Junior School Highlights
Year 7 News
Much has happened during this remote learning period and I wish to begin by thanking all Year 7 parents and carers for the tremendous job you are doing in supporting us during this time - truly a Herculean effort. I would also like to thank the Year 7 students for their efforts in engaging with their remote learning during these difficult times, and all our teachers for supporting and guiding our Year 7 students with their remote learning.
By now, you would have received the fourth Progress Report, and whilst we are not having Parent/Teacher interviews, we would like you to reach out to your child’s teachers, or their coordinators, if there is anything you would like to discuss.
On Monday 24th August we held a Year 7 assembly to celebrate student success. It was a tremendous turnout of our Year 7 students who heard reports from our Principal Mrs Kindler, our Assistant Principal Mr Petersen and our Junior School leaders. Thank you to all Year 7 students who joined the meet and of course our reward recipients.
There is now an optional lunchtime google meets every Wednesday for Year 7 to join in if they wish, for a bit of fun and connecting with their peers. Thank you to the SRC for this wonderful initiative.
Finally, stay safe, stay strong and please reach out to us if you need anything.
Lou Tsarpalas and Jess Ballingall
Year 7 Coordinators
Year 8 News
This week we had the pleasure of running an awards ceremony over Google Meets where we acknowledged the amazing achievements and academic excellence of our Year 8 students. It was great to see so many turn up to cheer and congratulate there classmates.
A huge congratulations to all students. Keep up the high spirits and motivation through this remote learning period!
Daniel Lake and Sue Rio
Year 8 Coordinators
Year 9 News
On 21st August, we had our Year 9 assembly as a formal occasion to celebrate the achievement and endeavour of our wonderful Year 9 students. We would like to say thank you everyone for their time during Year 9 assembly
Due to the impact of COVID-19 and remote learning the presentation of awards in 2020 was done in a special way which was different from previous years. In addition to our usual academic excellence awards we also sought nominations from parents who have recognised excellence in their own children.
This assembly started at 9:00am with our special guests - our Principal, Assistant Principals, Junior School Leader, Year 9 Team Teachers, Year 9 Coordinators and Year 9 students via Google meets. We started with an acknowledgement of country which was done by Freya Matthews. Then a motivational quote was shared to inspire our Year 9 students by Joyce Meyer "If you are facing a new challenge or being asked to do something that you have never done before don’t be afraid to step out. You have more capability than you think you do but you will never see it unless you place a demand on yourself for more."
We would like to say again, “Well done everyone” for their outstanding work during remote learning time in term 2 and term 3 so far. But there are many more students whose names are not mentioned in the newsletter but are doing a great job by keeping up with new challenges every day during this remote learning period.
Year 9 is a big milestone for our students and comes with its own opportunities and challenges but we are proud of hard work shown by our students in keeping up with the pace. The latest progress reports, which were released last week, are evidence of the hard work of our students. Parents and students can check this via XUNO.
Talking about stress minimisation; organisation will increasingly become key for our students to keep ahead of the increased workload. To help with this our school psychologist Zoe Markopoulos created a very short video to help our students feel motivated. This video is available on the Year 9 Google classroom.
Subject selection was a huge task that was also done remotely this term. Thank you to all staff involved, students and parents for their involvement in completing this process remotely.
Also our school’s mental health practitioner, Mr Cheng, has given advice to all our students on how to look after their mental wellbeing during this period of sudden changes via another video which is also available on the Year 9 Google classroom.
Students are encouraged to make their own Assessment Calendar to help them keep their eyes to the future events happening and I encourage all parents to have a copy attached to the fridge.
Open communication is one of our guiding principles so if you have any problems whatsoever, do not hesitate to get in contact with us via email at pka@ge.vic.edu.au or jsh@gec.vic.edu.au.
Lastly, every morning attendance is done from 9:00am to 9:09am. Please check if your child has logged into Google Team Forms during this time. If you need assistance with this please email kla@gec.vic.edu.au.
Also encourage your child to check their google classrooms every morning and afternoon as well as before the class starts to be aware of any updates by their Teachers.
2020 is a different year but we all are together as a team and we will maximise our students’ success.
Take care and be safe.
Parminder Kaur and Jake Sherman
Year 9 Coordinators