Here we are at the end of our first week of welcoming students back to Covenant for 2022.  

Starting school - A big welcome particularly to our Kindergarten students who had their photograph taken with their family at drop-off.  

Finishing School - 2021 Year 12 HSC - In this edition of our weekly newsletter, may I draw your attention to Tim Hewitt’s article on Covenant’s fabulous HSC results as our students completed Year 12.   

Please look out for information and links to our Parent Information Evenings for Junior and Secondary schools. Details will be emailed next week. 

From the Prayer Group

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Phil 1:2 (ESV)

For Prayer and Praise

Praise God from whom comes the blessing of grace and peace. Praise Him for His free and undeserved love to us in Christ.

Prayer suggestions:

·      Give thanks for the opportunity to return to school to learn in person.

·      Pray for wisdom for our staff as they plan in these challenging times. Pray for them to be patient and trust God, especially when things do not go to plan. 

·      Pray for teachers to honour God. Pray that He will enable them to bless families through effective Christian teaching of their children.

·      Pray for students who are isolating at home to have the tools to continue learning well.

·      Pray for those who have had operations, been unwell, suffered from long-term illness, or caught Covid. Pray that they will be healed and will rest in the certainty of God’s love for them.

·      Give thanks for the promises that are ours in Christ. Pray for our community to be filled with faith and hope in 2022.

Pray for events this week:

Thursday 10 February: Primary Swimming Carnival

Prayer Group meets on Thursdays at 9am online. Come and pray with us for our school community. Email us at prayergroup@covenant.nsw.edu.au if you would like to come, receive the prayer notes or would like prayer.

It is my great pleasure to congratulate the 2021 HSC class for their fantastic HSC results. This year, students have done exceptionally well which is quite something considering the past two years. These results include some outstanding personal achievements and some fantastic subject results. As I have commented in previous years, it’s important to note that success doesn't necessarily mean achieving a Band 6. For those a little less familiar with the terminology, it simply means they achieved a score above 90 in the subject. Whilst we want to congratulate these students on a job well done, we equally need to celebrate where students have worked well and achieved marks in keeping with the abilities that God has given them.

The 2021 results were of a high standard and saw an excellent HSC rank when compared to other schools in the state. Whilst many schools have struggled to maintain their standards, Covie should be very proud of the way in which we have maintained our ranking of 135th out of over 900 Secondary Schools in New South Wales.

This year we had 14 students (22.58% of students, up from 15.56% in 2020) achieve an ATAR above 90. Further to this 43.55% of students receiving an ATAR above 80, up from 41.11% in 2020.

A particular congratulations to Hans Sangtoki for the amazing ATAR of 99.65.  

The 2021 cohort received 43 entries in the HSC distinguished achievers. This is where a student has achieved a Band 6 or equivalent in an individual subject. This is an increase in the percentage of Distinguished Achievers in the graduating cohort from 33.33% in 2020 to 38.71% in 2021.

I would particularly like to mention the students and teachers of the Industrial Technology class. In a year when students were required to complete a significant portion of the HSC major work at home, this class received some incredible marks. 50% of students in the class received a Band 6, and the whole class scored an amazing 14% above the state average.

Again, congratulations to the 2021 HSC cohort. Thank you, teachers, parents and the wider community, for assisting these students to achieve these results during such a difficult year. Please continue to pray that these results may be seen as a reflection of a desire to glorify Him with their talent, that they might watch their theology closely as they venture into the world beyond Covie. Above all, please pray that these students seek to know, serve and glorify our Lord. 

Tim Hewitt
Secondary Deputy Principal

Please refer to the link below for: 

• period allocations
• assemblies
• Term dates for 2022 and 2023
• Covenant address details
• Uniform Shop

School dates and times 2022 and 2023

A message from Northern Beaches Council

Following consultation, Council's Aboriginal Heritage and Flora and Fauna consultants commenced investigation works and discovered significant heritage items located within the Forest Way road boundary (between 224 Forest Way and Garigal Rd).

To help ensure we protect these sensitive items, and to continue to improve connectivity, we have decided to move a section of the shared path to the eastern side of Forest Way, between Garigal Road and Crozier Road (where there is existing signalised pedestrian crossing facilities at the traffic lights).

Although this was not Council's preferred alignment, we value the protection of our local heritage and see this as an opportunity to enhance the future active travel network through Belrose and Terrey Hills.

Relocating this section of the path will still improve connectivity to the overall area, and provide a formalised connection for future active travel links, particularly when further funding becomes available to improve safety across the Mona Vale Road intersection.

The shared path between Mona Vale Road and Garigal Road will stay on the western side, with further pedestrian crossing improvements to be made at the existing traffic lights which will help path users safely cross the Mona Vale Road intersection.

