Gladstone Park Secondary College

Gladstone Park Secondary College is a public state school in Melbourne, Australia, founded in 1975.

Introduction

The school has around 1500 students, a figure which has remained roughly constant for over a decade. When it first opened, Gladstone Park Secondary School (GPSC) quickly became the largest school in terms of matriculated students within a 10 km radius, a position which it still holds today. Its uniforms were brown and gold up until the early 1990s, when the school council introduced a uniform consisting of a white polo shirt with a green logo and grey cotton shorts in summer for boys and a green chequered dress for girls. The winter uniform consists of grey cotton pants and a green cotton jumper with a yellow emblem for both boys and girls. Year 12s traditionally wore a dark blue jumper with classmates' names in printed in white on the front and back. In 2009 the blue was changed to black. Since 2010 each year has had a unique design. In 2012, further additions were made to the school uniform and students can now be seen wearing blazers and/or neck ties along with the original uniform.

School life

While achieving similar Year 7 results in NAPLAN with schools across Victoria, Gladstone Park's Year 9 testing results for reading, grammar and numeracy are below state average.

The school has a special disability partnership with the local TAFE institutes, where most GPSC graduates enroll to do apprenticeships or diplomas.

The school also has available to its students positions such as Peer support leaders and Captaincy in areas like college houses and also school captains.

The college allows for students to be elected at year 12 to become representatives of the school taking on the position of school captain. As of 2015, the school captain system changed from the traditional system of electing 4 captains; two boys and two girls, to electing a captain for the four major areas of the school: academics, arts, civics and citizenship, and sports.

Students are also able to partake in their annual school production, music concerts, Just Dance concert, as well as the "Gladdy's Got Talent" competition.

Other extra-curricular activities such as inter-school sports, annual swimming and athletic days compromising of all students, school band, jazz band, pop chorus (choir), and instrumental lessons (inc. voice, trumpet, flute, guitar, piano, etc.) are available for all students to participate in.

Facilities

The school contains many facilities for students and the local community. The school grounds contain many sports facilities including a football and soccer oval, outdoor basketball and netball courts, cricket nets and an outdoor hockey/ futsal pitch. There is an indoor sports centre with two basketball courts, squash courts and gym facilities. The school library is open to students and the public.

A new senior school/study centre is currently being built for the future year 12 students, beginning with the class of 2017. ^[2]

School productions

Every year, GPSC produces a musical filled with great singing, dancing, and acting. Students who participate are also eligible to receive one of many awards that are presented. These awards include: encouragement awards, the rising star award, people choice award, the director's award, the musical director's award, the choreographer's awards, and the Kenny.

Ex-students

Notable ex-students include:

• Corey McKernan
• Jordan Bannister
• Cameron Baird – recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia.^[3]

Reference List