Faculty News

Study: Arts & Design, Building & Construction, Business & Finance, Education & Training, Computing & IT, Sport, Fitness & Wellbeing, Community & Health Sciences, Horticulture & Environment, Hospitality, Tourism & Events

See which sessions you could go to here.

Careers in Coding Resources

This page from Careers with STEM has some great coding resources for you to check out if you’re interested in learning some coding or want to pursue a career path in the area.

Check them out here.

Fair Work Ombudsman Workplace Myth Busters YouTube

Find their channel here.

Workplace Myths Busted, Ep 1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlrDY_pEmJY

Find a Biology Career

Take this quiz if you’re interested in biology but aren’t quite sure how this translates into a career. Find out about different career pathways in biology. Take the quiz here.

Finding out About Company Culture

The concept of company culture can be confusing. This article memystifies it a little. Read it here.

The Hope Prize Short Story Competition

This is a short story prize for writers to explore people’s resilience in the face of poverty and disadvantage. There is a prize specifically for writers aged under 18. Entries close 31st of January 2018. https://www.bsl.org.au/events/the-hope-prize/

Volunteering is an Asset to Your Resume

A Deloitte Impact Survey shows that employers are more likely to be impressed by your resume if it includes volunteering experience. You can find a volunteering opportunity at Seek Volunteer

or Go Volunteer.

FOR YEAR 12 STUDENTS

Macleay College Webinar

What To Do If You Didn’t Get The ATAR You Wanted

18th December, 3pm, Register here.

RMIT Change of Preference Event

Mon 18th December, 3pm – 6pm

RMIT is here to help you through your VTAC Change of Preference decisions.

More details here.

Camp America Info Session

6th December, 6:30pm – 7:30pm

Find out about Camp America, how much it costs, and how to apply. Hear from people who have done the program in the past. Find out more and get your ticket here.

Camp America Job Fair 2018

13th January, 11am @ the Ibis Melbourne

GET HIRED ON THE SPOT at the 2018 Camp America Job Fairs. Camp Directors from camps across the USA will be heading to Melbourne to hire people like you. This is a fantastic opportunity to meet camp directors and have that face to face interaction you cannot have when being hired through our online process.

Ask Camp Directors directly about their camps, speak with Student Flights about your after-camp travel or simply hear more about the Camp America program.  Register here.

Post Results and ATAR Service Blog

This blog is brought to you by VCAA and VTAC, and includes information about accessing your VCE results and how your scores are calculated. You can sign up for email notifications of new posts, or you can check it out here.

Young Lions Advocacy and Ambassadors Program (YAAP)

This is a 12-month volunteer program for people aged 16–24 who are passionate about social change and getting young people’s voices heard. Participants will develop their leadership and advocacy skills. Applications close Friday 12th January 2018.

Apply now – http://whitelion.asn.au/volunteer-for-yaap

Student Representative Council (SRC)

NATASHA SPANOS

SRC Coordinator

The last official activity for our SRC students and Middle School Leaders was on Sunday 26 November. As part of the liturgical life of our school, Middle School SRC representatives and Byzantine Choir members attended the Divine Liturgy at St Eustathios Church in South Melbourne, for the feast day of St. Stylianos.

On the same day, Senior School SRC representatives accompanied Father George Adamakis and myself, attending a dinner with Archbishop Stylianos, in celebration of his name day. At the end of the dinner, students had the opportunity to pass their wishes on behalf of Oakleigh Grammar to His Eminence, Archbishop Stylianos. I would like to congratulate all the students for participating in this special celebration and representing Oakleigh Grammar.

[Click gallery to view all photos]

Year 9 students who did not attend the Wilson’s Promontory Bushwalk had the opportunity to take part in Community Service activities on both Monday 27 November and Tuesday 28 November. Students visited Wesley St Mark’s Respite Cottage, and they were involved in different activities such as gardening, decorating Christmas trees and setting up for a concert. Students also spent time with the elderly people and had lunch with them. Well done to our Year 9 students who participated in this worthwhile activity.

