What is Happening at Bellarine

  Week 5

• Monday 14          Junior School Assembly
• Tuesday 15          Year 1 and 2 Bravehearts presentation
• Tuesday 15          Guest Speaker to Year 7, 8, 9 Sergeant Robbie Noggler
• Tuesday 15             Middle School Elective Expo
• Wednesday 16     Prep Discovery Learning
• Thursday 17        Prep – Year 6 Book Week Parade
• Thursday 17        Year 5 and 6 Swimming continues
• Thursday 17        VSMF Bellarine Novice Stage band excursion
• Friday 18             Project Care Pyjama Day for Diabetes awareness

Week 6

Junior Intensive Swimming Program each day this week

• Monday 21             Junior School Assembly
• Monday 21             Choir concert from 5.45pm
• Tuesday 22          Student Free / Staff development Day
• Thursday 24        Year 5 and 6 Swimming continues
• Thursday 24        Deakin District Athletics
• Sunday 27              Tournament of the Minds

Subject Selection Evenings

Developing your young person’s Purpose, Passion and Pathway….

You are all invited to attend the Bellarine Middle School Elective Expo, held Tuesday, 15 August, from 4pm – 7pm in the Auditorium Foyer.

Christian College is proud of the engaging subjects and pathway programs that foster purpose and passion for our Middle School students, with specialisation and experiential learning being implemented from Year 5. In a learning journey where students are encouraged to become active participants in their own educational journey, it is with much excitement that we share with you the subject Information evening for the 2024 academic year.

This plans to be a great community event providing you the opportunity to explore subjects, meet teachers and engage with our many support services, that will aim to develop your young person in the variety of learning opportunities available to them at Christian College Geelong.

Discover Prep Week

This past week has been ‘Discover Prep Week’ across Christian College’s three Junior Schools. At Bellarine, multiple opportunities were afforded to prospective and enrolled Prep students and parents to discover the depth and breadth of not only our Prep program, but that of our Junior and Middle Schools here at Christian College. Prospective Preps joined in a Prep class and experienced some of the activities our children do in both core and specialist learning activities, while parents were able to chat with teachers and campus leaders and have questions answered.

Choosing the right school for a student at any level is very much a personal decision, and a lot rides on it – children have individual interests, gifts and talents – and they learn in different ways. That recognition is fundamental to the way we design and deliver our learning programs – at Prep and beyond. Should you be aware of families that are considering future educational opportunities for their children from Prep or beyond, we encourage you to talk with them about making contact with us for a personalised discussion and tour.

Preps’ 100 Days of School!

This week Prep students celebrated their 100th day at school with an exciting day full of activities based on the number 100. The students arrived at school dressed as 100 year-olds, there were lots of walking sticks, glasses, cardigans and pearls and even some beards and moustaches. The children enjoyed creating a portrait of themselves as 100 year-olds and discussing what sort of ‘old person’ they would be! Some suggested they would be kind and caring 100 year-olds whilst others thought they might be more grumpy and say things like: “Stay off my lawn!”

The children enjoyed lots of other 100-based activities as well, including thinking about what they would buy if they had 100 dollars!

A great day was enjoyed by all of the Grannies and Grandads and it was lovely to celebrate this special achievement with the Prep students.

A Bridge-Building Challenge

As part of their Investigations lessons this week, Years 2 and 3 students were challenged to create a swinging bridge using limited materials. Lots of creative thinking and collaboration were required as the students planned their unique designs and discussed how they would be able to work as a team, utilising the strengths and input of each team member.

The students have been studying the text ‘Iggy Peck, Architect’ and were able connect their building to themes in this picture story book.

Some very successful bridges were built with lots of enjoyment had by all of the construction teams! 

The Year 2 and 3 teachers

Years 5 and 6 Join Book Week Parade

It is with much excitement that the Year 5 and Year 6 students have been invited to participate in the Book Week Parade, next Thursday, 17 August. Parents are more than welcome to come and see their learner dressed as their favourite book character. The event will take place in the gym from 9 to 10am. Students are not required to participate but we encourage them to take part and set a fun example for the Junior School students.

Year 7 Visit to Boronggook Drysdale Library

On Thursday 10 August, Year 7 students visited Boronggook Drysdale Library as part of their integrated English / Humanities unit – Words Shape Worlds / Living in Australia. This excursion provided students with an opportunity to learn more about the process involved in the creation of the new library as well as how the space is used and by whom.  

Students viewed a presentation from Genevieve Cooper, Senior Infrastructure Planner from the City of Greater Geelong, learnt about the design and layout of the library, and completed a field study of the area. Several students also took the opportunity to join the library before the excursion and borrowed a book.

This was a great opportunity for our Year 7s to learn more about how the City of Greater Geelong works with its stakeholders to provide positive outcomes for the community as well as develop deeper understandings about the interconnections between people, places and the environment.

We look forward to this visit provoking further conversations in Humanities over the coming weeks.

