Bayside Bulletin Newsletter, 29 April 2025

Principal’s Message

This time of year, is one of numerous observances – Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter (Resurrection Sunday), Sunday, ANZAC day, and Labour Day. While these days will each bear different levels of significance in an individual’s life, they are all times in which we not only have a few hours off work but are called to reflect on our life, and all that has been given to us.

For Christians, the Death and Resurrection of Christ is one of the most (if not, the most) significant days of the year. It is a time when we reflect on the gift of eternal life and the forgiveness of sins. It is a time in which we acknowledge that Christ died for each one of us, that He overcome death and that as such, sin no longer separates us from our Saviour.

ANZAC day remembrances remind us that so many of our country men and women made the ultimate sacrifice to enable us to have the life that we do. A reminder that they gave their life for us, and for those who returned, they now live with the horrors of their experiences.

I look at the gifts and blessings we have been given and wonder why we continue to bicker and fight with one another. Why do we seem to get so upset over the small things? Christ has given us eternal life; in His death, we have been forgiven. Can we not forgive and love each other, when so much has been given to us? How can we condemn another, when we ourselves make mistakes and hurt others? How can we live our lives without recognising and worshipping Christ for His gift.

To our ANZACs, they were prepared to stand for a cause; prepared to give their life for our way of life; prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for those they would never know. Is this not an incredible love? Is this a sacrifice that we would make now, should it ever be called for? How much do we truly love and care for those around us?

In my personal life, I have found a group of men who share both a strong faith in Christ and a commitment to understanding God’s Word as given to us in the Bible. Despite our differences of opinions (of which there are many), or indeed our diverse backgrounds and upbringings, when we meet and depart, we embrace each other as ‘Brothers’. We put aside all of our differences as they are insignificant to that which we share and prosper in. Such a gesture is truly special and re-affirms to each man present – I am your Brother under Christ.

I hope that these days of significance in our calendar have brought you to such experiences as well, and hope that in all we face, regardless of the pain or the difficulty, that we will prosper far better when we support and care for all others as we would wish for ourselves.

The upcoming Labour Day is another day of interesting historical significance, in which the 8 hour working day was pronounced in Australia. The idea being we have 8 hours for work, 8 hours for rest and 8 hours for recreation. A simple divide, that in all reality no longer exists, BUT perhaps we can use this thinking to try and re-balance our lives.

In Mark’s Gospel 2: 27, Jesus said “… The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath”. The Sabbath was intended by God to be a day of spiritual refreshment and a signpost to a future day of rest, when God would wipe away all tears from their eyes and set up His earthly kingdom of peace and prosperity.

The Bible Study Guide Knowing Jesus, states:

“However, following years of abuse where onerous regulations were piled on the people of God, the Jew’s Sabbath became an oppressive burden. The religious leaders had taken and twisted the Sabbath law and other commands to lay heavy weights on the necks of the Jewish people.

Instead of it being a day of rest and enjoyment for the good of men’s souls, it became burdensome. Instead of it being a day of divine worship, where body and soul were refreshed, it became a day when even the simplest tasks were sharply condemned.

The Sabbath day restrictions which were imposed on the people by the religious leaders, had become out of hand and unmanageable over many years of abuse, such that Christ’s disciples were accused of breaking the Sabbath day regulations, simply because they plucked a few ears of corn and ate the tiny grains on the Sabbath day!

Legalism had become so entrenched in Jewish culture that Jesus had to firmly reprimand the chief priests and Pharisees by saying, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Israel was given the Sabbath day for their physical benefit and spiritual refreshment, but the legalists of the day had twisted it to become diametrically opposite of God’s original purpose for mankind.”

Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/mark-2-27

Perhaps, Labour Day is a gentle reminder to us all that God had a purpose for us. He did not seek us to work endlessly and sought for us to have time to replenish and rejuvenate our spirit. We cannot work constantly without rest; we need time for physical rest, but also for our mental and spiritual health; and importantly time to reflect on the Scriptures and develop our relationship with God. I believe that God does not want us to merely know Him, but rather to be in genuine relationship with Him – and as we all know, relationships need time and commitment.

