Reserve Your Place!
Wellbeing Evening and Cyber Safe Schools Program Launch
We enjoyed a fantastic night with the parents, families, students and staff attending the first Digital Wellbeing Evening held at our Senior School Campus last night, Thursday 1st September. If you have not yet taken the opportunity to reserve your place at the second and final of our two nights, please save the date and reserve your place now! We would love to see you there. We encourage you to take a few minutes to view the video below to find out more about this important event. The evening will be presented at our Bellarine Campus next Thursday 8th September starting at 7pm. We expect to run for about 45 minutes, finishing with time for questions and a cuppa together.
We ask all Parents and Families to share their attending intentions with us via our online RSVP Response Form. Please access the form by clicking the image or link below.
https://forms.office.com/r/QwN6TXBE41
National Science Week
Last week around Australia, National Science Week was celebrated.
In the Junior School at Bellarine, we continued with our scientific studies in ‘From Plants to Us’ in Prep, ‘Light and Sound’ in Year 1 and 2 and ‘Materials, Forces and Heat’ in Years 3 and 4.
In Year 2 as a part of the ‘Sound’ component of their studies, the children made icy pole stick kazoos, they had great fun making and playing the kazoos and examining the science behind making the instruments work. During the last week of this term the Year 1 and 2 students will be participating in a Light and Sound Expo, where they will share their learnings from this unit of work.
It has been pleasing to see so many students across the year levels take up the opportunity to enter the National Science Week Christian College Geelong Colouring, Drawing, Photography, or Creative Writing competitions, which had the theme of ‘Glass – More Than Meets the Eye’. Competition results will be announced in the coming weeks.
Overall, this has been a wonderful time of learning for all of the students involved.
Plant Crazy Preps
The Prep students have turned into avid gardeners as our plants have sprouted just in time for Spring! Early in our Integrated Studies unit we planted seeds to help us learn about how a plant grows and what special things we need to do to help it grow strong.
After weeks of caring for our plants and making sure they have everything they need to survive, our beans have sprouted into plants. The Prep children have been eagerly checking their bean plants every morning and carefully following all the stages of a plant’s life cycle.
A Great Accomplishment Year 2
It is exciting to see how proud the Year 2 students are of the robots they have designed and constructed over the term in Art.
Each child’s creation has involved a variety of skills and techniques – some obvious, some quite subtle, but all adding to the final piece of work.
The beauty of art is that there is no one answer to the many questions that each inventor asks himself or herself as they go about the different options the project presents during construction. Students have been encouraged to think imaginatively and to build their confidence, as they have designed and built these amazing robots.
As you can see, each one has a unique look and plenty of personality.
Bellarine Book Week Celebrations
This year the Book Week theme is ‘Dreaming with eyes open’and this term students have been exploring the books, authors and illustrators that have been shortlisted forthe Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards. The excitement is building for our Book Week celebration on Tuesday 6th September at 9:15am in the gymnasium. All Junior School students have voted, costumes are coming along smoothly (I hope) and it’s nearly time to celebrate our love of reading.
There will be lunchtime activities for both Junior and Middle school students next week. Students from Years 3-9 are invited to the Reading Room each day to read the start of this year’s Younger Readers shortlist and be inspired to try something new by a selection of the ‘Best Ever Book Hooks’.
You may have seen a number of articles published over the last week or two about the pressure vs. the value of dressing up for Book Week. We acknowledge and thank you for your support creating imaginative and clever costumes with our students. We are all reminded that it is not about the cost,or the costume, but about cultivating and nurturing a true curiosity and love of story and a culture of reading in our community.
Book Week: it’s not the costume that matters, but falling in love with reading (theconversation.com)
Deakin District Athletics
On Thursday the 25th of August, the College took 37 Year 4, 5 and 6 Bellarine students to Landy Field in South Geelong to compete in the Deakin District athletics. This event was a first for all students on the day, as it hasn’t been held for the past two years. 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:
- Zoe Sambucco finished 3rd in high jump and 4th in the 100m for the 12/13-year-old girls.
- Elodie Barker finished equal 1st in the 9/10-year-old girl’s high jump.
- Lachlan Mavromihalis finished 2nd in the 11- year-old boys discus.
