What’s Happening at Bellarine

Week 8

• Monday 4               Junior School Assembly
• Tuesday 5          Year 8 /9 Mixed Netball House Challenge
• Wednesday 6       Junior School Grandparents and Special people morning
• Thursday 7          Year 5 and 6 Swimming continues
• Thursday 7          All Things Footy Project Care Day
• Thursday 7          Year 8 /9 Mixed Netball House Challenge
• Thursday 7         6.00pm Spring Into Strings event – Senior School
• Friday 8               Prep Camp
• Friday 8               Year 8 /9 Mixed Netball House Challenge Final

Fathers’ Day Breakfast

This morning the Bellarine Junior School welcomed Dads, Grandads and a range of special visitors to join us for a bacon and egg breakfast to celebrate Fathers’ Day.  The weather held out for us which allowed the children to explore the Barn with their guests and join in a range of activities and games on the basketball courts. Year 9 baristas along with Mr Hartley and Mrs Leo were up at the crack of dawn to brew coffees and Alan and Mr Platt manned the BBQ’s.  A huge thank you to all of the visitors who joined us this morning, it was so lovely to welcome you to our school and meet some new faces we haven’t yet had the opportunity to meet! Thank you to the staff who made this morning possible, particularly Mr. Maddock who bought Coles out of bacon and eggs this week! We look forward to further opportunities where our community can come together for a time of fellowship.  

We hope all of the special men (and women) in our student’s lives enjoy a special weekend celebrating the relationships you have and the way you support the young people in your lives. 

Special Delivery From England!

This term, 1D received a special delivery from the UK. Mrs Keogh’s Mum kept up her long tradition of making bookmarks for Mrs Keogh’s class. This is the 8th year she has made them and she hasn’t repeated a picture yet! The children were excited to receive their personalised bookmarks and will hopefully keep them for many years to come. To say “Thank You” 1D made and designed cards to be sent back to the UK as a surprise!

Junior School Swimming Program

Today marks the final day of our Junior School Swimming Program. Over the last 2 weeks, our Junior students have been developing their swimming areas of technique, endurance, fitness and understanding at the Bellarine Sports and Aquatic Centre. Our students have enthusiastically participated in this program, with many students developing their confidence around the water with each lesson. As we are moving towards the warmer months of our year, we are proud that our students have gained confidence and understanding of the water to hopefully have fun and be safe this upcoming Summer.

Twit…Twoo

Year 4 students have been busy creating owls from clay using the pinch pot technique. Their goal was to mold gently and slowly with the moist clay, shape their pot into an owl form, and finally add details using different clay implements.

We are at the first stage at present, where these wise and very cute owls stand around drying out for a week. The second step involves the owls being fired in the kiln and finally, colour is added, giving the students’ clay owls a real personality.

Look out for the finished sculptures in the next couple of weeks.

Year 4 Community Organisations

As part of our Integrated Studies unit this term on the rights and responsibilities of people in communities. The Year 4 Bellarine students have been investigating an organisation that is focused on assisting the local and global community in some way. Organisations studied have included the Food Bank Drysdale, Save the Children, Geelong Mums, SES and the RSPCA just to name a few. Students have used multiple platforms on their devices including Microsoft Teams, Adobe Express and the Library Research Hub to assist in creating a final product that they will then present to their class before the end of term. Students had a guest speaker during the unit, Mr. Brendan Vanderkley our Christian College director of digital learning, to assist them with building upon their knowledge and guiding them through the new platform Adobe Express. We are so proud of the students and the learning they have displayed.

Library News

Author Visit

On Tuesday, the Years 2 – 4 gathered to listen to Kristine Fitzgerald, a local author. Kristine spoke about her writing, why she became an author, how illustrations bring the writing to life. She also spoke about writing for fun and anyone can write a great story.  Then it was the students turn to try.  Kristine gave them some prompts about writing a story about a lost dog – what is the characters name, what’s the dog’s name, where did it get lost, what town are you in, etc. The students excitedly began planning their stories with great names for dogs and characters. Their imagination was running wild!