Aaron Loats, Victoria Kent and Matthew Burgess

Naga High School Visits Bellarine Campus

On August 4, Bellarine Campus hosted our Japanese sister-school students from Naga High School.

The day started with a dance competition between the Japanese students and the Year 9 Japanese class. That resulted in a clear win to Naga.

Next, the Year 8 Japanese classes joined the Naga students to prepare a lunch of yakionigiri riceballs, sushi and sausages. This was supported by Year 9 Bean Break students making hot and ice chocolate drinks for the Naga students.

After lunch, everyone came to the gym for a wild Japan versus Australia dodgeball contest. Court 1 was dodgeball played according to local rules, while Court 2 had Japanese dodgeball rules. On Court 2, Naga won all 5 games against Middle School and Junior School teams.

The end of the day saw Naga students challenge Year 2D to Japanese chess. The Year 2D class then farewelled the Naga students’ bus by loudly chanting the Japanese tongue-twister Basu Gasu Bakuhatsu (bus gas explosion).

Thank you to our friends from Naga for visiting, our Bellarine Campus students for showing such fantastic hospitality, and the staff who made the day a success.

Walking on Air

It was a joy to participate in the Bellarine (Intermediate) Concert Band rehearsal this week as they prepared their VSMF festival program including ‘Walking on Air’, ‘Migaloo the White Whale’ and ‘Big Bad and Blue’. With three polished pieces now in their hands, the young musicians have earned the right to be proud of their growth as individuals as well as an ensemble. The concert band rehearses every Tuesday afternoon for 1.5 hours after school, which can be quite a challenge after a long day of learning! But the students consistently show us their eagerness and willingness to grow in this space, which makes it so special for us all when we achieve great things together.

Please enjoy a few snapshots of this week’s rehearsal.

Warhammer Club Terrain Update

With the terrific assistance of several attendees of the Warhammer Club we have made tremendous progress on our gaming board and even had our first small scale battle on its beautiful green fields.

After adding the homemade Sculptamold in our last article on this project, we noticed that the plaster was cracking due to the board being able to flex. We reinforced this with some wooden beams, repaired the surface and got to painting. This was a freeing stage for students to get involved as we needed to add greens and browns in an abstract manner and to provide a varied undertone for the flocking to come.

This was absolutely the most exciting part! Adding flocking with a mixture of patchy plains and a rich green instantly made the board feel realistic and alive. As other students at lunch times noticed our progress on the board, they were keen to help us add foliage. They choose where to place patches of grass, bushes, and some shrubs adding even more realism to the environment.

We are looking forward to getting some larger trees that match the scale of our miniatures and creating a setup with other pieces of scatter terrain and buildings we have 3D-printed and dry-brushed. Dry-brushing is an amazing technique for students to experiment with because you can’t really make mistakes and the finished result looks amazing. The Warhammer Club is very excited to show off the gaming board and some of our painted miniatures at the Art Show later in the year.

Library News

Book Week

Bellarine Book Week is happening next week with many lunchtime activities.

Monday – Jigsaw Galore for all ages

Tuesday – Book Bingo with Molly and Jess

Wednesday – Guess the Book in the Jar

Thursday – Junior Book Week Parade (in the morning) AND Celebrity Guest Reader (Mr O’Neill) in the Junior Library Area

Friday – Book Mark Competition Winner Announced – Entries close Wednesday 16 August 16.

National Science Week 2023 Competitions

Students across the Bellarine Campus are invited to participate in competitions in celebration of National Science Week, which will be held from August 14 to 18. 

The competitions centre around this year’s theme ‘Innovation: Powering Future Industries’

The details of the competitions are:

Prep – Colouring competition which will be completed in class

Years 1-4 – Drawing competition – draw something which relates to this year’s theme. You may choose to draw something which already exists or create your own future technology. We encourage you to be as creative as you like!

Middle School – Photography competition (see article below for details).

Pyjama Day

CCG Hosts VSMF Regional Concert Bands

The Highton Middle School and Bellarine Concert Bands performed at the regional session of the Victorian School Music Festival this week. The CCG Music Department was proud to host the event at the Senior Campus’s RW Gibson Centre for Music Performance.

These VSMF Regional sessions saw 17 bands perform, and as well, take part in onstage workshops with the expert adjudicator and clinician Dr Jo Heaton.  The bands featured over 600 students from Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula, performing on the Gibson Centre stage. A valuable part of the learning experience for participating students is having the opportunity to listen to other bands and observe their onstage workshops.

The Christian College Concert Band Program has eight concert bands rehearsing weekly across the campuses. Four of these featured in this week’s regional division of VSMF. The Highton and Bellarine Novice Concert Bands, the Bellarine Campus Concert Band and the Highton Campus Intermediate Concert Band all performed with wonderful musicianship and received excellent ratings from the adjudication panel. The band conductors, Mr Dunlop and Mr Rankin, along with the supporting instrumental staff who have assisted in preparing the performances, congratulate all of our participating musicians for their great work leading up to the performance, as well as their presentation on stage. We would also like to thank the band parents for their wonderful support in getting their students to/from rehearsals and supporting us in the audience at our performances.

