From the Head of Campus
Lead Survey
Dear Parents, you will soon be invited to formally provide Christian College Junior School with feedback using a tool known as the LEAD survey. The LEAD Survey was developed by Independent Schools Victoria and is available to its member schools’ communities. Unlike other generic surveys, the LEAD survey is tailored specifically for the independent education sector.
The LEAD survey is a high-quality tool comprised of seven psychometrically-tested stakeholder surveys that are statistically proven by Cambridge University to measure school effectiveness. The data collected in these surveys gives a 360-degree view of the complex, multi-faceted elements of school effectiveness through the eyes of parents, staff, students and Board members.
We sincerely encourage you to complete this survey upon receiving the invitation as it will assist us in our planning at Junior School. I have included some information below relating to how the 10-point scale works for your information.
Thanking you in anticipation.
Promoters are respondents who give a score of 9 or 10
Stakeholders whose feedback is positive and demonstrates a high level of satisfaction with the organisation.
Passives are respondents who give a score of 7 or 8.
Stakeholders whose feedback reflects that they are neither dissatisfied nor highly satisfied with the organisation.
Detractors are respondents who give a score between 0 and 6.
Stakeholders who are highly dissatisfied or dissatisfied with the organisation.
Ann-Marree Weigl, Head of Junior School
From the Junior School Chaplain
There are approximately 2,000,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe – that’s 2 trillion. Our galaxy alone, the Milky Way, has around 11 billion stars. That means that using the Milky Way as our model, and around 2 trillion similar galaxies, astronomers estimate that there are approximately 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (that’s 200 sextillion) stars in the universe.
Right now, there are about 7-8 billion humans on earth. Normally this number would seem big, however in comparison to the stars, we see that humans are, in the scheme of God’s creation; rare and therefore precious.
Psalm 147 says, “He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them”. God knows all the stars by name…all that shone long ago and all that will shine in the days coming, He knows them, all 200 sextillion. If God knows every single star, I think it is incomprehensible to know just how much he knows and loves humans, His rare and precious creation.
Darcee Braun
What’s on at Junior School
Week 5: Monday August 8th
Tuesday 9th August – HoopTime Basketball (Please refer to EdSmart notification)
Thursday 11th August – Prep 100 Days of School Celebration (Please refer to EdSmart notification)
Friday 12th August – Assembly, 1B Class Item
Friday 12th August – Year 4 Incursion, ‘Forces at work – looking at railway projects’ (EdSmart notification to follow)
Week 6: Monday August 15th
Monday 15th August – Science Week at Junior School
Thursday 18th August – Bush Prep, Prep B, G, M & R
Friday 19th August – Project Care Day – The Royal Children’s Hospital (Gold Coin donation, EdSmart notification to follow)
Week 7: Monday August 22nd
Monday 22nd August – Book Week ‘Dreaming with Eyes Open’
Tuesday 23rd August – Annual Book Week Parade
Thursday 25th August – Prep Excursion to MOPA (Please refer to EdSmart notification)
Thursday 25th August – Year 2 Excursion to Science Works (Please refer to EdSmart notification)
Thursday 25th August – Deakin District Athletics – Selected Year 4 Students (Edsmart notification to follow)
Friday 26th August – Assembly, 1G Class Item
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
Brendan Vanderkley
Cybersafety Resources for Parents from eSafety
Parents are encouraged to explore and make use of these recently released resources from eSafety.
Media Release: Parents urged to watch out for signs of cyberbullying
This recent media release from eSafety provides parents with a contemporary context, guidance and advice regarding cyberbullying, signs that suggest a child is the target of cyberbullying and protective strategies parents can support their child with.
Webinars for parents and carers
These webinars for parents and carers provide parents with expert support, advice and guidance when navigating technology with their young person. Click the links below to learn more about specific webinars occurring soon.
- Popular Apps
Learn about TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube and help your children stay safe online. This webinar is designed for parents and carers of young people aged 8 to 13.
