Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Days!
All Christian College campuses will open their doors on May 2 in the first of our Open Days for 2023.
This is an opportunity for parents/guardians and families who are considering Christian College as an option for their young people to visit one or more of our campuses, meet students, teachers and campus leaders, tour facilities, visit classes in progress and have their questions answered. It provides an authentic insight to how our College operates on a day-to-day basis. For those considering either Junior School-Belmont or Surf Coast Campus, please note our Early Learning Centres - Williams House in Belmont and Butterfield House in Torquay - will also be open for visitation at the same time as the campuses.
No booking is required, with campuses open at the following times:
Junior School-Belmont: 9:30 – 11:00am
Bellarine Campus: 9:30 – 11:00am
Surf Coast Campus: 9:30 – 11:30am
Middle School-Highton: – 11:15am – 12:45pm
Senior School-Waurn Ponds: – 11:30am – 1:00pm
If you have friends or acquaintances who are considering schooling options at any level, from Prep through to Year 12, please encourage them to take this opportunity to visit our campuses on May 2.
Any interested families who are unable to attend on May 2 can book a tour at any campus at a time that suits them by visiting our website and clicking on ‘Book a Tour’.
What’s on at Middle School
Week 8
- Tues 21 Mar – Year 9 OES Coastal Day Trip
- Wed 22 Mar – Senior Wind Symphony at Eltham High school
- Thurs 23 Mar – Year 9 OES Coastal Day Trip
- Fri 24 Mar – GISSA Swimming & Diving Championships
Week 9
- Mon 27 Mar – Partnering with Parents Evening
- Tues 28 Mar – Regional Swimming Championships
- Tues 28 Mar – Piano Performance Evening
- Wed 29 Mar – GISSA Surfing Championships
- Wed 29 Mar – Planet Boom Tour
- Thurs 30 Mar – Instrumental Music Performance Night – Strings
- Fri 31 Mar – Year 9 Marine Studies Dolphin Boat Tour
House Swimming Carnival
On Friday March 10, students from Years 4 to 9 came together for a fantastic Swimming Carnival at Kardinia Aquatic Centre. The sun was shining for us in the afternoon, and it was a wonderful community day full of house spirit and fun. We were pleased to see many parents and guardians at the carnival and would like to thank-you for your support and encouragement!
Students were able to swim and participate in both novelty and championship events across three different pools. The waterslide was open, and Year 8 & 9 students had an opportunity to show off their bomb technique in the dive pool, and of course there was great music and dancing. This year we also had a water polo competition for the Year 8 & 9 students.
Our Year 9 students role modeled fantastic participation by being involved in all events. They honored their last Middle School Swimming Carnival with a celebration swim, and it was great to see Mrs Riddle join in the fun. House Captains worked extremely hard preparing for our carnival which included weekly meetings, painting house banners and preparing house chants. A big thank-you to our House Captains for their leadership on the day.
Congratulations and thank-you to all who were involved! We were able to congratulate and announce the age level champions, winning houses and we also recognised the fastest female and male swimmers on the day and wish them best with future swimming endeavors.
Results:
Championship Winning House- PENMAN
Novelty Winning House – FLYNN
Fastest Male – Ashton Schram 9R (Burrows House)
Fastest Female – Chelsea Ronning 7G (Flynn House)
Brittany Dietrich
Geelong – a Step Back in Time
“You’ll be locked up in solitary if you don’t be’ave!” No, this was not Mr McKay disciplining one of his students, this was Thomas Menard, ‘resident’ of Old Geelong Gaol for the last 170 years. The Year 5 Middle School students all agreed that despite its wretched history, this was one of the highlights of their excursion to Geelong last week.
In Year 5 we are studying the history of Geelong and our trip to visit The Old Geelong Gaol, the National Wool Museum and the Geelong foreshore was an enriching experience that brought their learning to life. At the Wool Museum we learnt about the history of land use in our region, from the care of the land by the Wathaurong people, to the wool trading of the 1900s to the present. At the gaol, we heard stories from the 1800s about petty thieves who did little more than steal a loaf of bread as well as tales about hardened criminals who deserved their life-sentences.
In the afternoon we all walked along the Geelong foreshore to look at the famous bollards that are such a feature of the area now and the students showed genuine interest in the backstories of each of them. Back at school, all students are now writing a narrative about one of the historical events that the bollards represent. All their work on the History of Geelong in Humanities this term will be presented in a digital portfolio on ‘Sway’.