Learning Enhancement

JOANNE ZACHAROPOULOS

Head of Learning Enhancement

Junior School Chess Ideas Club

This year's chess club conducted by Mr Flinders Hiew was a great success. With over a dozen students participating from Prep to Year 5, it was an enjoyable competition.

This year's top chess players were:

1st. Liam Clark 1A

2nd. Nathan Wheeler 1G

3rd. Leonardo Galanis 1G

We will acknowledge and award our top three players in an assembly in Term 1, 2018. Next year hopes to be even bigger with more students participating and enjoying what is always a great weekly event.

G.A.T.E.WAYS – THE CHALLENGE

On Wednesday 29 November a team of Year 3 and 4 students: Arkie Stathopoulos 3A, Pas Grigoropoulos 3G, Mary Alexopoulos 4A and Ava Smirnakos 4T called, ‘The Oakleigh Powers’, and on Thursday 30th November a team of Year 5 and 6 students: Jaeda Louw 5B, Michael Nicoloau 5S, Mary Kourkoutzelos 6A and Jonathan Carmody 6B called, ‘The MJMJ Team’, competed in the G.A.T.E.WAYS Challenge at Bialik College with many other teams from other Melbourne schools.

In the morning they worked hard in practice workshops to master the skills needed for the competition held in the afternoon. The whole day worked to a very tight timeline. We were extremely pleased with how well the students co-operated with the G.A.T.E.WAYS Challengers and other staff, and the spirit of enthusiasm which they brought to the day’s activities.

Each challenge had to be solved in 30 minutes and was scored out of 50 points. In addition to the team’s score, an observation of their teamwork and leadership skills, were included in the average score on the day for each challenge.

The scores reflect the team’s level of mastery of the content in each of the Challenges presented. All challenges tested their abilities to coordinate, communicate, create and cooperate; their strength in functioning under pressure; their leadership skills; and team efforts to successfully identify and solve problems. Teams needed to focus and persist and as well as have some fun!

TEAM: Years 3 and 4 ‘The Oakleigh Powers’

A Cool Crisis

The alarm on the research EcoPod located on the East Antarctic Plateau has been activated. In 28 minutes, the EcoPod will shut down resulting in disaster for the climatologists. Teams had to construct a duplicate circuit board.

A Pirate’s Plunder

Teams joined The Buccaneer Busters to solve a series of puzzles to unlock and open a number of pirate chests and collect clues. They then needed to identity a particular pirate, where he or she operated, and other facts about this pirate.

The Great Solar Space Race

Teams were required to use maths, in particular network maths, to calculate distances between planets in a faraway solar system and then to navigate the shortest possible journey from a starting point to the planet Omega, ensuring that all planets were visited.

Dissecting Frankenstein’s Labyrinth

Teams were required to clear the rubble from an explosion in Dr Frankenstein’s labyrinth. They had to reassemble his Creature Codex, complete the paperwork for monsters going out on loan and create their own new mythological beast from a store of spare parts.

G.A.T.E.WAYS Report

You should be proud of your efforts today team! Your results were consistent across all activities, with above average or close to average scores for each. All challengers commended you on your teamwork, persistence, enthusiasm and focus. Well done!

TEAM: Years 5 and 6 students ‘The MJMJ Team’

The Case of the Vanishing Blueprints

Teams had to determine how a thief or thieves bypassed sophisticated security devices to steal top-secret blueprints. To do so, they had to determine the science behind a series of magic tricks, and how the scientific principles were used as the modus operandi by the crook.

The Brothers L.I.F.T. and the Elevator Escapade

Using the mathematics of packing theory, teams had to assist lift attendants Lenny, Larry and Lucky to transport a large number of party goers to a fancy- dress ball on the tenth floor of the Astor Hotel in NYC.

Breaking News

The challenge was to select a series of news items for a two-minute 7am news bulletin for a particular radio station, with a specific demographic. Once selected the team needed to write and produce the news bulletin according to specific criteria.

Project Assist

Teams were required to design a prototype or a concept for a universal design, to assist or cater for clients with a disability of some sort. The design had to be ergonomic, durable, aesthetically pleasing, as well as enable the user to complete certain tasks.

