Orientation – November 7

An Orientation experience for students attending Christian College Bellarine in 2024 has been arranged for Tuesday, 7 November 2023.

Students not returning to Christian College Bellarine in 2024 are not required to attend school if in Years 1 to Year 7 for 2024 for the duration of the day, or before recess for students in Years 8 and 9 in 2024.

We hope this will be an enjoyable experience for all of our students preparing for the 2024 College year.

What’s Happening at Bellarine

Week 5

• Tuesday 31 October               Boys Transformation Open House
• Wednesday 1 November        Boys Transformation concludes
• Wednesday 1 November        Girls Back Creeks Rural concludes
• Thursday 2 November            Boys Back Creeks Rural 8 commences
• Thursday 2 November            Girls Transformation Program commences
• Thursday 2 November            2024 Prep Orientation Session 2
• Friday 3 November                Yr 9 Girls Intersection Excursion (Melbourne)

Week 6

• Monday 6 November              Junior School Assembly
• Monday 6 November              Middle School Assembly
• Tuesday 7 November             Orientation Day
• Wednesday 8 November        Prep Discovery Learning
• Friday 10 November               Yr 9 Girls You Yangs Excursion
• Saturday 11 November          Rural 8 Weekend in Residence
• Sunday 12 November            Rural 8 Weekend in Residence

Parent Survey Reminder: Generative AI, Education, Society and Future 

A reminder that all Christian College parents are invited to participate in a survey on generative artificial intelligence (AI), education, society and future to inform the College’s forward planning. 

• Take the CCG parent survey 

The parent survey is for all parents, regardless of their level of exposure to or confidence with generative AI. The survey closes this coming Monday, November 6 at 5.00pm. 

Thank you to parents who have already completed the survey. Your participation is appreciated. 

Parents who have not yet responded are encouraged to do so via the survey link above. The average response time for parents who have responded so far has been less than four minutes. We ask that you please contribute your perspective. 

Chinese New Year

Year 1 students have been learning about celebrations in Integrated Studies. This week 1D looked at how the Chinese New Year is celebrated. We learnt about the Year of the Rabbit and discovered what animal each of us are from our birth dates. We had lots of fun watching the dragon dance around the world and having a go at our dragon dancing around the classroom! We then made our own celebration dragons in bright colours. The class is looking forward to learning about other countries’ celebrations throughout the unit.

Year 4 Japanese Learning Expo

On Wednesday October 18, the Year 4 students presented their Japanese Learning Expo. Family, friends, students, and teachers visited the Expo to experience the following activities presented by the Year 4 students:

• A Hungry Caterpillar story recital
• Writing Japanese school words
• A PowerPoint quiz about Japanese schools
• Playing Kendama

The visitors left many positive comments about the students’ efforts on a feedback sheet. A selection of the comments is below:

“The Hungry Caterpillar story was excellent.”

“Amazing knowledge when explaining the quiz answers.”

“I really enjoyed writing out the school words.”

“Great job! I learnt a lot about Japan.”

The Year 4 students would like to thank all the visitors for coming to encourage them and celebrate their learning of Japanese so far this year.

The Instrumental Music Journey – Bellarine Stories

I am always in awe of the commitment and passion of our instrumental students at Christian College.

The dedication to lessons, ensembles, performances, festivals, and the social gatherings are at the heart of our faculty’s successes. This week I spoke with a few of our students and asked them to share some of their own favourite moments.

Let’s introduce Hugh in Year 6

Hugh has been playing the Double Bass at school for 5 years, starting in the Year 2 Strings Program and has taken up playing the Electric Bass at home. Hugh is also a singer.

When I asked him what his most memorable performance has been he shared: “Strings Victorian Schools Music Festival 2022 is by far the most memorable performance that I have been in because it was my first ‘big’ competition. This was time I got to see the impact that music can make on a community from the inside on stage”. Hugh is currently in the Middle School Strings, Novice Concert Band and Middle School Choir. He is also looking at trying out the Stage Band – what a busy schedule!

Wind Power!

The Year 7 cohort are currently studying a combined unit in Humanities and English, Global Citizenship, that has them investigating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals alongside our class text, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” by William Kamkwamba. Drawing inspiration from William’s quest to bring electricity to his Malawian village through a homemade windmill, the students this week tried their hand at creating their own ‘scaled down’ windmill. This task required the students to apply skills of resourcefulness, teamwork, and critical thinking. As we progress through the topic, students are pondering how future projects can address global energy needs, as well as addressing current sustainability issues, nurturing the environmental leaders of tomorrow.

Year 7 Super Healthy Stir Fry Design Brief

Using the design process Investigating, Generating, Planning, Managing and Producing, students created a ‘Super Healthy Stir Fry’ as if it was to appear in a supermarket magazine. Certain criteria had to be followed, for example, ensuring it reflected the recommendations of the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating. This task also incorporated cross-curricular links to the Year 7 Health unit where students were required to identify nutrients vital at various lifespan stages and further challenged by recognising how this can be achieved through a varied diet. Lots to consider in this task but also lots to appreciate, including devouring the delicious dish once it was prepared!

