Healthy Relationships
There’s a moment in Samuel L Jackson’s inspirational film (not ‘Snakes on a Plane’ – the other one) Coach Carter, where one of his players reminds him of what he has taught them. Jason Lyle, played by Channing Tatum, says, “You said we’re a team. One person struggles, we all struggle. One person triumphs, we all triumph.” It’s a powerful moment, and captures the essence of not only teams, but communities. We have been focusing this term at Senior School on the theme of Healthy Relationships.
When we introduced this topic with students at our commencement service, I mentioned that the key goal of Christian College is to have our young people flourish. I said that when each of us flourishes, the community flourishes, and when the community flourishes, each of us flourish. It’s the same sentiment that Coach Carter was expressing – we’re in this together, we’re a team. Our goal at Christian College is to help each young person in our care flourish, and one of the significant ways we aim to achieve this is by supporting our community to flourish. Healthy relationships underpin strong communities, and as our College Captain Sophie Potter so eloquently shared with staff and students on our first day back – ‘healthy relationships are those that make us feel safe and bring out our best.’ Our staff have been sharing about Healthy Relationships in our morning devotions, and it has been a powerful and provocative way to begin our day. Messages on encouraging words; supportive and uplifting peers; assertive communication that puts the bests interests of all parties at the centre; and the importance of communing with God, have helped our staff to keep focused on why we come to work each day – to build a school community that helps our students to flourish.
Similarly, our House Group topics for this term have been leading our students to think about healthy relationships. The first few weeks have centred on healthy relationships in the online world. We understand that it is just as important for our young people to practice healthy relationships in this space as it is for them to practice healthy relationships in what we would call ‘the real world’. For them, cyber space is just as much ‘the real world’ as the physical world, and those online relationships are just as real and just as significant – they have just as much power to cause them to flourish or flounder. We will, of course, be supporting our students to think about cultivating healthy relationships in ‘offline spaces’ as well; both in and out of school, as well as a focus on the importance of seeking help and how to be a supportive friend, in connection with RUOK? Day during September. We are keenly aware of the role that the past two years has had in shaping the way our young people relate to each other. Their face-to-face interactions with their peers and adults outside their close circle were often inconsistent and clouded with uncertainty. We are only six months into the regularity of being a part of a school community again and both learning and relearning what it means to be a ‘team’ and support one another to flourish. Our young people are doing a terrific job of navigating this often tricky but very rewarding landscape and, as always, we consider it a privilege to be partnering with families in supporting your child to flourish in this area.
Uniform
We wish to commend our Senior School students on how well they have worn their uniform this year. As mentioned by Head of Campus Mr Geall in last week’s Vine, the photographers from Arthur Reed photos were full of praise not only for the character displayed by our students, but also their presentation. Our House Music Carnival at the end of Term 2 was another moment were students showed they were able to wear their uniform to the high standard we would expect – showing pride in themselves and the school. We understand that the transition back to regular school has been challenging for some students. And we appreciate that one of the areas that students may have found challenging is wearing their uniform appropriately at all times. For many of us, one of the benefits of lock down was wearing trackie-pants every day – that is if we even got out of our pyjamas! With this in mind, we have endeavoured to gently lead our students back into the habit of wearing their uniform well and appropriately over the course of Semester 1. Teachers have been addressing uniform concerns with individual students, with Heads of House following up repeat infringers, asking them to give up a lunchtime in order to reflect on their choices and, hopefully, encourage them to address the issue.
Some parents may have received an email when your child has been given several opportunities to address a uniform issue, seeking your support at home also. We believe that we have now given the right amount of time to allow students to transition back to wearing their uniform appropriately and well. We know from some of the events mentioned previously that are students are capable, and, for the most part, those who are not yet wearing their uniform according to our uniform policy are now choosing not to meet our community standards. From Week 4, teachers will no longer be providing students with a ‘warning’ for being out of uniform but will instead ask students to attend lunchtime detention. Students have been given notice regarding this process over the beginning of this term and should be prepared. We anticipate that this will only affect a small number of students. And we know that giving up their lunch time is an effective way to encourage students to address these small matters and align themselves with our community expectations once again. We wish for our students to always aim to be their best and have high expectations of themselves, and we believe that they are more than capable; this extends to the way they wear their uniform.
