Faculty News

Careers News

MICHELLE MASCARO

Career Advisor

Year 11-12 Students, ADFA Applications Open 

Applying for ADFA is a competitive, dual application process that can take up to 12 months. It is preferable you apply in Year 11, but you can still apply in Year 12.

Applications for 2018 Year 12 Students (for 2019 entry) close at the end of February 2018.

https://www.defencejobs.gov.au/students-and-education/australian-defence-force-academy/how-to-apply

Looking for a Part Time/Casual Job? 

Employers are recruiting now for Christmas holiday jobs. For the latest vacancies, refer to our careers website, and note if you do get an interview, organise a practice interview with Mrs. Mascaro. 

http://www.oakleighgrammarcareers.com/?page=job-vacancies 

Torrens: Day in the Life – Natural Therapies and Nutrition

Fitzroy campus: Sat 18th November, 10am – 1:30pm. At this event, find out what it is like to study herbal medicine, myotherapy, nutrition or Chinese medicine.  http://www.torrens.edu.au/about/events-and-workshops/natural-therapies-nutrition-workshop-melbourne

What is the Right Health Job for You? 

Check out Health Heroes and browse the various videos and numerous jobs in the health industry from administration officers to social workers, and many in between!

Find out about Mechatronic Engineering:

https://careerswithstem.com/mechatronic-engineering/

How to Focus on Wellbeing in Times of Stress:

http://www.utas.edu.au/news/2017/10/6/422-how-to-focus-on-wellbeing-during-times-of-stress/

Looking After Yourself in Term 4:

http://studyworkgrow.com.au/look-after-yourself/

What Pathways are Available from TAFE to University Studies?

• Complete a Diploma of Tertiary Studies at Monash University in either Business, Education or Nursing (ATAR 50+), OR a Diploma of Higher Education (ATAR 65+)
• Complete a course at Monash College in Art & Design, Arts (Human Behaviour or Psychology streams), Business or Commerce, Engineering or Science; search Courses on VTAC website
• Complete a course at Deakin College in Commerce, Computing, Engineering, Health Sciences, Management, Media and Communication or Science
• Complete a UniLink Diploma at Swinburne (Arts and Communications, Business, Design, Engineering, Health Science, IT, Science)
• Complete a Diploma at La Trobe Melbourne in Biosciences, Business, Engineering, Health Sciences, IT or Mass Media Communications
• Complete a Tertiary Preparation Course at RMIT in Engineering or Science
• Start with a VET (TAFE) course in a related field; two years of VET often equates to one at university
• Complete a Tertiary Studies Diploma at Melbourne Polytechnic (Preston)
• Complete a Certificate IV in Liberal Arts – a pathway into a range of degrees. Swinburne and Victoria Universities have this Certificate
• ACU has Certificate/Diploma courses that can lead to degrees (through ACUcom):         http://www.acu.edu.au/courses/2014/other_courses/vocational_education_training_vet/
• Complete a Victoria University Foundations@VU alternative entry to Higher Education and Diploma studies course: www.vu.edu.au/courses/foundations-at-vu-jyac
• Complete a two year Associate Degree – several universities offer these (e.g.  RMIT).

FINALLY, GOOD LUCK TO OUR YEAR 12 STUDENTS AS YOU EMBARK ON YOUR EXAMS! 

Please refer to the Yr 12 Facebook page for reminders/updates from me until this year ends, and if you need any further assistance email me anytime: MMascaro@oakleighgrammar.vic.edu.au

Student Representative Council (SRC)

NATASHA SPANOS

SRC Coordinator

Term 4 has started with students representing our school at different events and competitions.

On Sunday 22nd of October Oakleigh Grammar was privileged to have been invited by the Committee to The Lefkadian Cultural Association. Students represented our school as drummers and participated in a special event in honour of the Lekfadians in the Australian Armed Forces during World Wars I and II, with special mention to James Zampelis, the only Greek Australian soldier who died at the Battle of Crete on 24th May 1941. Our school drummers had the honour of opening this special event. Congratulations to students who represented our school and Mr Panagopoulos who coordinated the group.

On Monday 23rd of October, the Orthodox Church celebrated the feast day of St. Iakovos the Apostle, the brother of our Lord. SRC members and Middle School Leaders accompanied by Mrs Angelis and myself, attended the Divine Liturgy at St Efstathios Church in South Melbourne. Students had the opportunity to meet with His Grace Bishop Iakovos, and wish him Happy Name Day on behalf of our school community.

