Template:Infobox Aust school Gleeson College ia a Catholic college in Golden Grove, South Australia.

40-60 Surrey Farm Drive Golden Grove SA 5125 Principal: Mr. Phil Lewis

Gleeson College is a Catholic Secondary School located in the Secondary Schools Campus at Golden Grove, South Australia, a suburb about 20 kilometres north-east of Adelaide and was chosen as the BEST ADDRESS IN THE WORLD by the International Real Estate Federation in 1998. The suburb is named after a house in the area, in turn named after the ship captained by the owner of the house.

The campus itself is unique in the Southern Hemisphere. It consists of 3 secondary schools, linked by a central resource area that is shared by each school. The other schools are Golden Grove High School (State) and Pedare Christian College (Anglican / Uniting Church).

The dual cross on the College crest symbolizes sharing with Christ : as students as a school community as a community of three schools Sharing Christ's task to renew the earth and build a radically new human community through loving, transforming service of others.

The motto 'With One Heart' comes from the fact that Archbishop Gleeson served for 10 years (1971-1981) on the Pontifical Council Cor Unum meaning "One Heart". It is also their hope that the students, staff and parents can work together "with one heart" towards the education of the leaders of future society.

The working motto Educating Beyond Excellence indicates the desire to develop their students to their full potential, both academically and morally.

History

Foundation and Construction

Gleeson College was established in 1989 with 32 students in Years 8 and 9 and is named after the late Emeritus Archbishop of Adelaide, the Very Reverend James Gleeson. The founding principal, Dr. Vin Thomas, is honourd by the Thomas Library, the Junior school library. Four of the most important people in the founding of the College, Fr. Gregory Hughes OMI, Parish Priest of St. David's War Memorial Church, Tea Tree Gully; Sr. Margaret Fife, Principal of St. Francis Xavier's Primary School; Mr. McDonald, the heard of the Catholic Education Office at the time of Gleeson's founding; and the Damiani family, from which the first Chairman of the Board came. These people are commemorated by the four school houses, colured Red, Green, Yellow, and Blue respectively.

Initially the College shared rooms with Golden Grove High School in what is now the Shared Facilities complex (in the area which has now become the Thelie Library and the Psychology lab), while construction work took place. Students used the Pedare Christian College oval for recreational activities during recess and lunch.

The first main building (Stage 1) was completed in 1990 and consisted of a staff-room (now called G4, G5, G6), 3 classrooms (G1, G2, G3) and 2 Science Laboratories (G8, G9). The transportable classrooms (T1 - T12) were built at this stage.

Stage 1 now houses the original 3 classrooms plus a fourth classroom (G4), Senior Common Room (G5, G6), the original Science Laboratories and the Home Economics Centre (which was an open 'breezeway' with just the pylons in 1990).

During 1991, Stage 2 (now the Thomas Library, Computer Rooms, Chapel and Religious Education/Chaplin's office) were completed and the Home Economics Centre in Stage 1 was 'filled in'.

Stage 3 was completed in 1992. This originally included three art rooms, some office and storage space, and a large and somewhat strange area used as an AV room. THis last room is now used as the main Admin's office while 1993 saw the construction of what is now the Administration Building.

No more building work took place for a number of years, until 1998 when Stage 5 (G25 - G32) was started. The latest building (the Study Hall (officially the Learning Centre), 2 classrooms, and the English Office) was occupied in Term 3, 2000.

Concurrently, the Dame Roma Mitchell Performing Arts Centre, Golden Grove. opened as the Multi Purpose facility. This boulding was bult with a large contribution from the South Australian state governemnt.

Rebuilding

In the year 2004 considerable building work took place, enlarging the Thomas Library into the former admin's office (which was moved to its current location as mentioned above), enlarging the Multimedia room (which is now just an ordinary computer room), and adding a room for use by lectures and presentations.

It was intended that from the Year 2000, Gleeson would be an 8-12 school that maintained an enrolment close to 650 students. As of 2006, the enrolment numbers is close to 700 students, a limit imposed by the Catholic Education Office, which limits the size of schools to prevent excessive compettition between nieghboring schools.

The College has 3 computer rooms in the school itself, as well as access to approximately seven in Shared Facilities, and many computers in ordinary classrooms.

Ten-Year Plans

New building works are planned, in order to enclose the Stage 1 courtyard into a galleried area, to build new classrooms on the site of the transportables, build new classrooms between Stage 5 and the oval, and extend the Admin building. The building on the site of the transportables is to contain three science lads, home economics rooms, and other specialised facilites, while the existing specialist rooms are to be converted to ordinary classrooms.

Student Leadership

The student learedhip is divided into several overlapping categories. These are the:

Student Representative Council: Homerooms in tears Eight and nine elect one memeber per class, two per class for years ten and eleven, and eight total for year tweleve (there are currently five year tweleve homerooms). The SRC meets weekly, and is responsible for the discussion of all students intrests.There are four main committess of the SRC, the chair of which can meet withthe Principal to discuss direectly issues within that comitteess areas or responsibility:
- Fundraising Committee: is responsible for all charitable fundraisng doen by the SRC, and also keeps track of other charitable work done by others in order to reduce the chances of a clash.
- Envirionment Committee: is responsible for advising on student opinions and ideas relating to the upkeep of the school environment, and will be involved in the Trees for Life programme.
- Events Committee: is resopnsible for school events and assemmblies, and works especially closely with the Fundraising Committee.
- Student Issues Committee: is responsible for other student issues in the school, and is currently tasked with imporvements to the main courtyard, including the fundraising necessary for this and any othe work required.
The House Captains: two captains and a vice captain for each house are elected by the year twelve members of the house and some staff, and have esponsibilty for Sports Equipment and organising the Athletics and Swimming carnivals. House captains and vice captains attende meerings of the SRC, and some are haeds of SRC comittees.
The SRC Executive: in addition to the eight year twelve SRC memebers, four Executive members are also elected. Thier rolé is to run meetings, and to meet with the principal weekly to discuss matters taised at SRC meetings. In 2006, the male president was forced to resign due to a series of infractions against the rules, the last of which was becomming intoxicated on the Ski Trip. The male Vice-President was promoted, but no decision has been made as the the selectio of a fourth Executive member.
The Student Forum: all the year twleve SRC members, the House Captains and Vice-Captains, and the SRC Executive are members of the Student Forum, who have the addedd responsibilty of coordinating the weekly year twelve assembly.

Other student bodies also exist outside the SRC:

Social Action Comittee: acts to generate awaeness and action against social justice issues in the community. This is run by Mr. Enrico Caprioli.
Common Room Committee: is responsible for the supervision of the Common Room, in order to ensure that the condition of the room is mantianed.
Jumper Committee: Each year a comittee of year eleven student meets to design the next year's Year Tweleve Jumper.

These comittees are independent of the SRC, but there is some overlap of membership. Other areas of student leadership are student Eucharistic Ministers, and other groups.

Commumity Interaction

The Tea Tree Gully Life teen group was formed by former Gleecon College chaplian Fernando Farrugia during his time at Gleeson as North east regional Youth Chaplian. It broke down soon after he left Gleeson to work at St. Columba College, Andrews Farm. Gleeson has strong ties to the local parish of St. David's, the former assistant Parish Priest visited the school at least once per week, and sometimes attended classes, either as an oberver or to participate. The parish priest, Fr. Tone Maher OMI PP, aslso frequently visits the school. The new Youth Chaplian, Kate Lister, is developing close links to the Tea Tree Gully {[Antioch]] Catholic youth group