From the Principal

Being a Good Citizen

At this week’s assembly, the focus was on citizenship.  

At GSG, all year round, we strive to be good citizens.  There are many definitions of a good citizen but to narrow it down, it means that you belong and identify with a community.  However, the question remains: what makes someone a good citizen? In GSG’s dictionary, citizenship means accepting, respecting, and living the values of integrity.  GSG has a culture of acceptance, we always practice accepting everyone for who they are.  If you identify with a culture, gender or religion, you are welcome, and a good citizen would recognise this.  This is important.  Part of being a good GSG citizen means abiding by the Student Code of Conduct and learning how to engage in making a safe and joyful environment for all of us.

School Captains, Ellie Slatter and Andrew Smith, described Citizenship as the way we interact with and better our society, and within that to better our community.  They said: 

“Citizenship in the school environment can be represented as a way to practise the school values and better, not just the School, but ourselves, our community and society as a whole."

They commented on a recent AFL game between Fremantle and Richmond which was tied with five seconds to go. A young player in his third AFL game marks the ball 50m from goal with one second remaining. He plays on, the siren goes, the game ends.  He missed his chance to elevate himself to a football legend.  What did his teammates do? They came to him and supported him. This is what a good citizen is all about, helping each other. He made a mistake, that is okay, it is normal, we all do it.  Accepting mistakes and helping each other through them is vitally important.  Mistakes do not define who we are and we should not be judged based on them. Ellie and Andrew asked us to all be good citizens and help each other out.

Australian Education Awards

Great Southern Grammar is a finalist in the category of Regional School of the Year .  The Australian Education Awards is the leading independent awards event in the K-12 education sector.  These awards showcase top-performing schools who make a difference to the lives of young people across Australia.  I will be attending the Awards evening in Sydney on Friday 12 August where the winners of each category will be announced.

Gate to Plate Challenge

The Harvey Beef Gate to Plate challenge is designed to ensure a good understanding between everyone involved in producing beef, from the farmer to your plate. This challenge is open to any beef farmer in WA and this year there were 48 teams of three animals made up of two steers and one heifer. In January, the eight-month-old cattle are put together in a feedlot over at Willyung and given the same feed and conditions. The challenge rewards the best growth, production and quality of those cattle over a period of about 80 days.   GSG, along with other schools running agricultural courses in the state, submitted a video in the Gate to Plate school challenge. The GSG Year Ten Agriculture class made the video for producers explaining what factors they can control to improve their chances in the gate to plate challenge.   In our video, we focused on four significant points to assist breeders.  We were very proud to have won first place for the video and $1000 for the School.

Thank you to Miss Gunning and the media students and to Mr Gugenheim for his coordination of the Agriculture students.  

The passing of Lawrence Sawle

As many of you may be aware, my father passed away quietly this week at the age of 96. Lawrence Sawle AM was a former school teacher, regional and city school principal and community sports administrator. Although he reached state, national and international recognition in many of his sport achievements, he remained a true gentleman. A role model to myself, family and many members of the education and sporting community. A man who valued his Christian faith, friendships and sought joy in the simple pleasures of life. Could I thank all the staff, parents and community members who have reached out to me this week.  I have felt extremely supported and comforted in this time by the GSG community.

Mr Mark Sawle | Principal

Federal Government Schools Census: Privacy Information

On Friday 5 August, the School is required to undertake an annual government school census, in accordance with the Australian Education Act 2013 and the Australian Education Regulation 2013. The  Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment  collects this information to:

• Ensure the provision of Australian Government funding to schools is properly calculated and appropriately managed. 
• Conduct research, statistical analysis and develop school education policy for the Australian Government. 
• Meet national and international reporting obligations on school students in Australia. 
• Publish and provide information about schools to the public. 

Please be assured that student information provided by schools is de-identified. Please refer to the Parent Privacy Notice below for further information.