Editorial

As I write my last editorial for 2024, I am very aware of the end of the school year rushing toward us. I imagine you are feeling similar as Christmas approaches. Life just gets so busy it almost feels overwhelming.

Isn’t it interesting that God chose a few poor shepherds camping with their flocks in the Judean wilderness to be confronted with a whole army of angels on the first Christmas night. The poor shepherds must have been absolutely terrified. And what was the message that this clearly overwhelming military force bought to them?

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace and good will toward mankind.”

God is clearly demonstrating that he could use a violent solution to bring humanity back into a relationship with Him if He chose. But he chose peace and goodwill through a helpless babe who, 33 years later, would make the ultimate sacrifice to return us lost sheep to His fold.

God continues to want us to be at peace, but we continue to fill our lives with things that make us busy and cause us to miss the important things that He wants for us.

I pray that we can all find peace amongst the busyness this Christmas. He is just waiting for us to take a breath and chat with him.

Year 12 Exams

Although the Victorian exams were, once again, affected by leaks and concerns about fairness our students navigated this pressure well and we look forward to them receiving results that are a fair assessment of their learning in the last 13 years.

Presentation Night

Thank you to the Year 12 students who put off their end of school holiday so they could join us all at the Presentation Night. It is important for our younger students to see other students representing the standards that we honour at Plenty Valley Christian College. There will be more celebrations of students who have modelled our values in future assemblies.

Head Start has begun

Our senior students are now having a preview of next year. They are beginning some work so that when they return next year, they hit the ground running. VCE students may also have some holiday reading at their leisure.

Our college is growing

Next year we will be building a Senior Secondary Block (ready for 2026) and planning a Junior School Block to be built in a couple of years to accommodate our growing numbers of students. It is a blessing to have the opportunity to assist more families to access a Christian education. In 2025 we have an extra Year 4 and an extra Year 6 class bringing our numbers up to about 950 students K to 12.

College Structure in 2025

Next year we start our new college structure with Primary and Secondary having their own Principal who will take responsibility for what happens in each section. The leadership structure under the principals will stay the same as it is now. We congratulate Mrs Regina Brownley who will be Early Years Head of Sub-School (HoSS) next year and Mrs Olivia Lambert taking the Assistant HoSS position in Early Years.

We will still be one college, sharing the same values, with an executive group that works together to create some level of consistency as students' progress through the college. The Executive will be John Metcalfe (Executive Principal), Rebekah Kearney (Primary Principal), Chris Prior (Secondary Principal), Dan Symons (Director of Learning and Teaching), Craig Ogden (Director of Christian Formation) and Peter Bain (Business Manager).

Staff Moving On

At schools, at the end of the year, we always farewell students and staff. It is a sad reality for staff like ours who pour care and prayer into their colleagues and students. A turnover of staff is healthy, both for us and for other schools as people take their talents to assist other schools and we welcome new people with new ideas and approaches. The following staff will be leaving us at the end of the year:

Elena Agache (Primary French) will be spending more time with her family for a while.
Eleanor Collier (Primary) is stepping back from teaching and slowing down (a bit).
Jacob Cookson (Chaplain) taking the next step in his journey.
Tonja Craig (Primary) is studying next year.
Kerryn Malone (Primary) is also taking an opportunity to try something new.
Da’Niel Michler (Primary) will be spending more time with her family.
Karly Nott (Primary) is heading off to share her talent with another school.
Santhosh Samuel (Secondary Contract Teacher) finishes his contract with us.
Ruth Shaw (Primary French) is taking up an opportunity to try something new at another school.
Lucy Watson (Secondary Drama) is taking her talent to a new school with exciting possibilities.

We acknowledge and appreciate the time and energy that each of these people have contributed to our college. Even those who have been with us a short time have helped us be the great college we are. We wish them God’s blessing in the next stage in their journeys. I will introduce our new staff at the beginning of next year.

John Metcalfe

Principal