Junior School News
Year 7 News
Louis Mulet 7B presents the Acknowledgement to Land in French.
Welcome to Term 4: Learn, Grow, Connect
With 3 terms complete for 2021, we are looking forward to transitioning back into the physical classroom to continue to learn, grow leadership and connect with friends. Please remember that we must be mindful of safe practices at school. Here are 6 little reminders:
- Be aware of social distancing at all times
- Bring your own water bottle and don’t share food or use the water fountains
- Sanitise hands at all times
- Ensure face masks are worn at all times – Junior School Office has face masks if required
- Corridors and lockers will require patience and consideration of others
- Be respectful of others and support each other during our transition back to school as we refocus on learning and wellbeing
We understand that change brings some challenges and some rewards. The Junior School Office remains open and we are always ready to support students at any time. Pop in and say hello and let us know how we can support you as we head towards the end of Year 7.
So, what did students do during remote learning?
Haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a kireji, or "cutting word" with a 5, 7, 5 pattern. As a creative element to Year 7 Geography, students developed their own version of Haiku poems to show understanding. Check out a selection of Haiku poems focusing on either water or soil.
To continue the House Spirit, students created photos with their House Colours and a sneaky peak of themselves unidentified. Enjoy these House photos and watch this space.
Luise returns to GEC English classroom
Did you know that Luise Verhoeven, 2020 Dux of GEC, returned to the English classroom to assist learning for our students before accepting a place at the University of Freiburg in Germany? Check out Luise’s success and what she is doing now by watching Alice Jayaweera (7C) and Jaime Spanneberg’s (7C) interview by accessing the QR code below.
Stay Calm and Read: The Premier’s Reading Challenge Tally
Congratulations to all our avid readers who entered the Premier’s Reading Challenge, especially the students who read 15 books or more:
Max Zelener 7H 38 books
Anara White 7H 37 books
Pranav Swarup 7C 35 books
Lev Carmeli-Wolski 7C 32 books
Nikhilesh Nambirajan 7B 31 books
Arjun Nair 7C 30 books
Alastair Goh 7B 29 books
Hillai Yemini 7C 24 books
Jack Renton 7D 22 books
Josephine Forbes 7A 22 books
Alice Jayaweera 7C 22 books
Marley Matthews 7E 21 books
Hugo Boddington 7C 19 books
Michael McCutcheon 7D 18 books
Tama Albert 7C 18 books
Daniel Moore 7D 18 books
Lakshita Jetty 7A 18 books
Amy Will 7C 17 books
Lakshita Jetty 7A 17 books
Eric Tran 7B 17 books
Riley Makin 7F 16 books
Jaime Spanneberg 7C 15 books
Tara Giannikakis 7A 15 books
A special mention to Beth Waters 9B who read 42 books. Beth remains a wonderful role model and inspiration for our Year 7 readers. Some of the most successful people in the world are avid readers, so when we return to school, visit the library and start your own reading challenge.
Year 7C interprets Kate Constable’s Crow Country - Honouring Mandy Ord
During remote learning, the library organised Mandy Ord, cartoonist, to share her work during Book Week. She shared her process and explained a range of drawing techniques to our Year 7 students. After the analytical study of Kate Constable’s novel, Cow Country, students developed a cartoon interpretation of the totem bird character, Waa, in the style of Mandy Ord’s work.
Deborah Cordingley and Jake Sherman
Year 7 Coordinators
Year 8 News
As we begin term four, it is great that we can finally look forward to returning to face to face learning. Ms Ballingall and I are extremely proud of the commitment made by Year 8 students to remain focused on their studies, despite the difficulties that we have all had to confront during the extended lockdown.
A special thanks is due to all parents who have supported the challenges of online learning by ensuring that their son or daughter has attended classes and completed the tasks set.
In addition to the return to face to face learning, the Year 8 camp, which will be held at The Summit in Gippsland from 15-17 November, is almost upon us. It will be a fantastic event, which will give all Year 8 students the opportunity to engage in some exciting activities as well as the chance to form new friendships after being online for so long.
Ms Ballingall and I are very much looking forward to seeing all Year 8 students face to face very soon. Please remember that we are here to support you, so please let us know should you have any concerns.
Chris Zuccala and Jess Ballingall
Year 8 Coordinators
Welcome back Year 9 Term 4
We hope everyone had some time to relax over the holidays. We are excited to welcome back our Year 9s onsite soon. So just a reminder to check again your timetable, uniform and school items that you need for your learning at school. Remember to try and maintain a healthy routine to help get through the days with a good night's sleep and active/screen breaks regularly throughout the day. Also, we welcome a few new students in Year 9, and their families, to our GEC community.
We expect you to attend all your timetabled classes on time and check the student bulletin for any updates. If students have IT issues during remote learning, they should use the following link to report the issue: https://forms.gle/uMDvKVZKFhTVX3CU9
In week 3 and week 7 we have planned our Year 9 Connection assemblies, focusing on Communication and Study Skills in preparation for your transition to senior school. We have also picked these 2 areas for our assembly because we want our Year 9 students to keep their communication open and transparent with their teachers to get support and guidance at an early stage. Good communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity. If there are any concerns, we encourage you to inform your teachers or coordinators sooner than later.
Also in week 8, from 9am to 10am in school PAC, there is an incursion planned by Success Integrated, with a focus on growth mindset, grit resilience and work ethic. This incursion supports our key focus with Year 9 for the remainder of this term.
Week 9 and 10 is the transition week to year 10. All Year 9s will have to do their Common Assessment Tasks (CATs) in each subject for end of semester reporting. Best of luck to all of you with your CAT preparation.
Lastly, Term 4 progress reports will be released in week 4 which all students and parents can check on XUNO portal regarding students' quality of work, online participation, online behaviour, online attendance, effort and learning progress.
Stay safe and take care, and we can't wait to see you all!
Parminder Kaur and Sasha Byrnes
Year 9 Coordinators