LOTE

KIKI KOUSOURAKIS

Head of LOTE

Oakleigh Grammar students participated in the 2017 Demosthenes Greek Public Speaking competition, which provides opportunities for students to build their self-confidence, and extend their skills in researching, speech writing and public speaking. 

The competition is organised by the Modern Greek Teachers Association of Victoria, and supports students learning Greek in Years 7-8 and Years 9-10, by providing further opportunities to learn and practise their language skills.

Students are required to speak on a predetermined topic for 1-2 min according to their category. This year the topics were "An unforgettable event" for Years 7-8, and "A journey that I dream of" for Years 9-10. Oakleigh Grammar entered with two students, Alexandra Konstantinidis in Year 9, and Angeliki Stamatopoulou in Year 10.

Both of our contestants came first in their category, and they are to be commended for their effort. It takes a lot of strength and character to stand on the podium and be able to share your ideas, and to also win the audience over! 

NATASHA SPANOS

LOTE Teacher

Our LOTE students also had the opportunity to participate and represent the school in a number of competitions.

Students in Year 4 as well some students from Year 7 and Year 8 participated at the competition with the title  “Focus on Youth of Australia”, organised by the Australian Hellenic Memorial Foundation.

The aim of the competition was to explore the Australian and Greek involvement in Greece during both World Wars. Congratulations to all student who participated and especially to the following students who have been awarded with an Encouragement Award:

Alehya Sesham (Year 4)

George Bitzios (Year 7)

Evie Starakis (Year 8)

Year 7 and Year 8 students participated in the creation of two films that were entered in the Greek Student Film Festival this year. The Greek Student Film Festival offers students the opportunity to use the Greek language in creative and innovative ways, whilst simultaneously encouraging the preservation of Greek culture.

Congratulations to Maria Andrew, Jonathan Daoulas, Stephanie Kalogeropoulos, Vasiliki Milchon, Paraskevi Zapantzis and Angelos Zois from Year 7 for achieving Third  Prize in the Secondary School Category, with the film "Treasures of the Heart", and a special thank to Mr Harbis for his technical support.

View the winning film below!

Chaplain's Corner

FATHER GEORGE ADAMAKIS

School Chaplain

The saints are the heroes of the Orthodox Christian Faith. Young people need heroes - people they can look up to for inspiration and imitation. Most Orthodox Christians are named after saints. The purpose of naming Christians after saints is to give them a great name to live up to. It is important to share with our families the life of the saint, so we can become Christ-Like. 

We would like to share a life story of a popular saint celebrated in the Orthodox Christian Calendar on the 26th October; the Holy and Glorious Great Martyr Saint Demetrios, The Myrrh-Streamer.

Saint Demetrios, Myrrhstreamer and Great Martyr of Thessoliniki

St. Demetrios was a young man whose parents taught him to love God. He was a soldier who wanted to spread the message of God’s love to non-Christians, but this was forbidden in his time. As a result, he was arrested, tortured and finally killed. Today, this humble martyr’s relics are in Thessaloniki, in Northern Greece, the city where he worked to protect, and to keep so many people safe. He made a difference in many people’s lives by showing them God’s path.

St. Demetrios was born in Thessaloniki in 270 AD. To a wealthy and religious family. He was an athletic officer in the Roman army. However, he always said that he was a soldier of Christ first and fore­most. St. Demetrios believed in God and in spreading His word so much, that he thought nothing of breaking the law in order to convert the pagans to Christianity. When Emperor Maximian heard about what was happening, he had St. Demetrios arrested.

Soon after, Lyaeus, a famous, giant gladiator taunted any Christian who dared to fight him. Nestor, after getting St. Demetrios’ blessing, fought against Lyaeus, said “God of Demetrios, help me”, and won. When Emperor Maximian found out, he ordered that St. Demetrios and Nestor be tortured and put to death for being Christians. St. Demetrios is the patron saint of Thessaloniki, and is credited with many miraculous interventions there. A scented myrrh streams continuously from his tomb giving him the title of myrrh streamer.

Icon

St. Demetrios is depicted in various ways on icons. On some, he is shown wearing military armor while on horseback, and holding a spear that is pointed at his enemies, the pagans. On other icons we see him wearing the same military armor, but the horse is not shown. Finally, we sometimes see him simply wearing the clothes of a noble man while holding a cross. In all of these, he is very young.

