Faculty News
Careers News
MICHELLE MASCARO
Career Advisor
YEAR 12 CAREERS NEWS
Reminder: VTAC Key Dates http://www.vtac.edu.au/dates.html
ATARs Released
F riday, 14 December 2018
Year 12 Oakleigh Grammar Change of Pref (COP)
appts Mon 17th - Tues 18th December 2018
Change of Preference (COP) Officially Closes Wednesday, 19 December 2018
December International Round Offers Wednesday, 19 December 2018
First Round International Offers Tuesday, 8 January 2019
First Round Domestic/Local Students Offers Wednesday, 16 January 2019
Further Offer Rounds
Monday, 4 February 2019 onwards
SWOTVAC Study Space at RMIT University
Year 12 school students are invited to experience what studying is like as an RMIT student, by having access to the new study spaces during SWOTVAC.
Location: RMIT City Campus, Building 10 (376-392 Swanston St), Levels 4-13
Date: 22-26 October
Time: All Day
Free Wi-Fi access is provided and RMIT Boost Juice are offering 20% off a Boost for each student.
Tax File Number
Students who do not have one should apply for a TFN online now and have their I.D verified through an interview at a participating Australia Post office.
To apply and find out more visit TFN Application Year 12 students cannot enrol in a CSP (Commonwealth Supported Place) university course next year without a Tax File Number (TFN).
Low Income Healthcare Card for Australian Students
Once you have finished school you are no longer a student and you may be eligible for a Low Income Health Care Card.
In particular, some TAFE and other short courses offer discounts for cardholders. You may also be eligible for public transport concessions.
It is highly recommended that all graduating Year 12 students consider applying for this card once the exams are over. To find out if you are eligible Visit Low Income Healthcare Card
Study Assist
Students are encouraged to browse the following link as the website provides information to students about Australian Government assistance for financing tertiary study.
There is very useful information on study loans, how one pays back those loans, scholarship opportunities, etc. Visit Study Assist
Year 12 Facebook Page – keep watching
I will be posting updates throughout the remainder of the year which are of importance to you, so keep an eye on the page for all the latest news.
LASTLY, I wish you all the very best in your exams and look forward to seeing you all at your Change of Preference appointments once ATARS are released!
CAREERS NEWS FOR ALL STUDENTS
Important Changes for Entry to Medicine from 2020
Year 11 students intending to sit the UMAT in 2019 for entry to university in 2020, the test is changing.
From 2019, the UMAT will replaced by a new test, the UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test). More information will follow in a subsequent newsletter but, until then, students are encouraged to browse University Clinical Aptitude Test
ACU Bachelor of Media Production
Have you ever seen a video or digital content creator, social media manager, communications advisor or radio and film/television producer and wondered how they landed the job?
ACU’s Bachelor of Media Production is an excellent pathway into these careers, and students graduate work-ready. Find out more at Bachelor of Media Production
Apprenticeships Job Pathways Charts
Students are encouraged to browse the following link for excellent example of potential career pathways that can begin with an Australian Apprenticeship - Australian Apprenticeships Pathways
New @ VU Bachelor of Outdoor Leadership
VU's new Bachelor of Outdoor Leadership is the first of its kind in Australia!
This new course addresses the needs of the entire outdoor sector and offers practical, work-integrated-learning opportunities and paid internships, which could lead to a job offer.
Delivered at the Footscray Park campus, this course covers everything students need for a career in outdoor leadership. Find out more at Bachelor of Outdoor Leadership.
Student Representative Council (SRC)
NATASHA SPANOS
SRC Coordinator
Student Representative Council (SRC) News
“Every human activity can be put at the service of the divine and of love. We should all exercise our gift to build community.”
Oakleigh Grammar students always get involved in different activities and fundraisers supporting those who are in need, as well as our School but also the local community.
Our Middle School students participated in the 3XY Greek Fire Appeal by donating $400 to support those who have been affected by the fires in Greece last summer.
The Director of the Greek Media, Mr Ross Alatsas, was very impressed with our students’ initiative. Well done to all students who made a donation.
Maria Patrikiou, Mary Kourkoutzelos and George Maravelias were selected to participate to the Community Tree Planting Day, in Hughesdale, on Thursday 11th of October.
The unique opportunity enabled Oakleigh Grammar students to help shape the new open space that the Level Crossing Removal Authority are constructing as part of the Caulfield to Dandenong level crossing removal project.
Students met with the Project Manager who gave them a quick outline of what they are planning to do under the new railways and how the area will change in the next few months.
