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Thank you Mrs Bate for 30 years at NCS

Last Friday, we gathered for a heartfelt assembly to farewell our Principal's Executive Assistant, Mrs Gail Bate. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house by the end of it. A special thank you to the Primary Choir and Secondary Vocal Ensemble for their beautiful rendition of 'Amazing Grace.' We were also honoured to have former Principals Mr Smith and Mr Bray join us.

After the assembly, Mrs Bate and special guests enjoyed a lovely morning tea. Our delightful K-2 students held their own assembly to bid her farewell, making it a truly special day.

In the evening, staff, former staff, and friends hosted a special retirement dinner for Mrs Bate. Thank you, Mrs Bate, for over 30 years of dedicated service to our school. We will miss you dearly, and the school won’t be the same without you. May God bless you as you enjoy your retirement and more time with your wonderful family.

To see the full image gallery: https://ncs.news/GBimages

To watch the full assembly video: https://youtu.be/a1zJ11Y7-18

Au revoir, Baptiste & Clara!

Year 11 warmly welcomed two exchange students in Semester 1. Baptiste, from Switzerland, joined us for the entire Semester 1, and Clara, from France, joined us for Term 2.

Both Baptiste and Clara brought warmth and good humour to the group, contributing in mature and meaningful ways. They formed many positive connections and participated in various co-curricular activities during the semester.

On Friday, June 28th, the Senior students and Secondary staff held a farewell party for Baptiste and Clara, complete with a variety of Australian delicacies such as party pies, lamingtons, fairy bread, Shapes, Vegemite, Tim Tams and Milo.

As Baptiste and Clara prepare to transition back to their home countries at the end of this Semester, we are confident that they will excel in their future endeavours. We extend our best wishes for their success and express our gratitude for their contributions to our school community throughout their time at NCS.

Au revoir, Baptiste & Clara!

South Coast success at CSSA State Touch Football

In November 2023, ten NCS students were chosen to represent the South Coast Christian Schools Sports Association in Touch Football at the CSSA State Touch Football Gala Day. Originally scheduled for the end of Term 1 2024, the event had to be postponed but finally took place on Friday 28 June28th.

The students enjoyed competing against other CSSA Zones from around NSW. Impressively, all four of our teams reached the grand finals, with three of them (Opens Boys, Opens Girls & Jnr Girls) emerging as overall champions.

Kindy Learning Through Play at UOW

On Friday of Week 8, Kindergarten spent a fun-filled day at the University of Wollongong’s Early Start Discovery Space. As if the bus ride there and home wasn’t exiting enough, we got to explore the purpose-built centre for children’s discovery. Throughout the day we were construction workers, ship captains, chefs, emergency workers, explorers, musicians, train drivers, engineers, archaeologists and so much more. It was a thrilling day, and the children were exceptionally well behaved. What a wonderful first excursion for our Kindergarten learners!

'Snow' much fun!: Secondary Snow Trip

During Week 8 a group of 20 students from Years 9-12 went on a 3 night trip to Perisher to explore the snowy mountains. In preparation we were praying and praying for snow and thankfully the week before God blessed the mountains with snow so we could enjoy our time on the slopes.

Day 1: We had a long journey down with a 6 hour trip including a food stop. A trip filled with yelling, laughter, sleeping and snoring. Once we arrived we headed up the 300m hill to our chalet where our lovely hosts Julie and Brian had our food waiting for us. Afterwards we had a chill time, getting into our cabins, playing some games and eventually heading to bed.

Day 2: We were blessed with some beautiful blue skies on day 2, as well as a few students viewing a beautiful pink/purple sunrise. After breakfast We headed down to Rhythm Snowsports rental where we got all our gear like our skis, snowboards and boots. We headed down to Perisher Front Valley where we had our first lesson with our instructors. It was awesome to see everyone picking it up so quickly, by the end of the day every student had made it up the mountain a couple of times even if they did stack it a few times. Everyone was having a blast and the joke of the day was replacing the word “so” with “snow” which gave Zec a real good laugh after dinner. At the end of the night we had a little games night where we played some charade type games as well as many card games. It eventually became time for bed once again.

Day 3: The sun rose again, and I think everyone was really keen to get back on the slopes as we left around 8:15am. Most people got a few good runs in before our second lesson. My group of skiers went down all the different mountains/valleys during our lesson. It was awesome to see everyone encouraging one another and helping in times of need. Once I returned from skiing there was word that Harry had stacked onto his head and was in the medical centre. How rough! 
Harry’s story: I went toe side down the mountain and fell forward hitting the top of my head and flipped over. When I woke up I saw around 7 people around me checking I was okay. They lifted me down to the medical centre where a doctor made sure I didn’t have a concussion. 
1 hour later Harry was back on the slopes taking his fall like a champ while still being careful afterwards. We headed back to the chalet after a good day and did pretty much the same thing as the night before. Our time was slowly coming to an end. It became time for bed once more.

