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We are excited to share with you the continuation of our High Ability Program at Year 9 after the highly successful introduction of this program at GSSC this year.

In addition to this, we are extending the program to Year 7 students in 2025. This is for incoming students who would gain from further challenges in critical thinking and collaboration.

Following the Year 7 and 9 curriculum and adopting 21st century learning techniques, this program will allow students to delve deeper into subject areas as they edge towards their senior secondary schooling years.

Year 7 students in the program will be placed in a core class together, which they will continue in through Years 7, 8 and 9. This will provide students an opportunity to learn and grow with like-minded peers and set themselves up for the rigour of senior secondary school.

Current Year 8 GSSC students who are successful in gaining a place into the program during 2025 will be required to move into a new class in the Kiewa House within the Dharnya Neighbourhood. 

Application process

Entry into the High Ability Program is via:

  • An assessment which mirrors the General Achieve Test and tests student’s critical thinking abilities and capacity to write and;
  • GSSC working in consultation with primary schools and Year 8 teachers to gather a range of data including from NAPLAN and Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT), as well as Semester Reports.

Assessment details

Students may apply to sit the High Ability Program assessment to be considered for entry. Assessments will take place on the following days.

  • 9.30am or 11.45am on Sunday September 15 and;
  • 9.30am or 11.45am on Monday September 23.

This will be held in the Enterprise building on Hawdon St. Laptops will be provided to students to complete testing.

Next steps

Families may express their interest to undertake the High Ability Program assessment by completing this form:

Year 7 2025 -https://forms.office.com/r/3jkkzNTLM4

Year 9 2025 - https://forms.office.com/r/DLYLvV5bhZ

Applications close on Friday August 16.

Based on assessment results, GSSC will shortlist students and make final selections through a cross-reference with data from primary and secondary schools, including results from NAPLAN, PAT testing and effort and attitude comments in Semester Reports. 

When completing the EOI form, please indicate your consent for GSSC to access this data via your child’s primary school.

More information

If you have any questions, please get in touch with Stacie Lundberg, Curriculum and Pedagogy Assistant Principal: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Further information and FAQs are available here: https://www.gssc.vic.edu.au/curriculum-and-learning/high-ability-program

High Ability Year 7 2025 web

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Welcome back to Term 3. I hope you had an enjoyable break.

This term is an important one for Year 10 students in particular, with choosing subjects for 2025 and setting them up for their VCE. Recently students received their Senior School Handbook, which contains information about career pathways and the subjects that students may choose to study in Year 11.

Please spend some time with your child viewing the handbook and discussing options with your child. Parent and carers are also encouraged to join us for information session at the College on Wednesday 17 July from 6.45pm – 7.45pm. Further information about this and the Subject Selection and Course Counselling process is available on Compass.

For the first two weeks of term, we will continue with our PAC Cup focus on attendance, specifically attending Home Group and showing up to all classes on time. We are asking our families to continue supporting us by ensuring students are arriving on time, ready for Home Group at 8.50am.

Over the course of last semester, we had great success with keeping mobile phones out of our classrooms and yard. This was the result of vigilance from staff, a willingness from students to do the right thing and support from parents and guardians to ensure their children were adhering to the mobile phone policy. The benefits have been evident – less distraction in the classroom and more connection in the yard. We want to keep up the momentum with mobile phones and will again be taking a big focus on this during Semester 2. Please encourage your child to leave their phone at home or place it in their locker at the start of each day.

Another focus for Term 3 will be on school uniform. An image is attached to this message outlining the items students are required to wear to school each day, and these may be mixed and matched depending on weather and student preference.

We know during the winter months, there is a tendency for students to reach for the hoodies and other types of tracksuit pants, however, to assist with student identification and to represent the school with pride, we must continue to encourage students to come to school in full school uniform each day. This signifies that students are at school to learn and make a positive contribution.

We have been reminding students to layer up in these colder months. White and black long sleeve shirts can be worn under our sports polos, and we also have school branded beanies and scarves available.

At the end of term you will have received your child’s Semester 1 report and over the coming weeks, we will notify families about upcoming Parent / Student / Teacher Conferences, including dates, times and processes for booking. We encourage you to take up this opportunity and to have one-on-one conversations with teachers regarding your child’s learning, achievements and opportunities going forward.

In closing, I’d just like to share with you that we have a number of new teachers and education support staff starting with us this term. This will enable our students to have greater consistency in their learning. Much work has gone into recruiting staff, and we are extremely pleased with the calibre of staff that have been recruited.

If you have any questions throughout the term, please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of your child’s key contact – their Home Group teacher, House Leader, Sub-school Leader or Neighbourhood Principal.

Wishing you a great term.

Barbara O’Brien
Executive Principal

uniform 2022