I am inspired by our wonderful students who have been completing their VCE exams. They have been focused and have worked purposefully to achieve their goals.

If your child is a school leaver, the schoolies celebrations from Saturday 25 November to Sunday 3 December can be an exciting milestone in their lives. However, this shouldn’t come at the expense of impacting your child’s health and safety, or causing problems for the communities where they decide to celebrate.

We encourage you to speak to your child about the importance of keeping safe and healthy at schoolies. Information about staying safe at schoolies can be found at Partying safely at schoolies — Better Health Channel.

You can also follow the Good Times Great Breaks Victoria Facebook page, which provides information on what wellbeing support is available in the main schoolies destinations of Rye, Surf Coast, Lorne, Torquay and Phillip Island.

Reviewing Our 2023 Annual Implementation Plan

I am very proud of the progress we have made this year in the first year of our new Strategic Plan.

Goal 1: Improve the learning growth of all students.

As there has been a change in the way growth is measured in NAPLAN, we cannot use this year’s results to measure against last year’s results. However, in the new measure of ‘Student Proficiency’ which calculates the percentage of students in the top two level (Exceeding and Strong) our students far exceed the state in all Numeracy and Literacy domains.

We met or exceeded our targets in the Student Attitudes to School Survey in the identified factors which were to:

increase positive endorsement for the factor self-regulation and goal setting
increase positive endorsement for the factor differentiated learning challenge
decrease not positive endorsement for the factor student voice and agency

Goal 2: Enhance wellbeing to support engagement and respectful relationships.

We met or exceeded our targets in the Student Attitudes to School Survey in the identified factors which were to:

Respect for diversity
Effective classroom behaviour
School connectedness
Managing bullying

We met or exceeded our targets in the Parent Survey in the identified factors which were to:

Promoting Positive Behaviour
Student Connectedness

In the Managing Bullying Factor there are 2 questions.

My child feels safe at school – overwhelming positive response to this factor
My child feels confident about the skills and strategies they have learnt at school to address bullying behaviours – we had 50% positive endorsement and 50% neutral or negative.

We are very keen to ensure that all students have the skills and strategies in the event that they experience bullying at any time in their lives.

Please see this link to our Bullying Prevention Policy on our website. I ask families to read through the policy together and assist us in ensuring your child understands the policy.

We use the Department of Education’s Respectful Relationships program. The Respectful Relationships program supports schools and early childhood settings to promote and model respect, positive attitudes and behaviours. It teaches students how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence.

Respectful Relationships promotes respect and gender equality and helps students learn how to build healthy relationships. It prepares students to face challenges by developing problem-solving skills and building resilience and confidence.

Schools involved in the Respectful Relationships initiative are building a culture of respect and gender equality, by looking at their practices and policies to drive meaningful change.

This program forms a significant part of our Health Education curriculum. We were delighted to have Paul Zappa, lead educator Respectful Relationships, work with the whole staff on Monday’s Professional Learning Day. There was a mix of theory and practice. Staff then worked in year level teams to continue to develop strategies for the classroom and the yard.

Earlier in the year, Year 9 and 10 students were involved in the Courage to Care program. A holocaust survivor spoke to students and then they experienced small group workshops that promote being an “Upstander” in our school community.

Two weeks ago Year 8 students heard from a guest speaker – Eric Agyeman. Eric went from being racially bullied on his first day in primary school, to joining a gang in high school to winning the African Australian Community award in his 20’s. Eric shared his powerful and relatable story to students and then he ran a workshop that promoted a culture of respect and resilience.

If you have any questions or concerns re our approach to Bullying Prevention, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Smoke Free Schools

Parents, carers, schools, and community all play an important role in protecting children and young people from, and educating them about, the harmful effects smoking and vaping.

Research from the Royal Children’s Hospital shows many parents and carers are not aware of the harmful effects or how their views about smoking and vaping can impact the likelihood of a young person taking up smoking or vaping.

