Northside Christian College commenced in 1985 as a one-classroom school of 13 students, situated beneath the church.
It is humbling and exciting to see what God has built at Northside Christian College in the last three decades.
Philip Stay, an Elder at Nexus, Board Chair, member of the Property Committee, a school grandparent and a past parent, speaks about where we have come from and where we are heading as a school.
What are your personal and professional ties to Northside?
Our association with Northside/Nexus goes back almost 40 years to 1979, when Deb and I married in what was those days Northside Christian Family.
Deb and I have been attending Nexus ever since and I have been on the Board and Property Committee over many years.
Our three grown-up children and now even our grandchildren are also part of Northside Christian College, so it’s been a long and rewarding association.
What is the Board’s Vision for the College in terms of development?
The Board’s vision for Northside Christian College in terms of development is for our school to have facilities that everyone is very proud of.
If one takes a look at the major projects of recent years such as CINC, College Hall, Senior Terrace, Kindy and Prep buildings, it is hopefully apparent that we are establishing quality facilities across the campus that provide an exceptional level of amenity and functionality to the students and teachers.
What are the Board’s short term and long term goals?
In the short term, we currently have an application with Council for the Junior Parkland project which will see the open drain through Junior School piped. If successful, the project will transform the creek area between A and B blocks into separate play spaces for Years 1-2 and Years 3-6 as well as learning areas. The project will also see a covered walkway linking both buildings.
Long term, we have such an exciting range of projects in the planning phase. A swimming pool, a gymnasium, an indoor sports complex, a second grassed oval, more car parking and improved traffic flows are all projects that we have in the pipeline.
What is the significance of fundraising for Northside and what difference does it make?
Whilst we have the ideas and we are advancing the planning and design, we have real limitations on when we can actually start construction. As with our household budgets, the amount of money we can borrow from the bank is capped and so each new project needs to wait in turn until we repay back sufficient loan funds from the previous project.
The gifting of funds from the wider college community is such a blessing as it allows us to advance the timing of new projects so that they can be constructed sooner.
What can we pray for as a school community?
From a development perspective, two things. Firstly, the Lord’s blessing on NCC families and businesses so that they can be generous in giving to the building program. Secondly, the speedy passage of each new project’s Development Application through Council.