Term 4 Week 9

As the year comes to a close, I wish to thank you, the parents and students, for sticking with us throughout an incredibly challenging season including lockdowns, CL@H, on-site learning, starts, stops, and pauses on various events and activities.

However, I do hope you have been able to reflect on the incredible opportunities afforded to our students, in viewing the vast array of ‘virtual’ celebrations over the past two weeks. The incredible creative talents of our students presented in the Art, Technology & Design Festival, the beautiful music created and shared online from the amazing R.W. Gibson Centre, and the individual Campus Celebration Evenings, acknowledging the ‘Learning That Matters’ for our students, have all been wonderful moments. But most importantly, we have had the opportunity to honour and give God all the glory for what we have collectively been able to share and achieve in 2021.

I wish to commend our whole community for the incredible teaching and learning undertaken this year. Teaching and learning that has occurred at school, in your home, outdoors, in isolation, with family members, and with friends. It has taken grit, determination and resolve to work through each challenge we have confronted. Everyone has gone above and beyond, and we could not have cared for, encouraged, and supported our young people without the partnership of our families. I also wish to thank the dedicated team of incredible teaching and professional support staff, for their tireless work and service to support the learning and wellbeing of our students. My sincere thanks also go to the campus leadership teams who have had to re-think, re-design and re-plan multiple initiatives whilst working within the ever-changing COVID-19 guidelines. This has been an exceptional effort from our entire community at Christian College Geelong. Thank you.

As we look toward the end of another year, I think it is important for us to acknowledge, that in life, challenges will always present, in various fashions and forms. It is how we confront and deal with such challenges that can have lasting impacts on our personal health, our wellbeing, and our relationships. Where do we turn in our time of need? I am reminded of Psalm 121. When Jewish pilgrims made their way to the temple in Jerusalem, they had a group of poems they recited together as they travelled, and these poems or psalms were called the “songs of ascent.”

Psalm 121 describes the anxiety pilgrims would sometimes feel while making the trip. Many travellers would pass through Jericho and the road from Jericho to Jerusalem rises almost 1000 metres. The mountain roads were dangerous, robbers and bandits could lurk around any corner, and it was a physically demanding journey.

The Psalm begins by saying, “I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from?” Psalm 121:1. It is easy for us to imagine an anxious traveller eying the ominous mountains ahead and worrying about their safety. Who would protect them? “Where does my help come from?” The Psalm offers an answer to this question.

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth.

He will not let your foot slip – He who watches over you will not slumber.

Indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you – the Lord is your shade at your right hand.

The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm – He will watch over your life.

The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. Psalm 121:2-8

As we continue to face the uncertainties of life, we may ask the same question: where will our help come from? Where will we put our trust? Where can we find hope?

The answer remains the same, our help comes from the Lord. He will never leave us or forsake us; He is never too distracted or too tired to come alongside us. We have eternal security knowing that God is our ever-present help, and we can fully trust in Him.

As you celebrate Christmas, the birth of our Saviour, with your families this year, may you find peace, hope and reassurance in the Lord and His salvation.

I pray that you can enjoy a great time of renewal over the holiday period, relaxing, and reconnecting with family and friends. For those who are travelling, may God grant you safe travelling mercies, just as He did for the pilgrims on their journey to Jerusalem.

We look forward with great anticipation to seeing you all in the new year when school recommences for our students on Monday 31^st January 2022.

As we bring the 2021 academic year to a close today, on behalf of all of the staff at the Bellarine Campus, I wish to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all of our families for your support and partnership throughout 2021. As shared in the Bellarine Junior and Middle Celebration evenings, and again with students today in our final assemblies, we are so proud of the way each young person has joyfully engaged in rich and purposeful learning, enabling them to accomplish amazing things in spite of the challenges that have been presented. I commend each one of our Bellarine students for their endeavor this year, along with their positive contributions to our campus community.

Our Christmas services today in both the Junior and Middle Schools were a wonderful celebration of Jesus’ birth, bringing to the fore through story and song the opportunity each of us has to live a life in friendship and purpose with Christ. I thank our Junior School Choir, our Ukulele musicians, our Middle School Percussion Group, the Year 6 nativity scene producers and the students that led singing, narrated and participated in readings throughout our services, thank you!

On behalf of the staff of the Bellarine Campus, we look forward to welcoming you on Monday the 31^st January 2022, to a remarkable year ahead, of life and learning together. Until then, I pray you have a wonderful break and a blessed Christmas.

