Budding Prep Writers at Surf Coast
The Surf Coast Preps are developing into passionate little writers, with their independence and confidence growing day by day.
The Preppies have been developing their writing skills and have been focusing on formulating their ideas, prior to writing.
They have been experimenting with the correct use of punctuation, making sure they have finger spaces between their words, and that their sentences start with a capital letter.
The Preps have loved reading over their writing to ensure it makes sense and are so very proud of their achievements.
Next term, our budding writers will learn how to write a different text types, narratives and information reports.
Cooking Through the Ages
This week we have continued our creative History cooking lessons and made an old favourite. Apple pie! Who does not love warm apple pie on a cold winter’s day?
Year 1 stewed their own apples and made their own pastry from scratch! We made sure that we really thought about what was available to people in the early 1900s and made sure we were as authentic as possible. The kids had an awesome time peeling the apples and getting their hands dirty making pastry.
We have had an awesome time being able to cook together throughout this term. We can’t wait to see what other historical favourites we can whip up later in the term!
Year 2
This week, Reconciliation Week, Year 2s have learnt how the indigenous people of Australia were treated badly with the arrival of European settlers, how we need to say sorry, and work hard to come back together.
The dictionary says reconciliation is coming back to friendship or harmony after something bad has happened. Reconciliation is not only important for special events like ‘National Reconciliation Week’ or ‘National Sorry Day’. It is an important skill we all need to develop – to become kind and considerate people.
God wants us all to live together in peace, to love one another and consider each other better than ourselves. We are created equal.
Galatians 3: 26-28 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Be Brave, Make Change.
May the 27th to June the 3rd marks Reconciliation Week. A very important week in the learning of the students at the Surf Coast Campus. Students across all year levels have spent time looking at what reconciliation means to how we can support reconciliation in our community. We have enjoyed reflective learning in devotions, praying for reconciliation, art response, literature, and creating.
This week 4T has been looking at helping First Nations Peoples for National Reconciliation Week. 4T has made a giant Rainbow Serpent out of colour. 4T also chose their own totem (which is an animal/plant that is special to an indigenous person) – we researched about all sorts of Australian animals and found out their facts. We worked with a partner and wrote an acrostic poem about Reconciliation. We also wrote our own Dreamtime stories like how the wombats got short legs and how the snails got their shells. We have discussed that to achieve Reconciliation in Australia, we need to acknowledge what happened to the First Nation Peoples. Reconciliation is important because we need Aboriginals to feel loved and cared for. This is especially important for young people because they are the next generation, and they are going to change the perspectives of First Nations and us.
James O’Shanassy
Reflections from 4T
To me it means to be sorry of what happened in the past. It also means to me that we should try and help fix what happened in the past.
Thomas Burnell
To me it means that we acknowledge that the Indigenous were first here and we took their land and what happened to them was horrible and we should say sorry for what happened to them.
Blake Hunter.
Reconciliation means to be respectful and say sorry to the Aboriginals and think what else we can do to make a change. I think that giving back Uluru was a great start, and people flying over to the Northern Territory to talk to the Indigenous people, but it makes me wonder, what else can we do to make a change?
Georgia Griffin
It means to me to look after the First Nations and to care and respect their land, and to acknowledge what we did to them, and to also say sorry.
Lachlan Walters.
Maths in Action in Year 4
Maths in our Year 4 class has been busy and energetic over the past couple of weeks. We have been looking at fractions and how we can make equivalent fractions and where we might find them in the real world. Learning our multiplication facts in different ways has also been a focus. Knowing we can practise them through fun games is always a help too!
The students were tasked with coming up with a question that they could survey the whole school on. Questions included favourite seasons, favourite sports and ice cream flavours, just to name a few. The data that was collected was then presented in a graph, showing everyone how quickly and easily graphs can give us clear and concise information.
Project Care
East Timor Day
It was so exciting to see our students dressed in the colours of the East Timor flag a couple of weeks ago. The sense of fun around our campus was quite tangible. It is so exciting to be able to tell everyone that we were able to raise over $1000 as a school community. Our aim, as a whole school community across the college was to raise enough money to send 50 secondary students to school in East Timor next year. It costs $50 per student, therefor our aim was “50 for 50”. The generosity of our community will see 20 students able to go to school next year!
