I can tell you that the overwhelming care, love and support from both within and beyond helped us all immensely and we are very grateful for all our staff, students, families and local community

As we draw near to the end of Term 3, we all recognise that it has been a difficult time for our entire community with the sudden passing at the start of the term of our dear friend and colleague, Mr Tim Hillier. I can tell you that the overwhelming care, love and support from both within and beyond helped us all immensely and we are very grateful for all our staff, students, families and local community. We have decided to create a lasting legacy to Mr Hillier through the Tim Hillier Cup, which will become an annual Primary event. We will provide more information on this later as a way of remembering and honouring a very fine teacher and strong proponent of school sport.

Term 3 is a very hectic term for us here at the College with many different events. The big one for us has been the musical and what an event it was! This Broadway-worthy production was highly professional and I am grateful for the commitment and work of Mrs Allan, Mrs Donnelly, Mrs Forbes and their colleagues who went above and beyond to provide an entertaining experience for all. The students devoted considerable time to rehearse and they should be very proud of their outstanding performances – well done! Enjoy your well-deserved rest everyone!

Another significant project taking place behind the scenes is the development of our new five-year Strategic Plan which has several exciting initiatives.  One incredibly important strategy is to secure a reliable supply of teachers for our College as Australia is experiencing a critical teacher shortage – many teachers are planning on leaving the profession and the number of students studying teaching is falling which is a considerable concern – it’s a hard job. We are already taking steps to address this crisis. For example, we have several teacher aides now studying teacher education. Another exciting strategy will be the implementation of a comprehensive student service-learning program. As a Christian school, we see the concept of serving others as an important character quality to instill in students, one that they can take into the wider world. When people contribute to society, we all benefit. In the Strategic Plan, we will also look at ways of improving teaching and learning and already we have implemented a teacher-mentoring program, based on the University of Newcastle’s Quality Teaching Rounds. Finally, we will continue to upgrade existing buildings and undertake the construction of new ones to cater for continued growth.

Concerning our proposed Forster Campus, we can tell you that our development application on the current site was unfortunately declined after a very lengthy process with Council. We have, therefore, made the decision to investigate other alternative sites that can accommodate more students, and hopefully one day be a full K-12 Campus, which would not have been possible on the current site.  We are now in negotiations regarding this.

Finally, I wish our Year 12 students all the best for their final days of school and hope they have much success in their upcoming HSC exams. I’m looking forward as always to the Formal.

May the God of all creation bless you and your family.

Leadership and Service

We have recently undertaken our leadership process to elect our eight Prefects for Year 12.  This includes our 2025 College Captains and Vice Captains.  It is with great pleasure I introduce our College community to our Year 12 leaders for 2025:

Captains: Henry Mortlock and Chelsea Davies

Vice-captains: Sebastian Vergara and Casey Sage

Prefects: Lily Harrison, Ihsan Iqbal, Esther Petriciaa, Elizabeth Archinal

I would also like to take this opportunity to commend our outgoing Year 12 Prefect team on the outstanding job they did leading our SRC and College community over the past 12 months. In particular, I would like to congratulate them on raising well over $10000 this year to support charities, cancer research and our overseas sponsor children.  We wish our Year 12 Prefects and all our wonderful Year 12 students the very best for their Graduation, their HSC and life beyond MCCC. We will miss them all very much. Please pray for them!

Positive Partnerships Between Home and School

At MCCC we always emphasise the importance of partnering with you, our families, in the raising and educating of your children.  This positive partnership is very important to us.  We cannot ever underestimate the role of the family in the education of our students.  Research indicates that positive parent/carer engagement in your child’s education can provide months of additional progress over the course of a single year.  We greatly appreciate the positive partnerships that exist between home and school here at MCCC.  We encourage you to continue coming to College events, showing an interest in what your child is learning, maintaining contact with your child’s teachers, coming to parent/teacher evenings and speaking positively with your children about school and the value of quality education.  When issues arise, it is always best to let us know early so we can work together to achieve a quick and positive resolution, as we love seeing students come and leave each day with a smile on their faces.

Every Day Matters

We have been communicating recently about the importance of students attending school every day, because we know that high attendance rates lead to improved student outcomes.  Again, let’s continue partnering together to ensure your children, our students, are gaining the most out of their education.

Our Secondary students, particularly the seniors, have been actively engaging in their assessments. Recently, Year 11 students completed their examination period, while our Practical HSC students had their major works evaluated by HSC markers. This follows our impressive Senior Showcase performances. Congratulations to everyone involved, and we wish our HSC students success in their upcoming exams and bright futures ahead.

