From the Acting Principal

Thank you

I'd like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Mr Adam Scott who was Acting Deputy Principal and to Ms Angelina Ross who was Acting Head of Middle School whilst our Principal, Mr Mark Sawle was on personal renewal leave.   Thank you all for your support of me and GSG during the past five weeks.  We look forward to welcoming students back to school for Term Three on Tuesday 19 July.  There are many exciting activities, and, thankfully, more opportunities for us to gather as a community next term.

Save the Date - Sundowner & Dr Craig Challen

At the start of the year we, unfortunately, had to cancel the P&F Sundowner due to Covid restrictions. The P&F has been busily arranging an alternative event to bring the GSG community together. A guest speaker, Dr Craig Challen, will be at school on Thursday 18 August, the day before the mid-term break. A joint winner of the 2019 Australian of Year award, Craig was instrumental in the rescue of 13 people from the flooded cave in Thailand in 2018. 

On the day there will be a Sundowner from 5.30pm to 6.30pm in the Pratten Centre with Craig speaking at 6.30pm in the Hall. He will also be speaking with students during the day. Please save the date and more details will be provided soon. Below is a bio of Craig’s achievements. 

Craig Challen is an Australian technical diver and cave explorer from Perth, Western Australia. After commencing cave diving in the 1990s he was an early adopter of then rapidly-developing technologies such as closed-circuit mixed gas rebreathers. He has explored caves throughout Australia and New Zealand and around the world including China, Thailand, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands. Craig also has an avid interest in shipwreck diving and has explored sites over the last 15 years in the South China Sea, Solomon Islands, Australia, New Zealand, Mediterranean Sea, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. A veterinary surgeon by profession, he is additionally an enthusiastic helicopter and airplane pilot. In July 2018 Craig participated in the Tham Luang cave rescue of 13 people in Thailand. For his contribution he was awarded the Star of Courage and the Medal of the Order of Australia. He was named as the 2019 Australian of the Year jointly with his long-standing dive partner Richard Harris.

Happy holidays

School holidays are a time to rest, reflect and reconnect and, a time to have some fun.  I hope you have some wonderful family memories in the making planned for the next two weeks and that you have an opportunity to share the joy of childhood with your children. At the start of each term, I ask my students to share the best moments from their holidays and am always struck by the fact that, most often, those stories feature spending time with family well before they feature an exotic holiday location or fun activity.  The students never fail to remind me that what they value most is human connection, the luxury of unhurried conversations and shared experiences.  This might take place through fishing on the beach, or riding motor bikes, or baking cakes, or long bush walks or pyjama days watching movies.   During these holidays I encourage you to build memories with your child they will long treasure.

Mrs Emma Franklin | Acting Principal