Grandparents/Special Friends Day Book Stall

With Grandparents/Special Friends Day next week, the Library will be holding a Book Stall. This gives Grandparents/Special Friends the opportunity to purchase a book and donate to the Library, leaving a Family Legacy for years to come. A special plaque will be added to the book. There will be a large selection to choose from and EFTPOS will be available. We look forward to seeing you at the Book Stall.

Tournament of Minds

Over the duration of this term, 14 Year 5/6 students (in two teams of 7) have been preparing each Tuesday afternoon to compete in the Tournament of Minds Regional Final at Deakin University.

Tournament of Minds is a problem-solving program for teams of 7 students from either primary or secondary years. TOM is an opportunity for students with a passion for learning and problem solving to demonstrate their creative skills and talents.

At the Regional Final last Sunday 27th August, our two Bellarine teams each competed in one of the four possible categories: Language; Social Sciences; STEM; and The Arts. “The Irregulars” (The Arts) comprised the varied skills of Oscar Keddie, Layla Maddock, Thomas Merlo, Pippa Paterson, Abharna Sanjeev, Jack Taylor and Hugh Whitaker. “The Bird Builders” (STEM) involved the combined talents of Sophie Bodger, Jade Dalton, Owen De’Araugo, Emily Muhlnickel, George Pittwood, Oliver Suzarte and Xavier Underwood. Each team had to present, to a panel of judges, both a solution to their long-term challenge that they have been working on for the last six weeks, as well as a solution to a spontaneous challenge with only four minutes preparation time!

The exciting news is that both our Bellarine teams impressed the judges, each winning their respective categories! Congratulations to all the students involved! This means that they get to progress to the State Finals on Sunday September 10 at La Trobe University, Bundoora.

The students have enjoyed a fun and fruitful journey this term, which now continues. I would like to thank all the students, parents and staff for all their efforts and support.

Year 7s Begin Their Videos for Change

For their summative assessment in Term 3, the Year 7 Humanites classes have begun to work on their Videos for Change. This is the culmination of all their work throughout their Living in Australia unit this term. Based on a competition of a global scale, the Videos for Change task asks students to establish a community issue they are passionate about. Students then go on to plan, film, edit and submit a video that expresses this issue and what needs to be done about it.

Established in 2015, the Videos for Change competition have since run globally, with submissions and winners from all around the world as they share issues of both a global and local scale. CCG Bellarine’s Eve Hicks was the joint winner of the National Junior Award last year for her entry! These videos are limited to one minute, landscape shorts that creatively and effectively convey the intended message and issue.

Over the coming weeks, students will work to create their own videos, be it animated, live action or even a creative poem. Through this students will learn about the voice they have in our community and the influence we can have on the people around us and our broader Australian community.

We look forward to seeing the Videos for Change that the Year 7s submit this year, and the changes they want to see in their communities.

Bryce Watkins, Pre-Service Teacher
On behalf of the Year 7 Humanities Teachers

Deakin District Athletics

On Thursday the 24th of August, the College took 44 Year 4, 5 and 6 Bellarine students to Goldsworthy athletics reserve in Corio to compete in the Deakin District athletics. The Bellarine students were in a combined team with students from the Surf Coast campus.

A massive congratulations to all students on their participation and effort throughout the day against some quality opposition.

We were impressed with all students’ efforts on the day with standout performances from:

• Harvey Stefanovski finished 1st in the 9/10-year-olds boys 800 and 1500m events.
• Ellie Cox finished 2nd in the 11- year-old girl’s high jump and 3rd in the 200m.
• Elodie Barker finished 3rd in the 11-year-old girl’s high jump.
• Lachlan Mavromihalis finished 2nd in the 12/13- year-old boys discus.
• Patrick Clark finished 3rd in the 1500m and 4th in 800m in the 11-year-old boys.
• Layla Maddock finished 2nd in the 12/13- year-old girls shot put.
• Lexie Strachan finished 3rd in the 9/10- year-old girls 1500m and 800m.
• Harry Judge finished 4th in the 12/13- year-old boys 1500m and 800m.
• Tayte McKenzie finished 3rd in the 12/13- year-old girls 1500m.
• Madison Gelicrisio finished 3rd in the 9/10-year-old girls shot put.
• Shyloh Smith- finished 2nd in the 12/13- year-old girls discus.

