Christian College, Geelong
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2018) |
Christian College is a K–12
Three campuses are located in suburban Geelong: the Senior Campus at Waurn Ponds (Year 10–12), the Middle School in Highton (Year 5–9), and the Junior School in Belmont (Prep–Year 4). The Bellarine Campus is located in Drysdale (Prep–Year 9), and the Surf Coast campus is located in the coastal town of Torquay, which opened in 2018. There are also two other specialist campuses: "Back Creek" in Scotsburn (near Ballarat) is a dairy farm attended by Year 9 students,[2] including Back Creek Cafe located in Meredith. The specialised Arts centre, Villa Paloma, is located off campus in Waurn Ponds a short distance from the Senior School, where VCE Arts students have their classes. Christian College also offers preschool kindergarten programs at the Junior School campus in Belmont (Williams House Kindergarten), and at the Surf Coast campus in Jan Juc (Butterfield House Kindergarten).
Christian College students are from a number of different areas in Geelong, these areas include Torquay, Drysdale, Anglesea, Ocean Grove, Queenscliff and Winchelsea as well as a majority from Geelong itself.
History
The college opened in 1980, in the suburb of Highton and has grown from its original 40 students to over 1900 students in 2007. The Middle School is housed in the former building of St. Augustine's Orphanage, while the Junior School uses the former Glastonbury Orphanage. The Senior Campus is located at the former Highton campus of Geelong Grammar School, which was purchased by Christian College in 1999 and opened to students in 2000. The Bellarine Campus is the former council offices for the Rural City of Bellarine which was amalgamated into the City of Greater Geelong in 1993. The school bought the property in 1995 and started classes in 1996 for students on the Bellarine Peninsula.
Houses
There are four houses at Christian College into which students are split. They are Penman Panthers (red), Flynn Falcons (blue), Taylor Tigers (green) and Burrows Bears (yellow). Burrows (previously known as Hume) is named after
Music program
Christian College has a music program for strings, wind, percussion, piano, brass and bass. The school also has bands, choirs, orchestras, and symphonies that compete every year. In the Melbourne School Bands Festival 2008, Christian College Geelong received a Gold Award in the Advanced Concert Band Section. Christian College also had a tour to Sydney where some of the Christian College Bands performed at the Sydney Opera House. The music department (in conjunction with the drama department) stages a bi-annual school musical, the most recent being Wizard of Oz in April 2013 with "Seussical The Musical" being May 2011.
Recently the school also travelled to Hawaii to take part in the Annual Pacific Basin Music Festival, and received a gold award.
Controversy
In October 2015, at "Celebration Day" celebrations for the departure of Year 12s, three students arrived in an unauthorised helicopter, causing controversy inside and outside the school, with the incident receiving coverage by local media.[4] The following year's "Celebration Day" for the departure of Year 12s was cancelled due to fear of a repeat event occurring.[5]
References
- ^ Christian College – Christian Ethos Archived 19 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Christian College – 'Back Creek' Scotsburn". christiancollege.vic.edu.au. Archived from the original on 30 October 2009. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
- ^ "Private Schools in Victoria – Christian College Geelong". Retrieved 19 October 2014.
- ^ Squires, Mandy. "Chopper entry lands Geelong VCE students in trouble on muck up day". Geelong Advertiser. News Corp. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
- ^ Tyler, Bethany. "Christian College muck-up day axed after former students' helicopter stunt". Geelong Advertiser. News Corp. Retrieved 24 December 2020.