Christian College is a K-12 independent school located over six campuses in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

, Victoria, Australia. Three campuses are located in suburban Geelong: the Senior Campus at

Waurn Ponds Waurn Ponds is a mainly residential southern suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The suburb is bounded by Rossack Drive, Princes Highway, the Geelong to Warrnambool railway, Reservoir Road, Draytons Road, Pigdons Road, Deakin University and ...

(Year 10–12), the Middle School in

Highton Highton is a residential suburb of Geelong, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. With views across Geelong, Corio Bay and the surrounding region, Highton is located along the banks of the Barwon River (Victoria), Barwon River and across t ...

(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 Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton ...

, 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, 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. Notable people to have gone to Christian College Geelong include AFL players Gary Ablett, Jr.,

Nathan Ablett Nathan Ablett (born 13 December 1985) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Gold Coast and Geelong in the Australian Football League (AFL). A key forward, tall and weighing , Nathan is the youngest son of Gary Ablett Sr and ...

Matt Maguire Matthew John Maguire (born 30 May 1984) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played with the St Kilda Football Club and the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). AFL career St Kilda Football Club Maguire ...

Taylor Adams Taylor Adams (born 20 September 1993) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Greater Western Sydney Giants from 2012 to 2 ...

Connor Idun Connor Idun (born 29 July 2000) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). Early life Connor Idun was born in London to an Australian mother and a father from Ghan ...

, AFLW player Renee Garing, netballer

Tegan Philip Tegan Alyce Philip (née Caldwell; born 3 September 1988) is a retired Australian Netball player, who for her entire professional career played for the Melbourne Vixens in the ANZ Championship and Suncorp Super Netball competitions. Netball ca ...

(nee Caldwell), and Olympian Jakara Anthony.

History

The college opened in 1980, in the suburb of

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 , motto_translation = 1 Corinthians 1:30: "For us, Christ was made wisdom"(1 Corinthians 1:30: Christ, who has been made for us in wisdom) , city = Corio, Victoria , country = Australia , coordinates = , ty ...

, 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 The Rural City of Bellarine was a local government area southeast of the regional city of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, covering most of the Bellarine Peninsula. The Rural City covered an area of , and from its origin as the Portarlington Ro ...

which was amalgamated into the

City of Greater Geelong The City of Greater Geelong is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and, had a population of 271,057 as of the 2021 Australian census. ...

in 1993. The school bought the property in 1995 and started classes in 1996 for students on the

Bellarine Peninsula The Bellarine Peninsula (Wathawurrung: ''Balla-wein'' or ''Biteyong'') is a peninsula located south-west of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, surrounded by Port Phillip, Corio Bay and Bass Strait. The peninsula, together with the Mornington Peni ...

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

Eva Burrows General Eva Evelyn Burrows, AC, OF (15 September 192920 March 2015) was an Australian Salvation Army Officer and was, from 1986 to 1993, the 13th General of the Salvation Army. She served as an Officer of the Salvation Army from 1951 to her re ...

, Taylor after

Hudson Taylor James Hudson Taylor (; 21 May 1832 – 3 June 1905) was a British Baptist Christian missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM, now OMF International). Taylor spent 51 years in China. The society that he began was respons ...

, Penman (previously known as Cunningham) after David John Penman and Flynn after John Flynn.

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 Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

. 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. The following year's "Celebration Day" for the departure of Year 12s was cancelled due to fear of a repeat event occurring.

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 38, 11, 17, S, 144, 18, 12, E, region:AU-VIC_type:edu, display=title Private secondary schools in Victoria (Australia) Educational institutions established in 1980 Schools in Geelong 1980 establishments in Australia