Community Worship Night

Due to an overwhelming response in RSVP’s, we are relocating the worship night on Wednesday, the 10th of September, from the Library to the Multipurpose Hall (MPH).

The students have been enthusiastically preparing, and we are so excited to host a night of worship through song, scripture and prayer.

Please indicate your intention to attend via the RSVP form emailed to you.

Reminder of details:

Time: 7pm - 8:30pm

Where: MPH

When: Wednesday, 10 September

Heart of the Valley

Heart of the Valley is coming up on the evening of Thursday, 18th September this year and it is prudent for us to reflect on its intent once again. Heart of the Valley is an arts festival, but it is so much more than that. It is a celebration of creativity amongst our community. Creativity is an attribute of God and He leaves His fingerprints on us, the created. The need to express ourselves and communicate our beliefs, intentions, emotions, reflections and observations is universal in our species. Our students have so much to communicate to the community and wider world. Our curriculum is finite and opportunities to share creativity are limited often by time. Heart of the Valley aims to challenge students to express themselves in all forms of creativity and to celebrate creativity in their peers and teachers. It aims to provide safe spaces and safe audiences for our students to be brave enough to be vulnerable with their thoughts and talents. Staff are also encouraged to participate; in this way we model what it is to be vulnerable with each other.

Plenty Valley was originally generously gifted a little bit of land in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountain ranges. Our school has grown on the generosity of others and the contributions of a community over generations; each bit of good intent contributing to the picture of the school we have now. Heart of the Valley celebrates our natural heritage. We aim to do no harm with our event. We re-use and re-cycle and we sell drinks to raise money to offset our carbon footprint by planting trees.

This year our theme for the evening is ‘Words’. As Christians, we immediately think “In the beginning was the Word…”. God spoke our world into existence with His words. He gave us the gift of language, and we try to help students learn the art of language and communication over their whole schooling. A word can conjure up ideas, thoughts, memories, and imaginings. What words define us as a community? How do students see themselves as cohorts? How have our students grown and developed in their abilities to express themselves this year? How can you encourage and support this development of creativity? Come along on Thursday, 18 September, from 6:00 - 8:30pm to find out! And look out for an email in the next few days with further details on the practical details for your family.

Answering Life's Big Questions: Thriving Minds Excursions

The Thriving Minds Event was an opportunity to celebrate the spirit of curiosity and critical thinking in the secondary school. Recently, a group of Year 10 and 11 students embarked on a profound philosophy excursion to La Trobe University, while our Year 7 and 8 students engaged in similarly deep discussions at Ivanhoe Grammar, Mernda Campus. The shared enthusiasm for exploring some of life's big questions shows us that intellectual and spiritual curiosity is alive and well in our community.

Wrestling with Life's Big Ideas

The senior students' day at La Trobe was led by guest speakers, Julie Arliss and Dr. Pinsent, an Oxford professor and Catholic priest. They grappled with complex topics, from Plato's "Forms" to the nature of evil, and the use of logic to prove the existence of God. One of the liveliest debates centred on the philosophical definition of courage, as students applied these concepts to a real-life scenario. Another classic philosophical debate asked, "What makes the world go round, money or love?" The students voted for money, but the discussion itself encouraged them to question their assumptions.

Our younger students were also wrestling with big questions, with many of their conversations echoing the same themes. They discussed whether love truly conquers all, with one student noting that their answer depended on the context and how love is defined. They also delved into the meaning of freedom of speech, with one student realizing that true freedom might mean the "unlimited ability to say whatever you want no matter who it affects." These discussions highlight the importance of nuance and deep consideration in our beliefs, no matter our age.

Seeking to Understand God's Creation

The philosophy excursion sparked a deeper curiosity in our senior students, who are now keen to learn more about Plato and other traditional philosophers, as well as the concept of evil from various cultural perspectives. This aligns with the thirst for knowledge seen in our junior students, who were intrigued by the consciousness of other species and asked if animals can understand us or our concept of time. Others were captivated by the mysteries of time and quantum physics, with a desire to understand the "hypothetical theory of everything." This shared pursuit of knowledge reminds us of the intricate and beautiful design of all of God's creation.

Embracing the Challenge and Looking Ahead

This kind of deep engagement can be "mind-bending," but our students are ready for the challenge. As one Year 7/8 student shared, the experience "changed my perspective on things for the better," while a senior student noted they were challenged by "questioning and retaining different versions of information."

For those considering a similar program next year, the advice from students across all year levels is clear: come prepared for a challenge and keep an open mind. A senior student's practical advice was to "bring Panadol... there's a lot of information input to keep up with," while a junior student simply said, "it will be super fun."

The Thriving Minds events were a rewarding and intellectually stimulating experience that encouraged our students to think critically and engage with new ideas. It’s a powerful reminder that our faith provides a strong foundation from which to explore the world’s great questions, and that the journey of learning is a lifelong one.

Prep 100 Day Celebrations

Recently we celebrated a joyful milestone at Plenty Valley Christian College—our Prep students celebrated their first 100 days of school! The occasion was filled with excitement, creativity, and reflection as our youngest learners donned100 small items from home and handmade hats, participated in fun activities, and shared this big achievement with their peers.

Joined by their Year 6 buddies and Year 12 students with bubbles, the Preps looked back on a season filled with growth and discovery. From learning letters and numbers to forming friendships and exploring God’s love, their journey has been one of curiosity, courage, and joy.

We’re incredibly proud of our Prep students and deeply thankful for the dedicated teachers and supportive families who walk alongside them each day. As we look ahead, we celebrate not just the days gone by, but the many more to come—filled with learning, laughter, and growing in Christ.

Prep Old Fashioned Day

What a fun day we had jumping back in time! Our Prep students got a taste of school life from the "olden days"—making butter, sitting in neat rows, learning from old-fashioned books, and being very quiet (no talking allowed!).

The kids did an amazing job pretending to be students from the past, and they absolutely loved it. Big smiles all around! A huge shoutout to the parents for putting together such fantastic outfits, and to our wonderful teachers for creating such a memorable experience.

It was a great way to learn about history—and have a whole lot of fun doing it!

Prep Grandparents Day

Book Week

This week we celebrated Book Week.

What a wonderful week it has been for the primary and kinder students! The theme was Book an Adventure and what an adventure it has been. The students have read many books, had a variety of teachers read books to them and done many activities around books. The library had a guessing activity on teachers' favourite books.

In Early Years the students had the whole of Wednesday where they learnt about origami, wrote stories in a comic strip style, went on a bear hunt and did a dot art activity. In years 3-4 the students invented a machine, wrote a fractured fairytale, the dot activity and compared the Bluey episode of Cricket to the book. In years 5-6 they did book reports, graphic novel comic strips, creative writing and did lots of reading.

The highlight for many students, teachers and parents was the parade.

Kinder and Primary students, along with staff, all dressed up as a variety of book characters. With music blaring, the students all had a turn to dance or walk around and show their amazing costumes to the whole school and parents.

There were best dressed prizes for staff and students. It was an amazing week, where students got to have fun and read many books.

Wellbeing