Day 4: we had around 3 hours in the morning where we were able to be on the slopes including our lesson. Everyone had improved so much since the first day going faster, doing tricks, or simply having more control. One of the instructors called Din a Steez lord and that was the talk of the day. Once we were finished up at 12:30pm we headed back to return our gear and hike up the mountain to bring all of our luggage down. We then got on the bus and headed back home where everyone was so tired and sore, but it was worth it for the fun we had in Perisher.

A big thank you to Mr Harrison, Mr Tasker & Miss Bignell who organised this trip for us and made sure we had what we needed and enjoyed ourselves, so a big thank you to them. That’s a wrap on our snow trip, if you didn’t go this year you need to go next year because it is the best time.

⁃ Courtney L (Year 12)

Impressive Performance by Barbarians at CSSA State Netball Gala Day

On Tuesday 18 June, Enya, Layla M and Charley participated in the CSSA State Netball Gala Day at Penrith. They played together on the Barbarians team in the Opens division.

The Barbarians team won 5 out of their 7 matches, finishing 4th in their pool which was a massive achievement as this team had never played together before this Gala Day.

This event also served as the CSSA Secondary 15&U and Open Girls Netball Trials for the CIS Challenge 2024.

Layla has been selected to attend the CSSA Netball Final Team Selections. We wish her the best of luck!

Rollercoaster Fun in Year 3

Twists, turns, highs, lows and a whole bunch of excitement. Year 3 has been finishing the term off with a Engineering project all about designing a miniature rollercoaster track. The task was to build a track that a ping pong ball could travel safely along. The track needed to be at least 60cm long, include one bend and end with the ball landing safely in a cup. Our amazing Year 3 students showed excellent team work and problem solving skills as they took on the challenge. The end result was some incredible creations and a whole lot of fun. Eagan from 3P even took the challenge one step further and built his own loop the loop rollercoaster at home. Well done Year 3!

Stage 1 visit the HARS Museum

On Friday 21 June, Stage 1 adventured out of the local area to visit the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) Museum in Albion Park. With much excitement, the buses were filled, seatbelts buckled, and conversations buzzed as we travelled the road north. The children were filled with astonishment as we departed the buses to see the enormous tail and wing of the mighty 747-438 'VH-OJA, City of Canberra' towering above. We forwarded into the museum like ants and proceeded to eat our recess.

After a brief snack, we split into 4 groups and began the tours exploring the range of aircraft that are being restored in their immense hanger. Like moths to a light, we moved from aircraft to aircraft, asking questions and hearing the history of each individual aircraft. We awed with wonder as we watched planes wondrously take flight and enjoyed the roar of the engines as they landed safely.

After another break for lunch, we soldiered on to visit the astonishing marvel of flight, the 747. After walking past all 18 humongous wheels of the aeroplane we climbed an endless stairway to the side doors of the 474. We observed and marched up the internal walkways, noting the rows of seats and toilet compartments. We even were able to head into first class, which required us to walk upstairs on the plane. We concluded the tour with a huge thank you to our guides for their wisdom, patience and kindness that they showed us and boarded the buses to be home in time for pick-up. We would love to thank all the parent helpers that came along to assist during the day. We couldn’t have done it without you.

In Christ,

Mrs Hefferan, Miss Nicholson, Mr Thorn, and Mrs Twitchen.

HS Music and Drama Concert - Making us smile!

Last week the Year 9 and 10 Music and Drama students performed an AMAZING concert for our Kindy, Year 1 and Year 2 students. They sang and danced for us, and it wasn't long before we were all joining in with the action! Also present were some unexpected guests, including a frog or two, and a dog (who played the guitar). We would like to say a huge "Thank you!" to Mr West and his talented students for inviting us along to an afternoon that was so much fun. We are looking forward to being in high school when we can learn to sing and dance, growing our God-given talents, just like these students did for us.

Sam Smashes it at NSW PSSA Hockey!

This year I had the opportunity again to represent NCS in the CIS team at the NSWPSSA Hockey Championships. The tournament was from 28th to 31st May at the Newcastle International Hockey Centre. There were 13 teams competing this year.  Our team started strong with two wins in a row! Our third game was a hard fought loss by one goal before a draw and another loss.  We finished 3rd in our pool and played in the finals to come 6th overall. This was an improvement for our team from last year where we finished 10th overall. I also improved my performance, scoring 3 goals this year!  Overall it was a fun and positive experience. Something that I took away from the carnival is that Hockey is a "We" sport, not a "Me" sport and all 11 players on the field have an important part to play.