After listening to all the instructions, students were ready to start planting some trees. The three students felt very privileged to have the opportunity to give back to our local community.
Congratulations to all students who made an effort to support different activities organised through the School and local community!
Hellenic Culture
NATASHA SPANOS
Hellenic Culture Coordinator
Term 4 has started with some exciting news for our students!
Our LOTE students had the opportunity to participate in different competitions and achieve outstanding results.
Students in Year 4 and in Year 6, as well as some students from Year 8, participated at the annual “Australian Hellenic Memorial School Competition”. The aim of the competition is to explore Greece during both World Wars.
Congratulations to all student who participated and especially to the following students:
George Bitzios (Year 8) 2nd place
Sotiris Bakalis (Year 6) 3rd place
Mia Hatziminas (Year 6) Encouragement Award
Joel Wheeler (Year 6) Encouragement Award
Meghana Abburi (Year 6) Encouragement Award
Maria Andreou (Year 8)Encouragement Award
Year 6 and Year 8 students participated in the creation of three films that were entered in the "Greek Student Film Festival" this year. The Film Festival offered students the opportunity to use the Greek language in creative and innovative ways, whilst simultaneously encouraging the preservation of Greek culture.
This year we had two winning teams!
From Year 6, winning the 1st award on the Primary School Category with the film "Travelling in the Past". Congratulations to:
Sotiris Bakalis
Konstantin Fouki
Paris Gerantidis
Vas Michaelides
Dean Alabournos
Theofilos Romanidis
Areti Andreou
From Year 8, for winning the 1st award as well on the Secondary School Category with the film "We Travel for New Experiences". We would like to congratulate:
Maria Andreou
Jonathan Daoulas
Louka Bauzon
Paraskevi Zapantzis
Angelos Zois
Special thanks to Mr Harbis for his technical support.
Year 5 students participated in the "8th Pontian Greek Competition" organised by the Pontian Association of Melbourne. Students had to make a drawing for the history of the Pontian Hellenism at the coastline of Black Sea.
Congratulation to the following students:
Ava Smirnakos - 1st place
Mattea Georges - 2nd place
Katrina Mawhal - 3rd place
During the school holidays, students of Oakleigh Grammar were invited to represent the School at the Drummond Street Community Festival organised by the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Students performed two Greek songs with pride. Well done to students who gave up time from their school holidays to represent our School community.
On Tuesday 23rd of October, the Orthodox Church celebrated the feast day of St. Iakovos the Apostle, the brother of our Lord. SRC members and Middle School Leaders accompanied by Mrs Angelis and myself attended the Divine Liturgy at St Efstathios Church in South Melbourne. This is a significant day since we celebrate His Grace Bishop Iakovos Name Day who is currently in Sydney.
On Wednesday 24th of October, we had the honour of welcoming to our School Mr Manolis Tzanidakis and Ms Christina Stamataki who are dancing instructors from the school “Tzanidaki” in Crete. Mr Tzanidakis and Ms Stamataki visited our School and conducted some dancing lessons with our Year 3, Year 4 and Year 6 students. Students were very excited to learn some new steps of some popular Cretan dances.
We would like to thank Ms Stamataki and Mr Tzanidakis for spending the day with our students. A special thanks also goes to Mr Antony Tsourdalakis from the Pancretan Association for giving us the opportunity to have the dance teachers in our School.
Chaplain's Corner
FATHER GEORGE
On Wednesday 17th of October, our Prep to Year 11 students attended Divine Liturgy to commemorate the feast day of the Holy Martyrs Cosmas and Damianos. These saints were twin brothers, physicians, and early Christian martyrs. They practised their profession in the seaport in the Roman province of Syria, accepting no payment for their services which led to them being named Anargiri (Ανάργυροι), the"Unmercenaries".
It was pleasing to see the Middle and Senior School students following the liturgy in English with the booklets provided by Father George. Selected Year 6 and 7 students chanted beautifully in the choir led by Mr Damatopoulos and some students from the Junior School served in the sanctuary as altar boys.
LOTE Greek
Kiki Kousourakis Head of Greek LOTE
Creating and playing with the Language: The theatre in Language Learning
The basic aim and objective of learning through language is communication. People have a basic internal need to communicate and in a global community.
Distances have been virtually eliminated, people move abroad for different reasons and knowing another language is a great advantage.