 Following Jesus in the Bible

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” Matthew 16:24-25

Prayer

The whole world has found you as a mighty champion in dangers, O Victor, who routed the nations. Therefore, as you destroyed the pride of Lyaios in the stadium by giving Nestor courage, holy great Martyr Demetrios, implore Christ our God to grant us His great mercy. - Tropar of St. Demetrios -

It’s important to share the life story of the saint. If anyone is celebrating a particular named day such as St. Demetrio’s, the family or friends may sing to him/her “Happy Name Day to You” using the same tune as “Happy Birthday to you…”, a special name day cake or desert may be served. The same person Demetrios may be assigned to privilege of lighting votive light before the family icon for the evening. Of course, the person whose name day is being celebrated, should attend liturgy on his/her saint’s day (closest Sunday), and receive our Lord through Holy Communion.

One educator said “Children need heroes just as they need food” yet we need to question which heroes we are offering to our children. Real life heroes exist especially in the saints of the Church. So we need to tell their stories. 

Happy Name day to all Demetrios, Dimitras, Dimi etc! May St. Demetrios always protect us and guide us! Amen.

Learning Enhancement

JOANNE ZACHAROPOULOS

Head of Learning Enhancement

G.A.T.E.WAYS Report

G.A.T.E.WAYS is an independent organization offering challenging and enriching activities and experiences, to develop and extend highly able children. This term a number of students actively participated in a variety of G.A.T.E.WAYS programs at other hosting schools, and below are their comments.

Hungry As … For Students with a Love of Science and Art at Wesley College

In this journey the students dived into their stomach – and oesophagus, intestines, and even further! They investigated a different group of consumers each week, focussing on some of the more unusual or unexpected members of each group. They drew annotated figures of some of the creatures, so the creation of accurate artwork was one feature of the journey. Primarily they investigated, compared, and contrasted the digestive systems and extraordinary range of eating habits of nature’s consumers. They also looked into that sometimes controversial question – in which group do we belong?

Students’ Comments

Elizabeth Panagiotopoulos 2P: I really liked learning about ‘disgustivores’ and the drawings were fun!

Eliyah Mawal 2P: My favourite part of G.A.T.E.WAYS were all the animals we drew!

Nicholas Halkiadakis 2P: I liked how we learnt that the digestive system absorbs nutrients and that the sheep’s small intestine is 27 meters long.

Paul Makris 1A: The program was awesome because I learnt another word for stomach rumbles, ‘baboorich me’!

Stephanie Nicolaou 1G: I learnt a lot about sharks. Did you now that a shark lays 40 eggs and they line them in two row,s and the first two baby sharks that are born eat the rest of the eggs and young sharks!

That’s Unbelievable... For Students with a Love of Creative Writing at Holy Eucharist Primary School

Students were challenged to exercise the extremes of their imaginations – they explored ideas that expanded their minds; they encountered places, characters and stories both strange and unbelievable, and even invented some of their own!

Students’ Comments

Stephanie Nicolaou 1G: I liked how we learnt to use punctuation in our stories, and we got to draw an imaginative animal.

Tia Bebeklis 1G: I learnt about different animals that weren’t real like a mermaid shark, and we drew made up animals.

Mary Alexopoulos 4A: I really enjoyed learning about the trope. The trope helps us to write a baseline in a story.

George Dimitropoulos 4A: It was a great learning experience. I learnt many things about writing stories and using past tenses in my writing.

Natasha Kaniadakis 4A: I learned about motifs. A motif makes a story more interesting to read.

Years 5 & 6 Code-Orama... For Students with a Love of Technology and Mathematics at Mentone Grammar School

Once upon a time computers were just vague ideas in the minds of eccentric mathematicians. In this journey the students took a hands on look at how those ideas found their way into little bodies of microchips, and how those microchips teamed up like ant colonies into becoming our first computers. Then they learned to talk to these computers, and taught them some new math tricks, card tricks, and even some real world applications! By the end of the journey they took home a programmable little wonder computer that will come in handy with your school projects and DIY endeavours.  

Students’ Comments

Isabella Anastopoulos 6B: The program inspired me to learn more about coding, and it broadened my academic experiences. I found doing the circuits and attaching wires the most interesting part of the program.

Michael Nicolaou 5S: I found learning about coding very engaging, open ended and heaps of fun!

Years 5 & 6 Myths, Mazes and Minotaurs... For the Student with the Love of the Creative Arts and Technology at Wesley College

Students were recruited by the A-maze-ing Game Corporation to create a series of immersive computer games, involving tricky labyrinths. The games must be both exciting and educational. The challenge was to explore the rich history and mythology of mazes and labyrinths, from those of Ancient Egypt and Greece, to 20th century arcade games. Then they combined their scratch programming and electronics skills with creative flair to design mazes and code twists, turns and dead-ends that kept players enthralled.

Student’s Comments

Jaeda Louw 5B: An awesome program to do. I learnt that you can do more than you think that you can do, and it is very challenging as well!