Letter from the Principal
Farewell Year 12’s!
Our School gathered on Friday to farewell our Year 12’s. It was a special occasion to mark a significant milestone; the end of 13 years of formal schooling. It has been a privilege to see our Year 12’s grow up from little people to big people, working through life’s ups and downs and seeing them grow into wonderful young adults. It has been a joy to partner with our Year 12 families and I thank them for their support and prayers. By journeying together in their child’s schooling life, it has been a team effort and fruitful partnership. I also thank the Year 12 teachers for their dedication, in preparing our Year 12’s not only for the HSC, but for their life ahead. Our staff, from the Front Office, Finance, Grounds, IT, Aides and Teachers, are wonderful role models for our students.
We hope that our Year 12’s reflect on their 13 years of schooling with warm memories of their time at OCS. We have seen them grow in their faith, learning, character and leadership. Please join me in praying for them as they take a break and prepare for their HSC. We look forward to what the future holds for them all.
To the rest of our school community, may you have a safe, restful and enjoyable term break. We look forward to seeing you next term.
God bless.
Coming Up at OCS
Term 4 is on its way!
First Day of Term 4 – 14th Oct
HSC Begins – 15th Oct
Dudley Debating Final – 17th Oct
Primary Musical – 31st + 1st Nov
Kinder Orientation – 4th + 6th Nov
Stage 5 Exams – 6th – 8th Nov
Year 12 Grad – 7th Nov
Stage 4 Exams – 11th – 13th Nov
Year 10 Celebration – 13th Nov
Rite of Passage – 14th + 15th Nov
Stage 4 Waves Camp – 20th – 22nd Nov
STAR – Mon-Thurs from 3:15-5:00pm
Active Kids Club – Mon-Fri from 3:15-5:00pm
Primary Assembly – Friday Week A 9:30am
Secondary Assembly – Friday Week A 10:50am
Parent’s Connect in Bembooka – Friday Week A 8:45-9:30am
Deputy’s Report
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” – Colossians 3:23
As we come to the close of Term 3, it’s amazing to reflect on all we have achieved as a school community. Our students have embraced the many opportunities for growth, and our staff have worked tirelessly to support them every step of the way.
Stage 2 and Stage 3 students enjoyed the excitement and adventure of camp, forming bonds and creating memories that will last a lifetime. Year 9’s camp also provided a chance for students to develop resilience and teamwork in a fun, challenging environment.
Year 10 students impressed us with their enthusiasm during work experience, stepping into the world of employment and gaining valuable insights into future career possibilities.
Our Year 12 students have been especially busy, completing their Trial HSC Exams, Practical HSC Exams, and major work submissions. We are so proud of their dedication and perseverance. Now, as they prepare for their final HSC Exams and their graduation, we pray for peace, strength, and success in this pivotal season of their lives.
Finally, a heartfelt thank you to our hard-working staff. Your dedication, encouragement, and unwavering commitment to our students make this school the special place it is. We look forward to Term 4 with hope and anticipation!
From the Head of Primary
As Term 3 has drawn to a close, I’d like to thank everyone for another successful term. Our students have worked hard, continued to learn and grow, found success across music, sporting and extra-curricular pursuits, and we appreciate the support from our families.
I pray this coming holiday break is one of refreshment and rest for each of you.
Looking ahead, we are excited for the Primary School Musical next term. Our students are working hard, and we can’t wait for the big performances. Please refer to the note sent out this week regarding costume pieces needed for the show.
Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to seeing everyone back for a fantastic Term 4!
Little Mermaid Jr Tickets are on Sale Now!!
Scan the QR or Click here to book your tickets.
From the Head of Secondary
A huge congratulations to our 2024 Year 12’s who officially finished up their 13-year schooling journey last week. Please pray for them over the coming weeks as they study ready for their first HSC examination on the 15th of October. We will certainly miss them.
Our new school leaders for 2025 include – SLT Senior Leader = Julia Vaz; Vice Captains = Hannah Reilly & Jack Flemming; School Captains = Jaimee Tandang & Callum Buchanan.
Malachi Krkac – Congratulation on achieving an Encore Nomination from his recent HSC Music Performances. This is a great honour, well done Malachi!
Congratulations Malachi!
He got nominated!