A revised concept plan here: Shared Path Concept Forest Way Belrose

Transport Network
Northern Beaches Council 

Please note, the departure time for the school bus route 127 from Chatswood Station in the mornings has been changed to 7.42am instead of 7.50am.

Forest Coach Lines are currently experiencing bus driver shortages. Connecting buses, in particular, may be running late. 

The Student Residential Address and Other Information Collection (Address Collection) is undertaken each year by non-government Approved Authorities and their schools.

The Address Collection collects the following data from eligible schools, for each location at the school:

• Student residential address (excluding student names)
• Whether the student is a primary or secondary student (education level)
• Whether the student is boarding or a day student (boarding status)
• Names and residential addresses of students’ parent(s) and/or guardian(s)

Residential address information is used and combined with other data to calculate a non-government school community’s capacity to contribute to the costs of schooling. This may influence the level of Australian Government recurrent funding for non-government schools. The information is also used to inform Australian Government school education policy.

Please read the 2022 Collection notice for parents (attached). It is important that you update yours and your child(ren)’s residential address this month. 

This can be done via the parent portal or email admin@covenant.nsw.edu.au and the Front Office will make the changes for you. 

Department of Education full information here: 2022 Collection Notice For Parents

Kind regards

Karen Auckett
Executive Assistant to the Principal

All Year 7 to 12 parents are invited to join us online for the Secondary School Information Evening 6:30pm - 8pm on Tuesday 15 February. 

More information to follow. 

All Kindergarten to Year 6 parents are invited to join us online for the Junior School Information Evening. 

Kindergarten to Year 2 - 6.30-7.15pm

Years 3 to 4 - 7.15-7.45pm

Years 5 to 6 - 7.45-8.15pm

More information to follow. 

We are looking forward to an exciting year of dance with two new teachers joining the academy. Term 1 dates are Monday 7 February through to Friday 8 April 2022.  Please notify us if you wish to join the Dance Academy, include more classes or change classes, as soon as possible.  Term fees will be charged to fee statements in Week 4 of Term 1.

Please note Tiny Tots Dance commences Wednesday 9 February. Kindergarten students are encouraged to attend classes during their initial weeks at school.

• The 2022 timetable will be finalised by the end of Week 4.  The only changes we anticipate would be due to numbers.  We will inform parents as soon as possible if this occurs.

• Reminder to please look at the uniform requirements for the Dance Academy.  The full list can be found on the website and the uniform is compulsory, most importantly, footwear.  There are numerous places to purchase the uniform, this does not have to be from a dance supplier, which can be more expensive, but purchasing shoes from these stores may be necessary. Please contact us if there is a problem with purchasing uniforms.

• Students from Year 5 onwards who are waiting for after-school classes are expected to go to the Learning Hub for supervision. They are to sign in and have afternoon tea in the outside colosseum before either doing homework, playing cards or board games. Students may then go to the PAS change rooms to get ready for class.

• Due to Covid restrictions, parents are asked to please pick up their child from the Dell St car park. Students will be supervised by a dance teacher. If you are delayed, students will return with the teacher for the next class or wait in the PAS. We ask that parents are punctual.

Please note if you are a parent of prep aged students, you are most welcome to drop your child off at the studio and then return on site for pick up.

• Please remember to apply for your Active Kids Vouchers through Service NSW.  The vouchers will allow you to reduce your dance fees by $100 twice per year.  Voucher 1 will be available January – June and Voucher 2 will be available July – December.  Vouchers will be processed, and the amount will be credited to your school fees account once we receive confirmation from Service NSW.  This may take a few weeks.  (Unfortunately, we are not able to use the creative kids vouchers within the school environment).

Term 2 dates are Wednesday 27 April through to Friday 25 June.  Dance starts on the Wednesday of the first week of Term 2.

Parents can contact danceacademy@covenant.nsw.edu.au for absences or Kellie Conolly kconolly@covenant.nsw.edu.au for any concerns or emergencies.

In the coming days, students in Years 9 to 12 will be asked to install software from Microsoft called 'Company Portal'. This is to enroll their device with Microsoft Intune, used by the school for device and application management. 

Enrolling student devices in this way improves security and safety for the student devices connected to the school’s Wi-Fi network and helps TechServe manage access to school apps, data, and resources. The software should not impact any aspect of the student’s personal use of their device and allows the school to fully manage the device. If you wish to remove the Company Portal from the device, you may do so at any time, however, this will prevent the device from accessing school services.

Students are reminded of their responsibilities as specified in the Secondary Student Technology Guide, including the responsibility to back up data on their device.

