Faculty news
Counselling
Year 12 – The final year of schooling
‘Every year, the media exposes us to the hype and pressure relating to the final year of secondary school. However, putting things into perspective for students and parents alike can help prevent everyone from getting overwhelmed. Although this final year is important, it will not be the most important year of your child’s life. It is crucial for parents to reinforce the mantra of ‘you are more than your ATAR.’
A student’s performance in their final year is only a point in time measured by their ability to sit an exam. If the desired ATAR score is not achieved at the end of the day, there are other options available to your child. It will not define their happiness. There will be many other pathways available to them to help them achieve their goals.’
Excerpt from the School TV topic Surviving Final Year found on our schools’ website. Go to the Parent link and click School TV. You will find helpful parenting information regarding this topic and many more.
As a note from me. These last few weeks of Term 3 and Term 4 prior to, and during exams, is the most stressful period for all Year 12 students. Many have a desired ATAR in mind and are working hard to achieve this. They are tired, overwhelmed, not sleeping well, and stressed. School is often only one of the challenges they are facing with many personal challenges at play as well. As parents, we just want our children to do their best. To ensure this we need to monitor ourselves and our comments and expectations. Pressuring our children to sit and study and put in extra effort, does not usually equate to better marks. Many students shut off under duress. It is important therefore as parents, to find a balance between comments of “should you be studying?” and letting them sort it out themselves. Not an easy balance to find, but be guided by your child. If they are pushing back, then perhaps you are pushing more than you need. In the end, they are in charge of their study regardless of what we say and do. Try and make these last few months of your child’s schooling as enjoyable as possible. Include some family time on weekends, even if it is just a walk to the park or family dinner, ease up where you can on their responsibilities at home, help them balance their schoolwork, part-time job and free time and remember that what they achieve in the end will be OK. Some students transition easily into a University course or job and others take a meandering path. So long as they keep moving forward, they will find their way.
Fiona Baudinette
Student Counsellor
Careers
OG Senior School Careers Morning Tea
On Tuesday 23rd August, I organised and hosted our 2nd Alumni Careers Morning Tea for 2022. This event was tailored to our Year 12 cohort and involved 2 alumni students who spoke of their tertiary and career journeys, as well as provided invaluable tips and advice about how students can approach their upcoming VCE exams and post-school pathways.
2021 School Captains Angelica Athanasakis – a Bachelor of Paramedicine Student at Monash University and Alexander Logan a Bachelor of Science Student at The University of Melbourne spoke of their journeys.
It is always wonderful to have our alumni involved in these events, and I thank Angelica and Alex for making the time to attend where they inspired our students and staff alike!
An extended thanks to Mr Jamie Evans of McDonald’s Clayton and Chadstone who once again sponsored this event with some delicious morning tea delicacies courtesy of the McCafé menu, and Coles Oakleigh Central for providing us with some fresh fruit and sensational sweets to top off another successful morning tea.
Watch this space to find out our guest speaker lineup for the 2023 Careers Morning Teas.
Michelle Mascaro
Careers Advisor
LOTE
To help students use their second language in a real-life situation and appreciate authentic Chinese food, an excursion was organised for Year 7 to Year 10 Chinese learning students at the end of Term 2. Ms Liu, Mrs Harvey and Mr Pegiou accompanied students to the restaurant and encouraged learners to order food and drinks in Mandarin. Prior to the excursion, students had learnt about Chinese table manners and how to use chopsticks. Students were excited to apply this knowledge in an authentic environment. Some of the most popular dishes that students ordered were beef noodles, fried rice, sweet and sour pork, and prawn dumplings. We are very pleased to see students had a great time immersing in the Chinese language and culture. Some of the feedback from the participant students:
“At the restaurant, I ordered vegetarian noodles by speaking in Chinese and it was delicious. I enjoyed this excursion because I got to have fun and spend time with my friends, and I also put my Chinese speaking skills to use in real life.”
– Varshitha Paravasthu, Year 7
“We had the opportunity to practice our Chinese in a real-world scenario while enjoying the time with our friends and tasting the flavours.”
– Samhith Mikkilineni and Nilesh Sharma, Year 8
“I had a very good time at the Chinese restaurant excursion with my friends. I ordered Singaporean noodles, and it was very delicious and tried out my friend’s food as well. It was a fun and educational experience and I hope to go on another excursion soon.”
– Usamita Upadhyaya, Year 9
Lydia Liu
Middle School Academic Learning Leader (LOTE)
SRC
On Friday 5th of August, SRC members organised our annual favourite Jeans for Genes Day! Students and staff from ELC up to Year 12 dressed in their favourite jeans and Oakleigh Grammar became a sea of denim in a united stance against childhood disease.
Jeans for Genes Day is a nationwide fundraising initiative held in Australia each year. The charity's mission is to support families and children with birth defects or incurable genetic diseases. Our support helps the scientists at Children’s Medical Research Institute find cures, so these kids, and millions more like them, can focus on just being kids.
Oakleigh Grammar is proud to have raised $1,190.45, with every dollar raised going to help scientists discover treatments and cures, giving every child the opportunity to live a long and healthy life.
Congratulations to the whole school community for participating in this worthwhile annual event and helping to make a difference.
Natasha Spanos
SRC Coordinator
Language and Literature
IB learner profile activities
All IB programmes aim to develop internationally minded people who through recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world. To support this mission the IB learner profile represents ten attributes valued by IB World Schools. Recently, Y6 and Y8 explored the learner profile attributes of Henry Lawson, Macbeth and Shakespeare.
Year 10 DigiTech
The drone excursion was very fun! The trip there was a bit long but it was worth it. There they showed us the different models of drones they had, and we did some activities with them. We were split into 2 groups. The group I was in got to fly the drones first. We practiced flying them around an obstacle course, and after practicing, we raced to see who could complete the course the quickest. A lot of people crashed their drones! The shortest time anybody got was 1:05 seconds! We then moved on to coding the drones. There we used a simple coding app to make the drone turn around, or fly in a direction. One group’s drone got stuck on the ceiling! In the end, they gave trophies to the students who got the shortest time in the race.
We all agreed that the excursion was fun, and we would like to do it again! We would like to thank the Oakleigh Grammar Parents' Association for their generosity in funding the purchase of the Drones, and the Oakleigh Grammar leadership for their foresight in seeing the benefit of drone technology to enhance student learning in a digital technology world.
