Thank you for your support over 2024 and we also wish to offer our congratulations to the Class of 2024 as they commence their post school journey. Over the last two weeks there have been many displays of student success and work, this includes the 2024 Sports Awards Dinner and Performing Arts Awards Evening. Both celebrate student dedication and success and the many hours that staff devote on these two key areas for our students' growth. We wish the Year 7 ACTIVATE National Finals team Sun Kissed all the best as they complete their final pitch this week in Brisbane.

Wellbeing of students and staff is a core value of our Anglican college, and this year we reviewed our Rites of Passage (ROP) and Outdoor Education Programs (OEP). The development of character and citizenship traits continues to be a focus in a challenge by choice framework through OEP. The Year 11 OEP has been moved to Term 1 and while Year 9 attended Lake Keepit Sport and Recreation Centre this year, we will head north from 2025 to a new centre.

2024 was the year of The Little Mermaid Musical and this was an amazing success. Barkley, our Wellbeing dog, has become an active member of BDC and we regularly see him at examination blocks, recess time, in class, staff areas and in the Primary campus. He has been a very welcome addition each and every week.

Student enrolment numbers continue to increase with waiting lists across most year levels. There is significant growth in Kindergarten and Year 11 for 2025. We strongly encourage families to enrol early, with Kindergarten being the ideal starting point.

Learning and Teaching throughout 2024 had a focus on the Designing for Deep Learning (DDL) framework. Last week staff celebrated their progress through a showcase event of outstanding work. 2024 was a time for staff to participate in professional development to enhance these transferable capabilities, which contribute to our digital credentialing program, Kaizen, World Options, career pathways, and learning and teaching initiatives. The college has also introduced VET Entertainment and Agriculture Courses into Year 11 for 2024 and HSC 2025. The NESA syllabus review and the rollout commenced with English, Mathematics, and Stage 6 Technology. All Key Learning Areas are implementing a revised curriculum until 2028.

Our new Mathematics facility (Rodham Building) opened, and we commenced the design and planning for some new areas such as the first phase for Performing Arts and the Innovation Learning Centre (ILC).

Academies and High Performance Programs continue to support students excelling across sport and the performing arts. BDC Horizon Online, our online school commences in 2025.

Staff Updates on the Secondary Campus

We welcome Mrs Lisa Wainwright as the Head of English and Ms Sheree Downes to the HSIE department and Mr Mal Gaukroger to PDHPE and REP. We wish Mr Brett Bennett well as he has resigned and thank Mrs Katrina Martin for her work over Term 4.

The Class of 2024 have achieved great success already through TAFE, apprenticeships, and receiving early offers into universities, with over 70% of students securing these offers. This achievement underscores the BDC advantage, and we extend our gratitude to the local industry and work placement providers for their invaluable support, as well as our dedicated staff for guiding our students on their journey.

Uniform items for 2025

For details regarding uniform requirements, please refer to our uniform code and guidelines on the BDC website. It is important to note the requirement of black polishable shoes, limited jewellery, adherence to moderate hair styles, and a prohibition on nose rings. Adhering to these guidelines will ensure that students begin 2025 on a positive note.

Please purchase a House Shirt now available and can be worn on Fridays. We are endeavouring to finalise new house coloured bucket hats to purchase from 2025 and an optional cap.

Reports and Access to Parent Lounge and Student Café

Reports should be published at the beginning of Week 9 and we kindly request that you download and save all reports, documents, and items no later than the 11th of December 2024. There will be IT upgrades and maintenance changes, and further access will not be possible until late January.

2024 Christmas Service

We extend a warm invitation for you to join us for the Christmas Service on Monday 9th December and our 2024 Presentation Assembly on Friday 6th December.

The Spirit of Giving

At this time of year we ask that you discuss with your children the importance of generosity, gratitude, service and supporting those who may need support at this time of year. I encourage all families to support our annual Christmas appeal through our Tutor Groups.

Or please drop in any items of support at Reception. Coffs Harbour and surrounds is well known for our community mindedness and the annual hamper appeal is well supported by you our families.

