Christian College Surf Coast Campus 2024 Year 5 & 6 Subject Information Afternoon

“Developing your young person’s Purpose, Passion and Pathway”

Current 2023 Year 4 and Year 5 families are invited to attend the Subject Information Afternoon, held next Monday, August 28th, from 3:30pm – 5:30pm in the Multipurpose room at the Surf Coast Campus

Christian College is proud of the engaging subjects and pathway programs that foster purpose and passion for our Middle School students, with specialisation and experiential learning being implemented from Year 5. In a learning journey where students are encouraged to become active participants in their own educational journey, it is with much excitement that we share with you the subject Information afternoon for the 2024 academic year as well as exciting opportunities available from 2025.

This plans to be a great community event providing you the opportunity to explore subjects, meet teachers and engage with our many support services, which aim to develop your young person through the variety of learning opportunities available to them at Christian College Geelong.

To help prepare for next Monday’s event, please follow this link to access the Surf Coast Campus Hub, where you will find lots of subject information for the 2024 academic year. These resources provide a detailed outline of the content, structure, and pathways for each of our core and elective subjects, as well as relevant rules relating to the selection of subjects. We anticipate these resources will be extremely beneficial when considering and deciding on electives for 2024 and beyond.

We look forward to meeting you there.  

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 7

Monday 28 August                 Gymnastics – Selected Days

Monday 28 August                Subject Information Night – Please refer to invite sent on  Tuesday 22 August

Tuesday 29 August                Discovery Learning – Prep

Thursday 31 August               District Basketball –Selected Year 5 Students

Thursday 31 August               Fathers Night – Please refer to EdSmart sent on August 17 – All Students

Friday 1 September               Fathers’ Day Stall – All Students

Friday 1 September               BLP Clubs – Prep to Year 4

Woo Hoo! Prep Fun at the Zoo!

On Monday, our Preps boarded the big bus to embark on an adventure to Werribee Zoo. The children delighted in watching the meerkats run around cheekily and noticed how inquisitive they were in our presence. Some of the children used the nearby sand play area to mimic the meerkats in action! We marvelled at the size of the beautiful gorillas and spotted cheetahs basking in the late winter sun. One of the highlights of the day was watching the lions and baby cubs during feeding time. They were utterly adorable! Soon after, we were on the safari bus where we witnessed an ostrich directing traffic, as well as some incredible rhinos and zebras. Suddenly there was a halt in proceedings… a gigantic giraffe decided to stop for a rest right in front of our bus for a matter of minutes! We felt so lucky to be able to witness these remarkable creatures up very close. We finished our visit by attending the special ranger kids’ area, where the children were able to dress up as vets, rangers and zoologists. Now back at school and with our zoo visit as our inspiration, we’re in the process of creating our very own animals and habitats to display at the upcoming Science Expo!

Year 1 Goes to the Zoo!

This week, we were able to journey out to the Werribee Open Range Zoo and explore everything on offer. We caught a Safari bus and saw some amazing animals roaming around the ‘savannah’. We then fueled our bodies for the next big walk. We ventured out of the African Walking Trail and saw some amazing creatures such as hippos, lions, cheetahs, gorillas and monkeys! We had such an amazing time learning about animals. This trip links in great to our overall topic of Living Things. We will use what we have learnt to write up a big information report on our chosen animal. We cannot wait to display our research at the upcoming Science Expo!

Book Week Excitement!

The Year 2s thoroughly enjoyed dressing up for our Book Week Parade this week. Their costumes were created with such thought and care. Well done, everyone!

Surf Coast Digital Technologies

Digital Technologies classes this term, have focused on computer coding, where students in Year 1 to Year 5 have been working their way through sequential learning modules on the devices. These computer programs and unplugged coding activities are designed to encourage students to improve their problem-solving and critical thinking skills, as well as promote collaboration and peer learning.

Year 1s have enjoyed the hands-on challenge of programming Ozobots, learning to use colour code patterns to program the bots to perform special manoeuvres. Year2s have extended their learning, using a blockly program on the computer to first, create algorithms, then upload these directly to the Ozobots. 

Year3s and Year4s have been working with the MIT coding program ‘Scratch’, exploring how to program characters using blockly coding, enabling students to create virtual animations and games.

