Principal

Greetings Parents and Friends,

It is a very busy time at school as we head into exams and end-of-year activities.

This week, we bid farewell to our Year 12 students at a special, formal assembly.

This formality is done at most schools but not many schools would pray daily for their students as we do.  Not many schools have a connection across the whole school which displays a care for all students and a connected vibrant community responsible for encouraging and building each other up.

This was beautifully displayed in this week’s Final Year 12 Assembly where the Prep classes presented special bookmarks they made for each Year 12 student.  As a whole community we prayed for them, thanked them and acknowledged their valuable input into St Andrews Christian College over the years.

The photos of each Year 12 student are displayed in the staffroom, and as a staff we pray for each student in their study and on each day of their exams.

We pray that our students will personally know our Lord Jesus Christ and have a personal relationship with Him throughout their whole lives.  This is what is important and it this relationship that will help them to live full and rewarding lives.

“My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”          Colossians 2:2-3 (NIV)

I have this beautiful prayer (author unknown) that I give to parents at the Valedictory Dinner each year.  It is a prayer that reminds us that our children are a gift from God and that we need to release our children for God’s purposes and for His will and not our own.

There is so much freedom in releasing our children to God, for we know that He knows all, He knows best and even loves our children more than we do (that is hard to imagine isn’t it?)

Dear Father in Heaven,

Who gave your Son to be one of us, embrace

these our sons and daughters

Reach out and touch them with your love,

So that they will stop where they are,

Sense your presence and turn to you.

Take them and make them what you created them to be, not what we wish for them.

When they wander away, draw them back to you.

Keep them from smallness of spirit.

Help them to use their gifts to serve others

As for us, help us to love them without possessiveness.

Help us to be firm and correct them when we must.

Help us to be patient as they strive to find themselves.

Help us to guide them with your wisdom.

Help us to love letting them go.

And when the work is done, and they are formed, raised and gone,

Help us to turn back to you, without our children, and to continue our own journey

Wiser and more understanding of you and your ways with us, your children,

Because we have borne children of our own, AMEN.

Blessings on your week,

Catriona

Equal Opportunity Amendment (Religious Exceptions) Bill 2016

This Bill has been relisted for debate in the Legislative Council for Tuesday 25th October, 2016.

Please keep praying that this Bill is not passed and please express your concerns to Members of the Legislative Council.

John Presant – New Head of Senior School from 2017

We have a new Head of Senior School for St Andrews Christian College from 2017 – Mr John Presant.  I am very confident that John will do a fantastic job and be able to take over the wonderful work Greg has done to further grow and develop our Senior School.

John’s faith is central to him, he is committed to Christ and following Christ. John and his wife Kari are actively involved at Syndal Baptist Church.

He is a proven leader with strong leadership skills, outstanding as a teacher/educator, a confident communicator, a problem solver, very relational and a global thinker.

John is greatly respected and well-liked and comes highly recommended from his colleagues at Chairo Christian School, where he is currently Head of Senior School at the Drouin campus. He is committed to Christian education and the pursuit of academic excellence.

John has forwarded to me some background information about himself and his family:

John Presant grew up in California, USA. He completed his schooling in America and subsequently graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) with an Arts Degree with majors in History and Philosophy.

He first arrived in Australia as a missionary with Student Life, a division of Campus Crusade for Christ with the aim to start Christian clubs at University campuses in Melbourne. Enjoying Melbourne, and Australian culture, he decided to stay. He completed his Graduate Diploma of Education, with methods in SOSE and Commerce, at Deakin University. In 2014, he finished his Master’s Degree in Educational Management from the University of Melbourne. 

He began teaching at Maranatha Christian School and then took a position at Wesley College, Glen Waverley campus. Most recently, John has been the Head of Senior School at the Drouin Campus of Chairo Christian School. In his teaching career John has held other positions such as: Year Level Coordinator, Faculty Coordinator, and Mentor Teacher as well as an assessor for the VCE Legal Studies Exam. He has taught a range of subjects including English, Humanities, Economics, History, Business Management, and Legal Studies. John is committed to Christian Education and the pursuit of academic excellence. 

John is married to his wife of 9 years, Kari, and has a five-year-old daughter and two-year-old son, Levi. Verity will be in prep at St Andrews next year. John and his wife are currently expecting child number three in late February next year.  Their family currently attends Syndal Baptist Church and are involved in leading the children’s program on Sundays. One of his passions in life is sport. He has played baseball, basketball, tennis, and in recent years cricket and Australian rules football. He is a keen supporter of the Melbourne Football Club and enjoys going to games with his daughter.

Please pray and thank God for Greg and Maureen Crotty and John and Kari Presant, and pray for all the changes that will be happening in their lives.

It is great that Greg will be staying with us at St Andrews.  He will focus on teaching in the classroom, a role that he loves!

St Andrews Christian College – Top 50 Schools in Australia – The Weekend Australia October 1-2, 2016

It is wonderful to get this recognition and we celebrate this fact.  We will also continue to grow stronger in our learning and teaching so we become a leading educational institution.  But we also know that this report is just based on NAPLAN scores and NAPLAN results/VCE results do not make a top school.

It is our shalom community that is Christ-centred, God-fearing, Bible-based, Spirit-led that makes our College rich and special.  It is our reliance on Christ and our relationship with Him and with each other and our students that makes St Andrews a TOP school.

May we never lose the real heart of who we are as a school and why we exist: to educate our students to know Christ and their purpose in Him.