- Hamish Bull finished 3rd in the 11- year-old boys discus.
- Olivia Clark finished 3rd in the 1500m and 800m in the 12/13-year-old girls.
- Patrick Clark finished 3rd in the 1500m and 800m in the 9/10-year-old boys.
- Lexie Strachan finished 3rd in the 9/10- year-old girls 1500m.
- Harry Judge finished 3rd in the 11- year-old boys 1500m and 4th in the 800m.
- Amelia McAleer finished 3rd in the 11- year-old girls discus.
Zoe Sambucco, Lachlan Mavromihalis and Elodie Barker 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.
Tournament of the Minds 2022
We made it! It was with great anticipation and excitement that the Bellarine Campus team made up of Year 5 and 6 students competed at this year’s Tournament of the Minds (TOM). TOM is a program for primary and secondary aged students who work together to solve authentic, open-ended challenges. Our team this year was known as ‘The Mystery Minds’ who worked in the area of The Arts.
Our team, consisting of Elodie Barker, Abharna Sanjeev, Owen De’Araugo, Harrison Gerdsen-Nihill, Jessica Berra, Sean Koopman and Harley Hickson, was given their challenge seven weeks prior to the competition day and was required to find an innovative solution. The team would share their solution in a scripted performance in front of the TOM judges. Many rules outlined the space they performed in, and the materials they could use to create costumes and props. As well as the long-term challenge, our teams would also need to solve a spontaneous challenge on the day. This would involve an unseen problem and a short amount of time to present a solution in front of judges, all without teacher support.
Challenge day arrived and our team headed to Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, to present their solutions to the judges. Team spirit and enthusiasm was evident as the team tackled the spontaneous challenge and their long-term challenge with tenacity, and a little bit of nerves.
All students must be commended for their level of commitment, perseverance, and teamwork, as they gave up lunchtimes and after school time to meet and collaborate. They worked through frustrations and differences to come together and present as a team, and their sense of triumph shone through on challenge day. I would also like to thank all the students’ parents for their wonderful support throughout the seven weeks.
The judges were also impressed by what our team accomplished as they were awarded with Honours! Congratulations to ‘The Mystery Minds’ and their outstanding effort in the 2022 Tournament of the Minds.
Semester 2 Weekly Maths Challenge Number 8
Welcome to the eighth edition of the weekly mathematics conundrums and logical questions. Each week a different maths question is posed to share the fun of mathematical trivia. Share the thrill with your family and friends and amaze them with your maths and logic skills!
Did you get last week’s answer? Check out the solution below.
Challenge Number 7 solution
You’re at a fork in the road in which one direction leads to the City of Lies (where everyone always lies) and the other to the City of Truth (where everyone always tells the truth). There’s a person at the fork who lives in one of the cities, but you’re not sure which one. What question could you ask the person to find out which road leads to the City of Truth?
Answer: “Which direction do you live?” Someone from the City of Lies will lie and point to the City of Truth; someone from the City of Truth would tell the truth and point to the City of Truth.
Challenge Number 8 Question
For this week’s challenge I’ve gone for another question that will again engage the mathematical logic side of your brains.
Four people (Bruce, Albo, Danii and Kylie) want to cross a river in a boat that can only carry 100kg. Bruce weighs 90kg, Albo weighs 80kg, Danii weighs 60kg and Kylie weighs 40kg, and they have 20kg of supplies. How do they get across?
Remember no Googling allowed. Answer in next week’s edition of The Vine. Enjoy!
Year 5 and Year 6 Maths Tournament
Our current Year 5/6 Maths project is based around making sense of the world with a mathematic perspective through the play of simple strategy games.
Games can show students that Maths is a place where play is natural and necessary, and gives them a motivated context to practice arithmetic skills and think strategically. Often, the thinking process that begins with asking “if I do this, what will my opponent do?” leads to deeper mathematical thinking. This leads from basic play or testing of strategies to deeper mathematical analysis.
Our students quickly developed their strategies and were able to justify their winning ideas by creating strategy guides that contained examples, scenarios and explanations. To wrap up our project we conducted a tournament of each game between the Year 5 & 6 students.
