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Drawn from GWSCnews, Mr Schiller's Principal's Reports capture the goings on at GWSC, and provide insight into our programs and initiatives.

@GWSC Newsletters

Cybersafety

At this time the College is at capacity at all year levels and therefore cannot offer any further placements for 2013.

Enrolling at GWSC

The 2020 Program is at the forefront of our endeavours to explore the possibilities offered by Inquiry Learning.

Inquiry Learning - The 2020 Program

International students are important contributors to the College's culture and ethos, who in turn benefit from GWSC's excellent learning environment.

International Student Program

Glen Waverley Secondary College provides a positive, caring, and supportive learning community, where diversity is highly valued, lifelong learning is embraced, and all students have the opportunity to create their own personal futures.

Learning at GWSC

Members of the College community can use any web-connected computer to access the Intranet at any
time.

Our College Intranet

A Portal for information and resources supporting the iPad Program at Year 7, which commences in 2013.

Year 7 iPad Program

GWSCnews - Principal's Report - Issue 4 2012

VCE Unit Three Studies are nearing their climax with examinations underway and semester one reports imminent. All this culminates next Thursday, 14 June, when 660 Year 11 and 12 students sit the annual General Achievement Test (GAT). Parents are reminded that Friday 15 June is a student free day with teachers involved in report writing. VCE Unit Four studies commence on Monday 18 June.

Parents who have accessed this newsletter via the College Website or Clipboard are advised that a copy can be emailed direct to your inbox if we have a current email address. This involves accessing the College Intranet via your parent login and updating your profile. Should you need any assistance in doing this, please contact Kathleen Combridge on 8805 6700.

Last year the College Council approved the establishment of a sustainability project which involves, among other things, the development of a vegetable garden at the school. This work has been led by Assistant Principal Sandra Erickson. Sandra’s update on this important project is provided below.

Gerry Schiller - Principal

2012 GWSC SUSTAINABILITY PROJECTS

Over the last few years the College has recognised the need for increased student engagement with, and awareness of, our responsibility as global citizens is to ensure our environment is sustainable into the future. This has been the focus of the Year 9 2020 inquiry learning program since its commencement in 2008. To further implement actions focused on sustainability, in 2012, the College, with the support of the College Council, is building a vegetable garden which will be incorporated into the 2020 Program and provide vegetables to Food Technology classes.

Cameron Dunwoody, the College’s Sustainability Coordinator, along with the student Sustainability Crew, have been involved in planning, constructing and propagating the garden. The Sustainability Crew is co-captained by Year 8 students, Yishan and Lauri and has approximately 16 students primarily from Year 7 and 8. They are already preparing a site plan of the garden, monitoring the first seedlings planted last week and have established signage in the Middle School Building. In May, "Friends of the Sustainable Garden", a group of parents teachers and students, spent a wet Saturday morning clearing the area and establishing four garden beds in preparation for planting. A water tank, irrigation system, garden shed and gardening implements are in place and, by Semester 2, we will ready to start planting.

In Semester 2, research groups in each 2020 Program will be developing their gardening expertise by spending sessions preparing soil and planting in the garden. Links on the 2020 Blog will monitor the work being undertaken in the garden. The produce from the garden, as it becomes available, will be used in food technology classes, making a truly garden-to-table experience for our students.

In conjunction with this initiative, the College is also developing partnerships with Sovereign Hill Museum Association, Narmbool Environmental Discovery Camp, and Ballarat University to further enhance the Year 9 2020 Program by providing students with the opportunity to participate in authentic field research on the 5,000 acre Narmbool property where our Year 8 students already enjoy their outdoor educational camping experience. The selected Year 9 students will be involved in a range of research activities, including habitat monitoring, animal surveys, stream monitoring and threatened species research, being conducted by The University of Ballarat. They will stay overnight at Tea Tree camp at Narmbool. In addition to the research and monitoring activities, they will have the opportunity to meet university researchers and contribute to an online wiki during the camp. Their research and experiences will be documented on the 2020 Blog and presented to the House Group on their return. Our Year 9 students will also be presenting their results to the Greening Australia "Toolbox for Environmental Change" at Narmbool in August.

This project, in conjunction with our ongoing commitment to offsetting our carbon footprint through tree planting with Conservation Volunteers Australia and the vegetable garden, makes it possible for our students to really make a difference to our environment now and into the future.

Sandra Erickson – Assistant Principal