Editorial

Welcome back to Term 2. 

I hope you have had a lovely break with your family. 

There is lots of excitement from many students but not everyone is enjoying getting out of bed earlier. 

My wife and I are both teachers, so we have moved around a fair bit, going where we hear God calling us. We have lived in Darwin the longest of anywhere after two stints at Marrara Christian College. One in the 80s as young teachers and one in the new century just prior to moving to Plenty Valley.

I love Darwin and would move back there in an instant if that was where we were supposed to be. I love the laid-back lifestyle that hot weather seems to produce, I love the predictable weather and I don’t mind the heat. In Darwin we say there are two seasons, hot and dry during the middle of the year, and hot and wet starting in October and over the Christmas period.

So, you can imagine my reaction to changeable and relatively cold Melbourne weather. It took me three years to not feel cold every day. One day I was complaining about the weather starting reasonable and changing to cold and wet by lunch time. It was one of those days described in the old joke, “if you don’t like the Melbourne weather, give it an hour and it will be different.” One of my wise colleagues gently corrected my grumbles and pointed out that one of God’s gifts is variety. The changes keep us interested and reminds us that we don’t and never will control everything.

One of the skills we need to learn in life is responding to changing circumstances. While our culture tries to tell us that the ultimate goal of life is for it to be easy and happy, the reality is that easy does not make happy. 

Some of the happiest people in the world are poor but resilient. Spending their lives noticing and being grateful for the small things that they have and enjoy being with their family and community together facing the challenges. Some of the saddest people are rich westerners who look like they have everything.

Put these two pieces together: Melbourne weather decided to rain for the first time in weeks on the day we wanted to pour cement. That means our Early Years path, the EY playground, the junior years playground and the secondary fitness equipment were not finished for the beginning of school as planned. BUT that is not a bad thing because the students are watching expectantly as the work is completed and learning to appreciate the good things ahead. Instead of it just appearing.

God is good. He provides many great things, and some rain was definitely needed. Let’s focus on the good things rather than the delay.

Thornholm

As you know, at the end of 2023 the college purchased Thornholm, an 8.5 Hectare (21 acre) property with a house that dates back to 1865. We are currently negotiating with council how they will let us use the property. We have many great ideas. At the beginning of the year, the board resolved to privately lease Thornholm for a period of 14 months while we went through the council approval processes.  The property is currently leased through to April 2025.

John Metcalfe

Principal