ISSUE No.7 OCTOBER 29TH, 2014 College News 76 Booran Road Caulfield East 3145 Telephone: 9571 7838 Facsimile: 9571 0079 Email: [email protected] FROM THE PRINCIPAL All the Very Best to the Class of 2014 Our wonderful Year 12 students will soon be completing their end of year exams. Although this is a stressful period of time for them we trust that their preparation and the guidance and assistance they have received over the past years ensures that they are able to demonstrate their full potential to the examiners. Relay for Life The recent Relay for Life event at Duncan Mackinnon was a fantastic community event. This year we had 130 students, staff, parents, families and friends involved. It was certainly a team effort but particular thanks should go to our Junior School Leader, Keira McLean, for her enthusiasm and her leadership of the GEC Getting Even with Cancer team. It was also wonderful to see our students up on stage singing and entertaining the crowd. The baton, covered with the names of the team members, was carried around the oval continuously to raise money and give hope to those suffering or affected by cancer in our community. I Queensland Tour am incredibly proud of all who gave up their time to be involved. Our Students and Staff Shine It was exciting to have several students competing recently in the Southern Zone finals - well done to all involved. Congratulations to Ben Becker 3rd in the boys under 13 shot put in a very close final; Adrien Dubois 3rd in the under 15 1500m walk; Jacob Vadas 4th in the under 13 discus; Maximus Koveos 3rd in the under 14 400m and 1st in the under 14 long jump. Maximus will now go onto to compete in the Victorian High School Athletics State Championship – we wish him all the best. Mary Maniatis accompanied 5 Year 11 students - Digby SRC Clothes From Yesterday Mooney, Zalie Rowe, Nina Colon, Astrid Dunkley and Jaedon Lewis-Hanafin – to Malvern primary School to teach a class of selected Grade 6 students how to use persuasive language. The students were very engaged and the presentation was very well received and reflects our continued excellent relationship with primary schools in our area and the way we share our learning experiences. The GEC staff team enjoyed perfect weather and some fierce competition in Bendigo at the Teachers Games - GEC’s 7th year in the last school holidays. They achieved a bronze medal in the softball – a great team effort. continue page 2 Adrien Dubois and Maximus Koveos This newsletter is posted home to all families regularly. If you have any items of interest to the college community or want to advertise your business, please contact either Penny Marks or Debbie Panakos (Business Manager) on 9571 7838. College News College News College News College News Mental Health and Physical Education Weeks • 2015 Booklist We began the term engaged in numerous activities to improve • 2015 General Charges invoice our understanding and knowledge of physical and mental • Relevant permission forms for camps/excursions/sport wellbeing and how to ensure we look after both. Activities • Instrumental Music invoice included quizzes, sporting competitions, walking around the oval after lunch, engaging in "two minutes of silent time" Enrolment Confirmation Day, when paperwork and payments each lesson to improve our mental capacity, and information are to be submitted, is Tuesday 25th November 2014 for sessions for staff and parents presented by Headspace. Our students entering Year 10 in 2015 and Friday 28th November School Nurse, Christalia, worked with our year 12 students 2014 for students entering Years 8, 9, 11 and 12 in 2015. on "Smiling Minds Meditation" and stress reduction. Early submission of forms and payment is welcome. Parent Survey If your child is not returning to Glen Eira College in 2015, Thank you to all parents who completed the parent survey please ensure the college has been notified in writing and sent to you late last term. We value the positive feedback the appropriate exit forms are collected from the Office and received and take on board the suggestions for further returned. improvements. You will read further in the newsletter about Xuno – our new learning platform that will greatly improve Staffing for 2015 communication between school and home. We are currently busily interviewing to complete our staffing All families should have received this newsletter via email. for 2015. It has been wonderful to see the numbers of If you did not, please provide the General office with an teachers seeking to join our school and the growth in student updated email address. Also emailed in the last week or so numbers and programs which necessitate this employment. were invitations to the Art Show and the Music Festival. As of I hope to see you on 13th November at the Art Show and / or 2015 email will be the primary method of sending newsletters, on 3rd December at the Music Festival! excursion forms and notices. If you do not have access to the internet, please let the General Office know. Sheereen Kindler Principal Queensland Camp It was wonderful to see the Queensland trip up and running – thanks to Mr Tsarpalas for this initiative. All the students who attended had a great time, forged new friendships and many saw parts of Eastern Australia they had not seen before. FROM THE ASSISTANT PRINCIpaL Thank you to Mr Tsarpalas, Ms Maniatis and Mr Tserkizidis Xuno for attending and giving their time in the holidays to provide You will soon be hearing about Xuno – our new communication this opportunity for our students. tool. Feedback from the recent parent surveys indicated Sister School Relationship that there was a need to improve electronic communication As I reported in the last newsletter we have begun developing between the school and home. Xuno will definitely fulfil that a Sister School relationship with Collège de Dumbea-sur-mer need. The software will allow us to do the following: in New Caledonia. It is a bilingual school that opened at the • Allow newsletters, excursion forms, enrolment information beginning of the year. I am delighted to announce that we etc. to be sent by email efficiently or accessed through were successful in achieving a $10, 000 grant to assist us in the portal. developing this important relationship. • Provide a parent-student portal that gives information to Our students going to New Caledonia next year from March parents on student progress. 28th to April 3rd will visit the school for 2 days. There are still a • Provide Year Level Coordinators with the ability to monitor few places left for our 2015 New Caledonia trip and students student progress more effectively. can collect information forms from the General Office. We will be sending out usernames and passwords for parent access to the portal very soon. We will welcome approximately 20 students from Collège de Dumbea-sur-mer to Melbourne from 19th to 24th July 2015 Please ensure we have a relevant email address for you. and we will be asking interested families to host a student. It is a wonderful and enriching experience. Further details will Booklists be available at the beginning of 2015. With the end of year fast approaching we are well underway with planning for 2015. The booklists are currently being Enrolment Confirmation Process 2015 compiled. The school invests considerable time in carefully Soon you will receive Enrolment Confirmation packages for choosing books that will meet the educational needs of your 2015. These will include: children. It is vital they come to school ready to learn with the • Student Details - to be checked and updated. Please ensure correct materials. Please ensure your child has all the books emergency contact details have been provided and that they required for their subjects. Their learning is impeded if they are still current. The parent the student lives with cannot be do not have the correct books in class. Please contact us if the emergency contact. you need assistance in obtaining the books required. Have you recently changed, or are about to change, address or home, mobile or work phone number? Please remember to ring the College on 9571 7838 to keep us informed. College News College News College News College News Chromebooks BULLY STOPPERS: We are striving to provide our students with learning tools that SPEAK UP AGAINST CYBERBULLYING will assist them to achieve outstanding results. This year staff and students have been involved in trialling Chromebooks. A Students achieve their best at school in safe and Chromebook is a small, portable, relatively low-cost device supportive environments, where they are free that allows students and teachers to use the full range of from bullying and disruptive behaviour. applications available in the Google Apps for Education suite. Glen Eira College puts a big emphasis on making sure we Chromebooks have been very successfully deployed in many provide a safe and respectful environment for our students schools. The devices are to be used for educational use only. – one that promotes tolerance and is inclusive, harmonious This term a Year 8 class will be trialling the use of Chromebooks and free from bullying. All students at Glen Eira College are with a view to rolling these out at the Year 9 level. This will expected to be responsible, ethical users of digital technology. enable all students to have 24-7 access to a range of digital We work towards this goal through education in the learning opportunities. This will be carried forward into years classroom, intervention where required and a consistent 10 and 11. At Year 12 a more specialised BYOD program will focus on promoting positive behaviours.