College News

SEPTEMBERTuesday 24th

Parent Teacher Conferences

Wednesday 25thWhole College Awards &

Competition Assembly

Thursday 26thBoarder's Travel Out

Friday 27thLast day for Term 3

Monday 30th September - Friday 11th October

School Holidays

OCTOBERMonday 14th

Term 4 commences

Tuesday 15thBoarders Travel In

Wednesday 16thBoarders Resume

Friday 25thWorld Teacher's Day

J O E L VA N B E N T U M | P R I N C I PA L

Diary Dates Exec Thoughts

M A R R A R A C H R I S T I A N C O L L E G E P R E S E N T S

2 0 T H S E P T E M B E R , 2 0 1 9 | T E R M 3 , W E E K 9

Dedication. It is a word that has lost much of its meaning within our western culture. But it is an extremely important concept to grasp.

Dedication involves two ideas. Firstly, it connotes perseverance, of striving towards something. It brings with it the idea of hard work. The second idea in dedication involves something being consecrated, which is to be set apart for something or someone.

These two ideas don't appear to come together at first glance, but in reality they're related. When considering dedication, it is worthwhile to think about the fact that it is about the work you do, but more than that, it's about the orientation of that work.

In today's culture we tend to see very little of either trait in our general society.

On television we see a cut down version of reality. On TV we see life without the boring bits, university degrees without the study, relationships without the hard work of compromise, life without the hard graft.

As well as this, we see that the primary thing we are encouraged to be dedicated to is ourselves. As a society we have perfected the cult of the individual. The concept of dedication has been perverted, society says to be dedicated to yourself - do the stuff you like, avoid the hard stuff, have fun, be prosperous...

In the bible it gives us a different view of dedication. In the book of John Jesus says;

'I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.' [John 15:1-2]

Jesus doesn't pull any punches - growing and "bearing fruit" is hard work, pruning hurts the tree but is necessary in order for full and new growth to occur. Our action as well as our inaction - every decision we make - it all influences the people we become, it affects the way we are in this world.

At Marrara we have the RiSe CoDe in order to encourage our students to think a bit differently, a bit more like Jesus. We endeavour to remind and instill in our students that so much of life happens behind the scenes. The hard work, the practise, homework, study and effort is part of life and has in it its own reward. This part of life needs to occur before we can view and truly enjoy the fruit of our labour.

We also encourage them to be dedicated to the right thing - which is ultimately to Jesus and His Kingdom: rather than themselves because, though we will ultimately fade, when we are dedicated to Christ and do our work to serve him we live life to its fullest.

Library NewsI would like to thank the Marrara Community for getting behind the Tear Read-a-thon for the second year. Last Friday was the “official” end of the Read-A-thon. However, if people would still like to donate, feel free to do so up until the end of term. For the participants, please return your partipation books (cardboard folders) to the library by the end of term. This is so we can organise participation certificates and calculate the amount that Marrara raised. Once again, thanks to all who participated and donated to such a worthy cause, that is, giving all children the opportunity to receive an education. David Parkin | Librarian

Year 9 NewsThe Year 9 elective class, ‘Indigenous Language, Culture and History,' recently visited the NT Library. We studied the Indigenous maps, photos and stories displayed in the Territory Stories Exhibition. The display about Ayaiga, the Indigenous man who saved a policeman from drowning in the Roper River in 1911, was particularly interesting, especially as one of our students is related to the policeman!

Students were also shown documents from the archives relating to Indigenous language research. It was wonderful for the students to be able to see these rare documents and to learn how people made written records of Aboriginal languages for the first time.

Liz Clarkson | EALD Coordinator

School Holiday Reception HoursOffice Hours

Monday 30th September - Friday 4th October: Office Open 9am - 3pm

Monday 7th October - Friday 11th October : Office Closed

Marrara Christian College is commencing preparations to move NAPLAN testing from paper to online. These activities are part of a national program to transition all NAPLAN testing from paper to online testing by 2021. Around 60 schools from the NT, including our College, are preparing to transition to NAPLAN Online in 2020, with other schools to follow in 2021.

To ensure we will be ready in 2020, our College will participate in school readiness testing on Monday & Tuesday in Week 10, Term 3. School readiness testing is a ‘practice run’ designed to help schools gain insight into the NAPLAN Online test platform, experience testing and identify any technical issues. The school readiness testing is not a test of the students, but will assist our school to prepare for online testing in May 2020.

Students in year levels 2, 4, 6 and 8 will participate in the school readiness testing this month. Your child does not need to do anything to prepare. Students that participate will have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the online format and the styles of questions.

Students participating in the school readiness testing may sit up to 2 x 40 minute online assessments: a writing test and a combined numeracy/literacy test. Year 2 students will not participate in the writing test.

It is important to note that participation in the school readiness test is not part of the NAPLAN Testing and results will not be released to the Department, schools or students.

For more information about school readiness testing or NAPLAN Online, please see the attached fact sheet or visit www.nap.edu.au

Amber Badenhop | Head of Middle School, Marrara Christian College NAPLAN Coordinator

School Readiness Test

Parent Teacher Conferences

Tuesday 24th September from 3:30pm - 8:00pm

Primary teachers will hold their conferences in their classrooms, while Middle School and Senior teachers will be in the library. We will be using the online booking system through Compass. Please log in to your Compass account to make bookings to meet with

you child's teacher/s.

Please be aware that you will need to log in to Compass with your usual login. If you are having trouble with this process, please contact Front Reception on 8920 2000 or admin.mcc@ntschools.net.

NTCC NewsIn a recent yearly fashion event at CDU called 'A Time to Shine', Maria Pikos (Year 12) won two awards in the VSS Futuristic

category!

Well done, Maria!

Prefect AssemblyLast week, the College was highly entertained by the Prefect Assembly. Check out some of the highlights!

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