Secondary School

As Term Three draws to a close, I would like to acknowledge and thank the school community for a wonderful ten weeks.  The Secondary School itself has had countless events which have contributed to the positive culture and feel of our day to day experience, but the other events like the Kingfisher Fair, Sporting finals and Music performances have added a wonderful sparkle to our shared experience.  I have loved seeing and hearing about the crowds gathering to support peers at these events as well as the buzz and excitement before and after. We will all be looking forward to well-deserved break!

Year Twelve students have been busy finalising their school assessments this week whether that be examinations or class tasks.  I have been impressed by their focus and determination to finish well and the effort the have put in, right up until the end, has been wonderful to see. 

They now focus on Valedictory, the leaving process and for some, their final ATAR examinations which represent 50% of their Year Twelve marks – it is difficult to believe that in this sense, our ATAR students are only halfway through! 

Many students received University offers this week as well as offers for places at Residential Colleges. Others are well into the process of their CBH summer employment places and others are applying for scholarships and making travel plans.  There is much to celebrate amongst this cohort this week and their energy is fantastic to be around.

Workplace Learning and School Based Traineeships

We would like to thank Anita Tuddenham from ATC Worksmart for coming out to school this week and providing a lunch for our students participating in the Workplace Learning Program and School Based Traineeships.  Congratulations to Lily Shanks, Rhiannon Williams-Jolley, Mitchell Hawley, Levi Masih, Matthew Edwards and Darcy Barrett for completing their traineeships this year.  Benjamin O’Dea, Lara Hetherington, Jorja Moore, Brianna Harris and Luke Harvey were also recognised for their commitment to the Workplace Learning program.  All of these students leave Great Southern Grammar with impressive resumes, and we commend their achievements.  I would also like to thank Mrs Renae O’Donnell for overseeing and supporting these opportunities.

Leaders Retreat

On Monday and Tuesday, the group of 2024 leaders embarked on their leadership retreat accompanied by Mrs Turner, Mr Sawle, Mrs Franklin and the heads of houses. We began our camp after school on Monday with a beautiful hike up castle rock. On the journey up we talked with of our fellow leaders about their aspirations for the year ahead and enjoyed a moment to reflect in silence as we looked across the land when we reached the top. 

 

After the walk we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Due South and Tom Mitchell from St Thomas More college kindly volunteered his time with us. Tom spoke with us on both the Monday night and the Tuesday morning session. He shared a fabulous presentation about leadership as well as his wisdom from personal experiences to help us prepare for life and our leadership journey. We learnt countless things but a couple that stuck out to me were acknowledging differences in perspectives, being vulnerable, solidarity within the leadership group and the importance of self-care. 

 

After Tom’s session on the Tuesday, we had some lunch and moved outside of the conference room at three anchors to spend a little time in the sun. We then planned our vision and things we hope to achieve as leaders next year and spent some time with our heads of houses or other members of staff to plan some more in our individual roles. 

 

Overall, it was a really great experience to work with the other leaders and the staff that will be guiding us next year. 

Evie Woodall (Year Eleven)

Term Four Staffing Changes

We wish the following staff well for their upcoming leave Mr Ross Barnett (Term Four), Mrs Karen Bradbury (Term Four) and Dr Giles Watson (Commencing Week Three – Term Four).

Please find below a summary of teacher changes to accommodate this leave:

Mrs Victoria Turnor | Head of Secondary