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 10
Wednesday 5th April Preps at school
Wednesday 5th April House Athletics – Year 4 and Year 5
Thursday 6th April Easter Service and Bonnet Parade – all welcome – 9am – 9.30am. Easter Service 9.30am
Thursday 6th April End of term 2 – 2.30pm dismissal – all students
Prep Teddy Shelters
This week in Prep was filled with creativity, craft, and design!
Over the past few weeks in Integrated Studies, the Preps have been learning about materials. They have been observing and manipulating objects to identify what materials they are made of, and what their purposes are.
The Preps were given the task of creating a teddy shelter that would house one of their loved toys. The designs needed to be planned through a detailed drawing, they needed to be waterproof and also appropriately sized.
On Monday, our Preppies visions came to life, when they finally got to build their designs! Their shelters were then tested by being placed outside for the night. In the morning, each of the Preppies checked their shelter to see if it withheld the weather elements. To their surprise, all the shelters had sprinkles of water on them and each of their teddies were kept safely dry. What a success!
We are incredibly proud of every one of our amazing students for designing and building such wonderful shelters.
Caitlin Maher
Combining Art and Integrated Studies
In Year 1 we love the opportunity to link our subjects. We decided to cross Art and Integrated Studies together to make some really cool pieces of work. We used our very own plants from our school to create artwork using charcoal. We looked at how Australia’s First Nations Peoples may have used plants and materials to create art with charcoal. We loved getting out and exploring and getting very messy with our art supplies. Next term, we will be diving deeper into how Australia’s First Nations Peoples utilised the land with a few trips down to Deep Creek 😊
Nick Hogan
Year 2 – Beach Days
In the last fortnight, we’ve been able to visit the beach twice! This week we loved the Surf and Sand Carnival. Last week we went to Beach Discovery and found different materials to build sandcastles. The students worked in groups and had to use at least three different materials to build their sandcastle. There were so many materials to find and use: rocks, sand, shells, seaweed, pine fronds, sticks and water. We had three categories for a sandcastle competition: the tallest, the largest and the most creative.
Our Winners
Most Creative Sandcastle: Isla N, Sophia C
Largest Sandcastle: Ace N, Archie H, Oliver
Tallest Sandcastle: Clancy D, James M
We have been exploring procedural texts in Reading. We read ‘How to Make an Easter Basket’ and made the most beautiful Easter baskets. We wonder if there will be any Easter eggs to fill them?
Sharon Sutton
Year 3 – The Amazing Things we Have Learnt!
It’s incredible to think that we are at the end of Week 9! As they say, time flies when you’re having fun!
Of course, the highlight of this week was the amazing Surf and Sand Carnival on Wednesday. The kids were fantastic in their willingness to try new things and “give it a go”. Thank you to the Year 3 parents who gave up their time to volunteer to help run the event and to those who came down in support. It was certainly a raging success.
In English we have been discussing the contrast between the book and the movie for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
This week the Year 3s have also been experimenting with melting crayons from solid and turning them into liquid, and then back to solid. An example of a reversible change in our science unit.
In Mathematics we have been learning to estimate the length of objects and then measure them in millimetres, centimetres, and metres.
With Easter on the horizon, we are concluding our Christian Ed unit about Kings and the children have learned about the characteristics God was looking for when choosing leaders in the Old Testament.
We still have a huge Week 10 in store with the Easter bonnet parade and don’t forget the 2:30pm finish on Thursday!
Leanne Crole
Adam Stewart
Our Inaugural House Sand and Surf Carnival
Last Wednesday students in Year 1 – 5 participated in our very first ‘off-campus’ sports carnival, our House Sand and Surf Carnival.
What a day it was!
The weather kept everyone on their toes and meant that we all kept moving, and the students did exactly that!
The enthusiasm and participation levels were amazing. Students undertook both water and beach events, Surf Swim, Wade, Board Paddle, Beach Flags, Beach Sprint and Beach Distance Run. It was wonderful watching our students have a go and try all the events, right down to our Year 1 students paddling and dragging the Nipper Boards up the beach to the finish line.
