Term 1 Week 3

From the Head of Campus

It seems like the year has started off as a bit of a whirlwind, the first three weeks have disappeared. Across the campus, students appear settled and determined. I have mentioned before our Preps have taken every opportunity without a stutter.  At the other end, our Year 9 students have moved gracefully into Campus leadership. I spoke with them all on Thursday, chatting around leading their peers by example. They are a terrific bunch of young men and women. 

Junior staff and students have launched into our pedagogical approach to literacy and are looking forward to sharing this at our upcoming information session on Tuesday, March 20, while Middle School staff are already well into their curriculum.  

Year 7 camp has returned successfully while Year 6 students are looking forward to their upcoming camp to Airey’s Inlet. 

Over the next few weeks, major whole campus events are scheduled including our campus Cross Country and Color Run, Athletics, Swimming, Open Day, Student Leader Induction and Learning Conferences.  I look forward to seeing as many parents and guardians as possible at these events.  Details to follow on all of these activities. 

There is a lot packed into the next few weeks, a lot to look forward to as well.   

Chaplain’s Check-in

It was wonderful to be able to present new Bibles to many students from Year 2, 5 and the Year 7s on Camp up at Cave Hill Creek. 

What an opportunity to allow students to investigate the amazing story of The Bible and the message it holds of great strength for today and hope for tomorrow. These Bibles will be used in the Christian Education programs throughout the year and beyond. 

My Favorite verses are from John 3:16 and 17. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him will never die but have eternal life. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn but to save”. 

This gives me so much hope and I encourage you to consider the place Jesus Christ may have in your life.  

Please come and have a chat about it. 

Take Care. 

     What is Happening at Bellarine

• Week 4

  • Tuesday 20 February              Literacy and Device Parent Information                                                                                                                                      Evening, Prep – 4
  • Thursday 22 February            Year 7 Humanities excursion to Melbourne                                                                                                                            Museum
  • Friday 23 February                 Junior School Assembly
  • Friday 23 February                 House Cross Country and Colour Run
  • Sunday 25 February              College Production Rehearsal 2:15 – 5:00pm

  Week 5

  • Wednesday 28 February        Year 5 History of Geelong excursion
  • Thursday 29 February            House Swimming Carnival
  • Friday 1 March                              Student Leaders’ Induction and Service of                                                                                                                                 Dedication 2pm
  • Sunday 3 March                          College Production Rehearsal 10:00am –                                                                                                                                    5:00pm

Future Enrolments

For the Deputy Heads, Mrs Roselyn Smith, Mrs Nicola Morrish, and myself, it is a real privilege as part of our roles to meet with prospective families and conduct tours around our Bellarine Campus, sharing with them the rich and authentic learning program that takes place in each classroom with your young person on a daily basis. 

A tour of the Bellarine Campus provides each prospective family with a genuine ‘feel’ of everyday life and learning at our campus, and that’s something that really has to be seen and experienced firsthand to gain a full understanding and appreciation. 

With Term 1 2024 well underway, it has been wonderful to have had the opportunity to meet and talk with many prospective families as to their educational aspirations for their children. We feel both excited and privileged that many families are seeking a Christian College education at all year levels.  

Getting to Know You Day

This week our Year 1, 2, 3 and 4 students travelled to Point Lonsdale for our Getting to Know You excursion. This is a day where the aim is to build community and friendships through beach activities and fun exploration. It was lovely to see them interact with each other, and our new prefects, in such a happy and joyous way. Some of the highlights were the sandcastle competition and exploring the rockpools. It was a great day of community early in our year. 

Ponta’s Vending Machine

In Prep Japanese class, we read the book Ponta no jidouhanbaiki (Ponta’s Vending Machine) as part of our learning about food and drink likes and dislikes.

Amazingly, Ponta has loaned his vending machine to Prep. The students have been able to speak Japanese to get drinks from the vending machine and glue them onto pictures they made of their own vending machine.