GATEWAYS Report

Congratulations team on getting an above average score on The Vanishing Blueprints sciences challenge – most teams found this one very difficult! All challengers commended you highly for your teamwork, enthusiasm and persistence. You should be proud of your efforts.

Thank you teams for all the time and efforts you have put into preparing for the challenge. Also a huge thank you to the teams’ facilitators who ensured that the students were prepared and organized for the day:

Stephanie Porteous for ‘The Oakleigh Powers Team’ and Scott Barton for ‘The MJMJ Team’.

We hope to see you competing again next year!

Chaplain's Corner

FATHER GEORGE ADAMAKIS

School Chaplain

It has been a spiritually fruitful year for our students at Oakleigh Grammar. Reflecting on our experience of the Christian Orthodox faith at our school students have participated in many services and sacraments during the year such as the Mystery of Holy Communion, Confession and the Small Supplicatory Service of the Holy Virgin Mary and other major festivities. Students also attended many Orthodox and Hellenic Cultural commemorations and excursions such as the Holy Monastery of Panagia Georgoepikous and Doxologies of commemorative days such as 25th March and 28th October.

As we approached the end of the school year we celebrated a Pre-Christmas Divine Liturgy service as a whole school on the 5th of December where students participated with reverence and took Holy Communion as a preparation for the Nativity season.

I would like to share with you one of my favourite quotes from St Athanasios which is related to Incarnation of our Saviour Lord Jesus Christ and the celebration of the Nativity: “God became man, so man can become God by grace.”

The beautiful hymn Kontakion of Christmas:

“On this day the Virgin Maid * goes to the cave to give birth * to the pre-eternal Word * in an ineffable manner. * Dance for joy, all the inhabited earth, on hearing. * Glorify along with Angels and with the shepherds * Him who willed that He appear as * a newborn Child, * the pre-eternal God.”

We are so accustomed to the Story of the Nativity that it is to forget how strange and amazing it is for God to be born. Christ is eternally begotten of the Father, but as a Person of the Trinity He cannot be born, since there was never a time when He was not.

God chooses to be born as little child, a defenseless baby. That same God of almighty power comes to us in complete humility. The One whose face “no man shall see…live’ (Ex.33:22) becomes a baby for us, revealing to us all that is pure and good in humanity, and, at the same time, the humility of God.

We see in the Nativity the full meaning of humility, and in humility, we see the true nature of God. For all that is truly good, pure, mighty, powerful, majestic, loving and beautiful has no need to show off, no need to prove itself; has no need to be compared to something else what it is. Thus God is not God simply because He is infinitely greater that we are, as though He needed us in order to be God; He is God because HE is by His nature God. And so He comes to us in complete humility, in secret, poor and vulnerable. And in so doing He shows us that all that is truly good in humanity is also humble, and nothing more so that a newborn baby.

If we consider the true nature of God, we will find ourselves moving from the initial surprise that God came to us as a baby to the conclusion that there could be no other way. Only in a baby could the Image of God be revealed to the world, inducing not fear and terror, but love and tenderness, revealing to us both the humility of God and the goodness and purity to God’s creation. To become fully human is to become like God, and to become like God is to “become little children” (Matt. 18:3)

The Spirit of Love, Joy, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Forgiveness, the blessings of Peace, the beauty of Hope and the comfort of Faith may this be your gifts for this Christmas!

Christ is born!

Wishing everyone a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year 2018!

LOTE

NATASHA SPANOS

LOTE Teacher

Students in Year 4 and Year 5 had the opportunity to visit different Aged Care Facilities during this week, and extended Christmas wishes to the elderly people.

The students of Year 4 visited Brimlea Aged Care in Murrumbeena on Monday 4 December, and students in Year 5 had a small tour visiting four different Aged Care Facilities in the Eastern Suburbs on Thursday 7th December.

Students performed some Greek songs including the Christmas and New Year’s Carols, and traditional dances. At the end of the performances students spent time with the elderly people, taking photos, listening to their stories, and extending wishes for a joyful 2018! Well done to Year 4 and Year 5 students who participated and for their outstanding performances.