- Online sexual harassment and image-based abuse
Help your teens stay safe by learning how to deal with online sexual harassment and image-based abuse. This webinar is designed for parents and carers of young people aged 13 to 18.
Parents interested in either of these, or any of eSafety’s other webinars, can learn more and register via this link: http://esafety.gov.au/parents/webinars
I hope these resources and support materials from eSafety are helpful to all parents in our College community.
Brendan Vanderkley
A Special Visitor Comes to Prep
Throughout this year the children in Prep R have journeyed with me as I have participated in the Reach Project with Harvard University. The children have developed their language of conversation and inquiry through the use of cards that take you through exploration, investigation and innovation.
Today we were very lucky to have a visit from Flossie Chua, the Senior Research Manager and Instructor in Education at Harvard University. The Preps were most excited that someone had been on a plane for more than a day to come and see them!
This term the Prep children have been learning about Materials and Movement and as part of this unit we have looked at the playground, the features of the equipment and the role each piece plays. The children have been working through the overall playground structure and then today took a deep dive into a specific feature, unpacking the materials it is made from. We have also begun innovating our own playground equipment with grand plans of roller coasters, sling shots and a pool. We are just waiting on the funds from Mr McKeeman!
The Prep children chatted with me about the visit:
“It was exciting that people wanted to come and see what we do.” Hamish
“It was fun to have the visitors because they kept on asking us questions and I liked the questions.” Buster
“It was awesome that they said nice stuff about us.” Ethan
“They were taking photos of what we have done.” Mikayla
“It was fun having visitors because they videoed us.” Willow
“I liked the visitors because they were nice.” Eadie
“I deep dived into the monkey bars and the slide and I actually deep dived into everything because it is fun, except for the pole because that is scary.” Celeste
“I told them about my rollercoaster that I was designing and what it would be made out of.” Tayla
“I was saying about the features of the playground being metal and plastic and hard.” Zahil
“I took a deep dive into the slide and explained that the features were wood and talking to the visitors were fun.” Isla
The Prep children are very excited to continue our journey of deep conversations and learning about the world around us.
Julie Shutie
It’s Alive!
This term the Year 1 students have been learning all about animals. We have focused on mammals and reptiles with an emphasis on the external features of these animals and their habitats.
We started off the term with a visit from Roaming Reptiles which encouraged rich discussion about survival and classification. The students then learnt about habitats and how an animal has features that help it survive in a particular environment.
The children then chose their own animal and researched it. This has culminated in a habitat diorama, plasticine model and information report poster.
Each part of the projects linked with various subject areas including Writing, Masterclass and Integrated Studies. The students have also developed their speaking and listening skills when presenting these to the class.
The children should be very proud of their final projects!
Lisa Johnson
Fractions in Year 4
Did you know that fractions surround our everyday activities? Here are some examples of fractions in real life:
Eating at a restaurant: Think about a time you go to a restaurant with friends and the waitress brings a single bill. To divide the total amongst the friends, you use fractions.
Shopping: Think about the time you went shopping for a new school bag. There was half off on everything due to a sale, so you calculate the new price using fractions.
Following a recipe: Recipes sometimes suggest using 2 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar, 3/4 tablespoon of salt. Some recipes also have quantities to serve 2. If we are making the same dish to serve 3 people, fractions are used to adjust the ingredients accordingly.
In Mathematics, Year 4 students have been figuring out how to solve different fraction concepts by transferring our knowledge of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Instead of just learning a rule, students have used visual models and manipulatives during our investigations. Students have also utilised their personal devices using resources such as the Matific website, enabling the abstract concept of fractions to become something more concrete and not just one number on top of another without a meaning. Students have had great success estimating their answers, evaluating the reasonableness of their final answers, and performing operations mentally, applying taught strategies to calculate many different fraction concepts.
Mark Foran
Reading Rhythm in Year 3
During the first few weeks of Term 3, the Year 3 students have been working on their rhythm reading. They have participated in bingo games, small group performances of a set rhythm and as a class, they used the ‘magic hat’ to create a giant rhythmic sequence. It proved quite a challenge towards the end of the line!
