidays, we want to encourage our students to take some time to rest and recharge. It has been a busy term and it's important for our students to take a break from their studies and enjoy some downtime with family and friends.

If your child does feel the need to continue with their learning during the holidays, we suggest encouraging them to keep a journal about their holiday experiences. They can reflect on their time spent with loved ones and document any new activities they tried. We also recommend encouraging them to continue reading, as this is a great way to practice and maintain their key literacy skills.

Finally, we encourage our students to try something new and creative during the holidays. Whether it's taking up a new hobby or learning a new skill, the holidays are a great opportunity for our students to explore their interests and discover new passions.

My prayer for you all is that you are able to have an enjoyable term break. Whether you are travelling near or far, may your journey be safe and may you make new memories with your loved ones.

May you all be reminded and humbled of the true meaning of Easter as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

We wish all of our families a wonderful Easter and we look forward to seeing everyone back at school for the start of Term 2 on Wednesday 26 April.

Warm regards and God Bless,

Mrs Ljubica Mansell
Deputy Principal (Primary)

The weather was beautiful for the Primary Easter Hat Parade, which meant the students could parade around the oval with lots of families watching on. The students made their hats at school with the theme 'Jesus is Alive! Go Tell the World!' The Year 5 and 6 students buddied up with the Pre-K and Kindergarten students for the parade. Our 'Buddy' Program is an important part of College life.

Mr Leighton Corr - Deputy Principal (Secondary)

It was lovely to have our whole College attend our Easter Chapel Service on Thursday as we concluded the term. 

Students were challenged with 4 different messages in looking at the last week of Jesus’ life including his willingness to go to the cross and him predicting his death at the Passover, how unfairly he was treated by his disciples and then during his trial with the authorities, the journey to the cross and how calmly he dealt with being sent to the cross and the amazing fact that when he rose again he did not simply do the unexpected but the impossible. 

The whole Christian faith hangs on the truth of the resurrection of Jesus. When he conquered death he assured for everyone a path to having a relationship to God and eternity. We hope and pray that you all have time over Easter to reflect on this message and the truth of the Gospel. 

Term 1 has been filled with many great events and memories and we look forward to this happening again in Term 2.

Congratulations to Year 10 student Chelsea Jenkins who has been selected as a Finalist in the Youth Art Prize (13-17 years category) at Penrith Regional Gallery. Chelsea's artwork explores the current growth of urban Penrith, questioning the impact of change on the identity of the Penrith area through photographic and digital media. Her artwork HOME is on display in Anchor House Gallery until 16 July. Congratulations, Chelsea!

Our Visual Arts students have been working on a project-based learning activity in Visual Arts to develop promotional material in response to a brief from Penrith Council.

Students were required to design a Penrith mascot and promote the Penrith area to youth.

Artworks from 2022 and 2023 by Year 9 Visual Arts students will be on display in the Penrith Library for the month of April.

Year 10 were pleased to join in the Primary School Easter Hat Parade and Cross Country events, by setting up a fundraising stand selling drinks, house badges and tickets to our guessing competition. Congratulations to our guessing competition winners Caelan Green in Year 7 won the 10 kilo block of Cadbury chocolate and Paris Hunt from Pre K won the 4.5 kilo Toblerone milk bar.

Thanks to the generosity and support of our school community, Year 10 were able to raise over $700 for Rare Cancers Australia. This along with their chocolate drive this term has meant that Year 10 are over hallway towards their fundraising goal of $5000!

Our Year 10 students have a few more exciting events planned for Term 2, so watch this space.

Mrs Renata Lackey and Mrs Cate Duxbury
Year 10 Charity Ball Coordinators

A large audience of students and staff were treated to a lunchtime performance by our incredibly talented Year 11 Music 1 and Music 2 students up on the oval on Wednesday 5 April.  The performances by Abhishek Arora, Timothy Batcheldor, Elysia Castillejo, Jerome Cruzado, Jovanna Hanna, Kaleb Irawan, Elena Tomaras, Zachary Rosenthal, and Nicholas Weir, with backing from Mr David Thurlow and Mr Nick Lane, featured songs and tunes running the gamut from grunge to pop and jazz, to lovely soulful tunes on vocals and piano, as well as a mesmerising Spanish-influenced solo on the acoustic guitar. These amazing variety of musical tunes captivated the audience right up until the end of lunchtime. Well done to all and many thanks to Year 12 Music students Jake Emery, Spencer Hinchliffe and Oliver Tasevski for their assistance with the mammoth task of packing up. We look forward to the next lunchtime musical delight.

With a sense of anticipation, the traditional Staff vs Year 12 Students preliminary volleyball game was undertaken in the Gym on Tuesday 4 April. With Year 12 students publicly throwing down the gauntlet to the teachers at assembly the previous week, both staff and students were keen to see how the teams matched up.

Shot selection rather than power and speed is the key to success in volleyball. This fact played right into the hands of the wiser (read older) teachers who took out the game in a straight sets routing of 21-5 and 21-3.

Youth will no doubt be on the side of the students in the next match up in Term 2, when staff and students will go head to head in Soccer and Basketball.

Mr Anthony Kelshaw
Director of Students 7-9

Reception will be open from Tuesday 11 April, 8.30am to 3.30pm.

TheirCare Holiday Program will operate each working day during school holidays.

To learn more about the wonderful services provided by TheirCare and to enrol your child please visit the website: www.theircare.com.au

For more information contact TheirCare Support Team on 1300 072 410.

During the holiday period the Uniform Shop will relocate to M Block, next to TheirCare, our before and after school care provider.  After the move into L Block last year,  we were made aware of changes to compliance expectations that meant it was not possible to keep the Uniform shop under L Block.  To ensure best practice and ongoing compliance we will need to move the shop.

From the start of Term 2 2023 the new location of the uniform shop will be in the M Block, in the rooms previously used for Learning Support.

The Uniform Shop will be open during the Easter school holidays on Friday 21 April from 10am - 4pm.

In Term 2 Week 1, the uniform shop will be open for trading on:

Wednesday 26 April 12pm - 5pm

Thursday 27 April 8am - 11am

Friday 28 April 8am - 11am