From the Head of Campus
Making a Difference
One of the wonderful parts of coming to Junior School every day is seeing the world through the ‘can do’ attitude of children. As adults we might have a thought, idea or wondering but because of our past experiences we are overly aware of all the obstacles that could, should, might get in the way of us ever seeing this thought, idea or wondering coming to life.
The ability of a child to truly believe that anything is possible gives them the gift to begin something without fear or favour. It is so important that our young people feel empowered and are equipped to have a positive influence on their community with their ‘can do’ attitude.
Students at Junior School are encouraged to recognise that although our world faces many challenges environmentally, socially and politically, that they are able to make a difference. Student voice in choosing Project Care events this year is but one example of how students can be empowered to make a difference. As teachers we consider it a privilege to encourage and empower our students to become confident and capable contributors to their community and make a positive difference in our world.
A favourite story of mine encapsulates this idea that even one ‘can do’ action or thought can make a difference and I have shared this below.
Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.
Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”
The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”
The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”
The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!” (The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)
Ann-Marree Weigl, Head of Campus
What’s on at Junior School
Week 8: Monday 29th August
Thursday 1st September – Bush Prep, Prep B, G, M & R
Friday 2nd September – Father’s Day Stall (Please refer to EdSmart notification)
Friday 2nd September – Footy Colours Day Project Care Casual Dress (Please refer to EdSmart notification)
Week 9: Monday 5th September
Tuesday 6th September – Year 4 Bike Ride (Please refer to EdSmart notification)
Wednesday 7th September – Junior School Cross Country (Please refer to EdSmart notification)
Thursday 8th September – RUOK? Day
Friday 9th September – Junior School Assembly
Week 10: Monday 12th September
Monday 12th September – Year 1 Camp (Please refer to EdSmart)
Monday 12th September – Health Heroes Prep Visit
Tuesday 13th September – Year 5 Students from Middle School – Highton, Reading with Preps
Wednesday 14th September – Year 3 Camp (Please refer to EdSmart)
Thursday 15th September – Bush Prep, Prep B, G, M & R
Friday 16th September – Conclusion of Term 3; 2:30pm Dismissal
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
The Preps’ visit to MOPA!
The Preps very excitedly boarded the bus Thursday morning to embark on their Integrated Studies excursion to MOPA (Museum of Play and Art) in Geelong. This linked in well with our current Integrated Studies unit ‘Materials and Movement’.
The children experienced many engaging, hands on and investigative activities designed to encourage play, creativity, and a sense of togetherness.
Activities included a guided painting session and story time, painting the MOPA car, standing on stage to sing and dance up a storm, and exploring the creative play pipe and ball wall.
These activities all helped the children to build their understandings of how things moved and the various materials they can be made out of.
Highlights from the children include:
“I love sitting on the bus with my friends.”
“It was fun when we moved the pipes and the ball kept going and going and going.”
“We painted a car, a real car!”
“I pretended to be a superstar singer and I could see myself on the screen.”
“It was just the best day ever!”
A great day was experienced by us all, thank you MOPA!!
Louise Ward
Year 2
Each week in Year 2 is always action-packed and this week has been no exception.
Our SMART spelling focus has been on words featuring the short vowel ‘I’. This has given us an opportunity to practise our latest spelling rule: “When the second last letter is a short vowel, double the last letter and add the vowel suffix.” Matching the rule with rhythm and actions helps to make the rule stick.
Writing has seen the introduction of narratives. We began by brainstorming the problems that main characters sometimes face, using our favourite books and movies as inspiration. Whether it is going on a quest, losing something precious, slaying dragons or finding new friends, the possibilities are endless, and our students are excited about writing their own narratives which will eventually be turned into books which they will be able to illustrate.
We have continued to build our Mental Maths skills by introducing a new card game where the aim is to make a given number with as many cards as possible. This helps the students think about all the combinations of numbers that go together to make a set number and our beautiful new packs of cards, which have numbers to 15 included, have really helped to extend these skills.
Our new unit of study in Integrated Studies looks at forces. Initially, the Year 2s were asked to think about all the different push and pull actions we use in our daily lives, like pulling down a blind or hitting a ball. This was a perfect lead up to the Scienceworks excursion on Thursday where students were able to test and challenge their understanding of forces in hands-on and practical ways and to also be part of the audience at a ‘Toys and Forces’ performance. No doubt the knowledge gained will be put to good use throughout the coming weeks.