The Prep children have been very busy working on a little project to spread some joy in the world! As part of our Christian Education studies, we have been learning all about ‘kindness’ and spreading the word of God to ‘Love Thy Neighbour’ (Matthew 22:39). We decided we would do a ‘Random Act of Kindness’ for the residents of Deborah Cheetham Retirement Village in Ocean Grove.

In Integrated Studies, we have been learning all about plants and the children put their learning into action by designing and planting a small pot plant, making sure their plant had all it needed to grow and flourish.

Each student also wrote a wonderful letter to a resident, to accompany their pot plant gift, showcasing the writing skills they have developed throughout the year. When it was time to deliver our plants and letters, it was so lovely to see how this seemingly small act of kindness actually had such a large impact on those receiving the gift. Many residents even wrote back to their Prep friend and the children were delighted to receive a letter in reply. In a year that has been challenging on many levels, spreading kindness and God’s love was both a rich learning experience for students and a rewarding experience for all involved!

Last week, six Year 4 students were able to have a 30-minute Zoom meeting with four Year 4 students from Oozu Primary School in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan.

Our students first introduced themselves in Japanese by saying their names and ages. They then taught the Oozu students the English translation of Japanese words that had been studied in this term’s ‘Cat and Fish’ story.

Next, our students demonstrated their skills at the Kendama ball and stick game. Finally, the students played a tournament of Rock Paper Scissors in Japanese.

Our students made the following comments about the Zoom meeting:

‘I was so excited to meet the Japanese students.’

‘I was really nervous but excited to talk to the Japanese students.’

‘It was pretty cool that we were able to speak to real Japanese students in Japan.’

‘I was super happy to be part of such an amazing experience.’

‘I will remember that experience for the rest of my life.’

The LOTE faculty would like to thank our Year 4 students and homeroom teachers for their help in making the meeting a great success.

On Monday the 29^th of November the Year 4 students and their homeroom teachers prepared to head to Queenscliff for the all-day bike ride as a culmination to the Bike Education program.

With the sun shining, students rode from school along the rail trail, all the way to Queenscliff. With plenty of stops along the way it was a wonderful way to enjoy the bush and ocean scenery. Students used the skills they had learned and practised during our bike education sessions to arrive safely at Princess Park in Queenscliff.

The day was finished off nicely with time to play with friends and a game of cricket in the park.

Students are to be congratulated for their efforts on the day and throughout the whole Bike Education program. I encourage all students to continue riding their bikes regularly to further develop their skills and road awareness.

A huge thank-you to all staff for taking time out of their busy schedules to support the Year 4students on the bike ride.

The annual Junior School Kickball competition was held again this year in weeks 7 and 8 of Term 4. There was great skill, teamwork, House spirit and lots of fun on display throughout the competition. It was also pleasing to see the number of students who came to support their house. Flynn won all their games in the qualifying rounds and went on to defeat Taylor in the Grand Final to become the champions of 2021. We look forward to continuing the competition again next year.

What a beautiful day for our last Project Care day of 2021.

As part of our House Challenge day, the students were asked to dress in their house colours and bring a gold coin donation to raise money for our sponsor child in Indonesia, Jojo. The atmosphere at school was bright this morning with house spirit being very strong.

Well done to everyone for taking part and helping us raise over $700 that will help Jojo, his family, as well as his extended community.

A special shout out to my Year 8 helpers today, Brody, Sophia, Sienna and Coby for helping feed everyone our hotdogs. They were amazing.

It has been another tough year for our students and many families within our community. It is always so amazing to see and feel the support of our school community for Project Care here at Christian College Bellarine. As we finish another year, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to our students and their families, as well as the staff for all of the support that our Project Care program has been given this year. We have been able to help so many people who have needed it in many different ways.

I hope everyone has a restful holiday and a very merry Christmas.

Not even COVID was able to destroy the spirits of the grade 5 students in achieving their goal. The students in Stemming the Tide focus on energy and design and build solar model boats. They would have participated in a statewide competition, but due to COVID restrictions the competition was cancelled and we had a contest between the two Year 5 classes. All students are to be congratulated on their achievement as they produced boats of a very good standard.  After a photo finish the placements were as follow:

1^st  Tara Zeinstra, Addison Muller

2^nd Elise Schmidtke, Eva Hoe, Amber Rickard

3^rd Ellie Priebbenow, Zoe Sambucco

Year 5/6 Bike ride On Tuesday the 30th of November, the Year 5 & 6 students came to school excited to be finally heading out of school to participate in our all-day bike ride. With the sun shining students headed off in small groups along the rail trail towards Point Lonsdale via Queenscliff .All students rode between 20-30km throughout the day, appreciating the scenic views and spending time with their friends. Students also enjoyed time playing and resting at our final destination at Gains Reserve with an epic game of cricket. It was great to see the students applying the skills they had learnt during the term throughout the day. Students are encouraged to continue practising their riding and road safety skills in the future. A huge thank-you to all staff for their support on the day.

