Middle School Campus 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.

With Christmas right around the corner, it could be easy to get swept away in the current of carols, recipes, functions, shopping lists and end of year deadlines. If we are not careful, intentional, and aware, Christmas can become more chaotic than cherished, more confusion than celebration.

Our hope for you and your family is that as the wonderful gift of Christmas draws closer, you can make the choice to cherish this time and not allow the chaos to take over. After a year that has no doubt brought many challenges and plenty of chaos, it’s important to remember that it has also brought us moments of JOY. In some cases, it has brought families more time together, even though at times this has been a challenge.

For us, as the two new chaplains, it has brought new friendships, new relationships with amazing students at Middle School, the opportunity to learn new skills and try things that we may never have considered. The role has been full of surprises, all of which require us to rely on Christ and not our own strength, knowledge or ability.

It is at this time, as our first year draws to a close, that we would like to thank the Middle School Community for welcoming us and giving us the gift of your company, care and friendship. We are glad to be here and value this gift of participating in your lives and experiences of Middle School.

You may have heard of the 12 Days of Christmas, we thought we would leave you with 12 Blessings  For Christmas –  From Your two MS Chaplains.

This Christmas, may you receive God’s gifts of;

1. JOY in abundance!
2. HOPE that things can change
3. PEACE in your thoughts, relationships and in your home
4. HEALTH in your body
5. REST for all of you that is tired and weary
6. RESTORATION of all that may have been damaged or lost that has been dear to you this year
7. COMFORT for your mind, body and spirit
8. GRATITUDE for those who love you and whom you love
9. COURAGE to leave behind what needs to remain in 2021 and to choose to meet 2022 boldly
10. FAITH in a God who knows you and loves you.
11. PLENTY of good times, good food, good people, and reasons to rejoice
12. LOVE in all things

Thanks for your partnership in 2021, we’ll be back for 2022 because as we have learnt this year, we’re better together!

Merry Christmas to you all and Gods richest blessings upon you.

On Thursday Year 5-8 students enjoyed the day out at Adventure Park celebrating the end of another big year together. Some of the highlights from the students were challenging their teachers on the aqua racer, going around and around on the lazy river and playing mini golf with their friends. Some were just so happy that they got to go out for the day and spend quality time with their friends.

It was lovely to see students being able to gather together to enjoy this community time, chatting and playing in the sunshine.

On the 25^th of November four Year 5 students competed in The G.A.T.EWAYS Challenge, an exciting team-based competition for students in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6. Over the course of this term our Highton team, called the Highton Wizards, met during lunchtime to practise challenges and to build on their teamwork and collaboration.

Each challenge had a different focus and required the team to use their various strengths to support each other in finding solutions. Each student soon learnt each other’s strengths and relied on their remarkable teamwork to tackle each challenge. The challenges for this year were:

– SOS: Remote Rescue with a focus on STEM, Geography and Critical Thinking
– Mystery at the Hotel Grande with a focus on Language and Creative Writing
– Global Watchtower with a focus on Maths and Critical Thinking

– Gravity Calling with a focus on Maths and Science

Challenge day came and our students found themselves in a Zoom call with other schools competing on the same day. G.A.T.EWAYS Challenge provided a facilitator, who also happened to be the author of the SOS: Remote Rescue challenge.

The challenge began and the Highton Wizards worked through each of the challenges with only 30 minutes to find a solution. It was testing and at times exhausting, but they never gave up and showed phenomenal resilience and persistence.

The day ended with a badge and certificate presentation plus a special message from Peter Hitchener from Channel Nine News!

Christian College enjoys success at the Gaelic Championships!

A big congratulations to our Year 8 Gaelic Football team from the Middle School Highton Campus for winning the Under-14 title at this year’s Geelong Gaelic Football Association Youth Championships.

Having tasted success in this tournament a couple of years ago, our College Gaelic Football Team journeyed to Hurst Reserve last weekend and again came away with the silverware. The team won all three of their matches against teams from across Geelong and Melbourne to clinch the Under-14 crown. It was a victory made more impressive considering our students were the only ‘school team’ entered in the tournament, with the other teams coming from Gaelic Football clubs or associations.

We wish to acknowledge and congratulate these students on their success: James Prosser, John McClure, Clark Saunders, Matthew Hegyesi, Oska Rodgers, Taj Beckworth, Lucas Hayes, Harper Costa, Fraser Richardson, Fergus Gibson, Josh Goudge, Frankie Johnstone, and Arlo Costa.

There will be opportunities for students wishing to play Gaelic Football next year, so keep an eye out for Team Registration notices in 2022. Attached is a photo of the team with the trophy and their medals.

On behalf of the College, we wish to thank these students for their dedication to this sport and the success that followed last weekend. We sincerely hope they enjoyed the experience.

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.