As in all things, we are also here to support students in striving for excellence. With this in mind, if there is any reason why your child may not be able to present to school in the appropriate uniform, please get in touch with your child’s House Mentor, or contact the student office so that we are aware and can offer help as necessary. We thank you in advance for your understanding and support in this matter.
Save the Date!
An Important Parent Evening for all Families
Save the date for this event to partner with us in support of our young people’s wellbeing.
The past few years have been challenging globally, and at Christian College we have not been exempt from facing difficulty. Pleasingly however, through the ever-present blessings of God, and the hard work of our wonderful team, we have delivered “The Learning That Matters” consistently and effectively throughout this time and continue to do so.
Over this time, in the broader community and in our own College community, we have seen a range of factors influencing young people’s wellbeing and learning, including their digital wellbeing. We know that there is a relationship between young people’s attitudes and habits towards technology and their wellbeing and learning, and that this relationship can be either helpful or harmful. We’re committed to supporting our students with their wellbeing. We view helping them develop positive attitudes and habits towards technology as an important facet of “the learning that matters”.
We wish to work and partner with you, as parents of our students, in this digital wellbeing space.
Many parents will have noted in previous Vine articles this year, references to our new Cyber Safe Schools Program in partnership with Linewize by Family Zone. We’re excited to invite all parents to join us in attending an evening to explore this new program and how we can partner together.
Parents are encouraged to save the date and attend one of the two evenings listed below, whichever is most convenient, to join a gathering of College leaders, parents and families. We will share specific details of our Cyber Safe Schools Program, including how it operates at school to support students’ wellbeing and learning, and how parents can partner with us in the home as part of this program.
Following our formal parent launch of the program on this evening, all parents will receive an invitation to activate a complimentary Insights parent account from Family Zone.
- Thursday, September 1st at 7.00pm (Week 8) – R. W. Gibson Music Centre, Senior School
- Thursday September 8th at 7.00pm (Week 9) – Auditorium, Bellarine Campus
These two evenings will be identical and are expected to be completed within 45 minutes, with a light supper afterward. All parents are encouraged to attend, and more information will follow in the coming weeks.
House Cooking
Senior school was a buzz at lunchtime on Wednesday for our annual House Cooking Competition!
The senior rock band played awesome tunes, the food trucks provided an array of yummy lunch options and the House relay of chefs kicked off production after recess, cooking right through until lunchtime to present a three-course fine dining experience ready for the judging panel in each house.
Congratulations to Head Chefs, Bella Maclean (Burrows), Kaitlyn Esler (Flynn), Madison Pfender (Taylor) and Lauren Crawford (Penman) for their amazing leadership in the kitchen. The kitchen atmosphere was hectic but in control as the head chefs did an amazing job to pull every rotation into line and on track so that every team completed their meals on time.
We tasted a lovely variety of meals including; baked stuffed chicken fillets wrapped in streaky bacon, lamb with green pea hummus and white beans, carbonara, homemade gnocchi, oreo parfait, chocolate mud cake with raspberry coulis, apple crumble and chocolate mousse with fresh cream and raspberries. Seriously all delicious!
Our special Year 4 visitors from the Surf Coast Campus also joined in on the judging, harvesting from the garden, smoothie tasting and cooking experiences provided. It was fantastic to see the excitement on their faces as they mingled with the big kids in our community.
Well done senior students who participated in this event, the team behind the scenes making this happen and for the many that joined us and made it such a joyful community event. Huge shout out to our fabulous Food Studies teacher Mrs Emma Workman for her vision and hard work in pulling all of this together and for the tireless support of Karen Smits in our kitchen. What a team!