All these experiences were fun for our students. Little did they know they were acquiring new skills and consolidating their learning.
Way to go, Year 2!
Anne Spence
Year 4
What better way to get into the full swing of Book Week, than to have insights from the authors themselves.
This week, we’ve been fortunate to have tuned into the State Library of New South Wales, being encouraged and inspired by some amazing Australian authors and illustrators.
Gabriel Evans, known for his shortlisted picture book of the year, Blueflower, presented us with some genuine, honest and raw commentary on being an author in this year’s Children’s Book Council Australia Awards.
As I sit and listen to his encouraging words to our Year 4 students, I’m reminded that all things in life are a refining process. When faced with a challenge, we can either choose the low road and give up or have a growth mindset and keep preserving to achieve what we set out to do.
Gabriel reminds our students that, after hundreds of illustrations of the one book character, endless knock backs about storylines from publishers, books that never come to fruition because they’re ‘just not right’, he reminds us that all things take time. Perseverance is the key and, the refining process can be frustrating but also exceptionally rewarding.
Students in 4B couldn’t believe the dedication and time it takes to create such ‘simple books’. They certainly gained an appreciation for the process of writing for a purpose and particular audience.
As we progress through the week, 4B embarked on writing their own ‘simple’ narrative for our Prep Buddies. At the forefront of our writing minds, sits Gabriel’s advice…all things take time and refinement. You won’t get it right the first time but keep persisting.
What an amazing week of Book Week festivities. We feel so grateful to have had the opportunities to connect in with these tremendous authors and illustrators and have insight into their workings.
Tash Cooper
Book Parade Joy
On Tuesday, we celebrated Book Week with our annual dress-up day at Junior School. The sun was shining, and Mr Smith kept the good vibes flowing with wonderful music, as each class paraded around the basketball court to cheers and applause! For the first time we also had Williams House join in the parade. It was a joyful celebration of books and all they can bring to our life.
The effort put into the costumes this year was phenomenal and I would like to thank the parents for their ongoing support of this event. The teachers looked sensational as always. It was fabulous to have parents, grandparents and siblings join in the celebration of this special day.
Deanne Elliss
Glass Jar Xylophones
During Science week, the Year 3 and 4 students investigated the way in which glass can make music. There was a discussion of the connection between vibrations and sound production and the students were able to draw from their knowledge of types and sizes of musical instruments to help them make comparisons with the glass jars. They chose five jars and could take jugs of water to fill them but beforehand they predicted the sound (pitch) that it might make, depending on the size or shape of the jar and the level of water.
The students then were challenged to put their filled jars in order from lowest to highest and test and refine the levels to “tune up their xylophone” in order to make a five-note scale. They noticed that the larger jars made deep sounds and were an octave lower than some of the smaller jars. The students also noted that they could get the same note from different sized jars with different water levels.
After they had tuned their jars, the students could try playing a simple song such as Hot Cross Buns or could compose their own tune to perform for others in the class. It took lots of trial and error to get it right but all of the students did a terrific job of joining in to create some “sparkling music!”
Laura Hollingsworth
PE News
On Thursday 25th August, we had a number of Year 4 students represent the College at the Deakin District Athletics Championships at Landy Field. Students participated in a variety of track and field events, joining Year 5 and 6 students from Highton Campus. Other schools competing included CCG Bellarine and Surf Coast Campuses, Grovedale West PS, Montpellier PS, KIC and Geelong College.
This event was last held in 2019 and there were many nervous competitors from all schools, however our students performed really well. Junior School representatives ran in 100m, 200m, 800m and 1500m track events as well as hurdles. We also had students in the four field events including shot put, discus, long jump and high jump. Congratulations to all students who participated on the day and well done to Amalia Keller (Shot Put and High Jump), Luke Hobbs (High Jump) and Amelie Thomson (Discus) who have qualified for the Geelong North Division on Tuesday 6th September.
Nick Rice
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:
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
There may be times when cars veer into your lane without warning. The more you have practised taking control in difficult situations, the more instinctively you'll be able to grab your steering wheel - respond and react - and maintain your control. 😊
Discover more about MYTERN here
