knowledge wisdom love - Coolum Beach Christian College

Building OpeningOn Wednesday the 30th we celebratedthe official opening of the Multi-PurposeHall, the Library and H Block. Parents,members of the Church and SchoolBoards and a number of invited guestswere present for the official speechesfollowed by an informal morning tea.Below is the transcript of the openingspeech presented by Mr Andrews:Senator Moore, Mrs O’Neill and allspecial guests,Today is an historic day in the life of ourCollege. In 2008 our school had eightclassrooms and a bumpy, very dodgypaddock, politely referred to as ‘theoval’. In the same year the phraseGlobal Financial Crisis entered thevernacular. We had already beengranted generous funding for our UpperLearning Centre, featuring four GeneralLearning Areas, a Science Laboratoryand a Home Economics room when MrKevin Rudd announced a fundingproject entitled the Building theEducation Revolution.This project, provided hope for manyindustries across our nation and ablessing for schools such as ours.Current funding principles had meantthat, whilst we had planned futureLibraries, Performing Arts areas andIndoor sports facilities these facilitieswere a long way away and would haveto wait until substantially moreclassrooms had been built.The BER changed that and suddenly wewere in the position of rapidlyrearranging site plans to fit in a$2,000,000 building project.I well remember walking through thebuilding site as it began to take shapearound me and marvelling that not onlywas a school like ours getting a Libraryand Multi-Purpose Hall but we weregetting these awesome facilities for free.At the same time and under the sameprogram we were also given funds thatwould enable us to complete the firststage of our school oval and to makesome modifications to an existingbuilding to build a Uniform shop. Beforelong we had an oval, a flat, green,school oval. A real school oval. And wehad a Uniform Shop. After years ofworking day in and day out in a storeroom with a desk, suddenly our faithfuland long-suffering uniform shop staffhad a place to display stock and servecustomers.By the end of 2010 we found ourselvesPage 4in the position of having fourteen classrooms, and a truly beautiful facilitywhich has fast become a hub of learning for students across our College.We are now in a very good position facility wise. We have all of theclassrooms we need until we decide to go to a second stream. We havethe facilities it takes to make a school and a dedicated team of staffmembers who are keen to take the school to the next level educationally.There are so many parties to thank for this:• The Federal Government for the vision to spend money across thecountry and invest that money into the future generations of Australianchildren• The State Government for joining the Federal Government in thefunding of our Upper Learning Centre• Our Development Committee• All of the companies involved in bothprojects from architecture andengineering to landscaping andfurnishing.• The tireless efforts of our College staff insupporting this project administrativelyand on the ground• Our awesome God who constantlyproves to us that He will make a way farbeyond any way we may plan ourselves.Pic: Senator Claire Moore, Mr Andrews and student leader AieshaBacalso. Picture courtesy of Kim Anderson. Used with permission.Social Media (cont’d from p1)In all your relationships, don’t speak or write without thinking first. Thinkabout how the other person will react, whether you could use betterwords or timing, and always follow the rule that face to face is alwaysbest if you can.Don’t use rude or crass words. Even if they don’t offend the other person,you are better off finding friends would be offended by that language,anyway.Don’t say anything about anyone else that you wouldn’t like that personto hear. In fact, remember the old advice, “If you can’t say somethingnice, don’t say anything at all”.Remember that hardly anyone shows on the surface (on their homepage, if you like) what they are really like as a person. Trust what theydo consistently, rather than what they say.It’s always wise to keep some distance from friends. Don’t live in theirpockets. Never visit a friend at mealtimes, early in the morning or late atnight. Give them their space.It is pretty easy to see how Facebook breaks many of these commonrules of human interaction, or at least tempts users to break them. Thinkabout these, and put them into practice within your family life, and you willhave set some important steps for succeeding in the online world foryears ahead.Cyber Safety On-Line SurveyThe Federal Government is currently holding a Cyber-safety survey. Thesurvey is available at www.aph.gov.au/cybersafety. With the exponentialgrowth of social media and internet usage the government is attemptingto gain a full understanding of the issues being faced by modernstudents. Student responses are being sought regarding students issuesand concerns re cyber safety.School banking day Monday. Contact LucyNyawha via the school office.