The students have also had the opportunity to compose their own rhythmic sequences using examples from the bingo cards and their own creativity. They have been challenged to notate the rhythms using traditional methods or create their own representation of the notes. Alongside all of this they have engaged in fun games using beat and rhythm for repetition and anticipation. Well done Year 3 students!
Laura Hollingsworth
Warp and Weft, Over and Under in Art
We have been exploring weaving in class. Students have looked to nature for inspiration, including spider webs, birds’ nests, cocoons and more.
Students have also been looking at the history of weaving with particular links to Indigenous Dilly Bags, baskets and more recently the wool weaving industry in Geelong.
At this stage our enthusiastic art students have used paper to practise fine motor skills and see the results in large format. Ove the coming weeks we will explore threads and create looms in a variety of ways to further develop the variety of weaving skills and gain valuable experience.
Below are some examples where the weaving technique has been introduced.
Jen Beck-Carlson
Year 4 Bike Ed Program
A reminder that the Year 4 students will participate in the Bike Ed program beginning next week during PE lessons, on Tuesday 9th August and Sport on Wednesday 10th August. Students will have practical sessions each week on Tuesday and Wednesday and conclude with a day bike ride on Tuesday 6th September.
Bikes and helmets can be brought to school from Monday 8th August and be taken to the gym. Bikes will be stored safely in the gymnasium if you choose to leave a bike at school for the duration of the program.
Bikes will be required on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Students are more than welcome to take their bike home after each session.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me – n.rice@ccg.vic.edu.au.
It’s all happening in Belmont – not Birmingham
To celebrate the Commonwealth Games, Year 4 students participated in their own modified version of some events during the week. Students participated in the Commonwealth sports of shot put, discus, netball and hockey. Instead of shot puts, students used softer plastic balls aimed at the basketball ring, hula hoops replaced discus and thunder hockey sticks and balls were used for the hockey dribble and shoot challenge. It was class versus class with 4G taking the honours on the day, closely followed by 4R and 4B.
We hope our students can take some inspiration from some of the performances in Birmingham at the moment and look to continue their sporting aspirations in years to come.
Gymnastics
This week, Years 1 – 4 students concluded their gymnastics program. Kerry Woods from Jets Gymnastics has been visiting each week to assist with our Year 3 students on Mondays. Kerry commented that the students have all improved and developed confidence to complete some activities, including their floor routine and rolls on the bar.
Once again it has been great to see students working in pairs working through a series of 10 – 12 gymnastics activities. Their enthusiasm and effort have been outstanding with lots of smiles too.
Nick Rice
Community Sports Programs
Please find attached information about a junior hockey skills program being run at Newtown Hockey Club commencing in early August.
If you have any junior sporting programs commencing, please feel free to send the information to me – n.rice@ccg.vic.edu.au.
Nick Rice
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.
Come and Sample our Menu!
Over the next couple of weeks, two of our campuses are opening their doors to anyone interested in enrolling their children at Christian College.
Middle School-Highton and Bellarine Campus are hosting their subject selection expos. Aside from the scheduled evening for current College parents, each campus will also present another evening dedicated to families who are considering Christian College as an option for their children. At Middle School-Highton, it’s on August 9 between 7:00 and 9:00 pm, and the date for Bellarine Campus is August 16, also between 7:00 and 9:00 pm.
These sessions provide interested families with the opportunity to take a deeper dive into the fantastic learning programs offered by our College. There will be opportunities to meet and speak with campus, year level and subject area leaders.
We would encourage anyone within our College community who may know friends, neighbours, work colleagues – anyone – that are considering Christian College as an option to spread the word and extend an invitation to any one or more of these sessions.
East Timor Trivia Night
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
Are you being overly influenced by the passengers in your car? The back seat drivers? Your circumstances? Remember, you are the one who has control of your steering wheel. Welcome their advice, but ultimately the decision to drive down a certain road is your...and yours alone 👍😊