Harvey Stefanovski, Lachlan Mavromihalis, Layla Maddock, Ellie Cox, and Shyloh Smith now move on to compete in the Division athletics on Tuesday the 5th of September. We would like to wish these students all the best and will follow their progress with interest.

Year 8 Elective Music Class Concert

It was great to welcome the Year 3 Music Class into our Group Performance Concert this week in Year 8 Music Elective. The Year 8 Students have been busy preparing solo and group performances to share with each other and they did a wonderful job this week in that space. Please enjoy a few snaps of our performances this week.

Exploring Identity in Year 9 Art Making and Exhibiting

Year 9 Bellarine Art students have been making excellent progress on their folios and artwork for this term’s exploration of ‘Identity’. Choosing a medium of their choice and by extensively considered a way to represent their ‘Identity’ visually, the class has begun crafting their final artworks. The dedication to the development of their folios and final artworks exhibited by this group of students has been very inspiring. Equally the uniqueness of their approaches and willingness to express themselves artistically has enabled them to encourage and enrich one another’s work. Excitingly, in collaboration with the Highton Campus’ year 9s they have the wonderful opportunity to design an installation to showcase their artworks at the forthcoming Art Show. While our planning is just beginning the students are keen to create an engaging and unique experience for attendees to enjoy.

Year 9 GEOS – The Great Ocean Walk

We have no doubt that there were some extremely tired students making their way home following the three day, two night Year 9 GEOS the Great Ocean Walk on Wednesday. We were blessed with ideal walking conditions that provided for stunning views and perfect temperatures for our program. Students’ highlights of their more memorable moments included river crossings, listening to the sounds of an overnight thunderstorm whilst snuggled up in tents, soaking sore limbs in the cool waters of Parker Inlet beach and Aire River, taking time to appreciate the stunning views of the rugged western aspect of Cape Otway to getting up close to three very animated koalas, roasting marshmallows over the campfire and for a couple of students, even spotting a tiger snake along the path near the Cape Otway Lighthouse. Along with these highlights, students were challenged to step outside of their comfort zone, whether that was sleeping in a tent, preparing all their own meals, developing new friendships, or hiking up and down steep hills and over a variety of terrain with heavy hiking packs. This experience deliberately aimed to develop resilience, independence, interdependence and perseverance. This trip combined curriculum elements including studying local ecosystems, historical and contemporary uses for natural environments, as well as how to prepare well for wilderness expeditions.

National Health and Physical Education Week

Friday the 8th of September

Purpose

• Week 8 is National Health and Physical Education week. At Christian College Bellarine, we will be celebrating this day on Friday September 8th.
• As Australian school children rank amongst the worst in the world when it comes to their physical activity levels. To tackle this problem, they need to be taught skills and have better knowledge and understanding of how to lead active and healthy lifestyles.
• National Health and Physical Education (HPE) day has been designed to raise awareness of and advocated for, a greater focus of HPE in schools.
• The theme of HPE day this year is Good for Children, Good for Schools, and Good for Communities.
• On Friday 8th of September- All students are encouraged to wear their PE uniform and get involved in activities at recess on the outdoor basketball court. Free fruit will be provided.

Did you know:

• That children ages 5-18 should be getting at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day.
• Children aged 5-18 should be limiting their screen time to no more than 2 hours per day- excluding for school purposes.

