Farewell, Class of 2020!

It was an exciting and emotional day (on Wednesday 28 October), as we honoured and farewelled our Year 12 Class of 2020 who have made such significant contributions to our College over their time with us.

This year has been a particularly challenging time for them as, along with the challenge of their studies, there has been the additional challenges associated with remote learning and with a number of their 'last of' activities not able to take place. What has shone through has been their positivity, resilience and faith in dealing constructively with these challenges and disappointments.

We are immensely proud of who they have grown to be and cannot wait to see what the future holds for them! We continue to pray for them as they prepare for exams and their future endeavours.

A Celebration of Student Creativity

Last week we celebrated all things creative at Heatherton Christian College with a week of Heatherton Creates. There were three major components to the week and for the first time, the majority of our celebration was digital. This link https://heathertonarts.weebly.com/ gave entry to all components of the week.

The Virtual Concerts series showcased our students’ musical talents. The Primary concert contained many items of Primary students singing and/or performing on a number of instruments. The Secondary concert showcased the efforts of the school’s bands’ program as well as individual students’ accomplishments. The VCE concert demonstrated the culmination of many years of commitment to their instruments and the resulting performances were commendable. All students are to be congratulated on their achievements in performance. If you missed this, please here to view it.

The Virtual Art Gallery (click here to view) was an exciting and modern way to present the students’ art and to showcase a wonderful selection of the work that had been made during this very unusual year. By clicking on the arrows, viewers were guided around the spacious rooms which contained a selection of artworks from Prep through to Year 12 as well as presentations from food technology classes. The exhibition contained a wide diversity of media and style, and all students are to be congratulated on their creative work.

The third component of Heatherton Creates was a virtual Heatherton’s Got Talent competition in three sections – Performance, Photography and Cookery. There were many creative entries and all students are to be congratulated on their contributions. Prizes were awarded for both the best Primary and best Secondary entry in each category.

The results of the competition are as follows:

Heatherton’s Got Talent - Winners

Performance – Primary

Equal first prize: Evangeline Khoo and Nathan Barus

Honourable mention: Darrien Johannes and Charissa Zhang

Performance – Secondary

Equal first prize: Hailey Senn and Taylor Nel

Honourable Mention: Alexandru Man

Photography – Primary

First prize: Mia-Maree Hart.

Honourable mention: Abigail Man and Coby Carter

Photography – Secondary

First prize: Elmarie DeBeer

Honorable mention: Alexandru Man, Elena Man and Helena Pakalovic

Cooking - Primary

First prize: Addison Shaw

Honourable mention: Maddison Raymond, Abigail Man and Georgia Nel

Cooking – Secondary

First prize: Kyle Mistri

Primary students were also invited into the art room at lunchtime for some creative activities.

Thanks must go to all students and staff who contributed to making the week such a highlight and success.

Jenny Fairweather

Head of Faculty, Art and Design Technology

World Teachers’ Day – Friday, 30 October

Today we celebrate and thank our wonderful teachers on World Teachers’ Day.

Teachers (with support from parents and carers) have ensured education continues across the country this year, despite major challenges. It’s reinforced the significant role teachers play in the lives of children and students, their families and communities.

The SRC would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the teachers at HCC and let them know that the school community appreciates their work and is grateful for their dedication and passion.

World Teachers’ Day is held internationally in early October. As it falls during the school holidays for many parts of Australia, we celebrate a little later.

Mary Berlangieri

SRC Coordinator

Grade 4 Year in the Yard

The Grade 4s made some treats for our chooks! Some lettuce garlands were fun to make and the chooks certainly enjoyed eating them.

The students are loving the improvements happening around the chook shed and vegetable gardens.

Megan Rose

Grade 4 Teacher

Year 9 Community Service

For Year 9 Community Service (during the Stage 4 restrictions), our Year 9 students utilised their time face to face to work on their Community Service projects. Students wrote personalised thank you cards and created care packages for healthcare workers and patients at Monash Children's Hospital, as well as thank you gifts for their teachers - all in a Covid safe manner.

Year 9 Year of Challenge

For Year 9 Year of Challenge this year, Joshua Diamond, Harrison Douglas and Kael Hans had decided to raise awareness of the great work emergency services are doing over these strange times. To make an effort and to show gratitude for their work, Joshua, Kael and Harrison decided to ride their bikes a certain distance based on a statistic of emergency services.

Kael rode 21 kilometres because 210,000 acres of land have been burnt down in Victoria. Harrison rode 7 kilometres because there are around 7,000 calls to emergency services every day in Victoria. Joshua rode 22.7 kilometres because of the 227 active Coronavirus cases as of 7 October.

The boys rode this distance because of the sacrifice the emergency services have made to protect our city over this year.

Joshua Diamond (Year 9)

Year 12 Psychology ‘Guest’

We had a special guest attend the last Year 12 Psychology class for 2020. He was surprisingly quiet as we celebrated with cupcakes, chocolates, lollies and answers to the 2018 exam!

With some interest and attention, the students’ hippocampi would have turned the meeting from short-term memory into a long-term one. It was quite an emotional experience for a few, so their amygdalae would have been activated as well.

Wishing the Year 12s all the best for the upcoming exams.

