Each year, Term 3 is the season where schools commence planning in earnest for the following school year. Ballarat Christian College is no exception to this general rule, and despite the constraints that we have worked through during Term 3, we have successfully concluded the 2022 subject selection process, with Years 8 – 11 students selecting their 2022 options in Web Preferences. This information is matched against our staffing availability as a first step in the process of building the 2022 timetable.

Although there is some way to go in this process – and many elements are still very much in draft mode – I am pleased to note the following expansion in our Secondary school:

• The addition of two Homeroom groups, with the move to dual-streaming from Year 7 through to Year 10
• Further options being added at VCE level, including Unit 1/2 level Applied Computer Science, Legal Studies and English Literature and the return of History (Revolutions) at Unit 3/4 level

2022 will mark the final year of the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) across all Victorian schools. As a result, Year 10 students were not offered a VCAL option in English or Mathematics in 2022 as it was not clear that they would be able to complete this pathway in the following years. Year 11 (2022) students will be able to complete their vocational pathway as measures have been put in place to allow those students to transition to the new vocational stream within the Victorian Certificate of Education in 2023.

Next year will also see the completion of the restructuring of our Primary classes. The dual Lower Primary model has worked very well this year and our Years 3 – 6 classroom teachers have been busy planning for the dual Middle and Upper Primary classes from 2022. We will continue to have a stand-alone Prep (Foundation) class, in line with the best-practice model currently employed in many Victorian schools. From 2022, our Primary school structure will be: Prep (Foundation), Lower Primary (Years 1 and 2), Middle Primary (Years 3 and 4) and Upper Primary (Years 5 and 6).

At our current size, we will have one Prep Homeroom and two Homeroom groups each in Lower, Middle and Upper Primary. This structure will enable more uniform class sizes across Primary, whilst allowing the addition of more Homeroom groups when enrolment growth permits. The camping program will be revised to fit the new structure, but I will leave the Head of Primary to provide more details on this in due course. The composite arrangement in Upper Primary will provide opportunity for our Year 5 students to benefit from the inclusion of Food and Design Technology into their curriculum, following the introduction of these subjects to our Year 6 students this year.

I trust that you and your family will enjoy some time for rest and recreation before we begin the final term for the year. May you know God’s peace and blessing upon you, knowing that He goes before us and is with us in whatever circumstances we might face.

Blessings, Ken Nuridin - Principal