R U OK Day

The mental health of all members of a school community is a critical component to overall wellbeing and therefore it is vital that we encourage open conversations about it. As a national initiative, R U OK? day offers a timely and powerful reminder of the importance of checking in with one another in a meaningful way as a tool to strengthen connections and foster a sense of belonging and understanding. As we have done so for many years, Christian College will actively participate and engage with R U OK? day held on Thursday 14th September. On this day we are encouraging students to wear a ‘dash of yellow’ with their school uniform. We will be running various College-wide staff versus student’s sports challenges and in our dedicated wellbeing sessions, we will connect students with a range of activities designed to strengthen belonging, empathy and understanding and to build listening skills. Finally, we will also be running a photo or art competition with the theme ‘Here to Hear’. Our aim is to create a canvas of support, encouraging conversations about mental health and this creative vision can help remind us all that we’re here to listen and support one another. Whilst this day holds immense value in encouraging open conversations about mental health, R U OK? Day is just one part of our broader commitment to fostering a positive and inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and supported.

Guitar and Piano Ensembles at the Bellarine Campus

Did you know we offer a variety of small ensembles at the Bellarine Campus?

These include our fabulous Guitar and Piano ensembles; and we would like to invite new members to consider coming to try them out!

Guitar ensemble is open to students of various ages who can read notes. Students can chat to their guitar teacher about whether their skills are well enough developed and go from there. Our piano ensemble is currently open to Middle School Students who have started their piano journey and are enjoying their reading and looking to collaborate with others.

You can reach out to myself, or to Ivan Bilic [email protected] for the Guitar Ensemble and Molly Hanson [email protected] or Regina Thomae [email protected] for the Piano ensemble.

One for All and All for One!

“This world is an uncertain realm, filled with danger. Honor undermined by the pursuit of power, freedom sacrificed when the weak are oppressed by the strong. But there are those who oppose these powerful forces, who dedicate their lives to truth, honour, and freedom. These men are known as Musketeers. Rise, D'Artagnan, and join them.”

Alexandrea Durmas – The Three Musketeers, 1844

For many there’s nothing better than a dress up, for others they can think of nothing worse! Last week’s Book Week celebrations saw literary characters of every kind arrive at school across our Junior and Middle School campuses in a flurry of colour, face paint, excitement and joy.

It was my pleasure to be one of ‘The Three Musketeers’ alongside our Acting Principal Mr Rick Geall and our Head of Wellbeing Mrs Kim Doherty for Book Week and to deliver a devotions together about the significance of teamwork.

Sport News

Suzanna Mavromihalis (10F1) competed in the Australian National Cross-Country Championships as a member of the Victorian Team in Canberra last weekend. After a strong run in a quality field, Suzanna finished 21st out of 59 girls in her age group and was the 5th fastest Victorian girl overall. She was very happy with this performance, as she was hoping for top 30. Suzanna is already training and aiming to make this State team again in 2024. We congratulate her on this brilliant performance and wish her all the very best in achieving her future goals.

Ashton Schram (9R) was selected in the State U16 Hockey team that played at the School Sport Australia National Championships in Adelaide. The Vic team made the play-off match for the bronze medal, with the match providing an exciting ‘goal for goal’ spectacle before going down 4-3 to South Australia. As a result of a successful year with this State team, and earlier with the Vic U15 team, Ashton has been selected for the Melbourne under 16 ‘Futures Team’ that will be playing several games interstate over the next few months. The college wishes Ashton all the very best with this next stage of his career.

National Science Week Photography Competition Results

A number of students from Bellarine and Highton campuses embraced the opportunity to enter our recent Science Week Photography Competition. The brief was to take and submit 3-6 photos that link together and demonstrate a scientific concept or principle.

First place was awarded to Jessica Phelan, Year 8 at Bellarine campus for her series of four photographs illustrating fluid dynamics using different photos of bubbles.

Second place was awarded to Sarrah Millie, Year 7 at Middle school campus for her series of five photographs demonstrating the upward lift and hydraulic pressure evident when a strawberry is dropped into a bowl of water.

We congratulate all students who took part and hope they enjoyed themselves and learnt a little bit more about science along the way!

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