Through our various lenses, may these days of significance stand as a reminder to us of what is important in our lives; a reminder of our calling; a reminder of our obligations; a reminder of all we have been gifted; a reminder of the need for genuine forgiveness, grace, and love for all; and above all, that Christ wants us to find the peace He, and only He, can offer.

God Bless.

Brian Grimes
Principal/CEO

Deputy Principal’s Message

A very warm welcome back to Term 2 to all our families. We hope you had a restful break, enjoyed some time with your loved ones and are ready for another exciting term ahead.

A friendly reminder that many of our school events are placed on the School Calendar, available via Parent Lounge. We also regularly share updates on our College Facebook page. Please note that additional events or activities may be added throughout the term, and we will communicate these as information becomes available.

Here are some key upcoming events for Term 2:

Parent-Teacher Interviews

Thursday 1 May | 3:30pm – 7:00pm

Bookings are now open via Parent Lounge and will close at 8:00pm on Tuesday 30 April.

• Prep – Year 3 interviews will be held in the Library.
• Years 4–12 interviews will be held in S Block.
• For room allocations and teacher locations, please refer to this PDF document.

Barracudas Indigenous Round

Wednesday 30 April | 4:00pm at Stafford Park

Join us this Wednesday at Stafford Park for our Indigenous Round and show your support for our Barracudas! The afternoon will include a sausage sizzle, an Indigenous jersey raffle giveaway, energetic beats from our Drum Line and enthusiastic support from the Bayside Believers Cheer Squad. It will certainly be a great community event!

Let’s fill the stands with a sea of blue and show our support for the Barracudas. We look forward to seeing you there.

Mother’s Day Stall

Friday, 2 May

Students will have the opportunity to purchase a gift for a mother, grandmother, or special friend.

• Gifts will be priced between $2 and $15.
• Primary students will visit the stall during scheduled class times.
• Secondary students may visit before school and during lunch breaks.

Other Important Dates:

• Labour Day Public Holiday – Monday 5 May
• Prep Open Day – Wednesday 7 May
• Year 5–6 Camp (Mapleton) – 7–9 May
• Mother’s Day Assembly and Morning Tea – Friday 9 May | 8:45am (Insert Tile)
• 5–9 Year Old Cross Country – Monday 12 May | College Oval
• Family BBQ Afternoon – Saturday 17 May | 2:00pm – 5:00pm (Insert Tile)
• Fraser Coast Show Public Holiday – Friday 23 May
• Bayside Ladies Brunch – Saturday 14 June
• 5–9 Year Old Athletics Carnival – Monday 16 June
• 10–12 Year Old Athletics Carnival – Wednesday 19 June

Community Chapel Service

Monday night’s Community Chapel event was truly wonderful and we send our sincere thanks to Chappy Carmen and Chappy Matt for leading such a special evening and sharing a message of great importance: Love, love and then… love.

As we reflect on this, we are reminded of the beautiful truth found in:  

 1 John 4:19 “We love him, because he first loved us.”

This verse reminds us that love is at the very heart of our faith and our community. Because God first loved us, we are called to extend that same love – to each other, to our families and throughout our College community. In every interaction, act of kindness and moment of support, we live out this love.

May we each reflect on how we can continue to be a light to those around us, showing love in both our words and actions. Let’s continue to strengthen and make our community such a special place.

God bless.

Edelle Broadhurst
Deputy Principal

Grab Your Free Bumper Sticker for a Chance to Win!!!

Grab a FREE bumper sticker (6 designs to choose from, including the new Barracudas and Believers designs), stick it on your car and register for a chance to win a $50 Castaway Café voucher. If your car is seen driving around by one of our eagle-eyed spotters, you go into the fortnightly draw. All fortnightly winners then go into a draw at the end of the year for a chance to win a remission of one child’s Term 4 fees.