And the overall winner of House Cooking 2022 was PENMAN!
Police Catch up With Legal Studies Classes
On Friday 22nd July both our Unit 2 Legal Studies classes were joined by Senior Constable Ditchburn who volunteered his time sharing with us what his role and responsibilities entail within Victoria Police in Melbourne’s western suburbs. In groups our classes created questions related to what we have recently been learning to ask SC Ditchburn. He shared a variety of funny stories and heartfelt moments he has experienced throughout his career as he discussed his job and how it relates to the Victorian legal system. We are grateful for, and thoroughly enjoyed the time we had with our guest despite not being able to wear his ceremonial police hat! As a result, as a class, we now have a better understanding of how police contribute to protecting the Victorian community. Once again, Thank you Tim!
Katrina Cochrane
Year 11 Legal Studies Student
Senior Strings Take Gold!
This week the Senior String Ensemble travelled to the Hawthorn Arts Centre to perform at the Victorian Schools’ Music Festival. They played alongside three other school ensembles in the Senior Strings section and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to perform in the community again.
The Senior String Ensemble rehearse on a weekly basis and are led by Mr Martin DeMarte and assisted by Jeanette Carnie. This performance at the VSMF allowed the musicians to celebrate their love of string playing together and enjoy the buzz of a live performance- something that has been missing over the last two years. They also received a live ‘on stage’ tutorial with the guest adjudicator Dr Gail Barnes from the University of South Carolina.
The students have worked consistently throughout the year and the practice has clearly paid off – the ensemble was awarded a ‘Gold Medal’ in their section! This is a truly outstanding achievement for these students, and they should be extremely proud of themselves!
This superb result has created a great sense of anticipation as the group prepares to attend the annual Senior Music Camp over this weekend, culminating with an intimate performance at the charming Convent Gallery in Daylesford at 1.00pm this Sunday afternoon.
Careers Newsletter
Topics this week:
YEAR 12 STUDENTS
- Apply for tertiary courses
- Download a university application guide for Victorian courses. This guide contains a link to Victorian early entry programs.
- Law Admissions Test for UNSW
- University of Tasmania – applications now open
- Business Cadetship Program – Melbourne
- CASPer Test – initial teacher education courses and Bachelor of Nursing at Victoria University
- Study resources
- Events
- Scholarship
- Spring into Monash: Indigenous Camp 2022
- Take CTRL: IT Bootcamp
YEAR 11 STUDENTS
- National Youth Science Forum
- Biomedical Research Summer Camp
- Spring into Monash: Indigenous Camp 2022
- Take CTRL: IT Bootcamp
YEAR 10 STUDENTS
- Spring into Monash: Indigenous Camp 2022
- Take CTRL: IT Bootcamp
- Defying the Drift Agricultural Program
- Science Experience
ALL STUDENTS
- Focus on open days – download the open day calendar
- Studying medicine at Monash University
- Studying business at university
- Why are post school qualifications so important?
- Cyber security
- Student exchange programs
- The built environment – download course guides for occupations such as architecture and urban planning
- Interesting career articles
- News from RMIT University
- Emerging careers in agriculture
- The Heywire writing competition
- Upcoming career events
State ‘All Schools’ Cross Country
Bundoora Park was the venue for the 2022 State All Schools XC Championships last Saturday. The College was well represented at this event, which attracts the best schoolgirl and schoolboy athletes from across Victoria.
Suzannah Mavromihalis (Yr9 Bellarine – 22nd place) and Jaime McKie (Yr9 Highton – 60th place) competed very well in the U16 girls' race, with both girls finishing in the top 60 in the State, and Suzannah just 2 minutes behind the winner. Will Hannaford (Yr8 Bellarine) joined 110 U15 runners on the start line and ran a great race, finishing strongly in 64th position. Jacob McKie and Aaron Hanson (Yr11 Senior Campus) competed in the U18 age group and finished 22nd and 44th respectively over the 6km journey. Both boys ran very well against the State’s top schoolboy distance runners with Jacob finishing 90econds behind the winner.