Bravo to our middle school band musicians!

Prepaid Tuition Fee Discount

The College is offering a 4 per cent discount to families who elect to prepay their 2024 tuition fees in full by September 8, 2023. Taking up this offer means you will receive a 4 percent discount on the 2024 tuition fees less sibling discount.

For further details please refer to the email sent to you earlier this week.

Please contact the fees team via [email protected] or (03) 5241 1899 if you have any queries - our team will happily explain the details and arrange a quotation for you.

Showcase Your Amazing Talent!

On the last day of this term all 3 Middle Schools will come together to share in this fun day of entertainment and a whole lot of silliness at the….

THE ANNUAL MIDDLE SCHOOL CROSS CAMPUS TALENT QUEST!

In the coming weeks we will be starting to hold auditions for any middle school students that can showcase a talent they have – think outside the box!!!!

We love to see performers of any type, think: dancing, music performance, drama, comedy, physical talents, group items.. magic tricks! The options are endless….

Auditions will be:

Friday Week 5 – Lunchtime

Friday Week 6 – Lunchtime

Tuesday Week 7 – Lunchtime

Friday Week 7 – Lunchtime

*Online Sign Up Sheets are now available.

Reach out to a staff member or Ms Huber if you want to ask any questions.

We are EXCITED to see your talent…

LEAD Parent Survey - Now Closing September 1

Each year, Christian College participates in the LEAD School Effectiveness Surveys conducted by Independent Schools Victoria (ISV). These surveys provide valuable insights into a school’s performance from the perspectives of students, staff and parents and are therefore an essential school improvement tool.

LEAD – Listen, Evaluate, Act, Deliver – succinctly describes the way in which this process enables our College community to grow and flourish through consultation with our valued stakeholders.

You will have received an email from ‘ISV Research Programs [email protected]’ inviting you to participate in the ISV LEAD Parent Survey. It includes a unique survey link that can only be used once and therefore cannot be shared or forwarded to others. Thank you to all parents who have completed the Parent Satisfaction Survey - we have received more than 300 responses to date. ISV has extended the deadline for survey responses - closing date is September 1. We invite any parents who have not yet participated to contribute your feedback via this year's survey. You are an integral part of our school community and your voice matters.

East Timor Trivia Night

Preparations are underway for our annual Trivia Night which raises much needed funds for the work we do in Viqueque, East Timor.

Money raised this year will help pay for a new roof for Uma Maun Alin – Friendship House – where some amazing staff and volunteers run kindergarten classes for local little ones and English classes for older children and teens.

Part of the night is a Silent Auction and we are asking CCG families for any donations.

Some donations made already, thanks to the hard work of some of our prefects, include: a signed Cats guernsey, personal training sessions, café vouchers, Geelong Lawn tennis memberships, tennis racquet and re-stringing voucher, a vet clinic voucher... and so much more!

If you are in a position to be able to donate something to this incredibly worthwhile cause please contact:

Surfcoast Campus: Claire Deretic

Junior School: Carla Dunlop

Highton Campus: Graham Barton

Bellarine Campus: Samantha Bett

Senior School: Lee Stringer

2023 CCG Science Photography Competition

As part of National Science Week, the CCG Science Faculty is delighted to invite our Year 5-12 students to enter the 2023 CCG Science Photography competition.

Students are asked to submit photographs which record some scientific event or illustrate some scientific phenomenon. They may submit between three and six photographs, which must be linked by a common theme. Prints must be submitted.

The topic may be based on any scientific theme or you may use the theme for this year’s science week which is Innovation: Powering Future Industries.

Competition entries must be submitted before Friday August 11.

Winners will be announced and entries displayed as part of our National Science Week celebrations.

We are offering three age categories for the competition.

Junior – Years 5 and 6

Intermediate  – Years 7 – 9

Open – Years 10 – 12

Detailed guidelines and entry forms are included here and can also be obtained from your science teacher.

Good luck to all entrants, we look forward to viewing your submissions!

2023 Photography entry form

2023 Photography entry guidlines

Scholarship Applications are Now Open!

Each year Christian College offers Academic Excellence Scholarships for entry at Year 5, 7 and 10 levels. Applications are now open for this year’s scholarships, which apply to entry in 2025, at three campuses – Middle School-Highton, Bellarine Campus and Surf Coast Campus.

Year 10 entry applies to Senior School-Waurn Ponds only.

To find out more, and to apply, visit our website and look for the homepage hotlink, or click here.

Scholarship applications are open to students who do not currently attend Christian College, as well as those who are currently enrolled here. Scholarship examinations will be held at Christian College on Saturday October 7. Closing date for applications is Thursday, September 28.

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