New Vine Lakes partners with Scripture in Schools at Warners Bay and Belmont High Schools, programs sharing the message of Jesus and encouraging students to grow in faith. We contribute through prayer, and financial support. Learn more about their work on their official website, see links at the top of the page.
Special Religious Education (SRE) plays an important role in the education of children in public schools. Students find this a caring and supportive place to have their questions answered, with additional support and care provided to students. At our two local High Schools, Warners Bay and Belmont, SRE continues to be taught to students who opt-in to lessons. Sara Cooper is employed 2 days per week to teach the students at Warners Bay High, where student numbers are expected to remain consistent at 20-25 for 2026, based on those who have opted in. Samantha Brown is employed 1 day per fortnight to teach at Belmont High and is teaching both Year 7 and 8.
Both schools continue to look for more local churches to come on board with finance and support. There also continues to be resistance to SRE in High Schools. There is a great need to get behind this ministry with prayer, and to recruit additional churches to support the work.
Over this past year Sara has been trying to balance SRE with studying a Grad Diploma in Psychology online and raising her little girl. It's been tough at times, but God is good and has been with her every step of the way. She is grateful for his unfailing faithfulness
The past year has been quite challenging and tiring for Sam. She has been navigating some complex family circumstances, including ongoing challenges within the care system, which have involved many meetings and difficult decisions. It has been a very hard season.
Warners Bay High School
Timetabling is an issue for SRE classes at Warners Bay High. Towards the middle of last year, Sara was missing lessons semi-regularly due to clashes with assessments and school events. After much prayer and a multitude of meetings with the Principal, the implementation of new procedures and processes led to things getting much better. This year those same procedures have been carried over, and praise God she hasn't missed a single lesson so far this year!
Belmont High School
SRE delivery has presented some ongoing operational challenges at Belmont High School. Access to school systems such as Sentral is limited, and I am required to use multiple laptop setups when moving between sites. Student attendance can also be inconsistent, with students sometimes remaining in class for assessments during SRE times. A key focus has been working with school leadership to ensure alignment with Department of Education (DoE) guidelines for SRE delivery. As part of this, discussions have been initiated with school leadership, with support from Christian SRE and the Baptist Association, to strengthen communication and clarify expectations moving forward.
In the next 12 months at Warners Bay High, SRE will continue as “business as usual,” with ongoing weekly classes and relationship-building with students. Alongside this, there is openness to whatever new opportunities God may open within the school community, as has been the case in previous years.
One example of this is the introduction of the School Breakfast Club, which emerged unexpectedly last year and has become an additional space for connection with students. The focus moving forward remains on being available, consistent, and responsive to opportunities to serve students both in SRE and in broader school life.
At Belmont High, the focus over the next 12 months is on seeking a more sustainable structure for SRE delivery. This includes praying and working towards the possibility of condensing classes into three periods, which would allow greater consistency in scheduling.
If this can be achieved, it would also create the opportunity to approach the school about expanding into additional teaching time with Year 9 and 10 students in the remaining periods. The aim is to strengthen both the SRE program and broader engagement with students across the school.
Reflecting on Arise and Shine, Sara returns to the theme of humble availability—seeking each day to be God’s ambassador within the school community and asking Him to make her His hands and feet.
In considering the call to shine, she reflects on the relationship between the sun and the moon. The sun is vastly larger and more powerful, while the moon is small in comparison—yet it is able to light up the night sky simply by reflecting the sun’s light. In this, she sees a beautiful picture of the Christian life.
In the same way, SRE teachers shine light into the world not by their own strength, but by reflecting God’s light—often imperfectly, yet meaningfully. It is an incredible privilege to carry that light into schools each day.
Planning lessons and engaging activities is a key part of the role, with little repetition from year to year due to the changing cohort of students. Each group presents different needs and levels of understanding.
In most classes, students have limited knowledge of God, Jesus, or the Bible, with very few identifying as Christian. As a result, each lesson carries significance and requires intentional effort to connect students with the message of God’s love in relevant and accessible ways.
The work can be mentally and emotionally demanding but Sam approaches each day in prayer that God would arise in her, so that students see Him first, and her second.
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