And finally, Year5s have been working diligently through their learning modules from Grok Academy, learning how to program their ‘Turtle’ to create shapes using angles, colours and variables.

Prep students this term have excelled in their DigiTech classes, working persistently and consistently to sign themselves into the computers and create information booklets all about personal data.

Well done to all students for your wonderful efforts this term!

Book Week Celebration Day

What a wonderful celebration our annual Book Week parade day was for 2023! The effort and creativity that our students and families put into their costumes on Wednesday was incredible and made for an exciting celebration of books.

To celebrate this year’s Book Week, our Surf Coast staff performed their take on the Australian classic ‘Wombat Stew’ by Marcia Vaughn, with a little Surf Coast Campus twist. Mr Trevaskis made a very convincing Dingo character and the stew included various items from around the campus including mud, lunchbox leftovers and lost property items. It was wonderful to see the students get into the performance, chanting the ‘wombat stew’ song together.

We were very grateful for Tuesday’s rain to clear so that we could have sunshine on the basketball court for our annual parade after the staff performance. It was an exciting display of colour and creativity, with many familiar and new characters on display.

To finish off the day’s celebrations, the students visited the library for the ‘Great Book Swap’ fundraiser for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. The students had a wide range of books to select from thanks to the generous donations of our school families. The ‘Great Book Swap’ is such a wonderful way to not only encourage our students to read and engage with books, but also to raise funds for an amazing organisation that provides books and resources to children living in remote areas of Australia.

Thank you again to all of our families for continuing to support our Book Week event each year and helping us to celebrate the importance of books and the joy that they bring to our lives.

Science Week Competition Winners

Congratulations to Evie from 3J for being the inaugural Science Week colouring-in competition winner! Evie did a fantastic job bringing the superhero plant journey to life, from capturing carbon dioxide to using gene editing technology to help the plant survive under harsh conditions.

Congratulations to all the students who correctly identified the mystery cell under the microscopes in the Library! It was wonderful to see so many students use their curiosity and detective skills to identify the plant cell. Well-done to Judd from 3J who won the correct entry lucky dip.

Camp Australia Newsletter

Back Creek Café Closes

After nine years, we have made the difficult decision to close Back Creek Café, which has been an important part of the Back Creek Farm residential experience for our Year 9 students. As well as providing an outlet for farm produce and opportunities for student workgroups to gain hospitality skills, the café became a popular place within the Meredith community for locals and passers-by alike.

Since the COVID lockdown years, staffing at the café has proved to be a challenge and we have reached a point where we are not able to employ staff who can both support the students and operate the café effectively, which makes its continued operation unviable.

Christian College Year 9 students will continue to enjoy their rural residential experience at Back Creek Farm in Scotsburn, but working at the café will no longer be part of that experience. Another work group rotation will now be included as part of the farm experience.

We are so grateful for the friendships we made with both regular and occasional customers over nine years, and for the support and patronage of many Christian College families who visited the café in that time.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to making this café a great place to work and visit – we will miss you.

LEAD Parent Survey - Now Closing September 1

Each year, Christian College participates in the LEAD School Effectiveness Surveys conducted by Independent Schools Victoria (ISV). These surveys provide valuable insights into a school’s performance from the perspectives of students, staff and parents and are therefore an essential school improvement tool.

LEAD – Listen, Evaluate, Act, Deliver – succinctly describes the way in which this process enables our College community to grow and flourish through consultation with our valued stakeholders.

You will have received an email from ‘ISV Research Programs [email protected]’ inviting you to participate in the ISV LEAD Parent Survey. It includes a unique survey link that can only be used once and therefore cannot be shared or forwarded to others. Thank you to all parents who have completed the Parent Satisfaction Survey - we have received more than 300 responses to date. ISV has extended the deadline for survey responses - closing date is September 1. We invite any parents who have not yet participated to contribute your feedback via this year's survey. You are an integral part of our school community and your voice matters.

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 [email protected]

A MYTERN Thought for This Week

It’s easy to rush through a cup of tea or coffee and forget to stop and appreciate the moment. 

Take time out now to simply appreciate being able to breathe in fresh air. Take a long slow breath and feel it rejuvenate every cell. 

Make that your intention and watch your body smile from the inside 👍❤️

Discover more about MYTERN here