I will be on leave from the 2nd December and Mrs Sue O’Connor and Mr Craig Verbruggen will be leading the secondary campus during the last week of Term 4.

On behalf of our secondary staff, thank you for 2024 and we wish our families a blessed and joy-filled Christmas.

Key Dates

• 9th December, Monday, Christmas service.
• 10th December, Tuesday last day of school. College picnic.
• 18th December, Thursday, HSC/ATAR released. Morning tea, as coordinated by Mr Verbruggen.

2025

• 3rd February, Monday, K to 7 return and Year 12 only
• 4th February, Tuesday, 8-9-10-11 students commence.
• 12th February, Wednesday, secondary school photographs.
• 13th February, Thursday, secondary swimming carnival.
• 17th February, Monday, Year 7 Outdoor Education Program commences.

Simon Doyle
Assistant Principal (Head of Secondary)

Careers

Year 10 Career Exploration Week (Work Experience)

Next week, 134 Year 10 students will be participating in their Career Exploration (Work Experience) Week. This valuable opportunity allows students to gain firsthand insight into different job roles and industries, helping them make informed decisions about their future career pathways. It's exciting to see so many students have independently sourced fantastic placements in areas that align with their interests! Students, we encourage you to show genuine interest, embody the BDC values, and ask plenty of insightful questions!

To our BDC community members who are hosting one (or more) of our students, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks for your time, effort, and commitment in organising, hosting, and supervising our students. Your contribution is invaluable, and we deeply appreciate all that you have done and will continue to do. Please know that you are making a significant impact on a young person's career development, and we hope you enjoy sharing your work and industry expertise with them.

UNSW School of Clinical Medicine - High School Mentoring Program

Our students selected to be part of the UNSW School of Clinical Medicine High School Mentoring Program have attended their first session and were able to get hands-on learning to suture amongst many other things.

We will be holding our next round of the Medicine Entry Workshops for interested year 11 and 12 students during week 8 of this term, details to be announced. Students interested in a career in medicine, dentistry or health science are invited and urged to attend. The first session will cover university admission pathways and the Universities Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT).

BDC Delivered Vocational Education and Training (VET) Induction

We offer great qualifications which students can choose to study at BDC as part of their year HSC. These courses are HSC and ATAR eligible, and if students meet all of the requirements, they will receive a qualification also!

Students entering Year 11 next year who have chosen to study one (or more) of the following subjects next year: Entertainment (Cert. III in Live Services and Technical Production), Construction (Cert. II in Construction), Hospitality (Cert. II in Cookery) or Business Services (Cert. III in Business) will be required to attend a compulsory induction being held on Monday the 2nd of December, during Periods 3 and 4. Information is being sent out to students and Parents/Carers of students undertaking these courses.

Janine Ryan
Career Pathways Advisor

iHub Matters

The end of year is generally a time for huge organisational tasks: textbook returns; processing thousands of new texts for the following year; careful selection of resources to support the curricula of different subjects; topping up supplies and so on.

This past few weeks we have had wonderful visitors from the Diocesan meetings being held at BDC, and hosted chess competitions, and a particularly jubilant group of students that got through to the finals of the National Future Anything innovation competition.

With the holidays coming up, we’ve mounted some displays to showcase some of our fantastic library resources - particularly the magazine subscriptions that sometimes go unnoticed. We have magazines on dance, mountain biking, science, world affairs, international environmental and political issues, woodworking, electronics, and engineering, to name a few! 

Fostering a love of reading is a passion of the library staff, and this year we have Christmas cheer, and inspiring reads centred around the displays on our mobile bookshelf, and in the central display area. 

We are also going to be placing some wrapped books that were surplus donations, as mystery reads around the display - with only the genre indicated on the back! They’re all pre-loved and in good condition. Recycling at it’s best!

If you’d like one of these, they’ll be available from Week 7. Feel free to keep, re-gift, or donate a mystery book in the spirit of the season.