Equally as impressive were our parent volunteers who worked tirelessly, imparting their knowledge and expertise to our students and teachers. This day was largely driven by our parent volunteers. We are so grateful and thankful to have you all involved. The event could not have gone ahead without you.
Thank you to our incredible staff and Surf Coast teachers. The involvement of Mr Andrew Richardson, Mrs Katie Moore, Miss Caitlin Hoiles from Bellarine Campus, together with our Year 9 students working as water safety support, was greatly valued, and helped to make the day such a success.
Thank you to the Torquay SLSC for lending out the equipment for the event. Torquay SLSC’s incredible Nipper program over the summer months is a wonderful program for young children to be involved in. We have many Surf Coast students who participate in the program, which teaches them about water and surf safety and the competition opportunities that are part of Lifesaving.
There were so many amazing highlights. I hope you enjoy this week’s Vine photos which provide a small snapshot of the action and atmosphere of the day.
Jo Richardson
Year 5 – Food and Beaches, Learning Outside the Classroom
The past two weeks have seen our Year 5 students move out of the classroom and take their learning into new places. Last week we were given the opportunity to travel to our Senior Campus in Waurn Ponds to take part in the Senior House Food Competition. While we were there we competed in our own ‘food sensory’ activities. It was fantastic to see the Year 4 and 5 students take part in activities at Senior School and interact with some of the senior students. We got to see the Senior School vegetable garden and do taste testing, competing in houses to see who could guess the correct food. A scavenger hunt was also planned for us to find particular foods in the vegie gardens there.
We spent Wednesday of this week at Cosy Corner in Torquay taking part in our very first Christian College Surf Coast Campus Surf and Sand Carnival. It was the most amazing day at the beach. The weather was a little chilly, but the students were outstanding. They competed in board races, wading races, swimming, as well as beach flags, beach sprints and a beach run. The day was full of belly laughs and smiles. It was such a great atmosphere on the beach for the day, with Flynn taking out our first competition!
Thank you to all of our parents that came to help on the day. It certainly took an amazing community to help the day be such a success.
Claire Deretic
Year 5 – STEM
The year 5 students have been busy working on their boats as part of the Stemming the Tide Unit. The students have spent the beginning of Term researching different renewable and non-renewable energy resources, learning about buoyancy and looking at different boat designs. This week the students were given their remote controls and began the process of connecting their batteries to their motors and receivers, to understand how the energy from the batteries is transferred into each unit.
It has been wonderful seeing the students explore different materials and equipment and expand their knowledge on energy resources and concept of design and technology.
Bea Greenhalgh
Progressing Through Teaching and Learning is in Full Swing….
At our Surf Coast Campus, the teaching and Learning programs this term have been extensive and rich. It has been exciting to see the learning that has taken place in our Prep classrooms with the children learning how to read and then right up to our Year 5 classrooms with the students building on their knowledge and understanding. The subjects on offer to our Year 5 students have increased this year and they are thoroughly enjoying these new learning opportunities. All of our students have taken part in activities that have continued to develop both their academic and emotional growth either in the classroom or in the environment. During the term the students have spent time making social connections when visiting the local beach through discovery learning sessions. They have been involved in Campus Carnivals, House events, family events such as the family picnic, information sessions and more as well as continued development in intercultural understandings through our international guests from Indonesia. Each of these has seen positive engagement with our Teaching and Learning program. Students and staff have been excited to engage in a program that offers opportunities for our students to engage with critical competencies and real-life opportunities, develop learning area skills and knowledge in the breadth of classes available to our students.
You can view your child’s progress in each of their learning areas through our In Time reporting program via SEQTA Engage. Log onto the parent portal via the college website and select the Assessments menu to view your child’s progress. As a reminder, there is also the SEQTA App that can be downloaded to your phone. I have attached a couple support documents that highlight how to get the most out of SEQTA Engage.
Antony Benson, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning
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:
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’.