The theatre was always used to educate the viewer. The Greek etymology of the word for actor means “the one creating ethos”. Theatre though is an excellent tool for the teaching and learning of languages. Through drama games, students of all ages can develop positive behavioural trends and creative communication skills. Through drama-based language activities, students develop their team spirit, learn not only the linguistic but also the cultural aspects of the language they study, can improvise, create and use the language authentically.
At Oakleigh Grammar students are given the opportunity to come into contact with drama activities as a tool of learning a language during class, but also through productions such as “The dance of the Masquerades” by Hippo International Theatre Company. The show was followed by a bilingual drama workshop which included short theatrical games and drama techniques through which students were able to give their own ending to the play and become part of the show themselves.
It was remarkable to note that students of different backgrounds understood the play in depth and were able to participate in the interactive ending of the play which shows the power of theatre, movement and expressions. Oakleigh Grammar was also the host for the interactive drama workshop "The Island of Feelings" based on a story from Jorge Bucay focusing on emotional intelligence.
Drama games help students remember that they are still kids. They use the language effortlessly while having fun, there is a reason why we refer to the theatre production as a “play”… Let’s embrace drama games in our classes and at home, activating language learning and our kids’ emotional intelligence.
Δημιουργώντας και παίζοντας με τη Γλώσσα: Το θέατρο στην εκμάθηση των γλωσσών
Της Κυριακής Κουσουράκη, υπεύθυνης του Τμήματος Γλωσσών, Oakleigh Grammar
Βασικός στόχος και σκοπός της εκμάθησης των γλωσσών είναι η επικοινωνία. Ο άνθρωπος έχει μία εσωτερική ανάγκη να επικοινωνεί και στην εποχή μας που οι αποστάσεις έχουν μειωθεί και η μετακίνηση των ανθρώπων για πολλούς λόγους, κυρίως όμως επαγγελματικούς, έχει αυξηθεί σημαντικά, το να γνωρίζει κανείς ξένες γλώσσες αποτελεί ένα σημαντικό εργαλείο.
Το θέατρο κατεξοχήν χρησιμοποιούνταν για την «παίδευση» των θεατών. Ο ηθοποιός «ποιούσε ήθος». Το θέατρο όμως αποτελεί και άριστο εργαλείο για την εκμάθηση ξένων γλωσσών. Μέσα από το θεατρικό παιχνίδι οι μαθητές όλων των ηλικιών μπορούν να αναπτύξουν θετική συμπεριφορά και δημιουργική επικοινωνία. Στόχος του θεατρικού παιχνιδιού δεν είναι η απομνημόνευση, κεντρικό ρόλο επίσης έχει ο μαθητής και όχι ο θεατής. Μέσω των θεατρικών ασκήσεων οι μαθητές αποκτούν ομαδικό πνεύμα, μαθαίνουν τις γλωσσικές αλλά και πολιτιστικές πτυχές της γλώσσας που μελετούν, μπορούν να αυτοσχεδιάσουν, να δημιουργήσουν και να χρησιμοποιήσουν την γλώσσα αυθεντικά.
Στο Oakleigh Grammar δίνουμε την δυνατότητα στους μαθητές να έρθουν σε επαφή με το θεατρικό παιχνίδι ως εργαλείο εκμάθησης στην τάξη αλλά και μέσα από παραστάσεις όπως αυτή της διεθνούς ομάδας Hippo που παρουσίασε το θεατρικό έργο «Ο χορός των Μεταμφιεσμένων». Την παράσταση ακολούθησε θεατρικό παιχνίδι μέσα από το οποίο οι μαθητές μπόρεσαν να δώσουν το δικό τους τέλος στην διαδραστική αυτή παράσταση και να γίνουν και αυτοί μέρος του έργου. Ήταν αξιοσημείωτο το γεγονός ότι πολλά από τα παιδιά που συμμετείχαν στο θεατρικό παιχνίδι που ακολούθησε, ήταν παιδιά που δεν έχουν ελληνική καταγωγή, τα οποία όμως κατάλαβαν το έργο σε βάθος πράγμα που μας δείχνει τη δύναμη του θεάτρου, των κινήσεων και των εκφράσεων. To Oakleigh Grammar επίσης φιλοξένησε το θεατρικό εργαστήρι «Το νησί των Συναισθημάτων» με κεντρικό θέμα του προγράμματος, την συναισθηματική νοημοσύνη.