So what are you waiting for – Get Sticking!

Bayside Barracudas thank their Platinum Sponsor!

Broncos Challenge

Our Barracudas had an outstanding performance yesterday in their games against Aldridge. Here are the results:

Girls: 42–0

Year 7/8 Boys: 30–4

Year 9/10 Girls: 28–0

Year 9/10 Boys: 54–0

The evening ended with Savenaca leading us in prayer, giving thanks to our good Lord for a fantastic first game. We prayed for protection over our teams, healing for those with injuries — both ours and Aldridge’s — and guidance for our coaches and players throughout the season.

Truly proud to watch our talented and respectful students — an incredible result, but more importantly, such humble hearts. We are truly proud of them. Please congratulate and encourage them if you see them.

Mr Grimes Masterplan Interview on Bayside Buzz News

Prep News

Our Prep students may be small in stature, but they hold a very special and treasured place in our college community. Throughout Term 1, they’ve brought curiosity, wonder, and a joyful energy as they’ve begun to find their feet in school life. They’ve started exploring the world of reading and writing, but perhaps even more inspiring is their growing confidence and belief in themselves. We are so proud of all they’ve achieved and deeply value the unique spirit they bring to our college.

2Q Adopt Their Very Own Desk Pets!

At the end of last term, 2Q celebrated a very exciting milestone – the adoption of their very own desk pets! This special moment was the result of a whole term of teamwork, kindness, and hard work.

Throughout the term, the students of 2Q worked together to earn dinosaurs for our class reward jar. Dinosaurs were earned by showing kindness to one another, using beautiful manners, putting in their best effort, and working hard to complete tasks. Everyone knew what they were working towards, and the excitement grew as the jar filled up!

When the jar was finally full, each student was invited to adopt their very own desk pet. These adorable companions now live in enclosures on each student’s desk during the school day. The students carefully chose names for their new pets and made a promise to care for them forever.

Now that our desk pets have settled in, 2Q are working towards adding fun and colourful items like jewels, lollies, and tiny donuts to their enclosures. As a class, we also decided that our desk pets would love a friend, so we’re back to filling the reward jar again to adopt a second pet!

To make the celebration extra special, Mr Grimes, Mrs Broadhurst and Mrs Mulder were each gifted their own desk pet by the class, a heartfelt gesture from the students that made everyone smile.

2Q have truly shown what can be achieved through teamwork, kindness, and perseverance, and their growing desk pet community is a reflection of just that!

Wishing you all a term full of kindness, friendship and laughter.

Mrs Davis

ANZAC Day Assembly and March

Last week, our College held a special ANZAC Assembly to honour and remember our servicemen and servicewomen for their ultimate sacrifice, as well as to pray for their families and those who are still currently serving.

Each Home Room class designed and created their own wreaths, which were laid as a symbol of our remembrance and respect. We give our thanks to Mr Clancy-Jones and Mrs Colquhoun for their organisation of this beautiful assembly.

Our College community also proudly participated in the march to Freedom Park, led by our talented Drum Line group. It was a wonderful morning of reflection and unity and we sincerely thank our families for their support, attendance and for taking the time to remember our ANZACs with us.

Weekly Scripture

Chappys’ Message

“Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.”

1 Corinthians 13:7-8

Never fails to what? Protect. Trust. Hope. Preserve. Love does what needs to be done. Love must refocus and choose to trust and hope. Love sometimes must hang on and keep from quitting.

C.S.  Lewis wrote:

To love at all is to be vulnerable.  Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken.  If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal.  Wrap it carefully with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.  But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change.  It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.  The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation.  The only place outside heaven where you will be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love is hell.

And because love will do what needs to be done, nothing beats it!

Live Loved,

Your Chappys
Matt and Carmen

Running with Heart: 10–18 Years Cross Country Carnival 2025

The spirit of determination and teamwork was on full display at this year’s 10–18 Years Cross Country Carnival. Students from across all year levels embraced the challenge of the course, showing not only outstanding athletic ability but also incredible sportsmanship, perseverance, and College spirit.