For some reason, apple and grape have been the most popular flavours, followed by banana, strawberry, orange and lucky last, watermelon.

Year 3s hit the Ground Running!

It has been another busy week in Year 3. We have been fine tuning our skills in gathering information about life in Ancient Greece and Ancient Sparta in note form. We presented all the information in a Venn diagram, showing things that were different in the two places and things that were the same.

During Mathematics we have been learning more about Place Value, rounding numbers to the nearest 10 and to the nearest 100. Place Value games enabled everyone to show their understanding and have some fun at the same time.

We have been looking at a variety of different leaders in the Bible and are currently looking at Saul, the first King of Israel.

The highlight of the week, however, would have to have been our Getting to know you excursion on Wednesday. It was a great day spending time with our friends, other students from different year levels as well as our Year 9 prefects.

Spotlight on Years 5 and 6

If you could walk down the Year 5 and Year 6 corridor, you would be blessed with the sounds of laughter, excitement, and collaborative discussion as students share about the rich learning taking place in their classrooms.

Year 5 has settled in well, adapting to middle school routines and engaging in specialist classes. In Science, students are learning about states of matter and one class was able to use the recent hailstorm as a real-life example of how states of matter can change form. In a Maths session with Mr Lees, he was challenging his class to explore the concept of cubed roots.

In Year 6, the students are excited about the new Maths structure, where they have one day a fortnight to come together as an entire Year 6 cohort, device free, to work on specific units of study. To support our place value and number curriculum, the students learned a dice game, called ‘Hot Dice’ that focused on chance and data, probability, place value, and number sense. If you have six dice at home, you can ask your learner to teach you this game so you can play together!

We are proud of how the Year 5 and Year 6 students have adapted to their new classes and we look forward to their continued growth, community building, and friendship development that will take place throughout the year.

Josh Lees, Kate Pritchard, Sam McKenzie, Theresa Drewer

It’s Sing O’Clock!

Singing is good for the brain and great for the soul. Our Bellarine Junior Choir has made a fabulous start to the year, with the children making beautiful sounds and new friends, while singing together. Rehearsals are at 8am on Thursday mornings in the auditorium. New members from Years 1-4 are welcome to join at any time, and we also look forward to welcoming any interested Prep students next term. Please email s.lawrence@ccg.vic.edu.au to register your interest. 

Bellarine House Cross Country and Colour Run 2024

A friendly reminder to our Bellarine families that our House Cross Country and Colour Run is happening next Friday on February 23. Parents are warmly invited to attend and watch their children participate. Here are a few reminders for the day, including the running schedule. 

• Uniform: All students are to wear their House polo with their College sports gear to school on the day. Students can add other accessories that support their house. Please note that coloured hair spray is not allowed for this event.  
• Colour/fun run attire: You will need white t-shirt, old shorts, a towel, sunglasses/goggles.  
• Getting changed: Students will be given an allocated time after their year level has participated in the championship races to get changed into their Colour Run attire. 
• Students need to bring all Colour Run items in a clearly labelled bag ensuring your child’s name is on all items.  
• All bus travellers must get changed back into their house clothes before getting on the bus at the end of the day. Any other students that wish to change, will have an opportunity to do so before the end of the day. 
• Medical: Students with special medical needs are required to bring their own medication i.e. Ventolin, epi pen. We will have a qualified staff member taking care of first aid. 

Literacy and Device Evening – February 20

Advance Notice for Term 1 Learning Conferences  

Our Term 1 Parent Student Learning Conferences will run a little bit differently this term. As a trial, we plan to run our conferences over two nights. 

Tuesday, March 12, will be a person-to-person, face-to-face meeting (Pre COVID), while Tuesday, March 19, will be an online TEAMS meeting. Please note, the change of date for one of our Conference evenings. Times for the sessions are March 12 (face-to-face) 4:00 – 6:00pm; March 19 (Teams) 4:00 – 7:00pm. 

