Since its establishment in 1972, Gordon Secondary School has always focused on delivering high quality education.
This year, as the school celebrates its 50-year anniversary, the focus on producing high quality education for its students remains its main priority.
School Principal, George Wek Kenega stressed that Gordon Secondary remains one of the best in the country in academic performance, discipline and conduct of both students and teachers.
“We not only produce high quality students, but we also have high quality teachers who give their best to the students,” said Mr. Kenega.
“We select the best students to come to Gordon because we are not only producing high quality students, we are also producing high quality Papua New Guineans for the future.
“We want to produce high quality people in life,” he said.
He pointed out that 50 years is a long time and the school is old, but it still serves its purpose as a leading education institution.
“We are an old school, our facilities are old, and many need to be repaired but they are still serving a good purpose, and we are proud of those achievements.
“We may not have the best facilities now but we have some of the best teachers looking after our students,” said Mir. Kenega.
The school held a media launch on Friday 17th June to announce its programme for the Golden Jubilee this year. The theme for the anniversary is ’50 years of educational excellence.’
The lead-up programme will see a fashion pageant show on 25th July followed by a Science and Technology Show in July, an Open Fun Day and finally the main celebration on September 23.
Recently retired long-time Gordon Secondary teacher, John Gitiri said a committee is organising these events and they are open to former and current students and staff of the school to participate in.
“We want everyone to commemorate this anniversary well and so we’re working with our former students and staff, to ensure that everyone is part of the programme,” said Mr. Gitiri.
The programme also includes fundraising activities with the first being a walk-a-ton which was held in May this year. The Committee is also appealing to corporate houses and business organisations to be part of the celebrations with cash and kind support.
“We only get to celebrate this anniversary only once so we’d like to make it a memorable and enjoyable one,” said Mr. Gitiri.
Female School Captain, Joan Ume said this is a special time to be a student at Gordon Secondary. For those who will be graduating this year, they will remember it as the year the school turned 50.
“I am excited and I know my fellow students are too. We are grateful for the opportunity to be here at Gordon and we look forward to the great times ahead for the school,” she said.
Gordon High School changed its status to Gordon Secondary School in 1994 during the education reforms. It received secondary status with Cameron Secondary the same year, behind three other schools who pioneered the reforms the year before. The Gordon Secondary currently has 1,487 students in grades nine to 12. Out of this, 747 are girls.
Gordon Secondary was opened in 1972 and its first headmaster was Bob Ginby from Australia. Mr. Gitiri recalls that almost half the staff then were expatriates. There were also a large number of students from the international community attending the school up to the early 2000s.
The last headmaster for the school was Chris Leete. He also became the first Principal when the school received its new status.
The school is proud of its rich history and as it commemorates its 50th year, it looks forward to continuing to raise its standards in producing the best people and personalities for this country.