NCS Theatre Club

We are very blessed in the Shoalhaven to have a professional venue like the Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre where we can experience high quality theatre right here in our own town. On Thursday night the NCS Theatre Club went to see "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Bell Shakespeare. The theatre club is an opt-in, opt-out club that students, parents and staff can join to see a show together. Mrs Ellery organises a group booking with interested people and although not officially a school excursion, it is a school community activity that is very valuable. This time it was mostly Stage 5 Drama students and staff who enjoyed a riotous version of the Shakespearean classic.

NSWCIS Primary and Secondary Cross Country

Congratulations to all our students who competed at the NSWCIS Primary and Secondary Cross Country on Thursday 6 June at Sydney International Equestrian Centre. It was a wet and  muddy day and our students saw some fantastic results.

• Emily 19th
• Hamish 20th
• Tianna 22nd
• Noah T 25th
• Kent 26th
• Caleb 44th
• Tamsin 44th

Well done everyone!

Dr Davey rides to raise funds for Soldier On

After riding an ebike around Australia last year in a Where’s Wally costume, Dr Michael Davey will ride around Australia for the fourth time to raise much-needed funds for charity. The first trip was for children suffering from cancer while the following two were for Defence and Veterans’ suicide prevention. The odyssey this year will also be for the not-for-profit Soldier On, which provides help for Defence personnel and Veterans suffering trauma from conflict.

‘Tragically, we suffered forty-one KIA in Afghanistan, but while we were there more than 1,600 people who either served or were currently serving, took their own lives,’ Dr Davey said, himself ex-military. ‘This is more tragic, because those lives could have been saved with the right help. This is where Soldier On do a great work in providing care and support for those suffering mental health issues.’

Soldier On provide assistance based around the acronym, HELP. H is Health and Well Being, E, Employment, L, Learning while P is Participation. Soldier On provide an emphasis on counselling as this is the pathway to healing. Dr Davey and his team have raised $114,000 thus far and the goal is to get to $150,000 by the end of this year’s unsupported ride around Highway 1. They also focus on veterans finding employment and inspiring them to be involved in community, both extremely important in alleviating mental health issues.’

‘Every dollar I collect on the street will go to people in need with no administration cost taken out whatsoever. That is one of a number of things about the charity that is top rate.

’Dr Davey has been sponsored with a Suzuki V-STROM 1050 Adventure bike provided by Clive and Sue Brooks at Great Southern Motorcycles, South Nowra.

‘The V-STROM is a great touring bike, but I’m not a motorcyclist. On my trip to Perth and back only a few weeks ago which raised $12,000, I dropped it twice,’ Dr Davey said with a chuckle. ‘I rode unsupported. With all my gear on board it’s heavy, and if it leans only slightly past the vertical at slow speeds it goes down like a sack of potatoes. And it’s so heavy that I can’t pick it back up on my own. I have to wait for someone to come to help me.’

In 2022, Dr Davey rode around Australia on a postie bike in six weeks and four days, once again in a Where’s Wally costume. This trip will be in exactly four weeks, all going well. ‘There are many challenges, especially with the massive road trains on the highway. In the Pilbara region south of Broome in WA they have 110 wheels. The wind they create for cyclists, whether powered or not, can be frightening.

The Where’s Wally costume is a metaphor with a very simple explanation. ‘People can hide in plain sight when they suffer mental health issues and won’t seek help,’ Dr Davey said. ‘Don’t hide, start a conversation with a health care professional. You have your whole life ahead of you.’

A number of politicians and local businesses have sponsored me with money for petrol. ‘With all the gear I have to carry, it’s not surprising that fuel economy isn’t great. All my sponsors are listed on www.apostieride4ptsd.com.au where there is also a map of the route I will take.

’With the vast distances between towns, loneliness is never an issue for the intrepid adventurer. ‘I’ve travelled more than 50,000 kilometres on my three trips around Australia to date, and there is always a friendly face with a welcoming smile just around the next bend.’

Dr Davey stops often to chat to people. ‘On one occasion on the Nullarbor Plain, I met a woman who lost her mobile phone. She said she backtracked for a couple of days to find it and located a pit toilet, the last place she remembered having her device which sat in her back pocket. The toilet was occupied so the woman’s husband rang the phone. The call signal was a loud dog barking. ‘Woof! Woof!’ it went. The female German tourist occupying the toilet came sprinting out thinking a dingo was underneath the seat. The woman managed to calm her down and stated it was only her phone. The woman in search of her phone eventually retrieved it courtesy of two mops tied together and a cleverly placed magnet. But the phone did require litres of disinfectant before she could use it again.’

If issues have been raised in this article, lifeline is available on 13 11 14.