Sorry Day at Bellarine
Marking National Reconciliation Week at the Bellarine campus today we were fortunate to hear from Ms Kerrie Sirotich, a proud Wurundjeri lady, who works in our library. Kerry spoke of her experiences and the impact they have had on her life.
We recognise, National Reconciliation week as a time to be challenged, to be brave and to tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation.
Prep Discovery Learning
The Preps were very excited to jump back on the bus and head out to our ‘Discovery Learning’ program this week. We departed by bus to head to Ocean Grove Nature Reserve, where the children were able climb trees, find creepy crawlies and appreciate all that nature has to offer! It was so great to see the children using their imagination whether it was for “fishing” with their sticks in the dam or toasting “marshmallows” by the fire. A highlight for many was working as a team to build forts out of branches, and finding some frogs in the water!
Year 4 Maths
This week in Year 4 Maths, students have been learning about angles and shapes. With a particular focus on 3D shapes, students have been looking at the features of these shapes including faces, edges and vertices. As a fun part of this learning, we have been creating 3D shapes that can collapse back to their 2D forms, clearly showing how the faces fit together. The Year 4s had a fun but challenging afternoon creating cubes, various prisms and even a dodecagon.
Year 4 Maths from Christian College Geelong on Vimeo.
National Simultaneous Storytime
“It started with a seed, and that seed was me. And, over time, laughter filled my garden…” A heartfelt celebration of family, community and the seasons of life to cherish and to share. Family Tree written by Josh Pyke and illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh.
Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian Author and Illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. Now in its 22nd successful year, it is a colourful, vibrant, fun event that aims to promote the value of reading and literacy, using an Australian children’s book that explores age-appropriate themes, and addresses key learning areas of the National Curriculum for Foundation to Year 6.
On Wednesday 25th May Junior School students at the Bellarine Campus were part of the 22nd National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS). Students listened to Gabrielle Wang, Children’s Laureate read the story as guest VIP. The Prep and Year 4 buddies were together to share in their first Simultaneous Storytime, we reflected on the Year 4 students’ previous NSS stories.
The students worked together to create a fun “family tree roll of the dice” activity. Buddies engaged in conversation about the story and loved to roll the dice and have a go at guessing the answers. Preps also enjoyed writing their names on gum leaves which now adorn the class family tree!
Year 3 students created incredible family tree posters and made connections to the people they love and the dreams they wish for. Year 1 students enjoyed working with the gum leaves and building connections to the story. It was wonderful to be a part of National Simultaneous Storytime 2022.
Division Cross Country
Congratulations to Year 6 students, Olivia Clark and Thomas Stefanovski who represented Christian College Bellarine on Tuesday at the Division Cross Country. Both students are to be commended for their hard work in the lead up and for their impressive results on the day with Olivia finishing 8th in the 12/13-year-old girls and Thomas finishing 6th in the 12/13-year-old boys. Both students have now qualified to progress to the region event that will be held on Thursday June 16th. We wish both Thomas and Olivia all the best for the next stage and will follow their progress with interest.
50 for 50 Timor Leste
Last Friday, all campuses across Christian College Geelong, celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Independence of East Timor. Students were asked to wear the national colours of East Timor and to donate a gold coin. These donations contributed to the College wide campaign labelled 50 for 50. A goal to send 50 East Timorese students to school for another year. Christian College Bellarine alone raised enough to send 37 students at $50 each to school for another year, something to be proud and humble about. Well done to all.
Year 9 Business Food Studies
As part of the Year 9 Business Food Studies class, the students chose to run a ‘Snack Bar’ for the middle school students. Students created a business plan, selected a product to sell and then focused on trial bakes, advertising, ordering, calculating profit margins, customer preferences and customer service. The day was a huge success with the groups selling, mini pizzas, churros, milkshakes, waffles, cinnamons scrolls and mini burgers. It was wonderful to have the CCG Ceilidh band performed to add to the atmosphere. Money made will be donated to Sunday’s Red Shield Appeal.
Year 9 Principles of Training
Year 9 Principles of Training students visited the Geelong Athlete Centre in Grovedale. Here, students used state-of-the-art technology such as force plates to identify force analysis used for testing and improving elite athlete fitness components. In addition to various other tests, each student completed a full strength and conditioning program that incorporated the Principles of Training concepts that have been studied back in the classroom.
Engaging Explorations in Year 8 and 9 Digital Technologies Classes
Students in Year 8 and 9 Digital Technologies classes are engaging in rich explorations and project-based activities that consolidate and extend their analysis, design and coding skills this term.
Year 8 students are exploring how digital systems use binary numbers to represent data and how specific file types are used to create solutions in specialist areas. They have been designing a character for a game or an emoji to represent an e motion by applying design thinking and using divergent techniques to generate design ideas for user experiences and solution designs. Their design process has progressed from pencil sketch through to digital representation in Adobe Illustrator.
Students reviewed their ideas using annotations against design criteria, assessing them against current and future needs. They have begun to extend the use of these design criteria and user stories to evaluate the future impact of their solutions and how they could be used to solve a need. For example, their graphical creations could be applied in a video game, be used to express an emotion, or by using specialist hardware like the laser cutter to physically cut out their design. Students have also started to explore other file types using Adobe Photoshop to create pixel art, also commonly used in game design processes at Year 9.
Year 9 students are undertaking their ‘Game Lab’ elective this term. In this unit, students have been analysing, designing, and coding with a focus on exploration, innovation and skill development. Through an analysis of popular video games along with building familiarity with the Godot Game Engine, students have been tinkering, innovating and experimenting with many aspects of 2D game creation.