As a part of our learning in Humanities in recent weeks, students have been considering the culture and heritage of their own family and/or the community in which they live. Within this, students were tasked with building a portfolio of completed activities from a ‘Choice Board’ to help demonstrate their learned knowledge and skills. There was a clear favourite activity and below are a series of student reflections:

“My favourite activity was the Family Tree. I chose it because there is heaps of information on our family. I also love falling down the rabbit hole and reading all the information leading up to me” – Oliver Adair.

“I wanted to know where the surname Carmichael comes from. I found out we have a castle in our name!” – Strover Hodgson.

“My favourite activity from the choice board was my family tree. I like this activity because it made me ask more and talk to my family about the past” – Sophie Morrish.

“Family names, meanings and why they were called that. I learn that every first born Lauder has to have the middle name ‘Fraser’ because of a family clan” – Emma Deretic.

“My favourite activity was the family tree…I learnt a lot about my family history and found out some cool stories” – Toby Crook.

“I learnt more about my family and about my grandparents and about their siblings. I also found it interesting how my mum’s side was a lot bigger than my dad’s side of the family.” – Abi Merlo.

“I learnt more about the Aboriginal groups around the area of Mount Buller” – Hannah Shanks.

“I chose to do a family tree because it was cool to see all the different parts of my family and how far I could go” – Joel Apps.

The “Pros and cons of the community (I did it on Malta). I wanted to learn more about the country where lots of my relatives are from” – Kathryn Grima.

“The family tree was my favourite activity to complete…it was something I could take to my parents about. I learnt…about a great uncle I didn’t know I had” – Issie Whitaker.

Whether you were feeling like a tsunami or a little bit Iazy, there was something for everyone at Adventure Park on Wednesday! Students from Years 5-8 had the most dynamic time at the park riding anything from a paddle boat or tea cup, to a rollercoaster or waterslide, and there was a banquet of fun to be had! We had a wonderful sunny morning followed by some exciting storms, but in the end we were together and we had a ball. Please enjoy our little video to give you a snap shot of our day.

As part of their Term 4 Wellbeing program, Year 7 students have spent several Chapel sessions learning more about what it would be like to belong to a church community. Interestingly, more than half of the students said they had never stepped foot inside a church previously! So, throughout the term, Mr Crole has spent time explaining the sorts of things church communities do together and what a ‘typical’ church service looks like. For their final session, Year 7 students participated in a church service in the Auditorium and were invited to participate in Communion – a sacred time where we remember the sacrifices Jesus made for us on the cross. It was encouraging to see the vast majority take part.

Also, last Friday, students reflected on the year they’ve had together and celebrated our Year 7 community with a BBQ lunch. Thank you to Mr Platt for cooking the BBQ, Mrs Lazaric for organising the food and making the salads and Mrs Wade for helping serve!

Harry Gallagher and Riley Stone in Year 9, set about to raise money through running 1km for every dollar donated to support Beyond Blue as part of their Transformation project. The boys were set a challenge by Gary Crole that if they raised over $1000 he would shave his head in support. What resulted was the entire school getting behind the project to raise money and see Mr Crole lose his luscious locks!

The Junior School students in particular were really excited for this event on Thursday. What a great initiative by Harry and Riley and the whole school to see this cause be supported and getting the message out that ‘It is ok to not be ok’. And a special thanks to Mr Crole for helping to raise extra funds and donate his impressive mop of hair!

Any Year 7 & 10 students who missed their school-based vaccinations this year while learning from home can still catch up before the end of the year.

Catch up appointments available at Barwon health immunisation service via this link or contact your GP

For more information see:

www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/immunisation-in-secondary-schools#immunisation-for-secondary-school-students-is-important

Today (December 3) was the last day that students could wear the old style House polo tops. After a three-year phasing-in period, the new style House polo tops will be required to be worn by all students. They are available through our uniform shop at Centreway Arcade in Belmont, or visit our online shop here.