We’re excited to expand the Elevate Program, which aims to enhance study skills and knowledge for all year groups. Parents will be sent links to invite you to participate in learning more about how you can support your child in their learning. It was wonderful to connect with some fathers at our recent Father’s Day breakfast and to celebrate NAIDOC Day with the whole school community. Our students continue to be blessed with gifts in music, dance, sport, and friendship. Notably, our students achieved outstanding results in the Zone and State Athletics Carnivals, marking one of our best performances in the school’s 39-year history. A special thanks to Mrs. Jen Wyllie for coaching our team.

One of the highlights of my teaching career has been coaching and refereeing rugby. Teaching extends beyond delivering subject knowledge; it involves nurturing students’ growth. I have seen significant progress when coaching students in sports, such as rugby, especially when they are truly passionate about it. Although maintaining fitness and facing physical challenges on the field can be tough, it is rewarding to see the respect and teamwork among students.

Recently, Mr. Jones, Mr. du Preez, and Mr. Reed have been coaching boys in Years 7-12. The boys have shown commitment, respect, and gratitude for the opportunity to play. A standout moment was when an experienced player instructed against hitting a less experienced teammate during a game, demonstrating exceptional leadership and respect. This moment of sportsmanship was a testament to the positive impact of rugby and a source of pride for me as an educator.

At MCCC we strive to educate and grow the whole child. We have long established the CHRIST values of Compassion, Humility, Respect, Integrity, Self-control and Trustworthiness. We use these values as discussion points as we look to develop the character of each student here.  A couple of years ago, our College released our GROWTH Mindsets. Our desire is to develop lifelong learners through developing the following habits and mindsets: Grit, Responsibility, Organisation, Wisdom, Teamwork and High Standards.

Sometimes life can be very challenging and hard. This term at MCCC has definitely been difficult due to the passing of a much-loved teacher and colleague. However, in the sadness, I have witnessed amazing compassion from our community, humility from staff as they picked up extra tasks to carry the load for others, respect from our families, integrity from staff and students and a great deal of self-control. It has been encouraging to see these CHRIST values demonstrated on such a large scale, right down to the individual student.

Our first mindset is GRIT. The definition of Grit is courage and resolve; strength of character. One thing that really struck me as I watched the students grieve and process the sudden loss, was their resilience to such challenges. It encouraged me! The staff and students demonstrated a strength of character and courage: a real blessing to see in action.

I do not want to dwell on sadness, but want to acknowledge the whole community for banding together in the tough times. I wanted to acknowledge the students for their respect and grit. I wanted to acknowledge the staff for their love and resolve and most importantly, I want to acknowledge and thank our good God for always being faithful, always loving and always in control. I am confident that it was in HIS strength and grace that the staff have been able to continue teaching and caring for our students and creating safe spaces for them.

So thank you for being a part of this community. Thank you for making it what it is.

God is doing great things at MCCC

As the full-time chaplain at MCCC, I oversee the Bible instruction at the school as well as providing pastoral care where needed. It is a privilege to share God’s Word everyday with the students in Biblical Studies, chapel services, lunch time groups and morning devotions.

Here at MCCC we teach Biblical Studies to all year groups. Kindergarten to Year 4 are taught by their class teachers or Mr Lawson. From Year 5 – 12 they are taught by either myself, Miss Young, Mr Hamilton or Mr Dawson. In Secondary this year we have looked at Christian Doctrine in Semester One and in Semester Two we have been looking at the Gospel of John.

One of the highlights of the week for most students is Chapel. This is where students come together and we sing, read, and teach the Bible. Students often have a lot of fun, as well as growing in their understanding of God and His plan to save us through Jesus. We have three different chapel services; Infants and primary, which is every Tuesday, and High school which is every second Friday.

We have several lunch time groups that happen during each week. On a Monday we have a boys’ and girls’ prayer group which are both growing in number and faith. A big thank you goes to to Mr Dawson and Miss Young who are involved in these groups. On Wednesday, we have a Bible reading group, which keeps getting bigger, and God is helping those who attend grow in their knowledge of His Word. There is also a fortnightly girls’ group that meets every week and is led by some of our senior students.

God is doing great things at MCCC, and students are coming to faith. Just last week a student came to me and wanted help to become a Christian. I have given out over fifty Bibles this year and I have lost count of how many youth devotions I have handed out.

God is Good!