This unit has been drawing on and developing students’ initiative, problem-solving and computational thinking skills. The students are progressing from concept to design of their game and beginning to explore, develop and modify code for their own custom 2D game. As they work through the term, students are documenting their explorations through a learning folio that includes videos of progress as well as analysis and project-based coding tasks. The problem-solving and project management skills students are applying as they use Microsoft Teams and a professional game engine add real-world relevance and value to the engaging experiences the students are enjoying.
Godot Game from Christian College Geelong on Vimeo.
Chess Tournament
We are very excited to announce the first middle school house chess tournament of 2022. Students will play in a Swiss tournament across two Wellbeing and lunch times on the 1st and 2nd of June (this coming Wednesday and Thursday). Sixteen players will compete for themselves and collaboratively for house glory. Swiss tournaments allow all students to play an equal number of games as well as play against others of similar skill thus making it perfect for this type of event. We are eagerly looking forward to students representing their houses and battling it out across the chess board to earn valuable house points. Students come and get involved and have some fun while representing your house! Limited spots remaining!
GISSA Athletics
Our CCG Eagles Athletics Team outperformed all but one school to clinch second place in this year’s Geelong Independent Schools Sport Association (GISSA) Athletics Championships recently.
Despite some of our College’s best athletes being unavailable due to illness and injury, we managed to rally to still produce a valiant performance in one of the three marquee events on the GISSA calendar – finishing runner-up behind Kardinia International College in wet, tricky conditions at John Landy Athletics Field.
Our Eagles finished second in all four age levels that are awarded shields – ‘Junior Female’ and ‘Junior Male’ Sections, which featured mostly students from Year 7 to Year 9, as well as the ‘Senior Female’ and ‘Senior Male’ sections, which featured mostly students Year 10 to Year 12.
Our College was particularly close in the senior sections where we finished just 9 points behind Kardinia in the Senior Male Section and only 25 points behind Kardinia in the Senior Female Section.
The overall results were as follows: Kardinia (1st), CCG Eagles (2nd), Saint Ignatius (3rd), Geelong Lutheran College (4th), Covenant College (5th), Iona College (6th), Clonard College (7th) and Geelong Baptist College (8th).
Our College Sport Faculty would like to thank each member of our track and field team for their efforts at these championships, especially those students who stepped up to compete in events after another student had to withdraw because of illness or injury. Some notable performances on the day included Jasmin King (Yr8) winning all five of her events; Jacob McKie (Yr11) setting a new GISSA record for the 1500m open boys; Nyah Brown, Luka Mathe, Bianca Pocklington and Jorja Kirsopp-Cole (all Yr12) winning their 4x100m relay for the 6th straight year. Couple this with the open boys 4x100m relay winning team of Harry Leigh, Ethan Grills, Oscar Murdoch and Aaron Hanson it was a great way to finish the track program for the college.
We would like to acknowledge the contribution of our Year 12 students, not only for their performances this year, but the outstanding commitment they have showed to our College Athletics Program for their entire journey at Christian College.
While it would have been fitting to cap off their time in our program with another medal at the GISSA Athletics, this group of students will leave a legacy for their peers to follow that will last far longer than any individual or team triumph they might have achieved in any one year.
The high standards they have displayed – not only in their athletic performances on the track but the way they have upheld our college values off the track – will stand as a shining example for our next cohorts.
Our Sport Faculty would like to sincerely thank the following students for all they have done for our CCG Eagles Athletics Program during their journey through the college: Captains Nyah Brown and Ethan Grills, Luka Mathe, Bianca Pocklington, Bethany Dean, Jorja Kirsopp-Cole, Oscar Murdoch, Tom Beckworth, Elliot MacDonald, Harry Leigh, Oliver Connan, Joshua Ward and Henry Gerdtz.
eSafety Parent and Carer Webinars
Parents and carers of our students have access to a range of eSafety webinars made available by the eSafety Commissioner throughout the year. eSafety's free webinars provide parents and carers with the knowledge, skills and tools to support children to have safe, positive online experiences.
The webinar focus by eSafety for May is on parental controls. This webinar promises to provide valuable information and support to parents. Christian College parents are also encouraged to read the article ‘Should I be using a parental control?’ available on our Online Safety Hub.
I encourage all parents and carers in our community to explore these webinar offerings by eSafety and register for events that are relevant to you. The link is below:
COGG Needs Crossing Supervisors
The City of Greater Geelong is experiencing a shortage of school crossing supervisors due to illness, including COVID and influenza, meaning that a limited number of crossings around the municipality may not be supervised at certain times. In such instances, staffing busier crossings is prioritised over quieter ones. Sometimes this is achieved by deploying Parking, Local Laws and Animal Management teams to crossing supervision roles.
If you or someone you know is interested in becoming a crossing supervisor, COGG is recruiting via this link: Casual School Crossing Supervisor - City of Greater Geelong .
Golf Tournament
The Foundation Golf Tournament is set for Thursday, 27 October 2022. Join us at 13th Beach Golf Links from 8:00am for a shotgun start. Tickets are $190 each ($150 for members) or $750 for a group of four. RSVPs close on Thursday, 6 October 2022 at 5:00pm.
Funds raised from this event will be allocated to our Foundation Scholarship Fund, supporting current students who are in need of financial assistance.
Book online at: The Foundation Golf Tournament
A MYTERN Thought for This Week
If you are on a rough road, use the discomfort as your power to take control. See it providing fuel for your journey....expanding your map....adding to who you are....shaping who you are becoming 😊
Discover more about MYTERN here