Off your Back
The response to the Off Your Back initiative has been amazing. We already have over 50 jackets that we will be able to send into Geelong to help people who are unable to purchase their own jackets, especially as the weather turns so cold. I will be taking the jackets at the end of next week, so if you still have one at home that is in good clean condition, please bring it into the multipurpose room at our campus.
Thank you again for your support of our Project Care program at school. What a wonderful school family we are a part of!
Messaging and Online Chat – Helping Parents to Keep Young People Safe
One of the most challenging aspects of young people’s technology use for parents is messaging and online chat. Where age-appropriate, these apps and platforms enable young people to stay connected, be in the moment with someone, meet new people and collaborate with others.
However, it can be difficult for parents to be across every platform or app and to know what’s age-appropriate and what’s not. Where a young person sets up an account on their own without parent involvement, it can make it difficult for parents to ensure safety and be confident that the content being sent and received is suitable and safe.
For all the potential value and benefit these tools provide, they also often pose the risk of cyberbullying, exposure to inappropriate content or unwanted contact from strangers. It is an unfortunate but true reality that there are some people online who seek to connect with young people for the wrong reasons.
Discord, Tik Tok, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook… Are they right for my child? Should I allow this app’s use? What are the safety and privacy features? How can I support my child in using this app?
Parents, be reassured that there is support and guidance for navigating the full range of apps and platforms that are popular with young people on both our own Online Safety Hub and from eSafety.
- Messaging and online chat (from eSafety
- Discord – parent advice (CCG Online Safety Hub)
- Snapchat – parent advice (CCG Online Safety Hub)
- Tik Tok – parent advice (CCG Online Sagety Hub)
Parents are encouraged to be aware of the minimum age for any platform and understand that many of these platforms are intended for adults and older teens. For many apps, the age recommended by cyber safety experts is older than the listed minimum age because of the potential risks.
At school, we prevent access to messaging and chat apps on our network. Access to messaging and chat is also prevented on College devices during school days for all students to support them with their learning and wellbeing.
Graduate Professional Development Day
Learning is for more than just our students - Christian College is building a strong career foundation for new teachers.
Teaching can be a tough job— as any veteran teacher will tell you over the past few years. Finding ways to make it sustainable is imperative for the strength of our profession, student learning outcomes and continuing to build the quality teaching in our College. Our targeted mentoring program is designed to support graduate teachers and was further enhanced by our recent seminar day with visiting speakers from Independent Schools Victoria (ISV) and the Victorian Institute of Education (VIT).
Undertaking a career as a new teacher can be both exhilarating and overwhelming. The excitement of working in a dynamic and hugely rewarding profession is often complicated by administrative demands, professional development responsibilities, and the intricacies of a classroom. Further to this, a graduate teacher is developing their craft, building relationships with colleagues and families for the first time, learning new processes, the Australian curriculum, navigating the 37 professional teacher standards and undertaking a teacher inquiry for registration as a proficient teacher. Victorian Institute of Education’s Linda Blakis likens learning to teach with learning to drive, ‘When you get behind the wheel for the first time, it is daunting. Everything is new, you must consciously check everything before turning on the engine and there is so much multitasking required, but with practice, good coaching and time, these things become intuitive.’
At Christian College we are privileged to have a selection of graduate teachers on each campus, each are supported fortnightly by an experienced mentor teacher. Our mentors are intensively trained to assist these graduates through one of the most critical phases of their teaching career.
To complement this ongoing mentoring, we were fortunate to have the expertise of Jackie Macreadie – Principal Consultant from ISV and Linda Blakis – Professional Practice Manager from VIT run a full day seminar for all graduates and mentors this week. This is a new initiative, one that few other schools offer, and we were immensely grateful for the time and expertise of our guest speakers. There was much engagement in the sessions, with collaboration and a buzz of ideas for their inquiry projects. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive for the value of this day for all who attended. We hope that it can become an ongoing opportunity for our staff development. A huge thank you to our leadership for supporting such a pivotal opportunity for our staff.
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
Recent Comments