Middle School Term 4 Week 2

Annual Music Evening – A Whole School Community in Song!

Congratulations to the nearly 450 students from across the Christian College Campuses from Prep to Year 12 who performed on the Costa Hall stage last night in the Christian College Geelong Annual Music Evening.

It was a fantastic night of celebration, culminating in a very colourful finale! The Hall was filled with over 800 family, friends and College staff, enjoying the outstanding musicianship and skills of the choirs, bands and string orchestras.

We cannot measure the positive impact of such a significant experience for our students and community …. however we can be confident that it runs deep and lifelong. We are so blessed to have highly skilled, generous, caring and invested music staff. Teachers who establish wonderful relationships with their charges, which in turn provide the impetus for students to grow in their confidence to ‘take a risk’ to perform! These relationships also make it possible for us to foster and nurture the students in their musicianship and character growth, putting them in good stead for things to come.

Congratulations and thank you to the College staff from across the campuses who supported the event in so many ways. Thanks also to the music families and friends who attended, and for their ongoing investment in their students’ music lessons, camps, tours,  instruments, attending rehearsals, and encouragement of regular home practise! These elements all work together to result in the tremendous program we witnessed last night!

Congratulations also to the graduating Year 12 musicians,  we would like to acknowledge and thank them for years of commitment and musicianship, it has been a privilege to have seen them ‘grow up’ in the program. We send them on their way with hope, that they will continue to enjoy music in their lives, and to play, sing and give joy to others their musical gifts.

What’s Happening at Middle School

Week 3 

• Mon 16 Oct – Thurs 19 Oct – Year 8 GEOS Camp 
• Mon 16 Oct – Year 4/5 Transition Morning  
• Wed 18 Oct – Year 7 & 8 GISSA Sporting fixtures 
• Fri 20 Oct – Geelong Show Day Holiday 

  Week 4 

• Wed 25 Oct – Fri 27 Oct – Year 5 Camp – Log Cabin Ballarat 
• Wed 25 Oct – Year 7 & 8 GISSA Sporting fixtures 

Robocup Nationals in Melbourne 

Twenty-two students (10 teams) from Middle School competed last Saturday and Sunday at the annual Robocup Junior National event in Melbourne at the MSAC. This is a robotics and automation competition that runs yearly in Australia with the national event being a World Robotics Olympiad qualifier. The events vary, but all require high level engineering and programming skills as all designs are fully automated systems and designed for a specific purpose based on the division of competition entered.  

This was Middle School’s largest national representation to date and our first time competing in the 2 v 2 standard league soccer division featuring over 50 of the best teams in Australia. What the students have done to prepare and be competitive is high level and goes well beyond their expected level of understanding. The event is open to all schools in Australia and all year levels, but standard league soccer’s average year level of entry is 11, with many teams having had multiple years of experience.  

Secondary level rescue saw six teams from Christian College in the mix. Years 7, 8, 9, and 10 were represented. This competition is extremely demanding and offers little room for error. Robots are tasked with navigating a complex course featuring obstacles, elevation changes, roadblocks, and a victim to rescue. Students cannot see the course in advance and must engineer and program for all possibilities. Christian College was represented by a record number of teams and year levels in this division. 

Results from rescue and soccer can be found below. Please congratulate these students as they deserve all the praise. Their willingness to take on extremely advanced programming and engineering problems and spend countless hours outside of class time testing and refining, made this possible.  

Medieval Day – A Journey Through the Middle-Ages

This semester has been a fun-filled, educational deep-dive into Medieval History. Picking up from where we left off with the Vikings last term, we have been engaging with some fascinating content covering the Battle of Hastings, the Domesday Book, the Crusades, Magna Carta, The Black Death and much much more.  

Our Medieval Day started brilliantly with an expert introduction and broad sweep of history by our resident Middle-Ages expert in Leon O’Neill. He allowed the kids to immerse themselves in a real-life activity by assigning the social roles and providing an understanding of where each character would sit in the social hierarchy of the Middle-Ages. 

