Secondary School

From the Head of Secondary 

Student Voice

I have been enjoying my first round of meetings with the Year Twelve leaders, the Year Nine leaders and the Secondary School Student Council. Agenda items for discussion include the upcoming 25th Anniversary celebrations, some uniform items and the Student Code of Conduct. Having students contribute to school policies helps keep them relevant and gives students ownership and more buy in. I look forward to sharing the outcome of some of these discussions with you in the coming weeks.

Next term we will create a new Student Council; please talk to your child about whether they might be interested in contributing to the student voice of Great Southern Grammar.

Year Ten News

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) has released their Year Ten information packs for our current Year Ten students. This includes information about pathways and courses for next year as well as information about Year Twelve 2025.

Here at GSG, discussions about this topic have begun in Year Ten Careers classes and we will have our formal sessions about pathways and course selection in Week Nine of this term.

The SCSA Year Ten information handbook and further information is available on the SCSA website.

Year Twelve Leaders:  World’s Greatest Shave

A reminder that our Year Twelve leaders are preparing for their big event on Monday at lunchtime. They have been busy raising funds and have now accumulated a total in excess of $8000. We are encouraging students to come along and watch the cutting and shaving on Monday at lunchtime with a gold coin to give our total a final boost.  Please visit the fundraising page and support these incredible students to reach their target of $8500.

Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (OLNA)

Year Eleven students and Year Ten students who did not sit OLNA assessments at the end of Year Nine, will be sitting OLNA assessments in Weeks Eight and Nine this term.  Individual correspondence will be sent out soon. Academic Support sessions are available to help students prepare for these assessments. 

Mrs Victoria Turnor | Head of Secondary

University Tour 2023

On Saturday 29 April, a group of 32 Years Eleven and Twelve students made the trip to Perth for the University Tour. After a stop at Beaufort River for hot chips and a drink, we arrived at Murdoch University ready for Murdoch Open Day. After a quick briefing, we were free to go and explore what Murdoch had to offer. There were many displays to walk past, and each level of the massive four-story building presented a different faculty, with medicine, business, science and cultural studies each showing impressive displays. The labs were also open, showing an impressive showcase of dead sharks, fish and various sea life in the science section, and forensics, human anatomy and a variety of different organisms to look at under a microscope. 

Our next stop was Notre Dame University in Fremantle. After a presentation of their courses on offer in the big lecture theatre, we were given tote bags with university-branded chocolate and were led to the top floor and shown one of their classrooms which has a view out to the water. We were then led around Fremantle and shown all the different buildings that made up Notre Dame, an impressive showcase of the beautiful old buildings that were captured by a beautiful sunset. 

Dinner was next, and Ruocco’s Pizzeria produced a delicious array of pizzas and cool drinks, which we enjoyed as we got a chance to sit down and talk about the uni’s we had visited during the day. With a few leftover pizzas as takeaway, we travelled back to our apartments in Cottesloe to sign in and unpack our bags. There was four or five of us to a room, and we each got a little balcony, beds upstairs, and a little kitchen. Lights were meant to be out at 10.00pm, although I’m not sure whether anyone actually managed to get to bed on time, no thanks to the thumping music next door (and being in a room with friends, of course). 

We were up at 7.00am to travel to Tommy More College the next morning. We were greeted with an amazing waffle breakfast, topped with strawberries, chocolate sauce and yoghurt, and we were given a taste of what it would be like eating in a dining hall with fellow uni students. After breakfast, we split into three groups and were given a tour of the residential rooms, and some of the facilities they have, like the gym, study spaces, shared kitchens, music room and rec room. 

Using a tunnel to travel under the road to UWA, we were introduced to the beautiful campuses and to another lecture theatre to see some of the courses and opportunities UWA has to offer. We then went on a tour around the campus within our groups and looked at their impressive engineering and science buildings. The engineering building allowed us to look down over the workshops where a lot of the work took place, and the science building where a lot of the research within chemistry or medicine took place. After walking past a small pond with fish that followed you pass, we finished our tour at Winthrop Hall, a massive building in which big events like graduations are held. After a few photos out the front, we were back on the bus to head to Edith Cowan University and WAAPA Open Day. 