The Grade 5 & 6 champions are Abbie Curtis (winner of Blockout), Owen Edmonds (winner of Factor Chess) and Archie Underwood (winner of Hex). The winners received a hot chocolate from our Bean Break Café and a 3D printed trophy (thank you to Mr Viegas for the loan of the 3D printer).
Year 5 Science Is Out of this World
Year 5 students have been studying our solar system this term and have been pondering the sheer sizes involved; from the diameter of planets to the distances planets are in relation to each other and the Sun. Modelling tasks have enabled students to begin to comprehend the enormity of space and marvel at the facts involved with the study of astronomy. To infinity and beyond!
Year 6 Letter Writing
The Year 6s have been expanding their vocabulary and learning about formal and informal language, its uses and appropriate application. We have focused on modern forms of communication such as emails and text messages along with more traditional models, including handwritten letters and post cards. Students were tasked to apply their new lexicon to the ‘old fashioned’ art of letter writing and communicate with an exemplary educator they have encountered during their educational journey at Christian College. It was fabulous to see students reflect on teachers who have made an impact on their lives and tell them!
Year 7/8 Sport Term 3
This week saw the final round of the Year 7/8 GISSA competition for Term 3. Our students displayed great teamwork and sportsmanship in their matches, competing in basketball, badminton, table tennis, Gaelic football and judo. Our Bellarine students had a very successful inter-school competition, showing enormous growth and progress in their sports which often resulted in a win on the scoreboard!
Students will be selecting their sports for Term 4. On offer will be volleyball, softball, cricket, tennis and water polo. We are looking forward to another exciting term of sport!
Systems Engineering at Year 7
Students in Systems and Engineering are off to a great start. They have been engaged and enthusiastically designing, producing, and testing prototype solutions to their design brief. Using the Lego Robotics and EV3 software as a foundation, students have started to explore sensors and simple engineering components for construction. They have been working collaboratively to design solutions to problems whilst they assemble, build, and troubleshoot their projects. After their initial system ports and software updates, along with battery and initial code checks they have gone onto testing and coding motors and sensors including the touch, ultrasonic, colour, infrared sensors. Some have used the gyro sensor to monitor their robot’s balance.
Wilsons Prom Adventure
The Year 9 GEOS (Geography, Environmental and Outdoor Education Studies) elective class has been on an adventure through the remote, pristine environment at Wilsons Prom. Here students hiked through the diverse range of ecosystems, visited the most southern area of mainland Australia and witnessed the sights of the spectacular coastline as well as the amazing biodiversity of flora and fauna. Along the way, everyone has undertaken growth in a range of different areas. Some particularly learnt about themselves, their capacity to persevere and become more self-sufficient in the outdoor setting. Students also developed their collaborative and interdependence skills as well as learning about the environment and the historical significance of Wilsons Prom. The skills recognised and developed on this trip are highly valuable and transferable skills to their lives back at home and as 21st century learners. Enjoy reading the following student reflections.
I enjoyed being in a new place and seeing all the different ecosystems. I enjoyed camping with my group and getting to know them better. The hike was physically challenging as the days were long and we covered a lot of kilometers. The hike was over steep hills and sometimes downhill, plus having the heavy pack made it extra challenging. When we finished, I felt relieved and proud of what I achieved. I learnt that I am more capable and resilient than I thought and I can overcome challenges. I think that overcoming these challenges on the hike will help me in the future to realise I can persevere and overcome other daily challenges. It was a great experience for the Year 9 students.
Amelia Hopper
On the Prom trip I observed many types of plants and animal species. The beaches were pristine, the water was crystal clear and really blue. I enjoyed venturing through nature, the experience was different for everybody. I found it challenging to hike in wet shoes after experiencing rain on the first day and also setting up our tent in the dark. But I managed to overcome these challenges by pushing on, remembering that everyone is challenged in some way and also having a quality head torch. After learning about the Prom in class it was great to go and see it for ourselves. We are currently writing picture story books for Junior School which reflect our time at the Prom, what we observed and some of the threats and protective strategies.
Cohen Hall
Blueberry Pies
On Friday, Yr 9 Food Studies made their own short crust pasty and then made delicious blueberry pies. Students carefully created lattice work and edge work to make their pies visually appealing.