Throughout the day, we witnessed inspiring performances, with many students achieving personal bests and supporting one another across the finish line. Congratulations to our top six place-getters in each age group, who have now qualified to represent the College at the upcoming District Cross Country Carnival on Tuesday, 6th May. We look forward to seeing them continue to strive for excellence on behalf of our College.

A special congratulations goes to Chisholm House, who were crowned Champion House after a tremendous effort and high level of participation. Well done to all students who contributed points towards their house totals.

We also acknowledge our Age Champions, who displayed exceptional endurance, pace, and commitment to their races.

Thank you to all students, staff, and families for making the day such a positive and memorable event. It was a fantastic celebration of fitness, resilience, and community spirit.

10 years Girls — Fleur Hartog

10 years Boys — Cruz Kercher

11 years Girls — Imogen Derbyshire

11 years Boys — Jax Glassik

12 years Girls — Nevaeh Trease

12 years Boys — Slater Roberts

13 years Girls — Sophie France

14 years Girls — Izzy Christophers

14 years Boys — Aiden Gaffell

15 years Girls — Lilly Sloan

15 years Boys — Charley Anderson

16 years Girls — Violet Atkinson

16 years Boys — Ryan Etherington

17 years Girls — Ruby Burge

17 years Boys — Rory Sloan

18 years Boys — Cohen Willis

House Points:

Chisholm — 1123
Burrows — 1059
Stace — 786
Johnson — 642

Welcome to our new Private Music Tutor

Hello Everyone! My name is Leanne Rostedt and I am so excited to be joining you all at Bayside Christian College working alongside the wonderful Mr. Clancy Jones. I’ve lived in the Bay for almost 30 years (I’m almost a local!) and along with my amazing husband, raised our 5 sons here. I’ve taught in schools across Victoria, New South Wales and the past 25, here in Queensland. I love my music,

I adore working with children and have had the blessing of being a classroom and instrumental specialist for a huge chunk of my career. I play the organ/piano for my church every Sunday and get a kick out of presenting well-rehearsed choral pieces with our choirs. If you have any questions about your child learning an instrument to bring the joy of music into your home, please feel free to pop into the instrumental room on Mondays at the end of the school day and say hello. Or send me an email and I’ll do my best to help.

Yours in Music Education
Mrs. Leanne Rostedt

rostedtmusic@gmail.com

PS: I love to garden, I have a 10 month old mini dachshund called Jasper and no matter how hard I try I can’t cook decent scrambled eggs!

Message from Head of English/Languages

A big welcome back to everyone for the start of Term Two, I hope you all enjoyed a restful break and a blessed Easter!

Our Year 9s and 10s achieved some great success in Semester One, and charge into Term Two ready to build on their results.

For Years 7 and 8, students have settled in and laid some strong foundations for the rest of the year ahead, looking to continue to develop their skills and understandings as we approach their Semester One reports.

Let’s take a look at what is in store for this term of study in English.

Year 7 English

7 English are taking a close look at the art of persuasion. Students are learning the many techniques on how to write and speak persuasively, using many aesthetic features and stylistic devices to position their audience. Students will take a close look at some successful persuasive speeches from famous figures of the past, as well as some contemporary examples from advertising and film. They will then demonstrate their understanding in the form of their own persuasive speech. So, if you find yourself losing more arguments with any Year 7 students this term, sorry about that.

Year 8 English

8 English are following a similar persuasive focus, but building on what they learned last year by applying their growing understanding of persuasive language to news media. In what is one of the most important skills for young people growing up in a world dominated by the internet, and all the contradictory perspectives, conspiracy theories, misinformation, and disinformation that goes along with it, it has never been more important to teach our young people how to question what they see and hear in order to avoid being manipulated by media mistruths. This unit focuses on building these skills and being aware of how texts can manipulate audiences so that we are conscious and informed consumers of media.