Carolyn McLean

Head of Science

Update from Our Sister School, Wyndham Christian College

The return of students to Wyndham Christian College (WCC) after remote learning had an extra level of excitement as it was the first time that students had been able to see and use our completed first building project. The project includes 6 new classrooms, a staff room, an office/reception area, toilets and a new car park. It is so nice to be able to drive into school now on a sealed car park. I am now blessed with office space in both schools.

WCC is growing rapidly and will have an enrolment of close to 300 students in 2020 from Prep to Grade 6. We are well underway to plan for the introduction of Year 7 in 2022. The Head of Campus at WCC, Jen Trodden, and the Wyndham staff are doing a fantastic job pioneering our sister campus. We are so blessed to have such wonderful staff at our two schools.

Peter Cliffe

Executive Principal

Public Holiday Reminder:

No School Monday & Tuesday

A reminder that this Monday is a student-free day and Tuesday is a public holiday (Melbourne Cup Day) therefore school will be closed. We hope you all enjoy your extra long weekend!

Please Enter Quietly during Year 12 Exams

The Year 12 exams will be starting on Wednesday 11 November in the Community rooms (near the Gym). We particularly request parents to observe any cones and barriers that are placed up on the grass area out the front of the school, which denote that an exam is in action. It is critical for parents and children to quietly move off the school grounds at the end of the day if those barriers are in place to enable the students the best opportunity to concentrate and focus on their exams. Thank you in anticipation for your cooperation.

Safety in the College Car Park

We need to again remind all drivers to drive slowly and safely in the College car park – there is a 10km speed limit in operation. Please observe parking restrictions and the No Right Turn sign onto Kingston Road during drop off and pick up times.

Our shared responsibility is to care for the children in our community and driving and parking in a mindful manner ensures this.

Grades 3 to 6 Onsite Adventure Camp

On Thursday 3 and Friday 4 December, pending COVID-19 restrictions being lifted, students in Grades 3 to 6 will be having an onsite camp experience. This incursion will replace our 2020 Grades 3 to 6 camp program which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

The Onsite Adventure Camp incursion will provide opportunities for students to experience activities in a range of settings that will encourage resilience, independence, social interaction, and further develop social skills such as co-operation, tolerance, and communication. Fruit, snacks, and lunches will be provided on both days.

Students will need:

Free dress: Activewear, including a hat and close-toed, athletic footwear
Drink bottle (water only)
Sunscreen (reapplication sunscreen will be available)

Times:

8:45am to 3:10pm (normal drop off and pick up times).

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact the College office at

office@hcc.vic.edu.au.

Buxwear Uniform Shop Open

We are pleased to inform you that our uniform supplier, Buxwear, is now open. You are now able to visit the store during their business hours. Please note that there is a maximum limit of 50 people in the store at one time.

The other alternative is to make a booking for Saturday 12 December, for when Buxwear has set aside time specifically for Heatherton Christian College families with students starting Prep or Year 7. Families can book an appointment via this link.

Parents, you can also order the uniform online. Your goods will be delivered via Express Post.

BuxWear Dandenong details are as below:

8/169 Cheltenham Road, Dandenong 3175

T: 03 9792 0424

https://www.buxwear.com.au/

Zip-Pay and EFTPOS (Visa, Mastercard and Debit) are most welcome.

PFA Walking/Running Club

With the easing of restrictions, we are able to start the PFA Walking/Running Club on the Dingley Bypass again.

This is a great opportunity to meet up with friends, meet new people in our community while getting out in the fresh air and getting fit.

When: Thursdays, 8:45am (not if raining), until the end of Term 4.

Where: Meet at the carpark gate near the gym.

All abilities welcome, we would love to see you there. If you have any questions, please contact

Renee Carter at reneecarter@netspace.net.au on 0419 358 002.

Recent Changes to Camps, Sports and Excursion Fund eligibility dates for 2020

We have advice from the Victorian Minister of Education that, in recognition of the impact of COVID-19 on schools and families, the Department of Education and Training has made several changes to the arrangements that apply to the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) in 2020. These include:

extending the eligibility date to Monday 5 October (from April)
extending the closing date for applications to 27 November (from 24 July)
reducing the payment made to newly eligible parents by 50 per cent
increasing the range of costs to which CSEF funding can be allocated to include books, stationery and other voluntary school charges.

This means that families who have suffered a loss of income as a result of the economic downturn associated with the pandemic that have been issued a Health Care Card between 14 April and 5 October 2020 can now apply. Eligible families will receive funds credited against their FACTS account: $62.50 for each Primary student and $112.50 per Secondary student.

Please note: the number of eligible CSEF applications at our College determines a significant proportion of our Victorian Government recurrent funding. It is therefore extremely important that all families of eligible students submit an application prior to 25 November. This can make a big difference in the programs and facilities that the College can provide for your children.

If you have recently been issued a Health Care Card, please complete an application form accessed via this link (if you have not already done so):

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/programs/health/CSEF-Application-Form-2020.pdf

Please return completed forms by Wednesday 25 November to the College office or via email to heather.harrison@hcc.vic.edu.au along with a copy of your Health Care/Pension Card. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Heather Harrison via email at heather.harrison@hcc.vic.edu.au

Peter Cliffe

Executive Principal

Community

PFA Running/Walking Club is Recommencing

Parent Prayer Group