Pacific Group of Christian Schools and growing into Pacific Online Christian School (POCS). We believe the ministry and work of POCS creates unique transformational relationships between our families and staff, through online education becoming a community of enrolled families. We believe the Apostle Paul was one of the greatest distance educators, growing and transforming many hearts in early Christian communities with his letters— Roman roads being the technology he used to deliver these words. In the humblest of ways, like the Apostle Paul, we seek to use technology to grow our Christian community and sow seeds of the Gospel into the hearts and lives of our students and their families, where students are known, cared for, and loved. We help each student and their family feel a part of this online community, as well as part of the whole Pacific Group Christian community. Distance Education has historically tended to be transactional in nature, lacking heart-level connection. However, since COVID, more people have become comfortable with the online world, and we believe God has used this opportunity to help more families who are searching for learning options find POCS to join this relational, transformational community. We often receive comments from parents on enrolment that they wished they had known about POCS sooner. One of the important features of the schools in the Pacific Group of Christian Schools is our commitment to praying for our students, as well as our daily devotions. At POCS, we meet at 8am every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and use Tuesdays for Christian professional reading and dialogue, with Thursdays set aside for a slightly longer time for sharing stories. These Thursdays are precious to all our staff because of the special focus on prayer and praise: prayer for the students and their families and praise to God for the many answers to prayer He gives. Experience days are also highly valued. Held at Pacific Hills Christian School in Dural, the staff and students of POCS enjoy getting together, catching up face-to-face, and getting to know teachers and students from Pacific Hills through activities during the day. These days are filled with fun and learning, valuable connections, and community growth, experiences for which parents are very grateful, confirming their choice to enrol their child in POCS. By God’s grace, POCS is growing quickly. In 2024 in week 4 in Term 3, we had 190 students. Hubs for POCS have expanded and are now located at Pacific Coast, Pacific Valley, Pacific Hills, and the recently established and furnished Medowie Hub. Staff numbers have grown from three in 2023 to approximately 20, with more focus on the way to effectively cater to the growing number of students. We have recently opened additional classes in Year 8 and Year 9, with a considerable number of students seeking enrolment in these years. We have plans to open new classes soon in Year 7 and Year 10, with a special introduction of a brand-new class community open to Year 5 and Year 6 students in 2025. POCS is blessed to be part of the Pacific Group of Christian Schools community, with God’s fingerprints all over our story of growth. Just as He has led us this far, we believe we will continue to experience God’s guidance, grace, and providence as more and more people enrol and are blessed by being a part of His special online Christian community. ROWAN GARNER Director, POCS 40
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