Year 9 English

9 English are completing a novel study unit, focusing on John Boyne’s ‘Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’. A famous text that tackles one of the darkest and most important tragedies of human history, all through the eyes of an innocent child narrator. Students will explore the use of language and plot structure to portray this important story in a way that is unique and effective. They will then develop and defend their opinions in the form of an analytical essay.

Year 10 English

10 English are delving into the depths of Australian poetry. They will brush up on their knowledge of poetic techniques and strengthen their skills of analysis to develop deep understanding of a range of poems and poets. Students will then use this understanding as a springboard for their own creative writing, filling a gap or silence in the original text in the form of a short story. This unit combines a number of key English skills to challenge students to be both analytical and creative, and is a great preparation for Senior English, which is just around the corner.

Senior English

Year 11 English might be starting to feel the pinch as the excitement of Year 12 and their final year of schooling looms. 11 Essential begin their focus on ‘texts and human experiences’ delving into the concept of ‘identity’ and its many representations in texts of all forms. 11 General are delving into the world of poetry, with a focus on Australian perspectives and how they are depicted using aesthetic features and stylistic devices. Students will demonstrate their deep understanding of specific poems by creating their own piece of narrative writing that fills and gap or silence from the original text.

Year 12 English continue to charge through their final year of schooling, that mix of nervous anticipation and pure excitement as the end of a big life chapter draws closer. 12 Essential are deep in preparation for their common internal assessment, which focusses on the concept of ‘City Living vs Country Living’ and how these are represented in various media. They will then move on to representations of Australian stereotypes in film. 12 General are building on their understanding of poetry and the use of aesthetic features and stylistic devices to represent complex concepts. Students will then look to demonstrate their understanding of a specific piece of poetry by using it as a springboard for their own piece of creative writing, that challenges or builds on the original themes of the poem. 12 Literature are analysing and critiquing a range of texts in different forms and genres in order to answer the question: what makes a good story? Students will then demonstrate what they find by producing a short piece of creative writing in whichever written form they choose, be it poetry, narrative, or script form. Lots of creative freedom in this unit always makes for some great pieces of work.

Languages

A big shake-up in our Languages space for the start of this term as we say welcome (or Bienvinido!) to Mrs Sadler, Mrs Macsi, and Mrs Taylor, who are all taking on some of our Spanish classes across 7-10.

Students achieved some great success last term using the MegJourneys platform to learn some basic introductory Spanish! I hope they have all been greeting you with “Buenos días!” in the morning, and wishing you “Buenas noches!” at night. If not, try asking them “Cómo estás?” when they get home from school today!

This term, we are progressing from basic greetings and conversations into more in depth questions and responses to further develop our conversational Spanish, as well as building strong foundational knowledge by learning the Spanish alphabet and numbers. Coupled with some exciting cultural lessons and experiences, our students will be fluent in no time Better catch-up parents!

Conclusion

The year is absolutely flying by, cannot believe we are into Term Two already. In the English and Languages faculties we are eager to continue to strive and thrive in 2025 and look forward to building on a strong start to the year as we work to empower life-long learners.

Mr Owen Whittaker
Head of English and Languages   

Bayside Student Selected to Play Soccer in Barcelona

During school holidays in April 2025, Antonio Ilia attended the five day Barca Camp in Brisbane and at the end, was selected to attend  a 10 day Barca Academy Soccer Clinic in Barcelona, Spain from 29/11/2025 to 8/12/2025.

We are proud of him for his achievement. Well done Antonio!

Antonio Selected as Champion

Antonio has become Champion with Northern Stars Academy  soccer team at the Academy Cup held at the  Gold Coast in April.

The Hervey Bay boys in the Northern Stars Academy soccer team won nine games against other academy soccer teams from Brisbane and Gold Coast and won the Championship trophy. Antonio scored five goals for his team during the tournament.

Well done Antonio and his team!