What’s Happening at Middle School

Week 4

• Mon 7 Aug – Naga High visit to Middle School – Highton
• Mon 7 Aug – 2023 Elective Subject Information Evening
• Tues 8 Aug – GISSA Intermediate Boys (Year 9 & 10) Soccer Championships
• Tues 8 Aug – Choir Concert Middle School – Highton and Senior School – Waurn Ponds Campus
• Wed 9 Aug – Thurs 10 Aug – Vic Schools Music Festival – Regional Bands Section
• Wed 9 Aug – VSMF Highton Novice Concert Band
• Wed 9 Aug – VSMF Highton Intermediate Concert Band
• Wed 9 Aug – Year 7 & 8 GISSA Sporting Fixture
• Thurs 10 Aug – GISSA Intermediate Girls (Year 9 & 10) Soccer Championships

Week 5

• Tues 15 Aug – Rural 5 (9R & 9Y Boys) Program Concludes
• Tues 15 Aug – VSMF Jazz Ensemble – Senior Stage Band
• Wed 16 Aug – Rural 6 (9R & 9Y Girls) Program Commences
• Wed 16 Aug – VSMF Intermediate Stage Band
• Wed 16 Aug – Year 7 & 8 GISSA Sport
• Thurs 17 Aug – GISSA Intermediate Boys & Girls (Year 9 & 10) Basketball Championships
• Thurs 17 Aug – VSMF Highton & Bellarine Novice Stage Bands
• Fri 18 Aug – Williams House Visit Middle School
• Fri 18 Aug – Annual East Timor Trivia Night

RoboCup Descends on Middle School

Schools from across Victoria descended on the Middle School campus last week to participate in the running of the longest RoboCup Junior Regional event in Australia. With a record-setting number of participants in all divisions, the level of competition was sure to be high.

In a Middle School first, four teams represented Christian College in the coveted and highly competitive Standard League Soccer division. Teams in this division must have high level engineering and programming in place to be competitive. Ava Abetz, Heidi Abetz, and Maisy Clark of team Undecided took on Lachlan MacDonald, Thomas Turner, and Declan Pritchard of team CCG Blackpool. Team CCG Blackpool came in to the final undefeated on the day with team Undecided only giving up one match in the preliminary rounds. It was either team’s match going in, but it would be team Undecided taking the win in the grand final. Both teams scored an incredible 26 goals on the day and are to be commended for their performance and volume of work throughout terms 1 and 2 to prepare for this event.

In the rescue division, which saw a record setting number of participants, Middle School was represented by 7 teams. Rescue teams faced a variety of courses throughout the day, all unknown to the teams prior. The aim is to have their robotic design autonomously navigate the course, avoid, and conquer obstacles, all to arrive at a hazardous spill zone where a victim waits to be rescued. These robotic designs must do everything based on their programming which takes months to fine tune. James McNamara of Jim’s Robotics, Patrick Thomas and Josh Digman of team Lay Up Lay Down, and Ethan Towle and Hser Nay Htoo of team Fire Nation faced off in the grand final. James McNamara would come out on top, setting a school record as the youngest CCG competitor to take home a regional victory, running the final course without error and achieving maximum points.

This year’s RoboCup Junior Regional event was full of ups and downs, with challenges coming at competitors from all directions. It was a wonderful day of competition, comraderie, and learning as all teams walked away with memories from a day that will not be forgotten. Now…it’s off to the Nationals in October!

Piano Day

On Thursday, around 90 piano students traveled from all campuses to the RW Gibson Centre at Senior School to take part in a great variety of activities. The morning started with a range of performances from Grade 3s to 9s and at recess time the Senior School students joined in the day. First, they learned about the mechanics of the piano. Thank you, Mr Brad Treloar, for taking apart a piano and explaining everything in detail! We heard two Year 5 piano duets performed, and we learned about ensemble opportunities on a small and large scale. Ms Molly Hanson ran a fun ensemble session with dozens of piano students on keys and percussion.

Former Christian College student Adela Karol gave a beautiful performance of a Debussy Prelude and answered numerous questions of the younger pianists in the auditorium. Adela was a true inspiration for all the younger students.

The very experienced clinician, Ms Teresa Lavers, listened to all our young performers and gave valuable feedback and insights into techniques and interpretation as well as how to establish good practice habits.

Congratulations to all Highton performers and thank you for your contributions to the day.

Thank you to the piano staff and supporting classroom teachers for a wonderful Piano Day!

Subject Selection Evenings

Developing your young person’s Purpose, Passion and Pathway…. 

You are all invited to attend the Subject Information Afternoon, held next Monday, August 7, from 4pm – 7pm in the Middle School-Highton Sports and Aquatic Centre. 

Christian College is proud of the engaging subjects and pathway programs that foster purpose and passion for our Middle School students, with specialisation and experiential learning being implemented from Year 5. In a learning journey where students are encouraged to become active participants in their own educational journey, it is with much excitement that we share with you the Subject Information Evening for the 2024 academic year.

This is a great community event providing you the opportunity to explore subjects, meet teachers and engage with our many support services that will aim to develop your young person in the variety of learning opportunities available to them at Christian College Geelong.

