Gleeson College

HEALTHY HEART DAY: #GC ILY DAY

Posted by Gleeson College on 3 July 2015

On Wednesday 24 June, the Senior Student Executive of Gleeson College implemented a new initiative called 'Healthy Heart Day'...a day described as 'not a secret, but a surprise!'

At the beginning of 2015, we the SRC Executive, talked about bringing all initiatives closer to the students and community of Gleeson College. We realised that there was only so much we could do to impact the broader community, but discovered that if we shifted our focus to initiatives which students were passionate about or had a connection to, then they would teach the rest of the students at school - naturally this would create a larger sustainable change.

We decided to create 'Healthy Heart Day' because we wanted to raise awareness about the prevalence of Heart Disease and the one-in-three chance that it will impact someone close to us in our lifetime. On a personal note, a close family friend suffered a heart attack and passed away - my motivation and passion to want to create change. We are beginning to work with The Heart Foundation and will be doing more with this charity later in the year.

The day was a really exciting and fun day filled with many activities before school, during homeroom, recess, pastoral care, lunch and afterschool. There was a quiz, taste testers of delicious healthy muffins and beetroot dip, multiple exercises to keep the heart rate up (including smoothie bikes) and a big hug by Happy Heart to leave the College by at the end of the day.

We as the Senior Executive, really put ourselves out of our comfort zone in planning this new initiative. We felt quite vulnerable in the morning, as we didn't know how the students would react to all of our activities. The best thing about the day was the wholehearted involvement of our Gleeson Community. The willingness of our students to get involved made me proud to be a part of this amazing community. I really am in awe of the amazing people I share this school with, and want to thank the majority that got involved and shared many smiles and laughs throughout the day.

On the day we filmed all of our different activities and made a short clip to show our community. We invite you to view it here:

More exciting news to share is that the video was viewed by all of the Heart Foundation and their National Media Advisors! We received amazing feedback as they loved the clip and are now uploading it to their Facebook and YouTube - which is really affirming for us at Gleeson College that we can make a difference.

This is only the beginning of our initiatives; we have so much more planned next term and are looking forward to sharing more with the community. We thank everyone who contributed on the day; we couldn't be more appreciative of the support we received.

Charlotte Selby-Fullgrabe,
Vice President 2015, on behalf of the Senior Student Executive

Posted in: Gleeson College

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) 2015

Posted by Gleeson College on 26 May 2015

BYOD 2015

Dear Families,

As you may be aware we have conducted a successful trial of BYOD in 2014 for Year 8 to 10 students. In this trial students were invited to bring their own digital devices to school in order to access the curriculum as required. The trial highlighted that bringing your own device allowed students to: start work more quickly, save work and continue working at home without difficulty, use a faster device, carry a light-weight device and they were able to enjoy the benefits of using their personally configured device when required.

You may also recall that last year all families were asked to respond to a Statement of Intent in order to indicate which of the options provided for BYOD best suited their needs. The options provided are outlined below.

Option 1: The student brings their own existing digital device to school each day. The device meets the minimum requirements for successfully accessing the curriculum as outlined in the Code of Conduct.

Option 2: The student purchases one of the devices recommended by Gleeson College (see ECommerce Portal instructions below) and brings this device to school each day.

Option 3: The student rents a device from the College and returns it at the end of the academic year. The rental cost will be approximately $100 for the year. A Rental Agreement form will be sent home as soon as possible.

As 2015 will be the first year of our full BYOD program we will have some laptops available for students to borrow on a daily basis should there be a problem with their own device. If none of the options offered are suitable then you are asked to contact the College through the BYOD feedback email address, by phone or in person to discuss the matter further.

It is important to note that most of our College laptops are nearing the end of their useful lifespan and that they are quite heavy to carry around. We will not be replacing these laptops in 2016.

The information that follows is critical to the success of our BYOD program. You are asked to read it carefully and then indicate which option you prefer for 2015.

Please feel free to forward any questions you may have regarding the Gleeson College BYOD program 2015 to byod.feedback@gleeson.catholic.edu.au

Kind regards,

Mr Andrew Baker, Principal

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE GLEESON BYOD DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES 2015 AGREEMENT

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE STUDENT LAPTOP LOAN CONTRACT 2015

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE COLLEGE ECOMMERCE PORTAL INSTRUCTIONS

Portal site link: https://ecommerce.datacom.com.au/educationsa/account/login/

Posted in: Gleeson College