Connecting With Families via our Learning Conferences

It was my pleasure to walk the corridors of our campus yesterday afternoon and evening and watch our Middle School – Highton teachers connect with students and families via our online Semester 1 Learning Conferences. From my end, there was certainly wonderful engagement between ‘school’ and ‘home’ and I hope that you too felt the event was positive, productive and affirming of the care we have for your young person. Being able to hear from you about your young person’s experience and update you on their academic and wellbeing progress is critical to us, in our overall provision of the powerful education we seek to provide here at CCG. Thank you all for your participation. My staff prepare extensively for these precious 10-minute times of connection with you, and I am grateful to all families for prioritising attending these conferences.

If you experienced any technical difficulty last night, and were unable to complete a planned Learning Conference, please email your young person’s teacher directly, to arrange a new time to meet.

We will hold another evening of Learning Conferences in Term 3.

What’s Happening at Middle School

Week 3

• Mon 8 May – VSAC Swimming Championships
• Tues 9 May – Robbie Noggler – Essential Education Talk – Year 7
• Wed 10 May – Robbie Noggler – Essential Education Talk – Year 8
• Wed 10 May –  Year 7 & 8 GISSA Sporting fixtures
• Thurs 11 May – Robbie Noggler – Essential Education Talk – Year 9
• Thurs 11 May – 3 X 3 Inter. Schools Basketball Challenge -Qualifying (Boys & Girls)
• Fri 12 May – GISSA Athletics Championships

Week 4

• Tues 16 May – Intermediate Boys AFL v St Joseph’s College
• Wed 17 May – Year 7 & 8 GISSA Sporting Fixture
• Fri 19 May – Victorian College Basketball Championships – Intermediate Boys and Girls

Open Hearts, Open Minds

Our Open Day was on Tuesday, May 2, and what a wonderful day it was. Although the sun wasn’t shining, the smiling faces walking around our campus certainly were. New families, prospective families, students, and staff came together to showcase all that Middle School-Highton has to offer.

Families were greeted in the SAC by the Intermediate Concert Band, conducted by Andrew Dunlop, highlighting the expansive Music program on offer. After a warm welcome from our School Captains, Will Wray and Brianna Anderson, and a formal introduction from Acting Principal Rick Geall and Head of Campus Adam Kennedy, families were then invited to take a tour with our Year 9 leaders.

During the tour families were taken on a journey of what a day in the life of a student could be. From a session in the pool to a tractor ride at the Farm, from Food Technology to an Indonesian classroom, a Math Pathways session and a Systems Engineering class. This was just a sample of what the families experienced during the tour.

On return to the SAC families were welcomed by the Leadership team including all Year Level Coordinators, Chaplains and a parent representative for some light refreshments and a chance to converse and ask questions. The overall feedback from the families was overwhelmingly positive, with a lot of praise for the outstanding students who led them throughout the morning.

A huge thank you to all students, staff and families who supported our Open Day.

Winter Uniform Change Over and Reminders

A reminder that students wearing the original College uniform are to transition from wearing the summer to winter uniform as of Monday May 8 (Week 3). 

Families are also reminded that the Arthur Reed class and individual photos are taking place on Monday May 22. On this day students will be required to wear the new College uniform or full winter uniform, including blazers. There will be more information to come, however we encourage you to begin preparing uniform items for this day as needed.

Chapel: Exploring Truth

This week in Chapel, the Year 5s, Year 6s and Year 7s explored the value of Truth.

As one of the five Christian College values, we believe that Truth is freedom, and when it is known, it unlocks wisdom and maturity.

So, what is Truth? It is the facts we know, experience, and see, that are undeniable. Whether it be the fact the sky is blue, or cats have whiskers- all students agreed, that it is much easier to know the truth, when we can see evidence of it. But what about the truth that we cannot see physical proof of?

The Year 5,6 and 7s were invited to believe the truth that God loves and accepts them. That’s a powerful concept! How do we find the evidence we need to know this is Truth? We read in the Bible about the life of Jesus – when God was physically part of humanity.

In John 14:6, Jesus says, that he is, “the way, the truth and the life…”

The Power of Science

There was electricity in the air inside the science labs this week as a new term got underway. The year 8s and 9s felt a real buzz as they started their new units on energy. Learning all about different types of energy, the year 8s put their new knowledge of kinetic energy to practical use by exploring how the mass and speed of asteroids affect the size of their impact craters when they hit a planet. Not having many asteroids or planets handy, the year 8s modeled this using marbles and flour.

Not to be left in the dark, the year 9s began exploring the energy transfers and transformations in everyday household objects such as torches, toasters, and lighting a match. Did you know a toaster uses at least four different types of energy just to toast one piece of toast? If you want to learn more, chat to the year 9s and they will be able to illuminate you.

Picnic at Hanging Rock – Performances on Next Week!

Picnic at Hanging Rock is a captivating and mysterious story that explores the disappearance of four schoolgirls and their teacher during a picnic at a local geological formation in Victoria, Australia, on Valentine’s Day in 1900. The novel by Joan Lindsay, published in 1967, was adapted into a film by Peter Weir in 1975, which became a landmark of Australian cinema and culture. The story has inspired many interpretations and adaptations, including the performances brought to you by our Christian College Senior School students.

Excitement is now running high - next week's shows are on at Platform Arts in Geelong in Lt Malop St, with three evening shows from Thursday May 11 to Saturday May 13.  Tickets are only $30 and the cast and crew are looking forward to performing to full houses.  Please note that Picnic at Hanging Rock contains mature themes, parental discretion is advised re the age of audience members.

