Surf Coast Term 3 Week 1

From the Acting Principal

Despite some chilly weather this week, the sun shone brightly on the start of this new term. It was a pleasure to get to many of the campus commencement assemblies on Monday and to witness the buzz of excitement among the students as they reconnected with their peers and teachers after the holidays. These first day gatherings, coming off a three-week midyear break for students, provided a wonderful opportunity to set a positive tone for the second half of the year. Our College Captains, Molly Cooper and Seth Wilkinson, shared an encouraging message around the importance of self-care, not only at the Senior Campus assembly, but in visits to Highton, Bellarine and Belmont assemblies as well. We are blessed as a community to have two such leaders as Molly and Seth, who show such genuine care for the wellbeing of all students, no matter what age or what campus they are from.

Last week, staff returned for our annual Staff Retreat. Held over Thursday and Friday, this year’s theme, “Here to Serve”, gave us an opportunity to look outward, and we did so in practical and meaningful ways on Thursday afternoon through a range of organised community service activities. These included, just to name a few, beach cleanups along our beautiful coastline, blood and plasma donation, knitting blankets for bereavement support, biscuit-making for Bellarine Foodbank, meal preparation for the McKellar Centre Palliative Care Unit, working with various Landcare groups and Op Shop volunteering. The Christian College philosophical statement expresses our desire to apply Christ’s teaching of love, justice and compassion and to experience an afternoon where over 300 committed and caring staff of Christian College were able to outwork this was truly incredible. Here’s just a few examples of the positive feedback given by staff about this day: “It was a fantastic opportunity to give back to the community”; “Every part of the retreat fostered a great sense of community and fellowship”; “it was a real out of my comfort zone experience”.

At the Staff Retreat each year, we have an opportunity at a formal dinner to acknowledge those staff who have milestone years of service at the College. This year, we recognised 25 staff with 10 years of service, twelve with 15 years and four with 20 years of service. The loyalty and faithful service of so many staff, be it teachers or professional support staff, over such a long period of time in our relatively short 43 years of history, is a wonderful blessing to this community.

From the Campus Coordinator

We have thoroughly enjoyed welcoming our children back on campus this week and reconnecting with them as we embark on the second half of the academic year. The term has certainly started off in an exciting way for our children. On Monday we started our 2-week intensive aquatic program. We are so proud of our children; they are demonstrating such maturity and resilience and their organisational skills are really growing throughout the aquatic program.

During the term break as a staff, we participated in our College Retreat. At the retreat we had the opportunity to celebrate the years of service for many of our College staff. It was very special for our Surf Coast staff to celebrate with Mrs Claire Deretic as she was recognised for her 15 years of service. Congratulations on this remarkable milestone Claire, and here’s to many more years of making a difference in the lives of those you teach.

We have so much to look forward to this term – the Year 1 camp, a visit from our Japanese friends, Book Week, and Fathers’ Night – are just a few of the wonderful activities our children will take part in.

Today, Semester 1 reports will be available for viewing on your Parent Portal. We hope you enjoy reading about the milestones your child has reached. If you have any questions regarding the report, please contact your child’s homeroom teacher.

I pray that this term will be filled with many blessings.

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 3 2023

Week 2

Monday 24 July                    Swimming Program – all students
Friday 28 July

Friday 28 July                       BLP Sign Up – Prep to Year 4

I am a Jelly Fish

What a first week back! It has been go, go, go here in Year 1. With our intense swimming program, our schedule has been flipped on his head. However, that hasn’t stopped the kids from doing amazing work during the time they have been in class. Our Integrated Studies topic this term is living things. So, to link that in with our swimming program, we read the story I am a Jelly Fish. The kids then were able to get super creative making some awesome jelly fish. Next week, we will be welcoming our new class pets and taking part in our very own chicken-hatching program.

A Wet Start – and we Don’t Mean the Weather

We have had a wonderful start to the term as the Year 3 students returned to school full of enthusiasm and with an eagerness to learn. An exciting term lies ahead with our intensive swimming program and an upcoming excursion to Melbourne Zoo next month. Students will participate in Book Week activities and also get to choose a new BLP Club to enjoy learning new skills or exploring a new activity.

