Gleeson College is kicking goals with its state-of-art programs and surging student enrolments. Principal Joe Corbo tell us more.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Matthew Kroker

High school is the last stop before students enter the real world. How is Gleeson College preparing students to be inquisitive and confident for tertiary education and alternative pathways?

One of the issues high school students face in a tertiary setting is [engaging in learning] without teacher support and studying independently. We try to soften the transition by providing our Year 12 students with several responsibilities and a study hub that simulates a tertiary environment. We also actively seek to increase agency and engagement from the moment [students] enter high school to prepare them for the world. We support all students to find their pathway wherever it may lead.

In 2021, Gleeson pioneered ‘virtual tourism’ in the classroom. Tell us about this.

VR is an exciting part of STEM, [and bringing] it into different curriculum areas was pioneering for us. Tourism, history and language classes all benefited from the ability to visit places around the world, virtually.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) programs like ChatGPT is a hotly debated topic in schools. Where does Gleeson College sit on this issue?

For us, it’s a matter of incorporating t into our work and for students to use as a tool. One of the things we’ve developed is a tutor program that uses AI in the background. Students can engage with it to help them and support them, but every interaction is logged. A staff member even devised it! Students log in, with parental permission, and if they need help – to get started on an essay for example – they can go into the program and ask for some topic starters or a layout. The program will create it, and then students can create their own work. If the essay looks too good to be true, the teacher can go back and see what the student logged. That’s an example of how we use AI rather than fight against it. We need to approach it as a useful tool.

Gleeson has several strong sporting programs. How does the school keep students engaged in physical activities?

We were one of the first schools to introduce a specialist soccer and netball program in 2005. Students may study the sports in the middle years, and then, if still interested, they can undertake SACES tudies and use the sport as a foundation. We employ specialist coaches for both soccer and netball to run the programs – former Adelaide United player Marcos Flores is head coach for the World Football program and Alex Mullen, an old scholar who played A-league, is our high-performance coach. [We also] have guest classes with people like Natalie Von Bertouch (ex-Diamonds captain).

What do you hope for the future of Gleeson under your guidance?

Our college has grown in number and stature in recent years and the future is bright. We are a young college and not afraid to explore emerging education frontiers. We strive to best prepare our young people for their future lives and careers in a world that is changing rapidly and becoming increasingly unpredictable. We hope that we can help our students thrive by understanding and building their personal attributes, values, understandings and competencies to live their best lives.

Gleeson College
40–60 Surrey Farm Drive, Golden Grove
08 8282 6600
gleeson.sa.edu.au