Wise words with...

‘Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.’ Acts 4: 12 (NIV)

In this edition of NCS Bytes you will have the opportunity to read about the many exciting activities that our students have been involved in throughout this past fortnight. Once again, these events have occurred both within our school and further afield. What we can say with some growing confidence, however, is that we are currently having increased opportunities for parents and carers to become more directly involved in the educational experiences of your children. 

'God's big rescue' plan

Our whole-school theme for this year is called ‘God’s Big Rescue’. Our focus verse for this edition clearly indicates that this ‘big rescue’ can only be found by calling on the name of Jesus and inviting Him into our lives. This theme is being continually explored in age-appropriate ways across all classes from K-12. I have recently attended assemblies where various members of staff and some of our student leaders provided challenging presentations that examined specific sections of God’s big story as it relates to this theme. I would especially wish to commend Isabelle M, one of our School Captains, who was our guest speaker at a recent Stage 2 Primary Assembly. Isabelle did an excellent job of exploring how God helped to rescue the Israelite people from slavery in Egypt.

With this theme of ‘God’s Big Rescue’ firmly in mind, our school recently purchased a 3 metre long timeline banner that is currently located on a wall in our school library. This timeline begins with the creation story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and concludes with an account of God’s ‘new creation’ as outlined in Revelation, the final book in the Bible. The timeline has four major sections. The first highlights key Biblical characters. The second identifies all 66 books of the Bible and the approximate times when they were written. The third depicts key Biblical events and the fourth section highlights the big Biblical themes that are addressed. It is our desire that students will have rich opportunities to further explore this banner and its associated timelines in order to gain a deeper understanding of ‘God’s Big Rescue’ plan. 

This past Friday, our whole school participated in ‘Harmony Day’. We did this in a very visual way with all students and staff being encouraged to wear one orange-coloured item. This year, ‘Harmony Day’ was specifically celebrating the multi-cultural nature of our Australian society. We recognised the wonderfully positive contributions that have been made to the fabric of our society as a result of the arrival of new citizens from numerous countries throughout our world. Most classes also spent time examining a specific aspect of life in our multi-cultural nation. Our NCS community also includes families from many different cultural backgrounds and we, too, are most appreciative of the contributions that these families have made to the richness of life here at our school. And, what is even more exciting, is that, regardless of our cultural backgrounds, ‘God’s Big Rescue’ plan has been designed to apply equally to each one of us! That is certainly good news indeed!