Middle School

Welcome

Dear community,

As the College continues to grow numerically, we have been working hard to expand our Senior School offering. In 2018, Mr Gibbs will be focusing his energy on building the Art department in the Senior School. Because of this exciting development, the College is pleased to announce that Mrs Marina Heading has been appointed to teach Year 6 to 8 Art in 2018. Here are some words from Mrs Heading:

Hello!  My name is Marina Heading and I am very excited to be coming on board to teach Middle Years Visual Arts at St Andrew's Christian College in 2018.  I believe that ALL creativity comes from the very nature of our Wonderful Creator God and that supporting students to connect with Him in this way is part of the Father's call on my life.   I live in Olinda with my husband Peter and we have two beautiful children together, Samuel (10) and Ruby (7).  I am actively involved in our church, St Matthew’s Anglican in Olinda, and absolutely love spending time with people, playing tennis, reading and of course painting!  I exhibit my own artworks (paintings, sculptures) in local galleries and run a private Art School from home.  I have met most of the lovely St Andrew’s students in my time as a Casual Relief Teacher in 2016/2017 and have found their standard of work, focus and overall creativity to be outstanding.  I know that I can add diverse skills and work alongside the already encouraging and inspiring teaching team here.  Here’s to 2018!

God Bless, 

Marina Heading

Year 6-8 Art Teacher

Congratulations – the exams are over!

Congratulations to our Year 7 and 8 students who have just completed their second exam period for the year! The students used their extra study time well, and most students achieved amazing results.

A big thank you to all the teachers involved in preparing exam papers, supervising exams and study periods, marking exams and preparing reports. All of this involved a huge amount of work and many late nights for our teachers.

Have a blessed and peaceful Christmas!

Christa Cloete

Year 7/8 Coordinator

Cricket Australia Girls Leadership Day

On Monday 27 November, four Year 7 girls (Roselyn Kho, Julia Pajor, Michelle McCabe and Grace Yu) attended the Cricket Australia Girls Leadership Day, together with Mrs Cloete and Miss Hill. The girls attended interesting forums where they could ask questions from well-known leaders in the sports world, as well as several different workshops.

Roselyn writes the following: One of the workshops was entitled “Smiling Mind”. The workshop talked about mindfulness and taught us ways to keep our mind in the present. From this workshop, I learnt that multitasking is actually harder than you think and that you should not do it. I also learnt that we can use our senses to keep focussing rather than wandering to the past or future. Overall, this workshop was relaxing and very enjoyable!

According to Julia, the Pilates session was a “fun but painful experience, where we learned different stretching techniques and exercises. We worked in pairs to complete more challenging exercises. Our endurance and effort levels were tested while holding planks and pulsing squats. This session gave great suggestions on how to stay fit while having fun!”

Al in all, the girls had a very enjoyable day and learnt many new skills.

Christa Cloete

Year 7/8 Coordinator

Year 8 Celebration Day

On 5 December, the Year 8 students and teachers spent a glorious, fun-filled day exploring God’s creation as they cycled 16km from school to Jells Park and back again along the Dandenong Creek Trail. It was a relaxing day at the park - playing games and tucking in to a satisfying pizza lunch. Special thanks to Lionel Chin, a parent, for riding along with the students. Our appreciation also goes to all our Year 8 parents for their support in helping to make the day memorable for our students.

Today was amazing… I got to hang out with my friends and get a good workout ~ Sindy Wang 8S

It was a great day … no schoolwork… just lots of fun ~ Aimee Crotty 8K

 I enjoyed riding my bike down the hills at Jells Park !! ~ Alan Philip 8S

It was such a lovely  day …I enjoyed having so much time talking to my friends and just relaxing ~ Natasha Rowley 8K

I loved eating pizzas in the park!! ~ Emma Yeo 8S

Nation Young Leaders Day- 13th November

National Young Leaders Day, was an amazing day, where we all got to bond with people from different year levels. We played fun games to get to know other schools who went. There were lots of laughs and also some emotional parts. The hosts were so funny and nice and really connected with the students. We got to go out to the food court and eat our lunch together and it was really fun to hang with the people from St Andrews who came, we all had so much to talk about and we all had laughs and a great time.

There were four speakers, John Courtis a man with no legs and with a very emotional story. He taught us some very good things that I will never forget and got most people crying by the end. He was funny and made fun of himself in a good way. Hayden Wilson was a man who wrote a book. He talked to us about being nice and taking chances, never missing out on an opportunity you might regret, he was very inspiring. Gemma Triscari is a female Australian cricket player. She had a hard time in cricket as she had to leave her WA state team because she agreed to play for a Melbourne 20/20 team, I loved the way she would talk to us and really make us happy. Nick Dal Santo was a professional football player, he was an amazing guy and I loved to listen to him, he inspired us to do amazing things. It all led us to know how to be a great leader and how to handle hard things in life. I would love to go to National Young Leader Day every year, it was a great experience. We even got to have photos with speakers.

Charli-Rose Morris

Year 7 Student