The Department of Education has developed resources to help you learn more about the health risks of smoking and vaping, and some suggestions about how to talk to children and young people about vaping, and where to get support. To access the resources, go to https://www.vic.gov.au/smoking-and-vaping-advice-parents

You can also view this video on smoking and vaping from experts at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne for health advice and tips for starting a conversation with young people.

Should you require any support for your child, please contact the Wellbeing Team.

Scholarships

There are a number of scholarships available for students. For information about scholarships offered at Glen Eira College please go to the Scholarships page under About Us on our website. The closing date for applications for 2024 scholarships is Friday 24th November 2023.

Transition

We will commence our 2024 timetable on Thursday 30th November. Students going into Years 11 and 12 in 2024 will have one week of transition classes. They will receive documents relating to each subject and the expectations and also preparation that should be completed prior to returning next year.

Students going into Years 8 – 10 in 2024 will have just over two weeks of transition classes concluding on Wednesday 13th December.

If you have any wonderings, positive feedback or stories to share or concerns, please do not hesitate to call me at the school to talk or arrange a time to meet.

Sheereen Kindler

Principal

Student Successes

Congratulations to Angus Murrie (Year 10) who set a new Australian 800m record on Saturday at the Victorian All School Athletics Championships. Angus' time of 2.49.19 set a new mark within his para athletics classification carving over 30 seconds from the previous record.

It was a big weekend for GEC students at the Victorian All Schools Track & Field Championships. During the first week of competition, GEC students won four gold and 2 silver medals.

William (Year 10) 1st 17 male 1500m

Laura (Year 9) 2nd 15 female 200m

Laura (Year 9) 1st 15 female 90m Hurdles

Seif (Year 11) 2nd 18 male Discus

Seif (Year 11) 1st 18 male Shot Put

Kane (Year 10) 9th 16 male 1500m

Cooper (Year 10) 1st 16 male Discus

Lucas (Year 7) 10th 14 male High Jump

The second weekend of the Victorian All Schools T&F Champs was another successful outing for GEC students. Our students won a gold, four silver and one bronze medal.

Lucas (Year 7) 1st 14 male Pole Vault

Angus (Year 10) 2nd 17 male 800m

Laura (Year 9) 2nd 15 female 200m

Seif (Year 11) 2nd 18 male Javelin

Cooper (Year 10) 2nd 16 male 200m Hurdles

Cooper (Year 10) 3rd 16 male Javelin

Cooper (Year 10) 5th 16 male Pole Vault

Liam (Year 11) 7th 18 male 800m

Kane (Year 10) 9th 16 male 3000m

Congratulations to Sophie (7D) who was selected in the Victorian team for last week’s Soccer National Championships. The tournament was hosted by School Sports Australia at the new Home of The Matildas, which is based at La Trobe University.

Reuben (Year 7) is an accomplished archer across a range of disciplines (indoor, target and field). He recently competed in the National Target Championships. After two days of grueling competition Rueben finished third in Australia! Congratulations Rueben!

The GECKO

Don't miss out on the opportunity to take home a piece of GEC's history. Our school's yearbook, The Gecko, is now available for order through TryBooking.

Having a copy of The Gecko is not just a way to cherish memories of the school year, it's also a chance to celebrate your achievements and friendships that you've made.

Flip through the pages and you'll be transported back to the moments that made the year special - from sports to extracurricular activities and academic successes.

Order the 2023 Yearbook (for $30) via this link: https://www.trybooking.com/CMLPO

School for Student Leadership

Six Glen Eira College students will be attending the School for Student Leadership’s Snowy River Campus for Term 1 2024. The School for Student Leadership is a Victorian Department of Education (DE) initiative offering a unique residential education experience for Year 9 students. The School for Student Leadership offers a fully residential program for one school term with accommodation for up to 45 students in a purpose-built facility. During their eight week stay, students will live, learn and work in a very close environment with their peers. Gaining a sense of belonging through knowledge and experience is a key learning outcome.

The selected students are:

Darcy McDonough

Ava Rohr

Momona Ishikawa

Arthur Dutriex

Mathis Trevisani

Marko Le

Aaron Petersen

Assistant Principal

Instrumental Music Summer Gala Concert