GEC College News

From our Principal

Thank you to all members of the GEC community for all that you have done to make 2018 another great year for our college.  I am so proud of our students, staff, parents and community.   I am truly grateful to our community and I appreciate the work that you all do in supporting our students to achieve the very best they can in all aspects of their lives at GEC.

 

I would like to thank our School Council, Parents and Friends and all other volunteers who contribute so much to the College.

 There are many highlights of the term. Here are just a few:

  • Year 12 Valedictory: This year we celebrated at the City of Glen Eira Town Hall.  The auditorium was packed with students and their families.  Students were awarded with certificates and commemorative ’owls’.
  • Annual Languages Assembly: We were delighted to have Japanese Consul- General Matsunga as our guest speaker and City of Glen Eira Mayor, Jamie Hyams, as a special guest.  It was exciting to see so many students recognised for their success in French, Hebrew and Japanese.
  • Arts and Technology Showcase: An amazing display of the wonderful talents of our students in a range of media.
  • Various music performance evenings showcased the musical talents of our students.
  • The Year 9 and 10 camps were huge successes as was our first science and culture trip to Japan.  The students and staff had a wonderful time and everyone learnt some new skills.
  • Our 2019 NAPLAN results show that our students experience strong growth from Years 7-9. These results are among the best in our region. We have made significant gains in moving students from medium to high growth over the last few years. This is testimony to the work of our fantastic teachers, including our English leader, Justine Douglas, and the Literacy Coordinator, Cristina Presa, who are leading the school in continuing to improve the writing and reading skills of our students through such programs as the Traits of Writing and the reciprocal teaching of reading model.
  • Softball teams, baseball teams and table tennis teams all competed and achieved awards at state level.
  • Berthe Mouchette French awards: We had 7 winners (5 in the poetry writing competition!).

 

I am very proud of our 2018 Year 12 students and grateful to all of their teachers over the years for the outstanding support they give to each and every student.

The VCE results are a huge source of celebration.  Some highlights include:

·  15% of scores 90 or above

·  27.6% of scores 80 or above

·  6.6% of study scores 40 or above, up from 5.1% in 2017

 DUX—well you will have to wait until Tuesday evening!

 

Congratulations to our 2019 school captains: Sierra Danon and Sean Kelly and Vice Captains Ashleigh Harris and Taylor Lowery.

Mobile Phone Policy – changes effective as of the beginning of 2019

Thank you to all parents, students, staff and School Council for their contribution to the review of our Mobile Phone Policy.  As a result we have changed the policy effective as of the first day of 2019.  In essence mobile phones must not be used:

  • while at school, in the buildings or outside on the grounds, at any time prior to the end of the school day
  • to send inappropriate, harassing or threatening messages or phone calls
  • to engage in inappropriate social media use including cyber bullying
  • to capture video or images of people, including students, teachers and members of the school community without their permission
  • to capture video or images in the school toilets, changing rooms and gym.

Students who use their mobile phone in breach of this policy will have their phone confiscated and stored securely at the General Office.

Parents and students needing to communicate with each other during the day can do so through the General Office.

 

Please open the attachment below to see the full policy.

Mobile Phone Policy.pdf

Bell Times

Please note the following bell times effective as of the start of 2019.  Teacher supervision prior to school commencing is on the basketball courts from 8.30am. 

 

Learning starts at 9.00am and all students are expected to be in Team Meeting on time at 9.00am.  Parent/carer support is appreciated in assisting your child(ren) to be on time to school.

Staffing

We say farewell to:

  • Karys McEwen, Louise Mason, Mathieu Givogue, Ann Butler, Eileen Fogarty, Yehuda Kaplan, Mandy Shen, Kathryn Vaughan-Niven, Dee Mehta and thank them for their wonderful contribution in working with our students during their time at GEC and we wish them all the best at their new schools.
  • Karen Muramatsu and Ounsane Siriamphone, but only for next year while they take leave.
  • Aurele Roy who returns to France after completing a wonderful year as French Assistant at GEC and Coatesville Primary School. Aurele has been a wonderful contributor to the languages learning area and has supported our students to further improve their French language skills.

 

As our numbers continue to grow we are in the wonderful position of recruiting excellent teachers to the college.  We welcome: 

 

Clinton Chiumello – Teaching and Learning Leader, Humanities teacher

Jeffrey Micallef – Senior School Leader, Maths teacher

Ryannan Mathieson – Junior School Leader, English / Humanities teacher

Fiona Tingate – Biology / Science teacher

Jess Ballingal – Health and Physical Education teacher

Monica Kartika – Japanese / Science teacher

Linda Flynn – Maths / English teacher

Arivu Kumaran – Maths/IT teacher

Sherri Michael – Librarian

Tanya Tsiakos – General Office Administration

 

Finally, I wish all students and families a happy and safe holiday. I look forward to seeing our students ready for the 2019 academic year on Thursday 31st January. 

Sheereen Kindler

Principal