I have filled this week’s newsletter with some exciting announcements
'Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!' Psalm 133:1
Welcome back from the holiday break. I trust that you and your families had some time to recharge the batteries. I have filled this week’s newsletter with some exciting announcements.
Congratulations to our new 2020/2021 student leaders
I would like to extend a public congratulations to the new student leaders for 2020/2021. I am looking forward to working with this new group. You can read more about this in the Secondary article of this newsletter. Thank you to our outgoing school leaders as they have been excellent role models for the school.
Career Days
Congratulations to all staff involved in the recent Careers development days. A particular thank you goes to Gina Driscoll, our Career and Pathways Coach, and our guest speakers. I know our Year 10 students got a lot out of these sessions as well as the other events that occurred in the week. More about these sessions can be found in the Career section of this newsletter.
Northern Beaches Campus - now open for enrolments
This week our Bishop Druitt College Council has endorsed the proposed K-4 Northern Beaches Campus for a 2021 opening. The Campus will be located in the heart of Woolgoolga at 1852 - 1856 Solitary Islands Way.
The Development Application is with the Coffs Harbour City Council for approval at present. I am however excited to announce that we are now taking enrolments for Kindy to Year 2 for 2021 and for Kindy to Year 4 for 2022.
The Northern Beaches Campus will have a local village feel, including our signature Walker Learning experiences, have small class sizes and access to our BDC Coffs Harbour resources and specialists similar to the opportunities that our current Stage 1 and Stage 2 students experience.
This announcement is historic not only for our BDC community but also for the Northern Beaches. In order to gather more information and engagement, we will be running a series of Information Sharing Sessions in Woopi over the next few months. It is our intention to develop this new BDC campus with some local elements so that it can be embraced by the local community as a new exciting opportunity for families of the township of Woolgoolga.
I wish to thank the BDC College Council and the College Leadership Team for 12 months of support to reach this point.
Northern Beaches Campus Education Statement
NAIDOC Week
Well done to Rev Naomi, Kristy Hart and our Goori Group for their work during NAIDOC week just prior to the holidays. The college celebrated this week with a variety of events but it was the NAIDOC assembly that was the jewel in the crown. Thank you to all who contributed to the success of the week.
The college will now be planning for our next Reconciliation Action Plan to continue our positive relationship with the local Gumbaynggirr peoples.
BDC-CVAS Partnership to Grow
The BDC and CVAS Councils have endorsed the continued growth of our new partnership. Key staff members in each school will now be charged with building mutually beneficial opportunities for our respective students. Farnworth is continuing to grow with a masterplan being developed at present that will identify the outdoor education centre which is starting to take shape. The two schools have also aligned our school calendars and our pre-lunch class periods to allow for online teaching and learning opportunities to be developed in 2021.
2021 Term Dates Calendar Update
COVID-19 Safe Activities
The college is continuing to remain vigilant during this COVID-19 period and each of our school events has been modified to reflect new COVID-Safe risk assessments and plans. In recent weeks we have restarted Basketball, Rugby and from Thursday NCIS Netball has recommenced. We have also started returning to local excursions. It is essential however that all parents continue to support our college strategies regarding students remaining at home if unwell, collecting them quickly if symptoms present at school and be patient with the school about some of the changes to our signature events.
Nick Johnstone
Principal