Around the College
Winter Reading
On a miserable Saturday afternoon, I headed to my local library to refresh my bedside table with some new books. It was heartening to see groups of Year 12 students revising for their upcoming VCE exams and equally encouraging to see families busily selecting and collating piles of reading material.
At GEC, we want to support the development of habits and skills that will foster life-long readers. Contemporary educational research indicates that students need choice in what they read. In our independent reading program, which runs across Years 7-9, students can read about things they are interested in at a level appropriate for them.
In order to improve literacy outcomes, it is essential to develop an understanding of how students perceive themselves as readers. We conduct reading surveys to learn about students’ reading habits and their goals for reading. This year’s outstanding NAPLAN results in reading indicate that students are benefiting from this opportunity.
You can support your child’s reading development by regularly dedicating some time each week (or even every day) to reading at home. Reflect on your own reading habits with your children and discuss their progress in achieving their reading goals. Finally, head to your local library and fill your home and your heads with inspiration.
Justine Douglas
Learning Specialist in Literacy
Year 11 Excursion
P.A.R.T.Y. Program
Some of the Year 11 Health and PE students went on an excursion to the Alfred Hospital on 5th September. The program was called P.A.R.T.Y. program standing for Prevention. Alcohol. Risk-Related. Trauma. in Youth. The program has been running for 10 years and is designed for nurses, paramedics and surgeons to talk to students about the impact that alcohol has on young people.
Students were told stories about how actions have certain consequences and how not only did the patients suffer but also their family, friends and the emergency services people. Sue, the nurse in charge of the day, had a repeated saying; “all actions have consequences.”
The P.A.R.T.Y. excursion allowed students to experience not only the suffering and pain that patients go through but also what the nurses and all the people working in the hospital have to experience every single day. The experience allowed students to see what all aspects of being a patient are like such as; what it feels like to do basic day-to-day activities when severely injured or disabled, how difficult it is to undergo rehabilitation after suffering from trauma, what it's like for the hospital staff to experience trauma on a day to day basis.
In my opinion the excursion was the best excursion that I have attended as I felt like it drove home how split second decisions that young people make can impact the rest of their life.
Hudson Messenger
Year 11
The P.A.R.T.Y. Program excursion was an opportunity we recognised to be extremely rare and we were very grateful to have been given the opportunity to take part. The program was very eye opening and confronting. It was something we believe everybody should have the opportunity to be included in due to the messages that could be taken away.
It changed all of our minds in a positive way. While being told to enjoy ourselves and make the most of our lives, we understood how much a split second could change our lives.
We spoke to a young man who had recently been in a motorcycle accident and who was badly injured. Through his words and emotions it was understood just how bad the ramifications could be just from a split second decision and also the impact that it has on everyone, not just the injured person.
The messages that stuck with everybody the most would have been that if you have any doubt at all, do not do it.
Zoe Markopoulos
Year 11
The Australian History Competition
Our Year 8 students participated in the Australian History Competition earlier this year. The competition was prepared by the History Teachers’ Association of Australia and run in conjunction with The Giant Classroom. The primary goal was to provide an interesting and challenging competition for students. The Year 7 and 8 paper was broadly based on the Australian Curriculum: History for Years 7 and 8. It provided a quality resource that demonstrated approaches to the assessment of knowledge, skills and understandings.
Congratulations to the following students for their outstanding results:
High Distinction
Hayden Cormick
George Fetsis
Freya Matthews
Eli McNamara
Distinction
Jonah Ariel
Ezra Bloch
Mael Gaudey
Nicole Mazis
Uno Mondejar
Raphael Nicolas
Lexi Nuelant
William Wong
Iliya Zolotarev
Credit
Nancy Basta
Leo Bizas
Finn Black
Harry Chen
Sarish Edukulla
Kayla Fox
Dana Gonshor
Armand Goupil
Cameron McCutcheon
Alika Mogilevsky
Orleanna Murray De Brossard
Lily Nicolo
Zac Romagos
Thomas Scandurra
Jason Scott
Amelie Somers
Jess Whiteman
Alexandra Wood-Freeman
Merit
Isabel Conrad-Stewart
Gus David
Jade Davis
Ella Dry
William Fassoulis
Jemima Gill (Woodmansey)
Amielle Goldman
Ines Gotmaker
Remi Griffiths
Alexander Johnston
Max Kais
Sophie Kiss
Matis Lambert
David Loven
Ed MacLeod-Smith
Aidan Meade
Anaelle Micciche
Khang Nguyen
Diksha Padmakumar
Zac Palatsides
Amiya Panwar
Skye Phua
James Robbs
Rusha Shah
Ani Sonti
Susannah Staples
Sydney Steinwinder
Lee Swiatlo
Luna Tomasevic
Jay Trickey
Allen Weisinger Braun
Maxwell Winslow
Kelly Yung
Melanie Mattsson
Head of Humanities
Consul General of France visits GEC
On Thursday 12th September, the newly appointed Consul General of France, Anne Boillon, visited Glen Eira College. She enjoyed meeting Madame Loveena's Immersion class and was very proud of the thriving bilingual learning environment at Glen Eira College.
Before she left, she took a photo with 8C, Madame Loveena and Monsieur Chamontin.
Cedric Chamontin
Head of Languages
