GEC College News

From the Principal

Open Day/Night

There was definitely a buzz in the air during our Open Day and Night. It was a wonderful team effort - our staff, students and parents were passionate and committed in showing the community what a wonderful school we have here at Glen Eira College. Our Languages tour the day before allowed parents particularly interested in our Language programs an opportunity to see these classes in action. Joining me on the tour were Year 7 students   Emily McLenaghan, Aran Pinsky, Sofia Tsimprailidou, Kael Lok and Jasmyn Roberts. On Open Day we ran five incredibly well attended tours during the day and had a packed PAC in the evening.  Special thanks go to Year 7 students Aliya Gray and Lucas Baldwin and school captains Ben Hobbs-Gordon and Charlotte Skinner who spoke so beautifully at the formal presentation.  Subject areas really were on show with lots of opportunities for our visitors to participate in a wide range of learning activities – our staff worked incredibly hard to ensure parents were well informed and that there were plenty of activities for the primary students to get involved in.  I am very proud of the vast number of students who participated in the evening talking to prospective parents and students – fantastic ambassadors each and every one.  Our parents were on hand  to share their experiences with prospective families.  In the afternoon we held our annual ‘Share Our Success’ event where Year 7 students invited a teacher from their primary school to show them around the college and to share in their success.  I am very proud of all of our students who engaged with our visitors, who led tours and who assisted staff in so many ways – I have received wonderful feedback from those attending the evening, regarding the outstanding qualities of our students.

 

Thank you to all staff, students and parents for being a part of these events – greatly appreciated.

School Council

The new school council had their first meeting in March and I am delighted to announce the following office bearers and council members:

President: Ruth Gordon

Vice President: Paula Darvas

Treasurer: Jonathan Lock

Building Community and Identity Subcommittee Chairperson: to be advised

 

Parent Representatives: Laszlo Kiss, Rhonda Corbett, Julie Staunton

 

Staff Representatives: Jenny Sanchez, Haroula Loucaides, Tori Mulligan, Nick Hamer-Smith

 

Community Members: Michael Polonsky (parent), Vicki Williams (parent), Ben Hobbs-Gordon (student), Charlotte Skinner (student).

Hosting a student from our sister school

This July/August 2017, 26 students will visit us from our Sister School College Dumbéa Sur Mer in Nouméa, New Caledonia.

 

The GEC students who attended previous trips to New Caledonia really benefited from the time they spent at our Sister School. The opportunity to host a student is a wonderful experience – a benefit to the entire family. Not only will you be sharing Australian culture but you will be learning about another world, have fun and most of all make friendships which will last a life-time.

 

The students are aged between 14 and 15 years old. On school days they will attend school with their host student or be involved in activities arranged by their teachers.

 

Expectations of Host Families

  • To provide a safe and comfortable place to stay in your home.
  • Homestay parents to participate in a briefing session at school in the library on Monday 19th June 5.30pm to develop their knowledge and understanding of issues relating to the visiting students.   This will include
    • Cultural, linguistic and religious information about the country where the students are from to ensure that the families are aware of any significant cultural differences and to avoid misunderstandings
    • The needs of young people away from their home environment
    • A flexible approach to matters of discipline, house rules and cooperative living
    • What to do if a problem occurs (refer to school’s emergency management plan), including a 24 hour emergency contact number.

Duty of care

The visiting students’ overall welfare is the responsibility of Glen Eira College and the Department of Education and Training (DET).

 

We will provide homestay families and visiting students with 24 hour contact numbers and will be available to respond to emergencies or complex situations. We will ensure that the levels of supervision provided by the families are appropriate, including supervision to and from school and outside school hours. We will also ensure that the families have appropriate information.

 

All adults over 18 years old regularly in the household are required to have a cleared Working With Children Check (WWCC) before they are eligible to host a student.  Further information can be found at: www.justice.vic.gov.au/workingwithchildren or on 1300 652 879.

We will help with this.

 

We will provide homestay families with a copy of visiting students’ personal information, medical information and signed student authority and medical release form.

 

Expressions of interest have been emailed to all families.  If you need a form, please contact the General Office.

Safety in the car park behind the school

If you are dropping off or picking up a student at the car park behind the school please be mindful of everyone’s safety.  At pick up time, cars are often queued up in the roadway (rather than being parked) causing a traffic jam in the car park.  Please consider parking on Neerim Road if there are no parking spaces available while you wait for your son or daughter.

Finally

We are delighted to have our new music room and new canteen in operation.  At the end of the month wellbeing, admin and one food tech room will be handed over to the College.

 

In the last holidays we landscaped part of the area behind the PAC.  Thank you to the Parents and Friends Association who contributed a significant amount to the project.  Students are greatly enjoying this new outdoor area.

 

The ANZAC Day Commemorations at Glen Eira College were truly fitting.  It was great to have representatives from the Caulfield RSL, cadets and army vehicles on display.  Thank you to Dorit Tane and John Tserkezidis for coordinating the assembly.

 

Rehearsals are well underway for this year’s production, Fame Junior.  Approximately 50 students will be on stage and 40 back stage/off stage; ensuring there is a role for everyone who wants to take part.  Make sure you save the dates – performances are on Tuesday 13th August, Wednesday 14th August and Thursday 15th August.   

 

Lovely feeedback about our wonderful students:

"I just wanted to drop you a short line to let you know how refreshing it was to have a young male student from Glen Eira College kindly offer me his seat on the train this morning. I also saw another student do the same for a passenger.

While I am by no means "elderly", it was nice (and unusual) to see young students showing such respect and good manners to adult travellers.

Well done on fostering this behaviour."

 

Sheereen Kindler

Principal