Το θεατρικό παιχνίδι βοηθάει τα παιδιά και ξαναθυμηθούν ότι είναι παιδιά. Τα παιδιά αβίαστα και διασκεδάζοντας χρησιμοποιούν τη γλώσσα που μαθαίνουν. Yπάρχει λόγος άλλωστε που οι θεατρικές παραστάσεις «παίζονται» στα θέατρα. Ας αγκαλιάσουμε το θεατρικό παιχνίδι στις τάξεις αλλά και στο σπίτι ενεργοποιώντας τη γλώσσα αλλά και την συναισθηματική νοημοσύνη των παιδιών.
What an amazing couple of weeks they have been for the LOTE Department. On Friday the 12th of October, students in the Junior School received their certificates and awards for participating in the Pontian Competition.
This competition aims at providing students with a chance to study the area of Pontos so that students can become familiar with the rich history and culture. Year 5 students had submitted their artwork on a cultural or historic aspect of Pontos. We were very privileged to have with us on the day, Mr Antoniadis from the Pontian Association who presented the students with their awards.
Congratulation to all of our students and especially to: Ava Smirnakos 1st place, Mattea Georges second place and Katrina Mawhal 3rd place. All students received a certificate for their participation.
On Sunday 14th of October, our School, with Alexandra Konstantinidis as our representative took part in the Demosthenes Student Public Speaking Competition. A competition that has been created to promote the written and spoken use of the Greek language, student self-confidence, as well as research skills and public speaking skills. We are happy to announce that Miss Konstantinidis from Mr Panagopoulos’ VCE class, received the 3rd price with her speech on future aspirations.
Sunday 21st of October, was very busy! With two awards ceremonies where our students achieved excellence. The aim of the Australian Hellenic Student Competition is to explore the Australian and Greek involvement in Greece during both World Wars. Students from Mrs A. Spanos’ Year 6 and Year 8 classes and Mrs K. Kousourakis’ Year 6 class participated with great success. Congratulations to our winners: George Bitzios 2nd place and $100 prize, Sotiris Bakalis 3rd place and $50 prize, and Encouragement Awards to Maria Andreou, Mia Hatziminas, Meghana Abburi and Joel Wheeler with $50 prizes.
This year the Oakleigh Grammar students Greek Film Festival entry was extremely successful with two out of the three entries from Mrs Spanos’ Year 6 and Year 8 classes winning 1st places for both the Junior and Middle/ Senior School categories of the film competition. An amazing effort that resulted in a great outcome. All films had to get creative with the idea of a journey and all three films were original, and the students acted brilliantly. Congratulations to the students and their teacher for such a great result. The Year 6 1st place winners for their film titled Journey to the Past / Ταξίδι στο παρελθόν are: Sotiris Bakalis, Konstantin Fouki, Paris Gerantidis, Vas Michaelides, Dea Alabournos, Theofilo Romanidis, Areti Andreou. The Year 9 1st place winners for their film A Journey of new experiences / Ταξιδεύοντας για νέες εμπειρίες are: Jonathan Daoulas, George Bitzios, Maria Andreou, Angelos Zoes, Paraskevi Zapantzi and Louka Bauzon.
It is very important to recognise the effort and hard work of our students and teachers in every event they participate in. Through their participation, they make connections with the Greek language and promote learning through authentic activities.
All the teachers from our LOTE Department should also be congratulated for their dedication to teaching and for supporting such important cultural events.
LOTE Chinese
On Monday 17th of September, an excursion to the Chinese Museum provided a chance for all Year 6s to learn and appreciate the Chinese culture.
After catching a train and continuing on with a short walk, the Year 6 students were met with the longest dragon ever to be made outside of China.
They learnt how to cut different Chinese characters out of paper; 春 Chun which means Spring and 囍 Shuang xi meaning double happiness.
We were also brought back to the Gold Rush era where we saw some of the items Chinese people used to live in such harsh conditions.
After a lot of exploring, we healed our empty stomachs with some delicious Chinese food provided by a Chinese restaurant.
A Scavenger Hunt in Chinatown was next, and all the students enjoyed discovering all the shops and restaurants on Little Bourke St.
I would like to thank Mr Damatopoulos and Ms Harvey for accompanying myself and the Year 6 cohort on the excursion.
Learning Enhancement
English Spelling
Teaching children how to break down words with their meaning and origin can help them to be better at spelling.
Misty Adoniou, Associate Professor in Language and TESL at the University of Canberra, writes in "The Conversation", an interesting article unpacking English spelling on how words work, word meaning and origin, building vocabulary, finding links, learning rules, multilingualism and ways to help struggling spellers.
Read the full article in the link below: