From the Acting Principal

When Christian College Geelong started out humbly in 1980 with just five dozen students, it would have been hard to fathom that just over 40 years later the school would have approximately 2000 students on five campuses across Geelong, Bellarine and the Surf Coast. However, despite our size, and the geographical separation of campuses, there is much we have in common, first and foremost our core tenet, Seek First the Kingdom of God. And, right from its origin, Christian College has always encouraged students to recognise that they belong to a community beyond themselves and to acknowledge their God-given responsibility to contribute to the care and wellbeing of others. In Term 2, it was therefore wonderful to see our campuses mark a number of key events College-wide, including Anzac Day, East Timor Independence and National Reconciliation Week.

Given the size of our school, it’s not often we have events that draw families from all our campuses to the one event. The Annual Music Evening in October each year is one such example and our Arts Festival held in November is another. So, I was greatly encouraged by the large turnout of parents, with representation from all five of our campuses, to a whole-school initiative, the Digital Safety Forum held in the Middle School Library at Highton campus last week. The event offered an opportunity for families to freely discuss the challenges associated with ensuring the digital safety of our young people. The night included messages from our Director of Wellbeing, Kim Doherty, and Director of Digital Learning, Brendan Vanderkley as well as Victoria Police Leading Senior Constable and Youth Resource Officer, Robbie Noggler. For those parents and guardians who were unable to attend, you can catch up via a recording of the key points available via the link below.

Recording: Student Digital Safety Parent Forum

From the Head of Campus

As we close out the first semester of 2023, I wish to thank you all for your continued support and partnership throughout this year thus far. It has been wonderful to continue the reconnection within our community with parents and guardians fully back on site, helping in classrooms and joining us for the various assemblies, music evenings, afternoon and morning teas and whole-of-campus events such as our Swimming, Athletics and Cross Country carnivals.  A very busy, fruitful and successful semester indeed.

A reminder that students return on Monday July 17. Also, please note that 2024 term dates are now available via the College Parent Portal. 

I wish all students and families a safe and restful holiday break.

Purpose, Passion and Senior School Pathways – Information Session

Senior Campus wishes to thank all students and families, for joining us at the recent Senior School Pathways online information session and engaging in this presentation aimed at supporting your child's final years of secondary education. We hope that the presentations by our Deputy Head of Campus, Vocational Pathways Coordinator, and VCE Coordinator have provided you with valuable insights into the various learning pathways available to them at Senior School.  

For your reference the Senior School Hub, has a recording and transcript of the online presentation including the Q&A session. For those who were not able to attend we strongly recommend you make take the time to view this in conjunction with viewing the recently published Year 10 Welcome to Senior School Booklet and/or the Senior (Year 11 and 12) Subject information Booklet.  These are available in the Senior School Hub via this link: Subject Information - The Senior School Hub

To help your child make informed decisions regarding their learning pathways and Subject Selection we recommend a discussion with a careers practitioner.  Our careers practitioners are available to provide additional support and guidance to you and your child. They can help address any specific questions or concerns you may have and assist in navigating the decision-making process. So please feel free to email them at [email protected] to request a booking, and they will endeavour to get back to you after the semester break. 

Year 7 Guests at Junior Assembly

On Monday in the Junior School Assembly, Year 7 students Matilda Bibby and Vickie Christopoulos  spoke to the junior school students about the need to care for, and love one another. Their talk was accompanied by a video. Vickie and Matilda talked about kindness, making others feel good and comfortable. They used verses from Mark 12:31 which talk about loving others as ourselves, and from John 15:12 which centres upon loving others as God has loved you. Vickie says that “love is something we can give and receive.”

To finish, the girls prayed, which was a fitting end to a talk that I’m sure spoke to all who were present.

It was wonderful that the younger students could observe their older peers speaking in front of an audience and role-modelling a great life message.

Gary Crole on behalf of Matilda and Vickie

Library News

Book Week Parade – Advance Notice

It’s that time of year again. Time to get the creative thinking hats on for our annual Book Week Parade.  The Parade will be held on Thursday August 17.  The theme for Book Week is Read, Grow, Inspire.

Further details to follow next term.

Regional Cross Country

Congratulations to Lexie Strachan who participated in the Regional Cross Country on Monday June 19 at Brimbank Park in Keilor.

On a wet, slow track with big hills she ran 3km in a time of 14.36 finishing ninth in the region. This is an amazing achievement and Lexie will now progress through to the State Cross Country next term.