Following the HSC performance exams for music, Malachi Krkac has achieved the coveted and worked-hard-for accolade of receiving an Encore nomination for his performance on piano! These nominations are given to students that do an exemplary performance in their HSC music performance exams. It is a high honour for any music student – all are vying for that elusive nomination email to arrive in their inboxes in the days following the performance exams and it was certainly Malachi’s main goal for his HSC performance. He claims that if he was to actually be selected to play at the Encore performance, that would be like the (giant) cherry on top and he would use the experience to network with as many professionals in the industry as possible to further his career.
Playing piano for 10 years, Malachi has been a well-known extraordinaire in his craft in the time he’s spent at OCS, delighting us regularly with his fast fingers and creative mind for composition. For the past year and a half, Malachi has worked at the Orange Regional Conservatorium of Music as an Associate Tutor teaching piano and accompanying choirs as well as honing his skill at school during classes and various performance opportunities that his music teacher Miss Collins coached him through.
For his HSC, Malachi wanted to have a broad range of skills and variety in genre of pieces so he decided on the following pieces to perform:
- A popular piece – ‘all of me’ by Jon Schmidt
- A small ensemble piece – ‘Spain’ by chick corea
- An abstract piece – ‘Gnomus’ by Modest Mussorgsky
- A classical piece – ‘Impromptu in Eb major’ by Franz Schubert
Malachi has also been a part of the school’s worship band as the drummer for part of his high school career, and has been known to pick up the bass guitar, a trumpet, and various other instruments other than the piano – safe to say this young man has quite the knack for music, which mixed with a lot of hard work, has paid off!
His future of course includes music, he plans to get his AMusA which is an Associate Diploma for piano, and is heading to Uni to complete a Music degree in Composition. Congratulations Malachi, your music teacher, family and your entire school is proud of you!
From the Director of Student Development
What a busy term for camps and work experience! Did you see the fabulous photos of our students on camp and on work experience, in high vis and out and about? Check out the last newsletter for those!
But it is not done yet. While we head into the Term break looking forward to a rest before we know it we will have lots of other student development activities including Stage 4 Waves Camp and the Stage 6 Rite of Passage.
Parents of Stage 4, if you want a fantastic experience with your kids join us for Waves Camp from Nov 20-22. Please contact me through the front office or via email if you would like more information. alee@ocs.nsw.edu.au
From the Business Manager
As the sun sets on another term it’s a good chance to reflect on the blessings that the Lord of the universe has given us as a school.
As you would no doubt have seen, we’ve been making great progress on the carpark recently. Once again, I hold a deep appreciation for the school community and everyone’s long-suffering patience and understanding. James 1:4 tells us to
“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything”
and it’s every day that we can see this maturity in the interactions around drop-off & pick-up times and the grace shown along Cecil Rd. We are currently praying for good weather in order to see the carpark grand opening prior to the end of term 4.
Classrooms are currently being built for the start of the 2025 school year. Towards the end of term 4 you’ll see the existing K-block near the basketball court maneuvered around, with new classrooms being installed at Christmas time. These classrooms are required in order to support the growth that the school is seeing under God’s hand.
And we are constantly seeing new families enquiring about enrolments at our school. What a blessing it is to be able to offer a uniquely Christian education to families from all walks of life, and we look forward to welcoming these lovely new students and their parents and carers to OCS in term 4.
TAP Tips
“If you have an injury, rest it. You don’t want to further damage something worse than it already is, it’s better to miss a week or two rather than a few months.”
– Zoe
Photo Gallery – Year 12’s last week
It’s been a fun/emotional last week of school for our Year 12 cohort of 2024, with a week chock full of activities like “bring your stuff in anything but a bag” day, teachers vs students volleyball, lunch fr0m Choox served by the Year 10’s, the last clap out, a rained out mystery tour and lots of delicious morning teas culminating in a special assembly on their last day where they were given tributes from each stage in the form of songs, gifts, videos and dances. They were prayed over by Mr Price, encouraged by Mr. Choi and Miss Collins, and given plenty of life advice for their next steps into the big wide world amongst lots of laughs and some tears.
We will see them again next term for their exams, but the activities and the assembly were a great way to mark their last week of schooling after 13 long years. We hope
