Humanities News

Remembering our Vietnam Veterans: A Year 11 History Excursion to the National Vietnam Veterans Museum

On 15th September GEC’s Year 11 History class visited the National Vietnam Veterans Museum at Newhaven on Phillip Island. Our students represented the school with dignity and respect which had a profound impact on student learning as detailed in Hayden Amarasinghe’s account below:

We were taken on a guided tour by veterans who served in the Vietnam War. The tour included multiple exhibits, showcasing memorabilia and artifacts from the time including: tanks, attack helicopters, clothing, military gear, ammunition and countless other rare relics which told more detailed accounts about the brave Australians who were deployed to Nui Dat and the Phuoc Tuy Province in South Vietnam. There were multiple galleries, each dedicated to different aspects and points of views of the Vietnam War from the Navy, Air Force and Army. These galleries provided us with a comprehensive and immersive look at the Vietnam War, its impact on our soldiers and the stories of those who were involved. This excursion was made possible by our History teacher, Mr Chiumello, who we would like to thank for planning the excursion. It was a rare and valuable opportunity to be guided by the veterans who shared their knowledge and personal experiences from their time serving in the Australian Defence Force.

Hayden Amarasinghe Year 11

Clinton Chiumello

Year 11 History Teacher

The Australian History Competition 

Our Year 8 students participated in the Australian History Competition earlier this year.  The competition was prepared by the History Teachers’ Association of Australia and run in conjunction with The Giant Classroom. The primary goal was to provide an interesting and challenging competition for students. The Year 7 and 8 paper was broadly based on the Australian Curriculum: History for years 7 and 8. It provided a quality resource that demonstrated approaches to the assessment of knowledge, skills and understandings.  The focus is on testing interpretation and analysis rather than prior knowledge.

Congratulations to the following students for their outstanding results:

Distinction

Alfie Bugeja

Alfred Koval

Jesse Machalek

Daniel Tarasov

Mimi Xu

Credit

Bhavin Bandlamudi

Atharva Borse

Daniel Djankardashliyski

Shiva Kalingaraj

Eesa Karthick

James Lee

Finn McLaughlin

Violet Petrie

Micah Wong

2025 Australian Geography Competition – Year 9 Students

Geography students from Glen Eira College tested their geographical skills and knowledge against students from all around Australia in the 2025 Australian Geography competition.

Over 52,00 students from 600 schools across Australia entered the Australian Geography Competition, so the results give us an external benchmark as to how our students are going in certain aspects of Geography.

Rachel Honey, the Competition’s national coordinator, said "the competition aims to encourage student interest in Geography and to reward student excellence. Geography is such an important subject because it develops in students a holistic understanding of the world around them, and their place in it."

We have a number of student geographers at our school who performed to a very high level in the competition this year.

Congratulations to the following students:

High Distinction

Zack Nethercote

Lyan Yau

Distinction

Elliot Gilbert

Credit

Luke Davey

Bertie Henry

Saxon Hooke

Rosetta Parolin

Hriday Shinde

Melanie Mattsson 

Data Analysis and Assessment Leader 

Humanities Learning Area Leader