Unfortunately, Patrick Clark and Harvey Stefanovski were both unable to participate in this race due to injury and illness but we know both students have a bright future in running.

We wish Lexie all the best for the next stage and will follow her progress with interest.

Talent Quest 23 – You Won’t Believe the Talent Around Here!

It’s been a while my friends, but this year it’s time for us to get back together for some fun time in our community, sharing our humour and talent with each other!

Back with ‘Where’s Wally and Wanda’ in 2019 we enjoyed a plethora of talent from both middle schools amongst the theme, searching for Wally and Wanda throughout the day!. This year we will be gathering our Middle campuses together at the end of Term 3 to share once again, the skills possessed by students, and maybe even some staff!

Over the holidays, can I challenge you to think about something you could share with the community.. a comedy act, dance routine, song, a musical performance.. anything that belongs on a stage! We will be having auditions for the Quest in the middle of Term 3.

Stay tuned for more updates early next term.

Bellarine Middle School House Chess Tournament

On Friday June 16 the Bellarine Middle School House Chess Tournament was run and won. Thank you to our Middle School students and parents for their great participation. The results are below:

Division 1 Individual Winner: Hamish MacArthur with 6 points.

Division 2 Individual Winners: This was a tie with William Paterson and Gus Daly both achieving 6 points.

School House Trophy Placings:

1st  Flynn 33 points.

2nd Burrows 32 points.

Equal 3rd Penman and Taylor on 29 points.

Congratulations to Flynn on becoming the 2023 Chess House Champion!

A Chance to be Transported…

Year 6 students have been creating extraordinary artwork this term. I have been immensely proud of their endeavours. From painterly, expressive styled landscapes that were inspired by the inventor Leonardo Da Vinci to designing delicate coloured pencil drawings of birds where you could almost touch their feathers.

How exciting it is to watch these artists develop their skills! Here is a glimpse of some of their work.

Prep Monster Descriptions

This week Prep students explored adjectives to describe characters.  After practising by describing Monsters Inc. movie characters, the students were challenged to create their own creative monster!

They used digraphs they had recently learned to make up a nonsense word to name their monster and labelled their drawing with adjectives to describe it. The students then extended the task to writing sentences about their monster using their list of adjectives. 

There was lots of laughter and joy in the classroom as students created and described their very interesting monsters!

Year 1 Japanese Learning Expo

On June 21 the Year 1 students ran their Japanese Learning Expo. The students presented four activities that they taught to visitors. The activities were:

• Japanese icons quiz
• My Japanese house
• Playdough numbers
• The weather chant

A selection of feedback comments about the Expo can be seen below:

“It was a wonderful presentation with great information about Japan.”

“I loved the enthusiasm with the weather chant.”

“Great work! You spoke great Japanese.”

“The students did a great job telling me about Japan.”

Thank you to everyone who visited or helped our Year 1 students.

Year 2 Japanese Learning Expo

On June 20 the Year 2 students ran their Japanese Learning Expo. The students presented four activities that they taught to visitors. The activities were:

• Guess the Kimono quiz.
• Japanese Tongue Twisters.
• Playdough colour letters.
• Japanese Chess

A selection of feedback comments about the Expo can be seen below:

“That was lots of fun and the students did well and taught me what they knew. It was very informative, and I loved the interaction.”

“An excellent presentation and explanation of Japanese chess.”

“I liked that the students worked together and helped each other remember the words. They had lovely smiles too.”

“I loved all the different activities and how excited the students were.”

Thank you to everyone who visited or helped our Year 2 students.

Changes to the Earth Task

As part of their Integrated Studies unit ‘Why is it so’, Year 4 students have been looking at changes to the Earth’s surface due to either natural or human processes. The students were given a task where they had to demonstrate their knowledge of a change to the Earth and then create a visual representation of it. These included events such as tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanoes. It was fantastic to see the students putting into action what they have been learning. Their creativity, collaboration and problem-solving skills were all used to great effect as they completed their designs and then their final model. Well done Year 4 students!

Year 4 Domino Challenge

As part of the culmination of their Investigations learning, Year 4 students were challenged today to create their own domino runs.  The students found that teamwork and negotiation skills were key to creating a successful domino run. There were some frustrations along the way as tables were bumped and partially completed runs were knocked down, however the joy, excitement and resilience shown by the students far outweighed the challenges!

