October 2012 - Gawa Christian School Website

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient
for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the
more gladly about my weaknesses, so that
Christ’s power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9
Gäwa October
news
2012
Our focal passage for this term draws on the amazing nature of God's grace. There are many
uses of the word 'grace' in our language - 'saying grace' before a meal, contracts have a 'grace
period' and often celebrities 'fall from grace'! We have spent time together in staff devotions
unpacking the many aspects of God's grace to us, and the way in which it equips us with the
power of God to do His work. It is encouraging to be reminded that despite our weaknesses
and struggles, God can and does use us to bring about His purposes. When we rely on Him, and
not on our own strength, He enables us to do great things! Please make it your prayer, as it is
ours, that as we continue to serve the children and families of Gäwa, His name will be known,
worshipped and glorified!
by Karen
Prayer & Praise
•We give thanks for the privilege of working with the Gäwa
community to bring vibrant, Christian education to the children.
•We thank God for the amazing provision of wonderful
school resources and facilities.
•We pray for health and stamina for our staff
as we enter the build up season and end of the school year.
•Please pray for our community that they will grow in their understanding
and service of our Lord. And for our students, that they will come
to know the Lord and serve him as their King.
The Kinder Room...
Bees are buzzing, bbb… Kinder has been a hive of activity and fun over the past few
months. We have been learning the alphabet sounds and making little songs to help us
remember them. The kids have also really enjoyed the challenge and thrill of threading
coloured beads onto string and making beautiful patterns, which they proudly displayed
to both the Damala and Mayawa classes. We have also created colourful box
constructions, practised our somersaults, made villages with the train sets and Duplo,
and enjoyed playing ring-o-ring-o-rosey every day!! It is wonderful to see the kids
playing, learning and having fun together each week.
By Tash
Damala News
“The croc narrowed his eyes and saw a
dim shape through the murky water…It
was a warm, fat little human”. With the
build-up upon us and the swimming
season coming to an end, the Damala
class has been reminded, through the
descriptive writing of Leonie Norrington,
of the potential threat of being ‘Croc Bait’.
This has been our AL text and the class
has enjoyed focussing and researching the
bäru, learning different facts, watching
the crazy antics of croc experts, and
having Daymungu come in and share
Warramiri stories about the saltwater
baru. In science this term we have
narrowed our focus down through a micro
-scope and into the world of microorganisms.
It has been great seeing the
kids amazed and somewhat disturbed by
what you can see under a micro-scope!
This term has been based upon the idea
of grace, and with Christmas approaching
we are turning our focus to the gift of
grace given to us in Christ Jesus. By Matt

Community News
We commenced our term with a community
meeting to sit, share and pray together for our
community, and give thanks for the wonderful
partnership we have together. There is no better
way to be united under the banner of Christ, than
to meet together in His name and pray for the
future of our kids. It is only through the common
faith we have in Jesus as our Saviour and Lord that
we are able to continue on this wonderful journey
together. We hope to commence every coming
term in this way.
Saturday Fellowship continues to be an enriching
time of worship for our community. We recently
shared in a beautiful meal with the Gäwa and
Ban'thula communities together (the likes of which
could only come from an island community!)
Afterwards there was singing and sharing and we
were treated to a wonderful time of worship from
a local choir group from Galiwin'ku.
By Karen
Marŋgi’thirr Program
This term in Mayawa all eyes are on the sky as we
study the weather. We are taking measurements of
the wind direction and speed, rainfall, temperature
and even telling time with the shadow on our
Mayawa
News
sundial. In maths, learning the days, months, seasons, telling the time and
measuring things with number lines shows us how our awesome God has all
things in His control in a planned an orderly way.
We are having fun making, writing, illustrating
and reading our own books. Spelling
is exciting as we listen for those sounds
that make our language fit together and we
can spell loads of three letter words. It has
been wonderful to see the children’s confidence
grow as they become the teacher
and read books to the class, some are now
movie stars thanks to our iPad.
In Yolŋu Matha, we have learned the compass directions and the children love
to dance the Northwind dance and others, including the French dances with Sal
on Fridays. We made some fabulous French castles by the sea with Damala and
are learning French greetings, songs and numbers. We even watched the Three
Little Pigs in French. School is a great place to be and as we wait for ‘Big Rain
Coming’ there is a lot to learn. Praise God for good health and happy days!
By Mandy
We are working with our community to explore ways we can equip our young
people with practical skills and abilities for their futures. Our Marŋgi’thirr
(gaining knowledge) Program is providing them with experiences to build confidence, leadership, problem solving and life skills
through practical hands-on workshops. Members of our school and homeland community are joining together to deliver a program we
hope will build positive futures for our students.
The boys from Damala class, along
with some of the older boys from
Mayawa class, have enjoyed the
start to our program. Boys have
learnt about the importance of oil
in cars and then helped in an oil
change. We also learnt about
levers and then applied this
knowledge in changing a tyre. The boys have taken great
initiative in facilitating spear shaft and spear tip making with
some valued assistance from older men in the community.
Coupled with some great devotions from Matt, including 'The
Armour of God' and 'Life is like
a Troopy', it has been a great
beginning to this new
initiative. We hope and pray
for God to work through these
opportunities for discipleship
and Christian training in these
young men. By Steve
Boy’s Djäma
We commenced our weekly
girl’s get together with a
pampering afternoon. We
made face and hair masques
and foot scrubs with
ingredients from the kitchen.
With soothing background
music, cucumber slices perched on
eyelids while receiving hand massages, we read some scripture
reminding the girls how precious they are. We are working
through the attributes of the Proverbs 31 woman each week
while the girls learn some valuable skills and also enjoy some
traditional art and craft activities. Our time
together each week
has become a
wonderful time of
bonding and sharing
of our sisterhood in
Christ.
By Salome
Girl’s Djäma
Gawa Christian School, PMB 257 Elcho Island via Winnellie 0822 Northern Territory phone: 08 8970 5212 email: gawa@ntcsa.nt.edu.au