Announcements

Bob Mendelsohn, the director of the Jews for Jesus organisation's Sydney branch, will be speaking at our Senior School Assembly (Year 10-12) on Tuesday March 24 at 10.30am. Parents are welcome to attend.

Jews for Jesus is an organisation that proclaims that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel and Savior of the world.  "What could be more Jewish than following the Jewish Messiah?"  says Mendelsohn, who considers himself 100 percent Jewish and 100 percent Christian.

Bob grew up in Kansas City in the center of the United States. He was the third of three children in an Orthodox Jewish home.  He kept kosher, was Bar Mitzvah and graduated from Hebrew school. After high school he enrolled in university, but soon dropped out to search for life's meaning via the '60s counterculture.  "I didn't find what I was looking for—meaning and reality—in the counterculture.  I found it in Y'shua," Mendelsohn says.

Bob returned to university and graduated from Kansas University in 1977 with a B.S. in Education.  Prior to his decision to become an evangelist, Mendelsohn taught high school maths and was the pastor of The Mustard Seed, a church of over 700 people which grew out of a prayer group Mendelsohn had established.

Since working with Jews for Jesus, Bob has worked in New York City, Washington DC, Chicago and San Francisco. He helped to pioneer the organization's New York branch, where he was the pastor of Kehilat Y'shua, a congregation of Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus.  He coordinated the organization's Summer Witnessing Campaigns there.  In Chicago, he was the leader of the Jewish gospel music team.   Along with his wife and their three children he then founded our work in the Washington area in 1989. He led the flagship station in New York City overseeing training, local operations, and the Northeast US until he moved to Australia in 1998 to found the work among the 100,000 Jews of Australia. The office in Sydney is in Bondi Junction in the Eastern suburbs.

Bob is one of the senior staff of Jews for Jesus, holding the rank of deputy commissioner.  He writes for Jews for Jesus publications, as well as authors some of their gospel tracts and the regular Bible study materials used by the worldwide staff.  His testimony of faith (Whoever Heard of a Jewish Missionary?) was published in 1999. It includes his grandmother's story of becoming a believer in Jesus.

He is also a sought-after speaker and organiser for other groups concerned with evangelism. He has served on the Board of Directors of the North American Renewal Service Committee and has been published in their magazine A.D. 2000: Together. He serves on the Board of Advisors for Women’s Aglow and has written for Aglow and for  Charisma magazines.

He has been interviewed on media outlets throughout the States and here in Australia including Gordon Moyes’ Sunday Night Live and also on the ABC. He is a regular writer for Alive magazine.

Mendelsohn has a Master’s Degree in Missiology with concentration in Jewish Evangelism/Judaic studies from the Fuller School of World Mission in Pasadena, California.  His wife, Patty, also holds the same degree.

The Jews for Jesus organisation was founded by Moishe Rosen, a Jew who has believed in Jesus for over 40 years. The organisation has permanent branches in seven North American cities (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, New York City, Washington D.C. and South Florida) as well as over seventy chapters spanning some thirty states. The group's international branches are headquartered in Johannesburg, London, Paris, Odessa, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, Essen and Tel Aviv besides Sydney.

Dr. Rosen is quick to point out that he did not "start" Jews for Jesus. "Jews for Jesus began about 2,000 years ago, around 32 C.E., give or take a year. Jesus' first disciples were Jewish, and there have been some Jewish people who have believed in him ever since."  

To Bob and other Jews for Jesus, believing in Jesus makes sense in light of the Jewish Bible and in light of their experiences as "believers."  For those who argue that Christianity contradicts the meaning of Judaism, Bob says there are answers, which he is happy to discuss with any inquirers.  

This week we are running World Maths Day. This is a worldwide event run through Mathletics. It begins when Wednesday March 4 starts at the International Date Line to our East, and continues until it is no longer March 4 anywhere in the world (so for us it starts 10pm Tuesday night March 3 – and goes until 10pm Thursday night March 5).

World Maths Day is about having fun developing your Mathematical skills. You might have a chance to play in class, or you can go to www.worldmathsday.com to log in with your Mathletics login (students in JS can also go to the website and generate a login and start playing)!

So play as often as you like – but only until Thursday night!