Warhammer Club – see us at the ATD Festival!

The Warhammer Club and I are very excited to present the efforts of our work at the Art, Technology and Design Festival next month. Since my last update we have completed our first war gaming board with trees that bring the terrain to life. I don’t want to spoil too much of it yet as it is a treat to see in person and we hope you will visit the Festival to check it out! We created a 3D printed diorama to go along with the board which transports the gaming board to a very important location from the Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring. We are also very excited to showcase some of the wonderful models that we have painted throughout the year and present our gaming board in the throws of an epic battle between good and evil on display at the art show.

Of course, one gaming board wasn’t enough and we needed to satisfy our desire to field epic grim dark 40k battles on an alien landscape. We have started working on a larger multi-purpose board. Although it won’t be ready for the art show, it is an exciting new project that is enabling us to combine middle-earth and the Warhammer 40k universe. Our vision is a board that can double as Mordor and an ashen war-ravaged planet surface. We have begun 3D printing the black gate and plan to build this into another smaller board that can be placed next to the main board to add context to the barren wasteland. This project has seen some new faces participate in painting and building the terrain. It is a pleasure to see students collaborating and constructing outside of class time.

From all the students at the Warhammer Club Bellarine and me, we look forward to seeing you at the ATD Festival and sharing our creations.

Surf, Sand and Inspiring Stories

We are excited to share the incredible experiences our students had during the recent Year 9 Boys’ Transformation excursion to the beach and Foundation 61 last Thursday. This excursion was a unique opportunity for our young men to explore their interests, particularly in the areas of mental health and the environment. In the morning, our students hit the waves at Ocean Grove Main Beach, trying their hand at surfing and taking a peaceful beach walk to connect with nature. Some students shared the personal connection between movement and nature and the benefits to their mental wellbeing.

In the afternoon, we had the privilege of visiting Foundation 61, an organisation on a mission to empower individuals facing life-controlling issues and help them regain control over their lives while making positive contributions to mainstream society. The Men’s Program Manager, Steve Brown, shared insights about the facility and the incredible work they do. Our students also had the chance to hear firsthand from some program participants about their life choices, offering valuable lessons and insight. This excursion was a fantastic blend of adventure and inspiration, and we look forward to seeing how it continues to shape our Year 9 boys.

Donate to Geelong Mums

For the Year 9 Transformation program, Leo, Archer, Isaiah, and Lewis are asking for donations from parents and students! Donations range from nappies, pyjamas, and shoes to bibs, baby bottles and lunch boxes (please refer to image below for more information). All must be in excellent and clean condition! We hope you can kindly support Geelong Mums by donating to this cause. Donations will kindly be accepted until Tuesday October 31.

Leo, Archer, Isaiah and Lewis, Year 9

Equestrian Girls Shine at Geelong Show

Congratulations to Bellarine students Erin Bowers (Y8) and Maddison Borthwick (Year 4), and Highton students Molly Spry (Year 9) and Sian Hayes (Year 7) – all members of the CCG Equestrian Team – who competed in showing and jumping at the Royal Geelong Show. They had a great day representing the College with their horses, performing impressively and coming home with many wins and placings to show for it! 

World Teachers Day

In classrooms across Australia today, a dedicated, passionate and well-trained group of people, around 450,000 in fact, went about their work, teaching and guiding our nation’s four million young learners. These incredible humans perhaps chose their profession for a multitude of reasons, but I suspect one of the primary motivations was a love of learning and discovery that they wish to pass on to the next generation of young people.

Today, Friday, October 27th, is World Teachers Day. It’s an opportunity to celebrate the contributions and achievements of our teachers, and the positive impact they have on the education, character development and future pathways of young lives.

Christian College Geelong is blessed to have an amazing group of teachers – from Kinder all the way through to Year 12. As you immerse yourself in this week’s Vine, can I encourage you to do two things. Firstly, as you read each article, give thanks for the teacher or teachers who wrote it. If the article is written by a student, give thanks for the teacher behind the story. And secondly, be encouraged to branch out beyond the campus your young person attends, and take in the incredible depth and breadth of learning experiences and opportunities for students across all our campuses. Articles made possible because of the wonderful work of our teachers. Articles that celebrate the learning that takes place daily, led by our teachers, in the hundred or so classrooms across our College. And articles that bear witness to the rich, diverse experiences that students gain outside the classroom – the camps, the excursions, the incursions, the music events, sports activities and so on – all thanks to the teachers who plan, organise and supervise them.

I’m so grateful the teachers we have at Christian College.

So, hats off to our teachers.

The Importance of CPR Training and AEDs

You may have read a media report recently where CPR was administered to a cyclist in Highton, following a cardiac arrest. The incident took place just outside the Middle School Highton campus. 

The first person on the scene was Associate Professor at Deakin University – and Senior School parent – Lara Fuller, who had just dropped her son off at school and was driving on Thornhill Road when she saw the cyclist fall from his bike. Whilst Lara administered CPR, a Middle School maintenance team member quickly accessed one of the campus’ strategically placed AEDs – automated external defibrillators – and brought it to the scene. According to Lara, the AED played a vital role in saving the man’s life.

