From the Principal Team

Mother’s Day Classic

Mother’s Day Classic was a wonderful community event. Thank you to all those who supported the GEC team by attending, fundraising or donating. The GEC team was the largest school team in Victoria and we raised  $3642 to support breast and ovarian cancer research! Special thanks to Victoria Bancroft in 7A who raised more than $600! Thank you to teachers Celine and Kai for organising the GEC team.

State School Spectacular

Congratulations to Lior Bartenstein (Year 9) who successfully applied for the Backstage Crew in this year’s State School Spectacular. A wonderful achievement.

The Spectacular will be performed twice on Saturday 14 September at John Cain Arena, followed by a television broadcast in December. It will showcase more than 3,000 Victorian government school students in a performance of music, song, dance, skating, circus, puppetry and backstage areas such as audio, lighting, vision and stage management.

 Hosting a student from Ogaki, Japan 

Wednesday 21 August to Tuesday 27 August 2024

Glen Eira City Council accepts exchange students from the Ogaki International Exchange Association (OIEA) as part of a sister city relationship. 

The friendly cities relationship with the City of Ogaki began with the City of Caulfield in 1990. This relationship was reaffirmed with the City of Glen Eira in January 1998. It has been fostered with the mutual goals of strengthening international friendship, peace and understanding. Throughout the sister city relationship schools in Glen Eira who teach Japanese as part of their curriculum have been involved in the delegation visits by providing host families. 

Glen Eira College is delighted to be a part of this program again by providing our families the opportunity to host 10 students aged 12 – 15 years in August 2024. This is an excellent opportunity for the students and families to learn more about Japan, its history, people and culture and to expand their Japanese language skills. 

The opportunity to host a student is a wonderful experience, a benefit to the entire family. Not only will you be sharing Australian culture but you will be learning about another world, have fun and most of all make friendships which will last a life time.

If you would be willing to host a student please contact the General Office by the end of May.

PROPOSED ITINERARY FOR MELBOURNE 

Expectations of Host Families

• To provide a safe and comfortable place to stay.
• Homestay parents to participate in a briefing session on Tuesday 6th August at 5.00pm in the college library. This is to develop their knowledge and understanding of issues relating to the visiting students.

This will include:

• Cultural, linguistic and religious information about the country 
• The needs of young people away from their home environment
• A flexible approach to matters of discipline, house rules and cooperative living
• What to do if a problem occurs (refer to school’s emergency management plan), including a 24 hour emergency contact number

• Report any critical or serious incidents involving a student to the Principal. My mobile number will be provided to families and is on 24/7.
• Working in partnership with the school by monitoring and supervising students. 
• To take the student to and from school and to provide other transport needs. 
• Ensure that students are provided with three meals a day, unless we make other arrangements.
• Ensure your host student is aware of the following:
  • Arrangements for travelling to and from school 
  • Meal times
  • Safety issues and assist them in developing awareness of risks and dangerous situations, such as traffic rules
  • Family’s emergency procedures, e.g. emergency evacuation location etc.
  • General house rules 

Responsibilities of Visiting Students

• Show courtesy to their homestay host
• Respect the home and belongings of their homestay host
• Abide by the homestay family rules
• Keep their room clean

Duty of care

The visiting students’ overall welfare is the responsibility of their teachers (2 teachers and a Principal) – you will be provided with their telephone numbers.

We will provide homestay families and visiting students with 24 hour contact numbers for Glen Eira College staff and will be available to respond to emergencies or complex situations. We will ensure that the levels of supervision provided by the families are appropriate, including supervision to and from school and outside school hours. We will also ensure that the families have appropriate information.

All adults over 18 years old regularly in the household are required to have a cleared Working with Children Clearance (WWCC) before they are eligible to host a student.  Apply at: https://service.vic.gov.au/services/working-with-children

We will provide homestay families with a copy of visiting students’ personal information, medical information and signed student authority and medical release form.

Stay well this winter

Keeping our school community well 

Parents, carers and students are encouraged to practice prevention measures, including:

• washing and sanitising hands regularly
• avoiding touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands
• covering nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing
• staying home if unwell and consulting a general practitioner (GP) or Nurse-on-call as required
• staying up to date with flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.

Flu vaccinations

Flu vaccinations can be booked through GPs and pharmacies, many of which can also provide COVID-19 vaccinations. Flu vaccination is recommended for everyone aged 6 months and over.

Some people are more at risk of complications from flu and are eligible for free vaccination as part of the National Immunisation Program.

COVID-19 Booster

The 2024 COVID-19 booster dose is available for everyone aged 18 and above.

Getting your booster dose remains the best way to prevent severe illness or hospitalisation, especially in people aged over 65 and those at higher risk of severe illness.

Children aged between 5 and 17 years who are at risk of severe illness can also receive a 2024 booster dose.

You can get your next dose at your local pharmacy or GP. To find one near you, refer to the vaccine clinic finder.

Find out more

For more information about preventing flu, and immunisation, refer to:

• Better Health Channel influenza flu immunisation fact sheet 
• Getting vaccinated against influenza

Open Day / Night

It was wonderful to have our prospective families join us for a range of Open Day / Night tours and activities. The contribution by our students across the college was outstanding.  It will come as no surprise to you that the feedback from our visitors in regards to our students was extremely positive. Our staff and students were passionate and committed in showing the community what a wonderful school we have here at Glen Eira College.  Special thanks to Year 7 students Alfie and Cici and school captains Eve and Sholly who spoke so beautifully at the formal presentation.  Stephen Loyer, our school council president, spoke to prospective parents about some of the wonderful opportunities available to students at GEC.

Subject areas really were on show with lots of opportunities for our visitors to participate in a wide range of learning activities – our staff worked incredibly hard to ensure parents were well informed and that there were plenty of activities for the primary school students to get involved in.  I am very proud of the huge number of students who participated in the evening, talking to prospective parents and students so eloquently– fantastic ambassadors each and every one. 

We had around 50 primary school staff and principals join our current Year 7 students for a ‘Share Our Success’ afternoon.  Students invited a significant person from their primary school and took them on a tour. This was followed by a series of presentations and an afternoon tea.  It was a really fabulous event and an acknowledgement of the outstanding work of our primary school colleagues.

Preliminary NAPLAN results

The preliminary NAPLAN results have been released enabling us to analyse class results at Year 7 and 9 to determine areas of strengths and areas of improvement. Having this information earlier now that NAPLAN testing is completed online allows us to use the data more effectively in responding to student needs, including supporting those requiring literacy and numeracy intervention and stretching those students who have been identified in the strong or exceeding category. We also use classroom assessment observations and PAT reading and PAT math testing to help inform our instruction. The complete NAPLAN data will become available in July/August where it will be possible to compare our results against the state.

Student Eyecare Program

The school is pleased to announce that the Student Eyecare Program will be running at the school in Term 3, 2024.  An optometrist will be onsite during school hours to provide students with a free comprehensive eye examination that is covered through Medicare Australia. 1 in 6 students have eye conditions that go undetected. This is due to the high level of visual demand on their eyes from books, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Every student will receive a full report about their eye health and a prescription will be provided if glasses are required. The prescription can be taken to any optical store to get the glasses made. Don’t miss out on this wonderful opportunity. 

To sign up, register online at: https://forms.gle/MUUuS3LdnrcsU6My6

New Staff

I am delighted to have welcomed the following new staff this term:

Éliane Deslauriers - Multicultural Aid

Perter Iagnocco - French 

Finally

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

Sheereen Kindler

Principal