This week we begin our Integrated Studies unit, Biological Sciences, investigating the characteristics of living things with a focus on the local birdlife. Our excursion to the Melbourne Zoo later in the term will complement classroom studies and will be a celebration of students’ learning as they observe the various wildlife and learn about their habitats and behaviours.

This week has been a busy one with daily trips to Middle School for swimming lessons. The Year 3 students have approached this change in routine with wonderful maturity and keen enthusiasm. They have enjoyed the opportunity to spend some time in the water learning new and vital skills. We are sure they will be exhausted by the weekend but will be ready to do it all again next week.

Year 4 – Welcome to Term 3!

The students of Year 4T ended Term 2 in style, pyjama style. To celebrate a great end to semester one the students came to school dressed to relax and enjoyed a movie and some fun activities together.

Thanks to the many parents who took the time to come and be a part of the Celebration of Learning Conferences. It was so great to see the students proudly sharing their learning and goals that they have set for the remainder of the year.

The Student Garden continues to thrive thanks to the dedication of the Year 4 students and the Gardening Club. Recently hundreds of carrot seeds were planted so Year 4 families can brace themselves for some more fresh veggies in the coming months.

The students’ hard work has been noticed by the College Captains Seth and Molly from Senior School who came to see how the Surf Coast Campus is working to be more sustainable. Some of the students were able to take our Year 12 visitors around the campus to observe our composting, recycling, Student Garden, chickens, propagating plants, and much more. We look forward to a visit from the Senior School prefects in the coming weeks.

Prep to Year 5 Aquatic Program

After returning from a restful holiday, students usually ‘hit the ground running’, during the first week of term. However, this term it’s a case of ‘hit the pool swimming’, and what an amazing job our students are doing.

Today, staff and students completed day 5 of our 10-day Intensive Aquatic Program at our Middle School Campus in Highton, and we are looking forward to building on acquired skills next week.

All required preparation and organisation from both staff and students is running like clockwork with everyone ready to board the bus and travel to and from their daily swim session.

Students arrive excitedly at the pool each day and have increased their efficiency and knowledge of the program to enjoy a 40-minute pool session with their instructors.

Sessions focus on building water confidence all the way to refining stroke technique and water safety.

Each day, students demonstrate numerous examples of aquatic development as a result of the intensive and repetitive nature of our program. Parents are encouraged to continue this vital part of their child’s education by ensuring private swimmimg lessons are undertaken outside of school. Now is a great time to start preparing your young person for summer and aquatic leisure activities.

Discover Prep Week

During Discover Prep Week, August 7 – 11, three CCG campuses are offering interested parents, families and guardians the opportunity to get a firsthand view of Prep at Junior School-Belmont, Bellarine Campus and Surf Coast Campus. Our Prep programs are unparalleled and we invite anyone interested in enrolling children in Prep in 2024 and beyond, to come and visit, join a class, see our facilities, speak with teachers and campus leaders and have their questions answered. There are multiple opportunities at each of the three campuses to participate.

We would encourage our College community to spread the word about Discover Prep Week to anyone who is considering school choices for their children in 2024 and beyond.

All details, including booking information for sessions, can be found on our Discover Prep Week webpage – hit the hotlink on our homepage or click here to access it.

Scholarship Applications are Now Open!

Each year Christian College offers Academic Excellence Scholarships for entry at Year 5, 7 and 10 levels. Applications are now open for this year’s scholarships, which apply to entry in 2025, at three campuses – Middle School-Highton, Bellarine Campus and Surf Coast Campus.

Year 10 entry applies to Senior School-Waurn Ponds only.

To find out more, and to apply, visit our website and look for the homepage hotlink, or click here.

Scholarship applications are open to students who do not currently attend Christian College, as well as those who are currently enrolled here. Scholarship examinations will be held at Christian College on Saturday October 7. Closing date for applications is Thursday, September 28.

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