To purchase tickets please follow this link:

https://events.humanitix.com/ccg-picnic-at-hanging-rock

East Timor April Trip

After a 4-year absence due to COVID, on Saturday 8th April CCG staff members Graham Barton (Barto), Andy Phillips, Lee Stringer, Craig White, Michael Lewis and Michelle Anderson, along with Jill and Rod Mayes, Patrice Hall and Jocelyn McMillan, who all have a passion for East Timor (Timor-Leste), landed in Dili.  Our destination - the municipality of Viqueque which is about 180km from Dili and is a 6 hour drive on rough roads, going for kilometres at a time in second gear.

Prior to the pandemic, CCG students from years 11 – 12 were given the opportunity to visit Viqueque and some of the schools in the area and to participate in the kindergarten, IT and English language programs being run at Uma Maun Alin (Friendship House).

The Story of Buikarin

Buikarin is a small rural community half an hour away from our accommodation house in Viqueque. Within the community there is a kindergarten, that has 128 students enrolled, and consists of three teachers. One teacher is full time, one is on contract and the other is a volunteer. They only have one room to teach these 128 students. The area of that room is 6 metres by 8 metres. The teachers have 64 students at one time in this space. They have two sessions a day. Natercia is the head teacher and she's very passionate about her school. She founded this school with their own money and no support from the government.

On Friday May 19’s Project Care Day, we want to raise money to buy bricks for Buikarin so that we can give Natercia and her students and another teaching space. Natercia has already used her own money to put a roof over a “patch of dirt”and we would love to brick in this area for her so, as she says, “the kids don't run out onto the road when in class.”

One photo here shows 64 students in the classroom. Note the students are on either side of the room because Natercia puts a small wall down the middle to separate the two groups. Imagine the noise coming from this small space with 64 students. It would be very hard to listen, very hard to teach and very hard to learn. The next photo you can see is the roof that her and her husband had paid for themselves to create another teaching space. This is the space we would like to brick in and concrete the floor.

East Timor Poster

Drilling Down on Deep Thinking – REACH: Idea into Action

This week, Junior School-Belmont, Middle School-Highton, and Senior School-Waurn Ponds were honoured to receive a visit from Flossie Chua and David Perkins from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, along with Kieren Noonan and Nikki Maguire from Independent Schools Victoria. The purpose of their visit was to observe the implementation of the REACH: Idea into Action educational research program, which incorporates deep thinking routines to promote a more comprehensive understanding of subject matter both in and beyond the classroom.

Over the past few years, some Christian College teaching staff have collaborated with Harvard and ISV to develop these routines, and during their visit, the four guests were able to witness the tool in action among our Prep, Year 6, Year 9 Transformation, and Year 12 students. Teachers Beck Barry, Lori Ruplal, Julie Shutie, and Louis Gross are making a difference in their classrooms by piloting innovative teaching strategies that have the potential to improve the quality of learning for many others.

Although only a few teachers had the privilege of welcoming our special guests into their classrooms, we would also like to recognise the support provided by Angela Tutty, Georgie Brown, Anneliese Hurrell, Georgina Hodge, Sam Nichols, and Daniel Fanning in the research and development of this innovative teaching strategy.

Surfing Championships

Thursday 4th of May saw the culmination of the “Surfing Season” for 2023. Christian College surfers have been lucky to participate in 3 different surfing events this year. The final event was the Surfing Victoria Independent schools tag team event which took place in clean conditions at Jan Juc yesterday.

The tag team format provides a unique opportunity for surfers to represent our school and importantly surf as team where decisions made can impact others in the team. Each surfer is required to paddle out and catch two waves in under eight minutes, which is very challenging.  It was awesome to see our surfers from Years 8 through to Year 12 work together and support each other throughout the day.

We were expertly led by Taz Higgins in his last year at CCG who has been an integral part of the team every year since Year 7. Harvey Graham also stood up and led by example in his mature and calm approach to each heat. We thank both of these boys for their contributions over the years to the CCG surf team.

We welcomed new recruit Jai Bouvier (Year 10) this year who performed solidly across the day and was a fantastic addition to our team.

Qustodio Parent App New Feature

New Activity Timeline View

It is a pleasure to share with parents a newly added feature of the Qustodio Parent App, which all parents have access to as part of our Cyber Safe Schools Program and in partnership with Linewize by Family Zone.

Since our launch of this parent app in 2022, it has been wonderful to note the level of engagement by parents with this tool. I have enjoyed many interactions with a range of parents about how it is helping them support their young people in their digital journey at home.

One area where I have often received feedback from parents is that the information about their child’s digital activity on their school laptop is vague and not as detailed or useful as they would like, and not comparable to the activity reporting available for their child’s personal devices.

It is for this reason that I am delighted to share that parents can now access a new feature, Timeline, that provides more specific and detailed information about digital activity on the school device outside school times.

I encourage all parents to take a few moments and view this two minute video that provides an overview of the new feature and how it can be used to better support parents in guiding their young people at home.

• Parent Overview Video: Qustodio New Timeline Feature

Getting Started with the Qustodio Parent App

A reminder that parents can learn more about Qustodio, create and activate their parent account as part of our school program, and explore Frequently Asked Questions, via our school’s Online Safety Hub.

Science Talent Search at CCG 2023

Students at Christian College Geelong in Years 5-10 are invited to participate in the 2023 Science Talent Search (STS).

The Science Talent Search has three broad aims:

1. To stimulate an ongoing interest in the study of sciences by:
   • encouraging independent self-motivated project work amongst students of science.
   • giving students the opportunity to communicate their achievements to a wider audience.
   • providing recognition of effort and achievement in a scientific enterprise.
2. To promote the direct involvement of the students in the processes of science and its communication.
3. To give the public at large an opportunity to see the quality of work being achieved in science, by both primary and post primary students.