Toongabbie Christian College

HELEN BLANCH Assistant Principal 2001-2011

As TCC celebrates its 40 Year Anniversary, I count it a privilege to have been part of the fabric of its rich story over this time. My calling from 2001 to 2011 was to fulfil the role of Assistant Principal (Secondary). As TCC reflects on its journey, we discover an amazing heritage, an education about a transforming vision of life embedded in the Gospel and lived out in the school community. Over the years, God watered the seed sown by the founders and caused the school to grow. Over this time, it was a great blessing and joy to work with both teachers and non-teachers who were devoted to the Lord and sacrificially gave themselves to this ministry through the challenges and struggles. The depth of love and service to one another, the students and their families were a testimony to the goodness of the Lord. The goal of our educational program, both in the teaching and learning and co-curricular activities, was to raise students to be responsive disciples of Jesus who would fulfil God’s purpose for their lives. Through every aspect of school life, we sought to build a culture where young people would learn to be discerning and compassionate thinkers who would use their gifts to bless God’s world. A significant event in 2007 was that TCS took our first overseas mission team to Samoa to learn from God’s people who belong to a different culture. A staff team comprised of Peter Steele, Peter Lawrence, Leola Sloan, Katherine Kerr, Maher Khalil and myself took a student team to give assistance to teachers and students in some town and village Christian and Government schools. This was an exciting development which gave Years 9 to 11 students opportunities to serve on teams whose service reflects the sacrifice and generosity of Jesus to others. This led to further teams going to Uganda to work with the COME mission schools in poor areas of Kampala. Students across K-12, assisted in different ways through fundraising and prayer to be part of the service. We held a Ugandan day attended by the Ugandan High Commissioner. What a wonderful day of unity as students brought their offerings and participated in activities that raised $22,000 to go towards building the Secondary COME Christian School. Other special moments for me were getting a surprise Secondary School assembly to sing Happy Birthday to me when I turned 50; being MC at Peter and Lyn Steele’s wedding (a marriage made in Toongabbie heaven!); celebrating students’ growth and achievements; and the celebration of the School’s 30th Anniversary. Through the joys, the challenges and the difficulties, it is with deep gratitude to the Lord for all that He has been doing to accomplish His purposes in the lives of young people through these 40 years.

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