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 4 2023

Week 6

Tuesday 07 November            Orientation Day (all students current and future)
Prep Transition Session 2

 Thursday 09 November         Bike Ed Week 5 – Year 4 & 5 Students

 Friday 10 November                Assembly – Multipurpose Room 2.45pm -3.30pm – All Welcome

Our 2023 ATD Festival – Better than Ever! 

We are excited once again to present our Annual Art, Technology and Design Festival. This year’s event runs from Tuesday, November 14 to Thursday, November 16 at Villa Paloma, our Senior School ATD centre, 25 Waurn Ponds Drive, Waurn Ponds. 

The Festival includes a magnificent exhibition of selected students' work from Art, Technology and Design classes – ranging from Kindergarten through to Year 12. 

The exhibition is open to all between 9am and 6pm on Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15. 

On Thursday 16, the exhibition runs from 9am to 9pm, with the ‘Festival Finale’ getting underway from 4pm. Highlights include art, food, music, workshops and interactive events featuring some of our CCG ‘Creators in the Spotlight’ who take us through a range of creative, design, technical and artistic considerations behind some of their amazing creations. Guest speaker for this year’s Festival during the Finale is ex-CCG student, Bec Riddle, who has been a driven professional in the fashion industry for the past nine years, including operating her own business Saint Blaire. She is currently Studio Manager running the textiles and graphics department for Cotton On Womens and Foundation. 

For all details, including the program for the Festival Finale and a sneak peek at some of the art that will be part of the exhibition, please visit our website by clicking here, or on the homepage hotlink.

Prep Discovery Learning at the Beach

On Tuesday this week, the Surf Coast Preps ventured down to Cosy Corner for a wonderful afternoon at the beach for our final Discovery Learning session. And oh boy, it was the best one yet!

With the gloomy clouds rolling by, the Preps busily got to work digging, discovering and creating.

Some of them loved working collaboratively to build sandcastles, kingdoms, mazes, and mermaid baths.

Other Preppies enjoyed digging for crabs, exploring the rocks, and creating works of art using cuttlefish, shells and seaweed.

We have had the most wonderful time during our Prep Discovery Learning sessions and are so grateful to all of the Parent Helpers who have kindly offered their assistance.

Chemical and Sound Reactions

We have been keeping the experiment train chugging along in Year 1! The kids love getting creative and seeing how different materials react. This week, we created our own lava Lamps and glow-in-the-dark water bottles! We used baking soda, vinegar, and oil to create a take-home lava lamp. We also experimented with glow-in-the-dark water bottles as well as creating our very own music jars. The kids absolutely love taking part in hands-on experiments that they get to take home and show their friends and family.

Year 3 Busy Bees!

Well…. It has been the most amazing and incredibly varied couple of weeks in Year 3! With only five weeks to go, it has been full steam ahead!

We have been studying poetry in Literacy and recognising structure, language features and audience.  

In Maths we have been learning about capacity and volume. The kids had fun creating their perfect Jazzy Juices by measuring the exact quantities of each juice they needed to suit their taste buds. Not surprisingly, the tomato juice wasn’t very popular!

For Science, we have been learning about the Earth beneath us and the students have been collecting soil and rock samples from various locations, making soil solutions and examining composition and purpose.

Geography has helped us to learn about what a special place Australia is, and some of the amazing natural features in our backyard.

Finally, in Christian Ed we have continued our study of the book of John and the miracles that Jesus performed.

Still a LOT more to look forward to before the year is out so until next time…. Keep an eye on The Vine 😊

Student of the Week in Japanese

Bryce Hunter, Year 3

In Term 4, Year 3s are learning about the days of the week, and food and drink words in Japanese. The students were required to create their own picture design to explain the meaning of a Kanji symbol, and learn the Japanese song for the days of the week. Bryce made an excellent picture design, which was impressive. He was very brave to present the days of the week song in class and he impressed his classmates. Well done Bryce! “Yokudekimashita”

Golden Days at Camp!

Last week the Year 5 students travelled to Ballarat for their school camp. Camps are always exciting, and this one did not disappoint! One of the highlights was getting to share the camp experience with all Year 5s from three Christian College campuses.

In Term 4, the Year 5s are looking at the Victorian gold rush and how this impacted the history of Victoria. One of the most important parts of the camp is visiting Sovereign Hill in Ballarat. A living museum. What a fabulous time was had here…panning for gold, watching a gold pour, sampling and buying the famous Sovereign Hill boiled lollies. We also had the opportunity to take part in Ed Sessions, where the students got to experience a little of what life may have been like on the goldfields.

