From the Principal

By the time you read this newsletter we will be preparing to move into the new music classroom!

Work is progressing very well.  Tentative dates for the phases currently being worked on for handover are:

End of term 1—Music room and canteen

End of week 5 term 2—Administration, Wellbeing, Daily Organiser and ISP offices, one food tech kitchen.

End of term 2—Arts / Technology

Early term 4—Gym

Over the term 1 holidays we will also be developing some of the space directly behind the Performing Arts Centre.  We will be installing a tiered outdoor area to maximise the use of the shade provided in that area.  The remaining funds from the Parents and Friends trivia night will contribute to this project.

There has been a great range of activities at the college this term. 

• The Year 8 camp this week is sure to be a great success.
• Many students represented the college in a range of interschool team sports.
• The Parents and Friends multicultural picnic was very well attended and a great opportunity for parents to get to know each other.
• Our wide range of lunch time and after school clubs and activities continue to grow. Activities such as Art, GEM magazine, French, Environment, Chess and Robotics Clubs are proving very popular with our students, as is the range of instrumental music opportunities including a range of ensembles.
• Our wonderful Parents and Friends Association continue to promote our community at events such as the recent Party in the Park.
• Funky Hair Day activities raised money for the Leukaemia Foundation.
• Cultural Diversity Week, Harmony Day and Francophonie week will see students and staff wearing national dress or orange – the colour of Harmony Day, making crepes, playing petanque, learning a Hebrew dance and eating delicious French cakes.

School Council Elections

I am delighted to announce our new members of school council.

Parents:  Julie Staunton, Laszlo Kiss, Rhonda Corbett, Vicki Williams. They join Ruth Gordon, Michael Polonsky, Johnathan Lock and Paula Darvas.

Staff:  Haroula Loucaides, Tori Mulligan and Jenny Sanchez.  They join Nick Hamer-Smith.

I thank all the retiring councillors for their superb work over the past year(s): Rhonda Brooks, Michael Segar, Dieter Schadt and Peter Brown.  All of the work by our councillors is highly valued.  I would like to acknowledge Rhonda Brooks who has been an outstanding School Council president for several years.  Her contribution to the College has been outstanding and greatly appreciated. I also acknowledge the long years of service of Mike Seager who has been a proactive member of Council for the past 5 years.

The Annual General meeting of School Council is on Monday 27th March 6.30pm - 7.00pm in the Library.

We are always looking for ways to involve our parents in our community. Please contact me if you have ideas of how you would like to be involved. Our Parents and Friends group is an excellent way to meet other families and I encourage you to join.

Commendations for our students

I received two wonderful emails recently from members of the public.

1.  “Yesterday my 2 sisters and I (3 ladies in our 60s/70s) got on to a train at Richmond station about 4pm after a day in the city. Half of the seats in the carriage were covered with rubbish including half eaten food, a birds nest, bottles, all kinds of wrappers and snack packets. I would say the mess had been left purposely by thoughtless children. People obviously gave the seats a miss.

Suddenly two students in school uniform got up from the other end of the carriage and worked their way down the rows of seats collecting all the rubbish in a bag.

My sisters and I asked them which school they were from and they replied Glen Eira College. We also asked their names, which were Leana Furman and Brandon Wasbutzki. We thanked them gratefully for their consideration in cleaning up the mess so that others could sit down.

We would like to commend them for their actions and the thoughtfulness they showed for other people.  We would also like to thank Glen Eira College as well as their parents for instilling a sense of pride in these 2 teens. They are a credit to their upbringing.”

2.  "I want to tell you about something positive that happened this morning....

I was walking my dogs this morning next to the tennis courts adjacent to the school.   It looked like a class from your school playing tennis.

A ball went over the fence and I offered to retrieve it.   I find it difficult throwing a ball but decided I would return it.   I had 3 misses and the students were very encouraging, without being

patronising.  We were all laughing and they thanked me very politely when I succeeded on the 4th throw.

Students don't always get acknowledged when they do the right thing, which is why I decided to let you know."

Finally

Congratualtions to our Librarian, Karys McEwan, who has been invited to be a panellist for the Premiers’ Reading Challenge this year. This is a very prestigious position among teachers and librarians in Victoria.

Again we have a large number of items in our lost property basket in the General Office - mostly school uniform items and without names.  If items are named they can be returned directly to students.

All students Years 7 – 12 will have received their progress reports via XUNO and hopefully you will be able to attend parent teacher interviews in the last two weeks of term. Please discuss the progress reports with your child to assist them with planning for the next term.

I want to share this good news with you.

After completing Year 12 at Glen Eira College, Saahil Luthra went on to study Multimedia at Victoria University. He set up a multimedia company ‘Dhoom Films’ and has made a number of films. Last week his latest film Somewhere over that Rainbow was nominated for 4 awards.

I wish you all a wonderful term break and look forward to a successful term 2.

Sheereen Kindler

Principal