From there, it was over to the incredible team at History-Up-Close. Robert, Georgina and Zaia started with the impressive weapons display allowing students to engage with what combat would have been like for many in the Middle-Ages. Cuan Bester who was dressed as a Knight’s Crusader performed admirably defending our cohort.  

Please Stick With me… Love From Your Teenager  

Here is an encouragement for all our Year 9 families as we approach the end of the year. I want to remind you that each day, here at school, we get the best of your young person!  

We look forward to another fun filled term here at Middle School as your young person prepares to transition to Senior School later this year.  

Nicole Riddle 

A Successful Offspring Week Unites the School 

In the second week of the term, Offspring Week took our school by storm with a series of engaging activities that not only fostered a sense of community but also raised awareness and funds for a noble cause. 

Bake Sale Delight 

Kicking off the week with a delicious note, the bake sale on Tuesday drew a substantial crowd, and it’s estimated that approximately 170 delectable items were purchased. The culinary stars of the event were the samosas and onion bhajis, crafted with care and precision by the talented students from Year 9 and Year 7 food classes. These flavorful treats brought a delightful touch of spice to our school, offering a memorable taste of diverse cuisines. 

A Brass Extravaganza! 

As part of the Melbourne Universities outreach to regional areas, The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music Brass Faculty Staff and a selection of their tertiary brass students visited Christian College RW Gibson Centre on Monday this week. The visiting musicians worked with selected brass students (from Years 5 – 12) as well as students from a number of other schools. The morning’s activities saw 60 trumpet, trombone, French horn, euphonium and tuba students take part in a warmup workshop in specialised instrument groups, participate in a ‘side by side’ performance with the visiting performers and then enjoy a superb concert by the visitors as a large brass ensemble. There was a question-and-answer session between the students, lecturers and tertiary students, with our students asking thoughtful questions and getting a glimpse into life of a tertiary music student, they also learned of opportunity to develop your performance at university whether studying music as a major or on the ‘side’ of your major study. The MCM faculty also shared some thoughts on how to ‘succeed’ as a musician and all about how their music provides lifelong opportunities to meet others, travel, and experience many aspects of the creative arts/performing industry.  

The final concert performed by the visiting musicians was superb! The brass ensemble performed a range of music, some written specifically for brass, but as well transcriptions of works from across the centuries written for a range of instruments. Congratulations to our brass students, supported by our brass teachers Sean Rankin, Andrew Dunlop, Rob Moffatt and Cameron Williams, for their engagement in the activities and this opportunity to grow as musicians.

20 Years of Friendship Celebrated! 

An international guest, our first ever coordinator of Uma Maun Allin, past committee members and chairpersons, and many other guests who have had the wonderful community of Viqueque touch their hearts, gathered at the RW Gibson Music Performance Centre last Friday night to celebrate 20 years of friendship between Christian College Geelong and our closest international neighbour East Timor. It was a wonderful night of music performed by our current coordinator in Viqueque Samuel da Costa, and dancing. Congratulations to Andy Phillips and Darryl, Debbie, Jordan and Maddie Riddle who were honoured for their outstanding contribution, friendship and relationship with the people of East Timor. Here’s to another great 20 years. 

College Production 2024 – Update

As published in The Vine at the end of Term 3, the College will be staging Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Broadway Version) at the Geelong Arts Centre from May 2 – 4, 2004.

Audition Registration

All students from Years 5 – 11 (in 2023) across the College will receive an email early next week, with information and a link to an online registration form. Auditions will commence across the College on designated days from Sunday October 22. To register for an audition, students must complete the online form on/by Friday October 13.

There will be an information session held at each campus for students to have an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the show. These will be held at:

Highton MS Campus Chapel                   Monday October 9 12.40

Senior Campus Music Department         Tuesday October 10 1.20pm

Bellarine Campus Auditorium                Tuesday October 10 at Lunchtime

Surf Coast Campus – Ms Notini will visit the Year 5 classroom next week.

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 f.provan@ccg.vic.edu.au