Secondary School
Colours and Honours Assembly
On Monday at assembly we celebrated our colours and honours recipients in co-curricular pursuits. Students were presented colours for speech and debating, equestrian, music and sport. It was wonderful to see so many parents at the assembly there to help celebrate their child’s achievements.
The awarding of colours is a long-standing tradition at GSG for those students who represent the school for a sustained period of time at a high level. Colours and Honours are among the highest achievements for students at GSG, they are difficult to earn and require a sustained level of commitment and success in a chosen co-curricular field.
Throughout this year, we have been reviewing the criteria for colours and honours. The last time the guidelines were updated was in 2020, and a lot has changed in terms of co-curricular offerings at GSG since then, especially in team-based sport since the separation of the Great Southern Griffins from a school-based sports club to a community based sports club.
A colours and honours committee has been established with the Director of Sport, Director of Music, Head of Arts, Mr Irving and myself as well as student leaders – the captains of School, Sport, Arts. The committee has done an outstanding job and we expect some improvements coming up for 2027.
Multi-sport day
On Thursday this week all of our Year Seven students participated in a mutli-sports day down at Centennial Oval. The purpose of the day is to expose students to sport and to encourage participation. There is so much to gain from an active life and team sports help build critical life skills in communication, resilience, and remembering to have fun!
Students participated in Touch rugby, Seven-a-side soccer and Seven-a-side hockey against other schools from around Albany. A huge thank you to Mr Donaldson, Mrs Orzel and the Sports department for their organisation.
As a school we have to get the balance right between allowing opportunities of participation and allowing opportunities for athlete development and allowing space for our sports-mad kids to reach for the stars! This week we had our new Director of Sport, Mr Brent Sheridan, start with us and we are really excited for him to bring his experience to our community and help us plan for the future.
Radioactive
This week our hard working VET music students have a huge concert, Radio Active will be held at the Albany Entertainment Centre alongside students from Albany Senior High School and university students from WAAPA. It is a great privilege that our students get to mix with the WAAPA students and accompany them. More will be written next week along with some photos. There are limited seats still available, if you have a child interested in music, this could be a very inspirational concert for them. In my opinion, it is a highlight of the school calendar. Good luck to all our senior students and a huge thank you to Mr Fowler, Ms Luxton and the music team for their efforts.
Mr Jordan Owenell | Deputy Principal - Head of Secondary
CinefestOz Short Film Competition
Congratulations to Grace Eckersely who won the Year Ten to Twelve section for his film, "Who Do You See?", created in response to the theme ‘Reflect’ at the glamorous Cinefest Oz awards evening held in Busselton on Tuesday night.
Grace’s film explored his personal gender journey and was recognised by a judging panel of Australian film industry professionals who also provided valuable feedback to all of the finalists. Fellow student Max Cruse was also named a finalist.
This is the fifth year that these students have entered the CinefestOz Competition and winning is an outstanding achievement and testament to the high quality of filmmaking being produced by our students. Both Grace and Max represent the creativity, dedication and talent of the next generation of filmmakers.
Special thanks must also go to Ms Katie Gunning, Media Teacher, for her tireless support, encouragement and guidance of these students throughout their filmmaking journey.
Year Twelve Wilson Family Event
As Wilson Head of House, it was wonderful to see our Year Twelve students, their families and our homeroom teachers come together at Barrel Farm on Sunday 30 August for the Wilson Year Twelve Family Event. With our whole-school Valedictory celebrations just around the corner, the afternoon provided an opportunity to share some food, catch up with one another and reflect on the journey of the Wilson House 2026 cohort.
It was a lovely reminder of the strong connections within Wilson House and a chance to celebrate a fantastic group of young people as they prepare to finish their time at our school. I look forward to following their adventures and journeys beyond school and hearing about all they achieve in the years ahead.
Mrs Penni Berryman | Head of Wilson / Teacher
Year Twelve Camfield Family Event
It is the start of the lasts for our Year Twelve Camfield students. Last Sunday, the Year Twelve students, their parents and some of their homeroom teachers, met upstairs at the Premier Hotel to share some amazing food and laughs. For some of our students, they are coming to the end of 13 years at Great Southern Grammar while others only joined us last year. Regardless of this, there was a huge sense of community and cohesion throughout the evening. It was wonderful that the Camfield Year Twelves were able to come together as a House to reflect on their time at GSG.
Mrs Alexis Stone | Head of Camfield / Teacher
Proposed Paris Tour 2027
We are delighted to be recommencing planning for the Paris Tour in 2027. We are now planning to offer it during the Term Three holidays in September and October 2027. The tour will run for ten days and is open to students enrolled in Years Ten, Eleven and Twelve in 2027.
Paris is one of Europe's most beautiful cities, offering a rich cultural heritage, world-renowned cuisine and fascinating history. The Eiffel Tower, the Mona Lisa, the Louvre, Notre-Dame, the Palace of Versailles and Monet's Gardens are just some of the highlights of the tour. Please find a copy of the proposed itinerary here: Proposed Paris Tour Itinerary 2027
If you would like to express your interest in this tour, please complete the 2027 Paris Tour Expression of Interest form by Thursday 10 September. There will an information session on Monday 21 September in the school Library at 5.00pm. Please note that priority placement will be given to students who expressed interest in the tour earlier this year.
For further information, please contact the Paris Tour Coordinator, Ms Rachel Mordy
Ms Rachel Mordy | Head of Arts