Mathematics Department.

Covenant Christian School students received excellent results in the 2008 School Certificate. There were many outstanding individual performances as well as a number of excellent results in a variety of subject areas.

The following students received a mark of 90 or higher in the subjects listed, placing them in Band 6, the top performance band in the State for the SC.
Joseph Bell – Mathematics, Science
Matthew Betts – Geography
James Blumer  – English
Joshua Chee – Mathematics, Science, Geography
Andrew Chen – Mathematics
Luke Curnow – Mathematics
Elisa Dykman – English, Science, History
Mitchell Everingham – English
Grace Fitz-Gerald – English, Science, History
Daniel Malik – Mathematics
Blair Mottau – Mathematics
Daniel Robinson – Mathematics, Science, Geography
Bethany Sullivan – English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography
Max Tapper – Geography
Daichi Watanabe – Mathematics
Mitchell Zalai – Mathematics

The Computing Skills results were also excellent. The vast majority of students at CCS received the top ranking of Highly Competent in the Computing Skills Test (84.61 % when compared to the state average of 57.27%). The remaining 15.39% of CCS students received the second top ranking of “Competent.”

General Comments
In a vast majority of subjects taken at Covenant, students performed at a level well above the State average. Covenant students were significantly under-represented in Bands 3, 2 and 1, the lower Performance Bands.

Covenant students were significantly over–represented in Bands 6 and 5 collectively, the top two performance bands in all subjects taken at Covenant. Subjects include, English, Mathematics, Science, Australian History, Australian Geography and Computing Skills.

Miss Sharon Sopher, SC Coordinator

For many private schools in Sydney the current economic climate is providing some anxiety over enrolments. Covenant Christian School at Belrose, however, is making room for a significant increase in student enrolments. On the first day of school in February there are going to be many new faces. They had hoped to grow overall by 20 extra students. Instead it looks likely they could be welcoming an extra 50 students. This would take the school up to 800 from Preschool to Year 12. Covenant’s recent HSC results once again placed it in the Top 200 schools in NSW and 5th on the Northern Beaches. Neil Pierson, who helps with the school’s marketing, says “When parents start doing the sums they are realising Covenant offers very good value. While the consistently strong academics are always encouraging it is the Christian community and atmosphere which most families talk about."

Part of the school’s recent growth can be attributed to their Free School Tour on DVD, new web and blogsites and group tours. Since September, 1,700 copies of the DVD have been distributed. Even over the holiday periods, the requests for the DVD have been continuing. Neil imagines parents are still considering their options even for this year. Last year 165 families took part in school tours. The new web and blogsites were averaging 1,800 visitors a week.
 

With all of the new marketing initiatives Neil still believes it comes down to old fashioned word of mouth. “If parents and students have a positive experience they are more likely to encourage others to consider the school. This is obviously happening at Covenant.” Having worked at the school for six months Neil had heard lots of stories from both students and parents. In an unexpected twist he was so impressed he decided to transfer his own three children there for 2009.

While most staff have been on holidays Neil has been making plans for 2009. “In some ways it feels like a construction site at school right now with so many tradesmen working away on a variety of projects to continually improve the school. It is exciting to see a 30 year old school growing, changing and trying new things while remaining true to the founder’s vision.” One of the most obvious projects is an outdoor amphitheatre. Two new demountables have also been installed to help ease the pressure before six new classrooms can be built.

Covenant was once again listed in the Top 200 schools in all of NSW. Covenant with its 750 students is a quiet yet consistent achiever. Principal Bill Rusin states “to be placed 110th in the whole of NSW and 5th on the Northern Beaches is a wonderful reflection on the hard work by students and teachers.”


As a non-selective school offering no academic scholarships Covenant is naturally thrilled with the results. Our 53 HSC students sat a total of 305 exams with 39 achieving the highest Band 6.

There were also some notable individual achievements
Jennifer Syme     2nd in state in General Mathematics (against 30,334 students)
Ernie Au-Yeung    3rd in state Software Design and Development (against 1,883 students)

Chris O’Sullivan Deputy Principal congratulated Jennifer and Ernie. She said of Jennifer “she is an independent and diligent young woman. She is commended for excellent work in German, General Maths and Economics. Her strong Christian faith is worked out in genuine concern for justice and for others.”

