Official notification was received on Friday 12th June that the School’s application for funding for an extension and renovations to the school hall and library had been successful. The announcement, as part of Round 2 of the Building the Education Revolution (P21) element of the Financial Stimulus package, was welcome, not only because of the level of funding, but also a relief after earlier delays. The extent of the project is limited to $850,000 and is to be spent refurbishing (re-roofing and extending) the existing hall, converting the Multi Purpose Room into a library centre with access to the grassed area to the north, and providing change rooms, staffroom and kitchen. Legal and practical restraints were resolved to allow a start on 13th July.

The grant comes on the back of Round 1 approval for BER Maintenance (School Pride) funding of $75,000, notified on 3rd April 2009. The first component of this program is now under construction, being the shade shelters over lunch seats. An interactive whiteboard is to arrive shortly for the Kindy room and an active playground is to be installed in November. Smaller upgrades to the offices are also to be included.

Yet to be finalised is the school’s Green Grant for solar panels and water tanks. Whilst approved some months ago, this grant must be fully validated before work can begin. This grant is for $50,000 and will be staged with the building work.

It is intended that all works will be completed by years end. As you can see, thanks are in order to our Federal government, the people of Australia, and our Heavenly Father for these resources at such an important time. Our school and the wider community will enjoy the benefit of improved facilities.

Stephen Spies
Principal
Berowra Christian Community School.

Tags: renovations, extensions, grant

The staff and students of BCCS were thrilled to hear of the official opening of the Lumusa bridge after various fundraising events managed to raise over $12,000 which more than covered rebuilding costs.

At the Opening Ceremony held in the last week of August, Ray Bartell, the education officer at Baptist Union of PNG was quoted in the PNG Post Courier as saying “God saw the cry in the hearts of these disadvantaged Lumusa people and touched the hearts of small children of Berowra Christian Community School in Sydney to do some fundraising to build the bridge.  These students in Sydney collected K27,000 ($12,000AUD) and sent it to BUPNG so the bridge could be built .’  Messages reached us that the people were witnessed “jumping up and down wailing with tears showing their delight at once again seeing vehicles come to their district “ allowing vital school materials and equipment to the school site and access for the people to get to the markets to buy essential items.  Heartfelt thanks to all who supported our school and our brothers and sisters in PNG.

Tags: bridge

Late last year Berowra Christian Community School had the privilege of meeting and spending time with Mr Pepa Bala, an elder in his village and school leader who had been forced into hiding after his village was involved in tribal fighting. A unique bond was formed when Mr Bala again visited in early 2008, before heading home to PNG to take up the regional leadership of a group of schools.

The region of Lumusa, where Mr Bala is from has been disconnected for 10-15 years due to the fact that the bridge connecting Lumusa to it’s regional centre has been damaged. This seriously affects the availability and access to basic amenities such as education, health, food, and law and order. Many people have died as a result of the inability to reach crucial medical care in time.

As a result of this, BCCS took it upon themselves to raise the $10,000AUD to fund the repair.

On Thursday 12 June, each one of our 115 students from Kindy to Year 6 walked the Benowie Track from Crowley Rd to Barnetts Rd in Berowra - approximately 5km in all. Walkathon sponsor books were issued and to date over $12,000 has been raised!! We are so grateful to our school community for the remarkable response to this very worthwhile work.

In conjunction with the Walkathon, we held a ‘Draw the finished Lumusa Bridge’ competition, where, for a gold coin donation, our students drew a picture of what they thought the bridge would look like after the repairs were made.

Our Principal Mr Stephen Spies will be visiting PNG in July and is hoping to see first hand the bridge and its progress.

Tags: bridge, fund raising