Parents and Guardians will have the choice to book in to either evening.  We will be looking for feedback on these evenings, thus helping us to make decisions for subsequent Learning Conferences later in the year. 

Further details, including how to book and operational matters, will be sent in coming weeks.   

Maths Challenge 2024 Semester 1 Number 2

Welcome to the second edition of the weekly mathematics conundrums and logic questions for 2024!

Each week a different maths question is posed to challenge your grey matter in the form of numeracy and mathematical trivia. Share the fun with your family and friends and amaze them with your maths skills!

Credit to our friends at Maths Pathways for allowing us to share clipped copies from their Instagram page. Did you get last week’s answer? Check out the solution below!

Remember no Googling allowed. Answer in next week’s edition of The Vine. Enjoy!

Challenge Question Number 2 and for last week’s answer  – Click to enlarge the images below

Facilitating a Child Safe Culture

Christian College is committed to providing an environment in which our students are safe, happy and empowered. The College regards its child protection responsibilities with the utmost importance, ensuring compliance with all relevant child protection laws and regulations to embed and facilitate a child safe culture.

Just like physical environments, online environments need to be considered when implementing the child safe standards and assessing the risks of child abuse or harm. Whilst the eSafety Commissioner has information about popular and emerging online technologies and ways to manage online risks, I wanted to take this opportunity to notify you of two upcoming events that may be of interest to you:

• Tuesday 20 February - BATForce is partnering with Geelong Regional Libraries and Geelong Connected Communities to deliver a community-based Digital Tattoo workshop, a family approach to supporting young people online. This session aims to explore how families/communities can create safe and supportive environments for their young people to explore technology, build healthy relationships and increase protective factors as they grow. Places are limited, so please attached flyer for more information and to register.
• Wednesday 20 March - Christian College Geelong will be hosting a Digital Wellbeing and Cybersafety parent forum. Our aim is to provide parents/guardians the opportunity to discuss openly any concerns, to ask questions and seek support. We will also provide information on the school’s commitment to digital wellbeing and cybersafety as well as providing resources to support you in this journey. More information on this evening and how to register is coming soon!

ENVISAGE – a Helpful Support Service

We would like to bring to the attention of all parents/guardians and families a program that exists as a possible support for families in the Geelong region called ENVISAGE.

ENVISAGE is a program co-created by Australian and Canadian researchers, clinicians, and parents of children with developmental concerns and disabilities. Their mission is to “empower caregivers to feel confident and competent to navigate the experience of parenting a child or children with developmental concerns by embracing contemporary strengths-based ideas about health, wellbeing, and development”.

We have included this link to the ENVISAGE website should you wish to discover further information as to whether this service could be of benefit to your child and your family.

Prepared for Digital Learning in 2024

Over these first weeks of Term 1, it has been a pleasure to work alongside our IT team and support teachers and students in rolling out new student devices with Year 10s, Year 7s and Year 4s across the College.

As we have supported students in the signing in and setup of their device, alongside guidance in its care, maintenance and use as a learning tool, I’ve enjoyed some wonderful conversations with students about smart, safe and responsible uses of technology.

This week, parents and students across the College have been asked to accept their annual digital learning and device agreements, which is a requirement for students’ continued access to the device program, College network and internet and digital technologies at school.

This is a great opportunity and prompt for conversations with your child at home about safe, ethical, and respectful uses of technology more generally. While these agreements focus especially on a school and learning context, many of the expectations, and the guidance contained in the documentation, is equally relevant to contexts outside of school and represents positive digital engagement and good digital citizenship.

The partnership between school and home – teachers and parents – in supporting our young people in developing strong, positive habits and attitudes towards technology is promoted in the Digital Learning and 1:1 Device Program Parent Information Events that we provide at this time each year on our Junior School campuses. It was pleasing to see the positive turnout from parents at the Junior School-Belmont event this past Wednesday evening, and similar events will occur at Bellarine and Surf Coast campuses on Tuesday and Wednesday next week respectively. These events are intended to provide support particularly to our Year 4 parents, where in many cases their child’s new College laptop may be their first personal digital device.