“Ernie is a diligent student commended for excellent effort in English and Mathematics Extension  1 and Mathematics. He has played in the Soccer and Rugby League teams, the string ensemble and has been an active member of Student Council. Ernest has a servant heart and has achieved Gold in The Duke of Edinburgh Scheme.”

Below is a summary of the results for the Northern Beaches from the Daily Telegraph's Top 200 Schools. This year there were 67,931 HSC students, the largest group ever to complete Year 12 in NSW. There are around 900 private schools in NSW.

Rank in NSW	Rank in NB	School's name	Exams sat	Band 6	%
15	1	Manly Selective  - NB Secondary College	685	258	37.66
63	2	St Luke's Grammar School	427	82	19.2
74	3	Pittwater House Girls College	99	17	17.17
80	4	Killarney Heights High School	606	101	16.67
110	5	Covenant Christian School	305	39	12.79
119	6	Oxford Falls Grammar School	174	21	12.07
159	7	Mackellar Girls - NB Secondary College	542	52	9.59
162	8	Stella Maris College	1013	97	9.58
194	9	Barrenjoey High School	471	40	8.49
198	10	Northern Beaches Christian School	461	38	8.24

Several guys in Year 10 home class have sponsored Mr Muddle on his quest for Movember this year.  Movember is a wonderful celebration of the great moustaches that were very prominent in 1980’s cops shows, but make fewer appearances these days.

Here is Mr Muddle's latest report... "We are starting to see some pretty well-established Mo’s and we just about at the half-way point of the month of Movember. If you haven’t noticed these somewhat suspicious-looking fellows, please take a closer look at Mr Green, Mr Hill, Mr Cipollone, Mr Groves, Ben Zalai in Yr 12, and myself (any of whom would not be out of place in an NYPD uniform).

I am hoping Max will arrive on Monday minus the goa-tee and be a truly official contender. Notable mentions to fallen comrades Neil Pierson and Al James, who began the quest but gave up due to itchiness, possible ridicule or perhaps to keep one’s spouse happy!  There will be a shaving ceremony on Monday December 1 at school. A time when our wives will be happy to see the end of the facial hair festival that is Movember. If you would like to donate some money to this wonderful cause (raising money and awareness for Men’s Health issues, in particular Depression and Prostate Cancer), you can see one of us or go to the Movember website. http://www.movember.com

Students and staff will have an opportunity late in the November to vote on the "Mo of the Year". If you have any other suggestions as to who any of us might look like, then drop me a line.

Thanks, and please try to take us seriously.

Pete Muddle

This year the speeches for the positions of School Captains and Vice Captains were videoed. This allowed students and staff to better review the speeches. It was wonderful to hear their passion to serve others. Well done to all the students who took part.

The Captains and Vice Captains for 2009 are:

Captains
Lauren Bothma 
Todd Daniels

Vice Captains
Hayley Gillespie
David Huang

At Secondary assembly today 4 Year 11 students spoke about the 40 Hour Famine, which is on this weekend. The students watched a 2 minute video about the "terrible" condition of young people in Australia being forced to attend compulsory school. The message was very clever. You can watch it here.

Finances raised will be going towards India. The focus this year is on child labour, trafficking and slavery which involve 45 million children every day in India; worldwide it is over 200 million. Every day children are denied rights that many children in Australia have and sometimes take for granted: food, clothing, education, being able to play, healthcare. 

Vanessa Simmonds reminded students that the famine is on this weekend but that students can do it at other times and that they can go without food, furniture, ipod, mobile and so on; she shared that she is going without talking as that is something really important to her! Eloise Boutry let students know that they can still receive a book and to keep collecting sponsors, even after they have completed the famine. Jess Irwin shared that we raised a whopping $11,000 last year.

Our target this year is $15,000 with Mr Wright promising he would dress up as “Where’s Wally” if this is reached. Finally Caitlin Clarke announced that in addition to students getting sponsors we would also be having two fund raising activities and that they needed to ‘stay tuned’ for details which were exclusive at present.

It is so encouraging to see children at Covenant not only concerned about but being willing to do something about the lives of children in India.