We reached the Mount Lawley campus just in time for lunch, where we could walk around in search of food before discovering what ECU and WAAPA had to offer. Most of us got quite lost on campus but we had our ECU jelly beans to keep us going! Throughout the afternoon at ECU, we were given free merch tote bags, which included the interesting jelly beans in them. Some of us took part in a drawing workshop. There were also lightning workshops, costume design rooms and even a glass-making workshop where glass beads were made. A live music show was also on display near the food trailers for anyone that wanted to sit down and enjoy their lunch. Before we left the site, we were given bright pink sunglasses and more jelly beans. 

Everyone was quite tired after another big day and we were happy to spend some down time in our apartments to relax before going out for dinner. At 5.30pm we left our apartments to walk along the Cottesloe foreshore to C Blu Restaurant. We were offered a wide array of meals, from steak sandwiches and beef burgers to pizzas and parmigiana. They were all delicious meals and left everyone feeling satisfied for the walk back to our apartments. 

On Monday morning, we packed everything up and left our apartments to travel to Mary Street Bakery. Between the bakery and the IGA next door, everyone had a delicious donut or croissant for breakfast and was ready for our last university visit at Curtin. It was certainly one of the bigger uni’s we’d been to. We met some students currently studying at Curtin who gave us a rundown of what Curtin has to offer. We were given maps and a question sheet and had to make our way around the campus trying to find different landmarks in a ‘race’.  A few wrong turns and silly photos later, we were back at the starting point for another chance to get an insight into Curtin life and ask some questions. Our last stop was the residential college on the Curtin campus, St Catherine’s College. We were shown a few different types of rooms: studio and one-bedroom apartments, and the common areas, dining hall and a gorgeous rooftop garden and hangout area. All the rooms were modern and nice and the whole college was very beautiful - definitely a great place to stay for those considering study at Curtin. 

We went to Carousel Shopping Centre for lunch and took the opportunity to do some shopping before the long drive home. Overall, the trip was a lot of fun, Mr McLean’s singing being a highlight! It was an amazing experience that gave us an insight into university life and what it might be like studying and living in Perth. A massive thank you to Mrs O’Donnell, Mr McLean and others who helped organising the trip. It was very much appreciated by all of us. 

Olivia North and Grace Franzinelli | Year Eleven Students

Mother's Day Stall 

This year's Mother's Day stall was created for the Certificate IV Business students to complete their project management unit. This included all the behind-the-scenes tasks, from collecting donations from businesses to emailing staff, creating posters, and having meetings. During this process, we learnt key project management skills, collaborative teamwork skills, communication skills and how to sell amazing gifts! 

Chloe Roberts writes: 

“I began my part in the stall by contacting businesses that I thought would be able to donate great gifts for Mother’s Day. I had great success getting cosmetics and makeup. I packaged these into wrapping with help from other classmates joining our donations. On the day the other Certificate IV students and I placed our gifts out with decorations. When the Primary School students arrived, I then helped assist the children to pay or decide what gifts they’d like, and what would suit their mum’s best.” 

The build-up to the stall involved a lot of planning and communication between the two Certificate IV classes, Primary School and staff. At the beginning of our planning for the stall we created a charter plan where we decided on different gifts, which charity we were donating to, emailing staff and planning all the little key details in between. As we were figuring out our gift ideas, we thought of various places we would be able to get donations from. Our donors were very helpful in creating our gift packages as we did not spend any money on gifts besides the packaging. As it came up to the day, we set out our gifts along the tables with different prices ready to sell to the Primary School students for Mother’s Day. 

As the Primary School students arrived at the stall they were greeted with fun music whilst they waited their turn to arrive at the gift table. They danced a little, and we then helped them choose a gift of their choice for their mother’s, the kids were excited and cheerful. As the kids were looking at the gifts, we had some Year Twelves lend a helping hand to the little kids which made the atmosphere welcoming and fun!  

We hope that if you receive a gift, you enjoy it as much as we loved making and selling it. Happy Mother’s Day!

Nat Heron, Chloe Roberts, Georgia Patterson, Jaimee Waters  | Year Twelve Certificate IV Business Students