Should you have any questions, please contact Techserve at techserve@covenant.nsw.edu.au

Every student at Covenant Christian School is known and deeply loved by the Lord. We see this love demonstrated most clearly in the person and saving work of Jesus Christ. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he replied:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself.” (Matt 22:37-38).

In response to God’s love for us, we are called to love one another, and this is what we want for each and every student at Covenant. Each year, our students in Years 3 to 12 sign our Student Code of Conduct which provides a framework on how to treat others in a Christ-like way.

It gives our students a chance to think deeply about how they can make others feel safe and how they can treat people with respect, kindness and understanding. We hope it can help them enjoy the rich learning opportunities and extra-curricular activities offered to them.

Our Junior School Code of Conduct can be found here and our Secondary School Code of Conduct can be found here.

Working through this with your child is a great conversation that can be had at home around the dinner table. We hope that this can assist you in growing young men and women with a heart postured toward loving God and loving others.

Dan Apin
Director of Student Wellbeing

Our students are very busy during the school day. They are learning lots of new content and developing their thinking and reasoning skills in the classroom.

Too much work with no active or creative outlet can be quite draining for students and can have an adverse effect on their wellbeing.

Co-curricular activities help students develop their problem-solving skills, aid in collaborative strategies, nurture creativity and critical thinking, develop resilience and bring a healthy balance to their lives.

We encourage all of our students to discover and nurture their talents and interests in a range of co-curricular activities we have on offer at Covenant.

Covenant’s Sport Academy

Yesterday, parents from Kindergarten to Year 8 would have received an email with information about Covenant’s Sport Academy.

We are so excited to be launching this new after-school skill development program for our students and look forward to sharing the journey with you.

All sessions will be run at school under the direction of our highly experienced Head Coach, Rhys Cole. 

Enrolments close at 5pm on Friday 11th February and sessions will commence in Week 3. 

Small Group Tutoring for Senior Students

There are times during a child’s schooling that they need additional help with their studies. This is often most prevalent in the senior years. 

We are in the process of sourcing specialist tutors in Maths and English for our senior students. 

They will be available to tutor students in small groups after school hours in the Learning Hub. 

More information will be made available in the coming weeks. 

Homework Help

For those who have been wondering, Homework Help for students in Years 5-12 is set to commence in Week 6 of Term 1.

Students will be able to come to the Learning Hub after school to receive assistance with homework, assignments and research. 

This is a free service for our students which we believe will benefit their learning.

Parents will receive further communication closer to the start date.

We are delighted to announce the launch of our Sports Academy in Week 3. For more information please see the links below: 

• Sports Academy Brochure Term 1 2022

• Sports Academy Term 1 2022

Our beautiful and keen Kindergarten students were our first students back on site.  They met their class teachers for some one-on-one time to get to know each other and carry out their Best Start Assessments. The information gathered by Richelle Watkins and Emily Britz will help them to build effective programs based on the needs of each student. For both our teachers and students, the greatest benefit of this time however, is the personal connections that are made before the hustle and bustle of busy classrooms and full days. It was wonderful to see teacher and student sitting together and getting to know each other.

Kindergarten parents will receive feedback from the assessment about how, together, we can best support your child during their first year of school. 

Amanda Drain
Literacy and Numeracy Research and Integration

Covenant Christian School partners with parents in the education of their children by providing opportunities and programs (both curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular) to suit a range of student abilities and interests.

We are now seeking Academic Tutors to assist students in Senior Maths and English after school, as follows:

• Three afternoons per week in the Learning Hub

• 3pm to 5pm

• Helping students in Years 11-12

• Training provided

Full details of this position can be found on the school website: https://www.covenant.nsw.edu.au/employment/positions-vacant.

Applications close COB Monday 14 February 2022 (with interviews possibly commencing prior to this date).

• Monday 31 January:
  1J Introductory Letter
• 2S Introductory Letter

Tuesday 1 February:

• Years 10 - 12 Senior Blazers
• Risk of exposure to Covid-19

Wednesday 2 February:

• KW & KB Introduction
• 1N Introduction Letter
• 3A and 3R Introduction Letter
• Year 4 Introduction Letter

Thursday 3 February:

• Year 10 English and PDHPE activity
• Year 3-6 Primary Swimming Carnival
• Year 9-11 Elective Offsite Sport Permission Note - Term 1, 2022

Friday 4 February: 

• Scholastic Book Club Term 1, Issue 1 2022
• Years 3-6 Primary Sport Overview 2022
• Years 5-6 Term 1 Options for School Sport

Before and after-school beginner to advanced lessons commenced Tuesday 1 February.

Not too late to register your child into lessons and/or local competition pathway.

Contact:  Lisa Catto
0407 051 138

email: GameOn@tennis2day.com.au