Andy Francis
Systems Engineering – Preparing for Competition
Year 8 Systems Engineering students are hard at work preparing for regional and state robotics competition events taking place from term 2 onward. Tasked with building and programming two autonomous robots capable of playing 2 vs 2 soccer, these students have already put in countless hours of refinement and testing to get where they are in only a single term. This is a pace not yet seen at the Middle School level and it is representative of the work ethic and patience of these extremely talented students. In this course of study students learn how to use infrared light sensors capable of detecting IR light across 10 “vision” zones. Students must then code multiple sub-programs giving the robot the ability to react quickly and accurately to the presence of the playing ball. This unit gives students the ability to collect data and make data-driven decisions all while constantly refining their engineering based on testing and peer feedback. Every day is a hands-on day in Systems and these students are showing no signs of slowing any time soon.
Danon O'Kelly
Magnificent Marslands Dominate Mt Buller
Over 150 students from 20 different schools made their way to Mt Buller Alpine resort on Friday the 10th of March to compete in the Rocky Trail Academy Enduro Mountain bike competition.
The event comprised three timed segments, with tracks designed to test a variety of skills, including endurance, speed and technical ability. The times for the three segments were combined to determine the overall results for the individuals and schools.
A total of 10 Christian College students took part in the event and had a fantastic day improving their times with each run. The event was well organised and ran smoothly with all students giving their best efforts on the demanding terrain.
It was the Marsland siblings who were our top performers on the day, with Yannick in Year 7 showing speed and skill across the three stages and Isabella (Year 11) riding smooth and fast to secure her podium spot in a tight battle.
Results in the senior girls were as follows:
Isabella Marsland 3rd
Results in the highly competitive junior boys field of over 70 competitors:
Yannick Marsland 2nd
Jasper Willoughby 24th
Ossi McDiarmid 47th
Results in the Intermediate boys category were as follows:
Harrison Wilde 7th
Max Gordon 14th
Liam Sturt 16th
Isaac Garrard 18th
Results in the Senior boys were as follows:
Isaiah Gordon 10th
Lachie Pascoe 16th
A great day was had by all students with everyone improving their run times throughout the day. It was awesome to see so many young people out riding their “mental health machines” enjoying the fresh alpine air with the biggest grins from ear to ear.
A huge thanks must go to all the parents and guardians for making this day possible by providing the very important transport and equipment needed to ride the high country.
We will keep an eye on the calendar for any upcoming MTB events.
Steven Sullivan
Families with a Newly Enrolled Child This Year: Qustodio Parent App
Activate or add new students to your Qustodio parent account.
An important element of the College's Cyber Safe Schools Program is our commitment to supporting families and parents with managing their children’s digital devices in the home, especially the College laptop.
This week, families that have one or more children who are new to the College this year received an email invitation toactivate their Qustodio parent account or add newly enrolled students to their existing Qustodio account, as part of our school program.
Qustodio is a parental control and monitoring app that we offer our parents as part of our school program. This app provides parents monitoring on personal devices and the school laptop, as well as the ability to pause internet as desired outside of school hours. Use of Qustodio is optional, and parents can learn more information about Qustodio on our Online Safety Hub.
The Qustodio parent app is available to all College families, and families with existing students in 2022 were invited to activate their parent account in November of last year. Families that have not yet activated their account and wish to, can do so by using the College’s activate now link and entering the assigned primary email for the family (as detailed in the invitation sent last year).
More Information
- Parents can learn more about our broader Cyber Safe Schools Program that the Qustodio parent app is a part of, via this information brochure.
- Parents and guardians can access technical support for the use of Qustodio on personal devices at home, via Qustodio’s Help Center.
- For support with Qustodio and school devices at home, there is a useful help page on our Online Safety Hub.
Brendan Vanderkley, Director of Digital Learning
Make a Vertical Garden at Back Creek Café!
Back Creek Café in Meredith proudly presents the first of several planned craft workshops – come along and discover how to create your own vertical garden. Two workshops are running on Saturday May 6 – at 10:30am and 1:00pm, conducted by Kathy from Coburg nursery, TD2M. Build your own standing or hanging frame, create a vertical garden to take home and learn about soils and mosses used in the process along the way.
Cost for the workshop is $90 per person with all you need provided. While you’re there, enjoy some of Back Creek Café’s delicious fare!
To book for the workshop, contact the café on 5286 1166.