Exciting Changes for 2018

Dear Parents and Friends,

We are working on providing a well-rounded education to help our students reach their potential spiritually, academically, emotionally, physically, socially and culturally. We will continue to build our College on Christ to provide a Kingdom education for all our students, yet we also need to continue to grow in preparing our students to flourish in a dynamic and changing world.

2018 will bring some changes to our Learning and Teaching Programs.

In the Middle School there will:

Be more focus on Digital Technology studies to prepare our students to be leaders in their communities with 21st century capabilities
Introduction of Film & Media studies
No longer undertake Woodwork and Hospitality classes at Belgrave Heights.

The reasons why we are not offering these subjects at Belgrave include:

Time wastage in traveling to and from Belgrave Heights Christian School
Costs for these activities is $100,000 per year. For that amount of money we are able to build resources into St Andrews that will better cater for most of our students
We want to focus on technology that will enhance students’ work in other areas of the curriculum and build that into a wonderful program for our students across Years 7 to 10
St Andrews Christian College is focussing on being a top provider in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics).

Senior School

Year 9

The Duke of Edinburgh Award will not be offered in our elective program but be offered as part of the Year 9 program. One of the benefits of this is that all students will be afforded the opportunity to complete the Award. Through changes in the Year 9 program all students will be given opportunities to explore the wider world and grow in all aspects of their learning.

VCE

There will be continued growth in our VCE Program including:

Holding VCE External Exams at St Andrews for the first time (2017)
Commencing VCE subjects of History, Theatre Studies and Studio Art in 2018
Offering more options of students to accelerate their VCE
Beginning a HeadStart program to the 2018 school year (Begins Term 4, 2017)
Holding Practice Exams in the Term 3 School Holidays

We are committed to help our students to become who God intends them to be and to inspire and encourage them in their God-given gifts. I look forward to the future and leading continued growth in our Senior School.

Yours in Christ,

John Presant Head of Senior School

Catriona Wansbrough

Principal

VCE Ping Pong-A-Thon

On the 27th of September, the VCE boys participated in the 24 Hour Ping Pong-A-Thon which raises money to help prevent human trafficking and the exploitation of young people in South-East Asia. The boys set a goal of $3,000 to be raised by the end of the event. They smashed it, raising a total of $3,645!

The boys spent the night playing table tennis, watching movies, eating snacks and trying hard not to fall asleep. Adrian Rowse, the founder of Ping Pong-A-Thon, came early in the night and enlightened the boys about the history of ‘The Pong,’ explaining why he set it up, what it has come to be and how the money they raise helps the people affected by human trafficking. As the night progressed, some people went to sleep, some people played video games, and some people continued playing table tennis. Mrs Hughes and Miss Easton selflessly cooked the boys a lovely breakfast in the morning to keep them energised throughout the rest of the day through to the end of the event at 5pm. It was around 9am when a lot of the night owls felt the pain of staying up for so long, but more people arrived around midday and kept the table tennis going. The last few hours felt long, but the remaining boys who were there, were ecstatic to have finished the event. The satisfaction was felt by everyone, it was a great finish to an exciting 24 hours.

As a student, I am very proud of all my classmates for being so interested in the event and actively finding ways to raise money for such a great cause. I believe this was a fantastic bonding experience for all of us and was a good way to come together to do something great, while having fun at the same time. I am glad to call these my friends.

I personally want to give a very big thank you to Mr Batty and Mr Presant for taking the time out of their day/night to supervise us, and to Mrs Hughes and Miss Easton for providing us a much needed breakfast. Also a big thank you to any staff and parents who have donated.

It’s still not too late to donate, our event has finished but the donation page is still open. You can make your donations and find out more information about Ping Pong-A-Thon and what they do here https://pingpongathon2017.raisely.com/standrewschristiancollege

Hamish Maudlin

Year 11 Student and St Andrews Ping Pong-A-Thon Organiser

Operations Christmas Child

On Monday 16th October Year 9G went to the Operations Christmas Child shoe box packing factory. At the start of the day we went to a debrief where we talked about what we could and couldn't pack in the shoe box. We then split into groups. One group of us were the pre-inspectors. The pre-inspectors checked for the financial donations in the box and any letters. They also had to label the box with the gender or age group of the child. Another group were the inspectors. The inspectors checked for any dangerous items, or items that were prohibited. They also replaced any items that needed to be replaced. The other two groups taped the boxes and packed them into shipping boxes.

Overall it was a great excursion and helped us to see inside the lives of the children in third world countries. It helped us to be thankful for our lives and how blessed we are and to see the impact that simple shoe box of gifts can make.

Emilie Hughes

Year 9G

Careers News

On Tuesday, 31 October, a series of Digital Technology workshops will be presented to all students in Years 7 to 10.

This week we have said farewell to our Year 12 students and I wish them great success over the coming weeks and in pursuing their goals and ambitions in the future.

Please find more information in the attached Careers News:

If you have a question about a topic featured in the Careers Newsletter, please contact Careers Coordinator Mrs Irena Yevlahova iyevlahova@standrews.vic.edu.au

Irena Yevlahova

Careers Coordinator

Community Notices

Newsletter 10

Gridiron for Boys and Girls