Welcome to Term 3
I hope you had a refreshing break over the holidays although now that we are at the end of our second week of Term 3, it can seem like a distant memory.
Grandparents’ Day
Despite the soggy grey weather, Grandparents’ Day was a wonderful success. Held on the last day of Term 2, hundreds of loving grandparents turned up to visit their favourite young people.
The Hospitality staff and students outdid themselves with a glorious spread that was lavish, decadent and delicious.
The sky may have been grey but the smiles on everyone’s faces certainly brightened the day. Mrs Bryers has more on this event in her article.
Sports Department
Many of you may be aware that Kris Freeman is on extended leave. In her place Michelle Boroughs and Pam Gosbell-Smith will be job sharing the Sports TA position. In particular, Michelle Boroughs will be taking charge of the cheerleading group so practices will go ahead as normal. Michelle has an extensive background in dance and her experience has already been of great benefit to the College. Pam also has a background in sports and is studying Education with Sports and Science at university.
Helping Hands Out of School Hours Care
The out of school hours service has been running smoothly since beginning on the first day of term. There are now about 19 children using the service as it provides a convenient option for parents who work late. If you would like any more information on this service, all the details are on the GCCC website under College Life, Whole of School Notices.
Buildings and Grounds
Quite a few things happened during the school holidays and the College is still a hive of activity.
Work continues on our new Engineering/Sports building and it is almost complete. Landscaping still needs to be done around the building but we are coming very close to the handover date.
Construction has begun on the new sculpture garden outside F Block and it should be ready for an official ‘unveiling’ at our Arts Soiree on 23 August.
Preparation for E Block building has begun. This block will house three upstairs and three downstairs classrooms. This will provide welcome room as each Year level progresses from two stream to three stream.
Chocolate Fund Raiser
All of the chocolates have now been distributed and some of the students have already made great sales. Well done. If you have missed out or need more, come to Admin and they will be happy to supply you with another box. The chocolate fundraiser is a valuable source of funds for the P and F who use the money to improve the educational journey for all of our students.
Baby number three for Rob Maguire
Congratulations to Rob Maguire (Year 9 Coordinator)and his wife April, who was blessed with a little girl on 4 July. Grace Lesleigh Maguire was born at 3.20pm weighing 7 pounds and 12 ounces. Here is a photo when Grace was just born.
Speaking of babies, the photo we promised of Kylie Trendell’s new baby is here. She is a picture of peaceful bliss on her fluffy pink blanket.
Athletic Carnivals
As I write this article the Primary, Middle and Senior School Athletic Carnivals have not yet taken place so the reports and photos will be in the next newsletter.
I was reading an article on being a good sports parent recently. Although most of the article was encouraging parents to behave appropriately at their children’s sports games, there was one comment that stood out. Of all the things you may say to your child after watching them do sports, there is one statement that kids love to hear and that is; “I love to watch you compete.” Simple, isn’t it?
Thanks to all the parents who were able to juggle their commitments and watch their children compete at the athletics’ carnivals. Thanks also to the wonderful P and F and parent volunteers whose hard work makes these days such successes.
Sports’ Achievements
Almost every newsletter there is an article on a student achieving a new personal best, attaining a goal or being awarded a prize, trophy or medal in our Sports’ section. This time there are three students who have made remarkable achievements and I hope you enjoy reading the articles on Tara Fissenden, Nick Dwan and Mark Kennedy in the Sports’ section as much as I did.
GCCC’s Facebook page is going very well and serves as a quick and immediate form of communication for those who use this online social media.
Thank you to everyone who has ‘Liked’ our page and given input into the kinds of posts they would like to see on it.
After a comment from an inquiring parent, I want to explain why this page is ‘Open’ and not a closed group. Closed groups (i.e. members have to be approved by the administrator of the group) give the illusion of privacy but without the guarantee of privacy. It only takes one accepted member to share a post on their own wall and the post is no longer private. Benjamin Franklin once said, “Three can keep a secret if two are dead.” Once something is online, it is not private no matter what it promises.
GCCC’s Facebook page is treated with the same scrutiny that goes into the photos and articles on our website. Both are equally available to anyone who wants to learn more about the College so we apply the same security safeguards to Facebook that we apply to our website.
We hope you continue to enjoy GCCC’s Facebook page and share it with other parents.