I wish our Year 5 campers well as they head to Tyalgum Ridge Retreat. This location is at the base of an eroded crater next to World Heritage National Parks in full view of Mt Warning. It is a spectacular venue for our Year 5 students to experience their biggest camp so far. I look forward to joining them on Friday morning to be involved in some of the activities. Thank you in advance to my wonderful staff who make outdoor education part of our culture. 

Thank you also in advance for Mrs Gina Driscoll’s hard work in organising Careers Week for next week. 

The last two weeks have highlighted our return to normal. We had record numbers attend our Mothers’ Day Breakfast with more than 450 people attending. This is truly a signature event for college families. We also officially launched the BDC Dance Academy with workshops hosted by the Sydney Dance Company. Thank you to Mrs Freeman and Mrs Johnson for your organisation of this event and to the many mums and dads that witnessed the creative process in action. 

We are also well into our NAPLAN Online at present with students involved in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. We expect results back to the college earlier this year. We have also been informed by the Commonwealth that NAPLAN will start in mid-March instead of mid-May from 2023.

Building Updates

The college has submitted a grant application to support the construction of a new STEM building. We expect to hear the result of this process in Term 4. 

The iHub refurbishment continues with the tiered seating being installed this week. 

The Senior Precinct build has been slowed due to rain but in recent days the bricks and framing timber has arrived on site. 

The adventure playground and the new basketball courts have also been stalled by poor weather conditions. The earthmoving equipment is unable to access the site at this time. We will need a few weeks of positive conditions before we can commence these projects. 

Careers Pathways Presentation

I had the honour of presenting what our college is achieving with respect to Careers Education and Pathways at the state independent school conference held in Sydney last Friday. Outlined below are a couple of videos that showcase Mrs Driscoll, our Career Pathways Coach, as well as Jenna Hayley (Year 11) and Jonah Blackburn (Year 12). 

Open Day 2022

Gurmesh Singh MP

Recently, our local state member, Mr Gurmesh Singh, visited the campus to officially present the NSW flag to the school. This will shortly be added to the flagpoles outside the Branson Centre, alongside the school, Indigenous and Torres Strait Island flags. We recognise the time and support that Mr Singh gives to the college in being our voice at state parliament. 

Pictured here with Year 11 student Zoe Cooke. 

Scholarship Opportunities

I am about to write to all the scholarship applicants with outcomes for 2023. It should be noted that there were over 140 applications this year and we have the equivalent of 11.2 full-time scholarships to offer. We have also added the complexity of auditions for the performing arts scholarships and so scheduling has slowed down some of our decision making. I have, however, made the decision for 2023 to share these scholarships so there will only be a handful of full scholarships with the remainder being part-scholarships. The successful applicants will gather in the coming weeks to be formally recognised.

Nick Johnstone
Principal