Principal

Dear Friends

It is lovely to be back from overseas and back with the community at St Andrews Christian College.

We have an amazing leadership team who are highly capable and able to confidently lead the College when I am on leave.

A special thanks to Mr Tim Farmilo who stood in as Acting Principal!

It was really special to come back to the wonderful GRANDPARENTS and SPECIAL PERSONS’ DAY in the Junior School that we held a couple of weeks ago.

As many of you know, I am a grandparent of a beautiful little girl (now 1) and relishing this special stage in my life. Unfortunately my children live in another state (ACT and from next year NSW), so I am not a grandparent who is always present. What we do though is often fly up to Canberra or bring our children to Melbourne at certain times of the year to celebrate special events and spend quality time with each other. I am so thankful for the daily photos on Messenger and how we share with Facetime, where each week we are able to talk and see what our special granddaughter is doing and how she is progressing.

With my granddaughter earlier in the year.

One of the special things in being a grandma (I am called Coco – which I hope doesn’t turn into cuckoo) is being able to pray for my family in all the celebrations, joys, sad times and difficult things in life.

Our students here at St Andrews Christian College, our own children and grandchildren are our future and we need to nurture and pray for them, allowing them to blossom into the adults God created them to be (not what you or I want them to be).

I asked a couple of grandparents “what is so special in being a grandparent?” and these are some of the responses:

Cuddles!
Seeing my grandchild’s enquiring mind and how they see the world so differently to me.
The way they trust you unconditionally.
The special bond we have together.
The opportunity to have some influence in their lives.
Seeing how the relationship you have with your grandchildren is so different to the one you have with your own children.
Really interesting to see how your own children ‘parent’. Although their ways of parenting are different to mine, it suits them and their lifestyle and that is ok.
Good to be able to hand them back to their parents!
PRAYING for them.
Adds excitement in my life to see how excited my grandchildren become with the simple things in life, like ants marching in a line.
Being able to support and encourage my family in a different way.

God created families, friendship and community and He created us to bless and encourage each other. Whatever age we are, we all need special people in our lives to encourage and be there for us. And, sometimes to set us straight and say the hard things to us that probably no-one else would say.

If you are struggling at the moment in not having a special person in your life, I encourage you to pray about it and step out of your comfort zone to be that special person for someone else. It is amazing how these actions can turn into a precious friendship, where you are there for each other.

Thanks to all our ‘SPECIAL’ people (friends and grandparents) who came to the College to share their day with their special person. I especially thank those who travelled long distances to be here, from across the state, interstate or overseas. We had grandparents come all the way from Japan and Hong Kong to be here at St Andrews!

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

2 Thessalonians2:16-17

Abundant blessings,

Catriona Wansbrough

Principal