Year 6 Immigration Museum Incursion

The English and Humanities focus this term centered around ‘Belonging to the World’. During this unit, students learned about the various cultures that make up this great country of Australia. They learned about refugees and some of the ‘push’ factors that force people to flee their home countries. To support this learning, the students participated in an incursion with the Immigration Museum in Melbourne. Students peered into the life of Mai Ho, a Vietnamese refugee who overcame difficult obstacles to become the Mayor of Footscray. The students were engaged as they asked questions and discussed various points with the presenter.

Creating our own Ultimate Civilisations

Throughout the semester, students in Year 7 have been exploring ancient civilisations, with the focus in Term 1 being Ancient Australians. Throughout Term 2, the focus shifted to other ancient civilisations including Egypt, China, and Greece. The aim of our learning has been to understand what it means to belong to a society, and how each of these ancient civilisations contributed to the world we live in today. Students have explored each of these civilisations through the lens of TRIBEL (trade, recreation, infrastructure, belonging, environment, and laws / governance).

This week, students had the opportunity to apply their learning, using the knowledge and skills they developed throughout the unit to create and justify their version of an ultimate civilisation. As part of this creation, students chose to present their learning through the creation of a physical model or digitally via Minecraft Education. It has also been fantastic to see some students willing to help upskill their peers by leading learning sessions in how to use this digital application.

This learning has been an opportunity for the students to be creative, critical thinkers and synthesise their learning while receiving and applying both peer and teacher feedback to improve their final product.

Aaron Loats, Victoria Kent and Matthew Burgess

Digital Safety and Wellbeing at Home

Parent and Guardian Support for the Holiday Period

It was wonderful to see and meet with so many parents from across our campuses who attended last week’s Student Digital Safety parent forum. For those parents and guardians who were unable to attend, you can catch up via a recording of the key points available via the link below.

• Recording: Student Digital Safety Parent Forum

A key message reinforced multiple times over the evening was regarding the importance of platforms and technology (such as parental controls) as well as education, engagement, and communication with young people about their online activities.

It’s common during school holiday periods, particularly during colder months, for young people to engage in more technology use for recreation and socialising with peers. As this holiday period begins, I hope that the parent and guardian resources below are helpful.

ySafe Article: ‘Modelling healthy online behaviours to children’

In this article, ySafe online safety expert Teodora Pavkovic provides seven tips and suggestions to help parents lead, model and promote positive and safe digital behaviours for all members of their household.

• Read the article

Qustodio Parent App

Parents are reminded that as part of the College’s Cyber Safe Schools Program, all families have access to the Qustodio Parent App to help monitor and manage children’s digital activities on school and personal devices. Parents and guardians can learn more and activate their personal account via our Online Safety Hub.

• Learn more about Qustodio on our Online Safety Hub

CCG Online Safety Hub

If you’re a parent or guardian seeking advice, information and guidance around any aspect of digital wellbeing, online safety and young people then the parent advice section of our CCG Online Safety Hub is a great place to start.

Would you Like to go to Space…Camp?

The Astronaut Al Worden Endeavour Scholarship is an international education program which aims to reward aspiring STEM enthusiasts and future leaders with a hands-on astronaut training experience at the U.S. Space and Rocket Centre’s renowned Space Camp, located in Huntsville, Alabama, USA.

Four students from Australia will be awarded a scholarship to the International Space Camp program taking place in Huntsville, Alabama in July 2024. The winning group of students (and one teacher) will make up ‘Mission Crew #13 - Team Australia’, and will join fellow groups from the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Chile, Singapore, United States and Poland to become ‘Team Endeavour’.

Successful applicants will receive an all-expenses paid enrolment and airfare to Space Camp, where for one-week students are immersed in the ultimate educational experience to illuminate real-world applications of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

All covered expenses include tuition, dormitory accommodation, meals throughout the week, and economy class round trip from Australia to Huntsville, Alabama. Travel will also include all transportation on the ground, as well as a day trip to Washington DC ahead of Space Camp commencement.

Calling the Class of 2013!

Foundation Golf Day 2023

Following the success of last year’s inaugural event, we are delighted to announce the Christian College Foundation Golf Day tournament for 2023.

Save the date: Thursday November 9.

We are seeking prizes for this event – if you own a local business and are interested in creating partnership opportunities with Christian College, please contact Fiona Provan on 0400 477 467, or email [email protected]

A MYTERN Thought for This Week

It’s easy to rush through a cup of tea or coffee and forget to stop and appreciate the moment. 

Take time out now to simply appreciate being able to breathe in fresh air. Take a long slow breath and feel it rejuvenate every cell. 

Make that your intention and watch your body smile from the inside 👍❤️

Discover more about MYTERN here