Camps, Sports and Excursion Fund

Financial Assistance for Eligible Parents

School camps provide children with inspiring experiences in the great outdoors, excursions encourage a deeper understanding of how the world works and sports teach teamwork, discipline and leadership. All are part of a healthy curriculum.

Every Victorian child should have access to the world of learning opportunities that exist beyond the classroom. The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) helps ensure that no student will miss out on the opportunity to join their classmates for important, educational and fun activities. Support from CSEF is provided by the Victorian Government to assist eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities and forms part of the State Government’s commitment to breaking the link between a student’s background and their outcomes.

If you hold a valid means-tested concession card (HCC) or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible for CSEF. A special consideration category also exists for asylum seeker and refugee families. The allowance is paid to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions or sporting activities for the benefit of your child.

The annual CSEF amount per student is: • $150 for primary school students • $250 for secondary school students

How to Apply

Application Forms are available online through the Parent Portal (Go to ‘Student Information’ > ‘Important Forms for Parents’) these forms can be downloaded, completed then uploaded according to the instructions. Hard copy forms are also available from reception at each campus or by emailing enquire@ccg.vic.edu.au

More Information

For the CSEF application closing dates and more information about the fund please visit this webpage

CSEF_Application_Form_2024

Find Yourself at our Open Day!

On March 5, all five Christian College campuses and two kindergartens are holding Open Days. Our Open Days provide the opportunity for parents and others interested in enrolling their children at Christian College to have a firsthand look at our College campuses, speak with campus leaders, participate in student-led tours of the facilities, visit classrooms in real time and have their questions answered.

We would encourage everyone in our Christian College community to spread the word and tell anyone you might know who is considering schooling options for their children about our Open Day and the opportunity to come and visit one or more campuses and/or our kinders, with no tour booking required.

Details are on our website – follow the hotlink on our homepage or click Homepage > Join > Open Days.

Opening times for March 5 are as follows:

Junior School-Belmont and Williams House Kindergarten – 9:15 – 10:45am

Bellarine Campus – 9:30 – 11:00am

Surf Coast Campus and Butterfield House Kindergarten – 11:30am – 1:00pm

Middle School-Highton – 10:30am – 12:00 noon

Senior School – 11:30am – 1:00pm

We would love to see as many interested families as possible finding themselves at our Open Day!

Foundation Gathering Hope Appeal Luncheon

The Foundation Gathering Hope Appeal Luncheon is back on and has been scheduled for Friday, 24 May 2024.

You are invited to join us for lunch at the stunning Provenance Wines in Fyansford.

This is a fundraising event for the Foundation and an opportunity to hear about the success and progress of the College.

Our guest speaker is Jossy Chacko, Founder and President of Empart, a global ministry that exists to ignite holistic community transformation among needy communities.

Giving leadership to a team of over 13,000 people and offices in nine countries, Jossy travels around the world inspiring and challenging leaders to capture a larger God-size vision and not to waste gifts and opportunities. He is also the author of Madness! and Dare to Partner.

Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to come together. 

Secure your seat and book online today! 

https://ccgfoundation.org.au/gh

Golf Tournament 

Join the Christian College Foundation for an exciting four-person Ambrose Golf Day, including a $30,000 hole in one prize on Thursday, 24th of October at 13th Beach Golf Links, Barwon Heads.

Set on the stunning Bellarine Peninsula, the day provides an opportunity to enjoy the award-winning creek course, known for its undulating couch fairways, deep bunkers and interesting swales and hollows.

You will be treated to a scrumptious breakfast on arrival and an opportunity to participate in several fun activities including the longest drive, nearest to the pin etc.

There is plenty of prizes up for grabs, including a cash prize of $30,000. Score a Hole in One on the 12th Hole and you can win. *

You will also be treated to a delicious buffet lunch and learn more about the incredible work of the foundation. Every dollar raised will be dollar matched!