To help prepare for next Monday’s event, please follow this link to access the Highton Campus Hub, where you will find lots of subject information for the 2024 academic year. These resources provide a detailed outline of the content, structure, and pathways for each of our core and elective subjects. It also explains relevant rules relating to the selection of subjects. We anticipate these resources will be extremely beneficial when considering and deciding on electives for 2024 and beyond.

LEAD Parent Survey - Now Closing September 1

Each year, Christian College participates in the LEAD School Effectiveness Surveys conducted by Independent Schools Victoria (ISV). These surveys provide valuable insights into a school’s performance from the perspectives of students, staff and parents and are therefore an essential school improvement tool.

LEAD – Listen, Evaluate, Act, Deliver – succinctly describes the way in which this process enables our College community to grow and flourish through consultation with our valued stakeholders.

You will have received an email from ‘ISV Research Programs [email protected]’ inviting you to participate in the ISV LEAD Parent Survey. It includes a unique survey link that can only be used once and therefore cannot be shared or forwarded to others. Thank you to all parents who have completed the Parent Satisfaction Survey - we have received more than 300 responses to date. ISV has extended the deadline for survey responses - closing date is September 1. We invite any parents who have not yet participated to contribute your feedback via this year's survey. You are an integral part of our school community and your voice matters.

East Timor Trivia Night

Preparations are underway for our annual Trivia Night which raises much needed funds for the work we do in Viqueque, East Timor.

Money raised this year will help pay for a new roof for Uma Maun Alin – Friendship House – where some amazing staff and volunteers run kindergarten classes for local little ones and English classes for older children and teens.

Part of the night is a Silent Auction and we are asking CCG families for any donations.

Some donations made already, thanks to the hard work of some of our prefects, include: a signed Cats guernsey, personal training sessions, café vouchers, Geelong Lawn tennis memberships, tennis racquet and re-stringing voucher, a vet clinic voucher... and so much more!

If you are in a position to be able to donate something to this incredibly worthwhile cause please contact:

Surfcoast Campus: Claire Deretic

Junior School: Carla Dunlop

Highton Campus: Graham Barton

Bellarine Campus: Samantha Bett

Senior School: Lee Stringer

2023 CCG Science Photography Competition

As part of National Science Week, the CCG Science Faculty is delighted to invite our Year 5-12 students to enter the 2023 CCG Science Photography competition.

Students are asked to submit photographs which record some scientific event or illustrate some scientific phenomenon. They may submit between three and six photographs, which must be linked by a common theme. Prints must be submitted.

The topic may be based on any scientific theme or you may use the theme for this year’s science week which is Innovation: Powering Future Industries.

Competition entries must be submitted before Friday August 11.

Winners will be announced and entries displayed as part of our National Science Week celebrations.

We are offering three age categories for the competition.

Junior – Years 5 and 6

Intermediate  – Years 7 – 9

Open – Years 10 – 12

Detailed guidelines and entry forms are included here and can also be obtained from your science teacher.

Good luck to all entrants, we look forward to viewing your submissions!

2023 Photography entry form

2023 Photography entry guidlines

Discover Prep Week

During Discover Prep Week, August 7 – 11, three CCG campuses are offering interested parents, families and guardians the opportunity to get a firsthand view of Prep at Junior School-Belmont, Bellarine Campus and Surf Coast Campus. Our Prep programs are unparalleled and we invite anyone interested in enrolling children in Prep in 2024 and beyond, to come and visit, join a class, see our facilities, speak with teachers and campus leaders and have their questions answered. There are multiple opportunities at each of the three campuses to participate.

We would encourage our College community to spread the word about Discover Prep Week to anyone who is considering school choices for their children in 2024 and beyond.

All details, including booking information for sessions, can be found on our Discover Prep Week webpage – hit the hotlink on our homepage or click here to access it.

Scholarship Applications are Now Open!

Each year Christian College offers Academic Excellence Scholarships for entry at Year 5, 7 and 10 levels. Applications are now open for this year’s scholarships, which apply to entry in 2025, at three campuses – Middle School-Highton, Bellarine Campus and Surf Coast Campus.

Year 10 entry applies to Senior School-Waurn Ponds only.

To find out more, and to apply, visit our website and look for the homepage hotlink, or click here.

Scholarship applications are open to students who do not currently attend Christian College, as well as those who are currently enrolled here. Scholarship examinations will be held at Christian College on Saturday October 7. Closing date for applications is Thursday, September 28.

Foundation Golf Day 2023

Following the success of last year’s inaugural event, we are delighted to announce the Christian College Foundation Golf Day tournament for 2023.

Save the date: Thursday November 9.

We are seeking prizes for this event – if you own a local business and are interested in creating partnership opportunities with Christian College, please contact Fiona Provan on 0400 477 467, or email [email protected]

A MYTERN Thought for This Week

It’s easy to rush through a cup of tea or coffee and forget to stop and appreciate the moment. 

Take time out now to simply appreciate being able to breathe in fresh air. Take a long slow breath and feel it rejuvenate every cell. 

Make that your intention and watch your body smile from the inside 👍❤️

Discover more about MYTERN here