Congratulations to all!
Year 9 Lunch and Munch Cafe
As part of the Year 9 Business Food Studies class, the students chose to run a lunchtime ‘Lunch and Munch’ 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, milkshakes and choc chip pancakes outside in the barn then inside were crepes, tacos, popcorn chicken, sushi and gyozas – yum! It was wonderful to have the CCG Ceilidh band performed to add to the atmosphere.
We are donating $100 to Charlotte Muller who recently cut her hair for charity and is in our class!
Camp Australia Staff Recruitment
Camp Australia, the nationally recognised leader in Outside School Hours Care, is seeking new team members - please click on the link to the poster below:
Important VET Information for Subject Selection 2023
Vocational Education Training (VET) is offered as a subject in Year 10, 11 and 12 at CCG Senior Campus. Students travel off campus to either The Gordon or a government or catholic school (non-Gordon) who offer the courses one afternoon a week. Year 10 students study VET as well as VCE Unit 1 Industry and Enterprise over the whole year which includes a week of work experience. VET is mandatory for students studying the new VCE Vocational Major (VM) and optional for VCE students. More information can be found in the subject selection booklets and on the Senior School Hub – VET for 2023 on SEQTA.
VET Course Information, Application Processes and Dates for 2023
- SELECT VET AS A CCG SUBJECT.
- Create a Unique Student Identifier at https://www.usi.gov.au/
- Choose your VET course from either The Gordon or Non Gordon
- APPLY FOR YOUR VET COURSE.
Non-Gordon Courses (Government and Catholic School Offerings)
Course information and application form can be found on the Senior School Hub. It will also be emailed to all Year 9 students and parents.
A hard copy application form is to be completed and returned to the CCG Senior Campus student office.
APPLICATIONS OPEN AUGUST 2nd FOR ALL STUDENTS
Second year students need to complete the application form to reapply for 2023.
Gordon Courses
COURSE INFORMATION AND ONLINE APPLICATION LINKS CAN BE FOUND ON Senior School Hub – VET for 2023 on SEQTA or by visiting https://www.thegordon.edu.au/sitedocs/publications/vet-delivered-to-secondary-students-guide.aspx
APPLICATIONS OPEN AUGUST 16 – VCE, VCE VM & VPC STUDENTS only
APPLICATIONS OPEN AUGUST 30 – YEAR 10 STUDENTS
Second year students do not need to reapply.
General Information
Early applications are highly recommended to secure a place. Most VET course run over 2 years. VET typically runs on Wednesday afternoons for 1st Year students and Monday afternoons for 2nd year students.
Year 10 VET students’ study VCE Unit 1 Industry & Enterprise for 3 periods a week and attend VET for 2 periods a week. They do a work placement in the first week of the holidays at the end of term 2.
CCG provides transport to VET – students make their own way home. VET courses incur an additional fee that is course dependent. CCG offers a subsidy.
For any queries about VET please contact me at Senior Campus or at k.fearnsides@ccg.vic.edu.au
THE GORDON VET STUDENTS
2nd Year Gordon students do not need to reapply. Please notify the student office if you plan to withdraw for 2023.
NON GORDON RTO’s, Belmont High, BSC, MFSC & Covenant College
2nd Year students must reapply, application forms available from the Student Office or on the Senior Hub.
Scholarship Applications for 2024 Entry now Open!
Each year we offer Academic Excellence Scholarships for entry at Year 5 (Middle School-Highton, Bellarine and Surf Coast campuses); Year 7 (Middle School-Highton and Bellarine); and Year 10 (Senior School-Waurn Ponds).
These scholarships have been designed primarily to encourage and support new and current students who wish to attend Christian College and who demonstrate high levels of academic excellence.
We are now seeking scholarship applications for entry at any of those year levels in 2024.
For more information, and to apply, please see our website. Use the hotlink from our homepage or click here
Applications close on Thursday September 29. The examination date is Saturday October 8.
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
When travelling down a rough road, you need to have both hands on the steering wheel in order to maintain your direction. Do you have control of your life now or are you just bouncing along with one hand on the wheel.... blaming others?
Worth thinking about 👍😊
Discover more about MYTERN here