We stayed in Creswick, at Log Cabin Camp. This was the perfect balance for camp. The opportunity to immerse ourselves in learning about gold at Sovereign Hill, then the excitement of the adventurous activities at Log Cabin. It was amazing to watch my students step out of their comfort zones and try new things. We had the Leap of Faith, a giant swing and a zipline. We were able to cook damper around a campfire and go on a night hike.

The experiences and memories made on this camp will be talked about for years to come by these students.

Poppies for Remembrance Day

If you or your child would like to purchase a poppy for Remembrance Day, they will be available to purchase at school as part of the Torquay RSL annual fundraising appeal. Every day the Project Care Representatives will be visiting each classroom to sell them.

“Together we remember”

This is an initiative of our Project Care Program at Surf Coast campus.

There are poppies, wristbands and badges ranging from $1 to $5

Big Summer Read

With the end of school year rapidly approaching, many of us are looking ahead to the fun of the summer break and festive season. While the summer holidays are a wonderful time to enjoy a break from structured learning, it is also a time when children often take time off from reading and a phenomenon known as the ‘Summer Slide’ can occur.

Research has shown that kids around the world can experience the ‘Summer Slide’ over the summer break, when they can lose some of the literacy skills that they have gained during the school year; estimated to be the equivalent of two to three months of reading proficiency. Thankfully the antidote to slowing the ‘slide’ is simple, kids just need to keep reading and be read to!

Public Libraries Victoria’s summer reading program, ‘Big Summer Read’ is the perfect way to keep our little readers reading over the summer break. The ‘Big Summer Read’ is a fun and exciting program that encourages participants to borrow, read and log their books over the summer break, with prizes to be won for children who complete the challenge. To complete the challenge, participants need to read and log just 10 books.

The program begins from December 1 and runs until January 31.

Registrations open from Monday November 6, with more information and registration available by clicking here.

Parent Survey Reminder: Generative AI, Education, Society and Future 

A reminder that all Christian College parents are invited to participate in a survey on generative artificial intelligence (AI), education, society and future to inform the College’s forward planning. 

• Take the CCG parent survey 

The parent survey is for all parents, regardless of their level of exposure to or confidence with generative AI. The survey closes this coming Monday, November 6 at 5.00pm. 

Thank you to parents who have already completed the survey. Your participation is appreciated. 

Parents who have not yet responded are encouraged to do so via the survey link above. The average response time for parents who have responded so far has been less than four minutes. We ask that you please contribute your perspective. 

MSO – Discounted Subscription for CCG Families

Music lovers take note, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra offers a discount subscription for staff, students and direct family of the Christian College Geelong community for a series of concerts held in Geelong. 

The 2024 MSO Geelong program returns with a wide-ranging repertoire of the finest classical music, taking in revered masterpieces: 

AMERICAN STORIES: BERNSTEIN, GERSHWIN AND MORE
Friday 12 April 2024 / 7.30pm 

MOZART AND TCHAIKOVSKY
Friday 24 May 2024 / 7.30pm


JAIME CONDUCTS RACHMANINOV AND DVORAK
Friday 28 June 2024 / 7.30pm


DVORAK AND BRUCKNER
Friday 6 September 2024 / 7.30pm 

HANDEL'S MESSIAH
Saturday 7 December 2024 / 7.30pm 

Get Some Unique Christmas Cards and Support Williams House

This year Williams House is selling packets of Christmas cards designed by our own little artists!

We are selling our Angel/Shepherd cards for $5 for a pkt of 6 and our Nativity cards are $7 for a pkt of 10. Each packet contains either 6 or 10 different designs.

If you would like to support the kinder and share our creations with the community this Christmas, the cards are available at all CCG campus receptions and of course at Williams House. Payment can be made with cash or card.

We also take over-the-phone orders with direct deposit. Phone 5241 3556

All money raised will go towards making some new additions to our outdoor yards!

We hope you love these gorgeous creations and enjoy sharing them with your family and the community this Christmas!

With thanks from all the children and the team at WH!

Qustodio Parent App Resources

Supervise and Support Your Children on School and Personal Digital Devices

A reminder to parents that the Qustodio Parent App is available to all parents to help them supervise and support their children with their online and digital interactions at home, on both school laptops and on personal devices.

In addition to information available on the College’s Online Safety Hub, parents also have access to some helpful ‘bite-size learning’ video tutorials to help them navigate and user the Qustodio Parent App as part of our school program. There are lots of short videos to help parents get the most out of the app and use it confidently.

• Browse all the Qustodio bite-sized learning video tutorials

Some recent additions to these tutorial videos for parents include:

• • How to view your child’s online activity through the parent app
  • How to configure and use the Qustodio daily time limit feature (for personal devices)
  • How to configure and use the Qustodio restricted times features (for personal devices)

I hope that these resources empower parents to continue to supervise and support their young people at home and engage in supportive and positive dialogue about digital wellbeing.

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]