We congratulate all these students on these achievements at the State Championships and wish them well as they represent the college in the upcoming GISSA Cross Country Championships on Thursday 18th August.
Are you a Creative Scientist or Scientifically Creative?
As part of National Science Week 2022, the CCG science faculty is offering our Years 5 – 12 students an opportunity to enter a CCG Science Photography competition and/or a CCG Science Creative Writing competition.
The theme for this years’ Science Week is Glass: More than meets the eye, so naturally, the theme of each competition is also glass. We’ve got some small prizes and it’s a bit of fun, so put your creative hats on and have a go!
The deadline for both competitions is 5pm Monday 15th August.
We are offering three age categories for the competition.
Junior – Years 5 and 6.
Inter – Years 7 - 9
Open – Years 10 - 12
The selected winning entry in each category will win a science themed book with winner's names and entries to be posted in the Vine newsletter.
Detailed guidelines and entry forms are attached and can also be obtained from your science teacher, or by sending an email to science@ccg.vic.edu.au
Good luck to all entrants, we look forward to reading and viewing your submissions!
CCG Creative writing entry form
CCG Creative writing guidelines
Scholarship Applications for 2024 Entry now Open!
Each year we offer Academic Excellence Scholarships for entry at Year 5 (Middle School-Highton, Bellarine and Surf Coast campuses); Year 7 (Middle School-Highton and Bellarine); and Year 10 (Senior School-Waurn Ponds).
These scholarships have been designed primarily to encourage and support new and current students who wish to attend Christian College and who demonstrate high levels of academic excellence.
We are now seeking scholarship applications for entry at any of those year levels in 2024.
For more information, and to apply, please see our website. Use the hotlink from our homepage or click here
Applications close on Thursday September 29. The examination date is Saturday October 8.
Come and Sample our Menu!
Over the next month, three of our campuses are opening their doors to anyone interested in enrolling their children at Christian College.
At Junior School-Belmont there is an Open Morning on August 2 between 9:30 and 11:00am
Middle School-Highton and Bellarine Campus are hosting their subject selection expos in August. Aside from the scheduled evening for current College parents, each campus will also present another evening dedicated to families who are considering Christian College as an option for their children. At Middle School-Highton, it’s on August 9 between 7:00 and 9:00 pm, and the date for Bellarine Campus is August 16, also between 7:00 and 9:00 pm.
These sessions provide interested families with the opportunity to take a deeper dive into the fantastic learning programs offered by our College. There will be opportunities to meet and speak with campus, year level and subject area leaders.
We would encourage anyone within our College community who may know friends, neighbours, work colleagues – anyone – that are considering Christian College as an option to spread the word and extend an invitation to any one or more of these sessions.
East Timor Trivia Night
National Collection of Data on Students With Disabilities
Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). With data collected on the first Friday in August (this year, on the 5th), the NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD Guidelines (2021).
Please see the attached NCCD Fact Sheet for more information.
Golf Tournament
The Foundation Golf Tournament is set for Thursday, 27 October 2022. Join us at 13th Beach Golf Links from 8:00am for a shotgun start. Tickets are $190 each ($150 for members) or $750 for a group of four. RSVPs close on Thursday, 6 October 2022 at 5:00pm.
Funds raised from this event will be allocated to our Foundation Scholarship Fund, supporting current students who are in need of financial assistance.
Book online at: The Foundation Golf Tournament
A MYTERN Thought for This Week
During these challenging times it's easy to feel overwhelmed.
You are not alone. Many people are feeling this way.
Whatever road you are now on, just take a deep breath and know that everything is going to be ok. Even if you can't change your circumstances, you always have the option to change the way you feel 👍🙏😊👏
Discover more about MYTERN here