What’s Happening at Surf Coast?
Is an up to date list of planned activities at Surf Coast Campus that you can use for planning purposes. Please be aware that these dates are set early in the term and occasionally items may need to be cancelled or dates/times altered. This itinerary is altered each week to reflect any changes – please check this list of events EVERY WEEK carefully when you read the weekly VINE newsletter.
TERM 1 2023
Week 9
Tuesday 28 Mar Regional Swimming Championship – selected students only – more information to come
Wednesday 29 Mar Sand and Surf Carnival – Year 1 to Year 5
Friday 31 Mar Assembly
Week 10
Wednesday 5 April Preps at school
Wednesday 5 April House Athletics – Year 4 and Year 5
Thursday 6 April Easter Service and Bonnet Parade – all students
Thursday 6 April End of term 2 – 2.30pm dismissal – all students
From the Chaplain
It’s been a very busy few weeks in the life of our school! From Bible presentations to Naplan to the beginning of construction to all the fun excursions! It’s all happening down here at Surf Coast campus!
It was really fun on Wednesday watching the students standing at the fence, watching the diggers break ground for the construction that’s going to take place! They were so intently focused as well and curious. I must admit I could’ve stayed there watching all day too!
This got me thinking about construction and foundations. If you’ve ever been around construction long enough, you might have observed that there is a lot of time and resources put into preparing the ground and then into preparing the foundation. And after months of seemingly nothing happening, framing, walls and roofing suddenly appear! Before you know it, the new building is occupied for its purpose.
If we look at our lives, the same can be true. Whether it’s all the study that no one sees and then one day there are results from that hard work. Maybe it’s all the running and cycling, the training when no one else sees, in preparation for that race or sports event. The preparation and hard work that’s done, particularly when there seems to be no ‘progress’, is so critical. It’s the foundation on which things are built on.
I believe that’s one of the strengths of our environment here at school, because we place a high value on education, we equally place high value on character, on developing, nurturing and growing each individual student. Having character and good values are a key part of the foundation for our lives. This is reinforced further in scripture in Matthew 7:24-27
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Jesus uses a story about a building being built on good and bad foundations. He uses this to illustrate that when we take His word and use them as instructions (like a building plan), we begin to build a life that is built on a solid foundation that will stand the test of time and the challenges life will throw at us.
It’s so beautiful watching the students here learning and growing in their education, and even more so their growth as amazing humans who show grace, love, empathy, compassion, kindness, forgiveness and respect to name a few. While on the excursion this week to the Chocolate Factory with the Year 3s, one of the chocolate factory staff who was facilitating the tour and activities made a comment to me that encapsulates this. She commented that “these children are really lovely”. I agreed with her but she came back with “No they really are.” I could read between the lines that she works with a lot of school groups and clearly the children had left a good impression on her. That’s your children! They are clever and smart in their own unique way, but they genuinely are really great humans who reflect good character and the values Jesus encourages us to build our life on.
Be blessed and have a great weekend!
Pratty
Nathan Pratt
Harmony Week
Harmony Week is a time to celebrate Australia’s multiculturalism. This week our students have been celebrating the many cultures that make our country a diverse place to live. The students have been learning about inclusivity, respect and belonging for all Australians regardless of their culture. They spent time creating artworks to depict unity.
Debbie Riddle, Campus Coordinator
Exploring Movement and More at MoPA!
This week in Prep we celebrated the completion of our Integrated Studies unit on movement by visiting the Museum of Play and Art (MoPA) in Geelong.
We were able to explore all that the museum had to offer through many different play-based learning experiences. We made predictions and tested which cars would be the fastest to finish using ramps and jumps; we watched in amazement and tried our best to catch the silk scarves as they whizzed and zigzagged their way through the see-through vacuum pipes; we built dams to block the running water and trap the giant rubber duckies; we manoeuvred our way through the vibrant cityscape skyscrapers; we worked together to build a giant fort from blue foam blocks of all different shapes and sizes; and we topped it all off by having an epic dance party! The highlight of the day for many was adding what MoPA estimate to be their 4000th layer of paint to their famous Volkswagen Beetle car.
What a wonderful day – we love MoPA!
Caitlin Maher
Year 1s Revisit Cosy Corner
This week for Integrated Studies we decided to head back down to Cosy Corner. Whilst down there, we had the opportunity to use our five senses to see what had changed since our last visit.
We used our sight and noticed the tide was close to shore, there were little jellyfish on the sand and areas had been marked off by tape. Using our noses, we could smell the fresh seawater from the wind. We could also hear the waves from the ocean crashing against the rocks. Using our touch, we felt the cold rocks and the coolness of the water. Finally, we got to use our sense of taste to eat some yummy icy poles!
“I saw the waves at the beach and the little sea creature eggs.” – Valentina
“I felt the soft sand. The water felt very wet to touch and sometimes warm.” – Oliver
Nick Hogan
Year 3 Takes the Chocolates
With NAPLAN now done and dusted, what better way to celebrate than to take a trip to the Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie as part of our Literacy/Science cross curricular learning! Without a doubt the highlight of the week. The children were so excited to dress up as their favourite characters, learn about the process of making chocolate and making their own giant lollipops!
In Science we conducted investigations into the state of matter and turning solids into liquids and back to solids.
With Easter on the horizon, we have a lot to look forward to in the next two weeks. On Wednesday next week we have our inaugural Nippers carnival which will be fantastic, Project Care Hot Cross Bun drive and the conclusion of our Roald Dahl Charlie and the Chocolate Factory unit with a special viewing of the movie, so as always keep an eye on The Vine!
Leanne Crole
Adam Stewart
Presentations in Year 4
As we approach the end of our current topic in Integrated Studies, during science lessons each student presented their research about a chosen friend or foe in our gardens. From butterflies and ants to cockroaches, slugs and spiders we all learned many new things we didn’t know. Did you know that worms lay eggs and that ladybirds sometimes eat their own eggs?
The students of Year 4 have also had the opportunity to share some of their science learning with the Prep and Year 1 students. We took the younger students into the garden and taught them about friendly minibeasts in the garden and those that aren’t so friendly. We also told them about the other signs around the garden and which plants are edible, which ones have distinct smells and which ones we need to be careful of.
Geoff Trevaskis
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’.
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.