The incident was a timely reminder of the importance for schools and other community organisations to be prepared in the event of a life-threatening emergency. It is a requirement of our school’s registration that all staff undergo Basic First Aid training every three years, with CPR refresher courses required annually. And each of our campuses are fitted out with one or more defibrillators (AEDs) depending on the size of the campus, as per government requirements. For the one located in the Sports and Aquatic Centre at Highton campus, it proved to be a lifesaver. 

Ambulance Victoria is currently running a month-long awareness campaign, called “Shocktober”, which highlights the importance of learning CPR and how to use an AED. They have included this story on their website, which you can read here. 

To quote Lara: “I really encourage people to do CPR training because it’s actually not hard and it’s such an important skill.”

Get Some Unique Christmas Cards and Support Williams House

This year Williams House is selling packets of Christmas cards designed by our own little artists!

We are selling our Angel/Shepherd cards for $5 for a pkt of 6 and our Nativity cards are $7 for a pkt of 10. Each packet contains either 6 or 10 different designs.

If you would like to support the kinder and share our creations with the community this Christmas, the cards are available at all CCG campus receptions and of course at Williams House. Payment can be made with cash or card.

We also take over-the-phone orders with direct deposit. Phone 5241 3556

All money raised will go towards making some new additions to our outdoor yards!

We hope you love these gorgeous creations and enjoy sharing them with your family and the community this Christmas!

With thanks from all the children and the team at WH!

We’re Hiring – Canteen Assistants

Are you looking for a fun and fulfilling casual job within a vibrant school environment? Join our team as a School Canteen Assistant and make a positive impact on the daily lives of our students.

We are currently in search of enthusiastic canteen assistants to join our team at our Middle School-Highton canteen.

Applicants are required to hold a valid Working With Children Check. Previous experience working in a canteen setting or Level 1 Food Safety Certificate would be advantageous but not essential. Responsibilities will encompass a range of tasks, including food preparation, customer service, cleaning, and stock control.

Shifts are available throughout Monday to Friday, aligned with the school calendar which constitutes 38 weeks per year. Hours are generally 9-2pm.

For a Position Description and how to apply, visit this page on our website.

Qustodio Parent App Resources

Supervise and Support Your Children on School and Personal Digital Devices

A reminder to parents that the Qustodio Parent App is available to all parents to help them supervise and support their children with their online and digital interactions at home, on both school laptops and on personal devices.

In addition to information available on the College’s Online Safety Hub, parents also have access to some helpful ‘bite-size learning’ video tutorials to help them navigate and user the Qustodio Parent App as part of our school program. There are lots of short videos to help parents get the most out of the app and use it confidently.

• Browse all the Qustodio bite-sized learning video tutorials

Some recent additions to these tutorial videos for parents include:

• • How to view your child’s online activity through the parent app
  • How to configure and use the Qustodio daily time limit feature (for personal devices)
  • How to configure and use the Qustodio restricted times features (for personal devices)

I hope that these resources empower parents to continue to supervise and support their young people at home and engage in supportive and positive dialogue about digital wellbeing.

Jam for Refugees

Tomorrow, Saturday October 28, at St Paul’s Church in Latrobe Tce Geelong, two Christian College ensembles are part of the lineup at Jam for Refugees, a fundraiser to support the work of Geelong’s Combined Refugee Action Group. It’s a full day of diverse music featuring our’s and other school ensembles, various choirs and performers, and sharing by local people who are active in refugee advocacy in Geelong and the region. It runs from 11am to 9pm – entry is by donation – come when you can, leave when you must…enjoy some great music, thought-provoking messages and support an important local cause. 

VET Information

Students who have applied for a VET course for 2024 should now know if they have been offered a position or have been put on to a waitlist. Students who have been waitlisted will be put into one of their reserved CCG subjects until a position becomes available.

Students and parents should regularly check emails as the training organisations will be in touch directly with course specific information this term. The Gordon will be inviting new first year students and parents to an information session and tour at the City Campus on November 22 from 5.30 – 6.45pm and at East Campus on November 27 from 5.30 – 6.45pm.

The training organisations prefer that all VET correspondence comes through the school. If you have any questions or require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me, [email protected] or Cathy Brew [email protected] in the student office.

College Production 2024 – Update

As published in The Vine at the end of Term 3, the College will be staging Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Broadway Version) at the Geelong Arts Centre from May 2 – 4, 2004.

Audition Registration

All students from Years 5 – 11 (in 2023) across the College will receive an email early next week, with information and a link to an online registration form. Auditions will commence across the College on designated days from Sunday October 22. To register for an audition, students must complete the online form on/by Friday October 13.

There will be an information session held at each campus for students to have an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the show. These will be held at:

Highton MS Campus Chapel                   Monday October 9 12.40

Senior Campus Music Department         Tuesday October 10 1.20pm

Bellarine Campus Auditorium                Tuesday October 10 at Lunchtime

Surf Coast Campus – Ms Notini will visit the Year 5 classroom next week.

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]