Issue 14 2023
’Happy the peacemakers; they shall be called the sons and daughters of God’
Matthew 5:9
From the Principal
It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you Rev Richard Browning who has joined the EAC team this week in the role of Interim Chaplain for the remainder of 2023.
Richard is not unknown to the staff or Diocese having led the whole staff through a workshop about our ethos and identity at the beginning of 2022 and through his work with the Diocesan Schools Network, all of which was extremely well received by all involved. He is a very experienced school Chaplain having held roles in schools in the ACT and Queensland. Most recently he was the Director of Mission for the Anglican Schools Commission of the Diocese of Brisbane. He is a published author, has a great academic mind and has a heart for school chaplaincy and education.
Richard will work 3 days a week, Tuesday to Thursday for the remainder of 2023. We hope that the experience will be confirmation that God is calling him to work with our community as our Chaplain for 2024 and beyond.
The HICES Debating Competition involves over 1,400 students in more than 270 teams from 75 schools across NSW in four divisions and is a highly coveted competition. Congratulations go to our Senior Debating Team who made it to the semi finals only to be beaten in a very close debate and we wish our Primary School Debating Team all the very best as they head to Sydney to compete in the grand final of their competition. A huge thank you to Ms Sue McLintock and Mr Dan Walsh for all of their efforts with our debating teams.
There have also been some wonderful achievements in the realm of sport in recent weeks and this has continued with our Primary School Netball teams who travelled on Monday to the Tweed to compete in the NCIS Primary Netball Competition. The competition was fierce, but EAC triumphed and were crowned both girls’ and boys’ champions.
I invite all our families to the Year 12 Graduation Ceremony which takes place in The Lindsay Walker Centre on Thursday 21 September commencing at 11.00am. It is always a wonderfully moving and joyous occasion as well as a great celebration of learning and achievement.
Mr Robert Tobias
Principal
What's On
CALENDAR
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SchoolStream APP
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WEBSITE
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WHAT WEEK IS IT?
To help clarify our College Weeks, we've created a printable quick reference guide available HERE.
Off The Deputy's Desk
The great big multitasking myth: why it makes you less efficient
Perhaps the most popular productivity hack of all is multitasking. Do two things at once and you get more done and save oodles of time, right? Wrong. The human brain can’t do two things at once – it can only switch between the two as quickly as possible.
And, crucially, this switching leads to lower productivity. Yep, trying to do more means you actually do less. ‘We make mistakes and take longer to complete tasks when we try to do multiple things at once,’ says Dr Gillian Clark from Deakin’s School of Psychology.
Here’s what students need to know about the multitasking myth – and how to use it to their advantage to be more productive.
Multitasking While Studying
Whether students juggle social media posts while doing homework or study while chatting online with a friend, the cost of switching tasks is anything but productive. This switching to and from is really inefficient because only one task is being focused on at once, meaning that things get missed and mistakes get made. Multitasking generally lowers productivity.
Research that looked at students who use their smartphone or watch YouTube while studying revealed they tended to have lower productivity, retain less information and achieve lower marks than students who didn’t multitask.
How To Work Efficiently
Want to increase your productivity? The most effective strategy is to focus on one thing at a time. Just. One. Avoid distractions and interruptions – close your email, don’t answer your phone and make it clear you’re busy and not to be disturbed. You might not be able to only do a single task for a whole day, so allocate blocks of time for each task and ensure you focus only on the assigned task
during the allotted time.
Dia Dhaoibh
Mr Francis McGuigan
Deputy Principal
Sports Report
School Sport Australia Hockey
Congratulations to EAC's superstar hockey trio of Kalani Franklin, Finnigan Robinson and Coco Robinson who all represented NSW recently at the School Sport Australia 16&U Hockey Championships in Adelaide. Both Kalani and Finn's NSW Boys team and Coco's NSW Girls team claimed silver medals at the event.
Mr Mike Ryan
Leader of Sport and Coaching
Far North Coast Rugby
Congratulations to our senior boys who are members of the Lennox Head Trojans Colts (U18) on their Far North Coast Rugby Union Grand Final victory over the weekend, defeating Casuarina Beach 28-14. Special mention to Ethan Jenkins who was named 2023 FNC Colts Best and Fairest and Miloš Safranek who was named 2023 FNC Junior Player of the Year.
Mr Mike Ryan
Leader of Sport and Coaching
Go Annie!
Well done to Annie Docherty who represented NSWCIS at the NSWPSSA Rugby 7's Championships held in Mudgee at the beginning of this week. After 6 games, Annie's CIS team came away with 3 wins and 3 losses.
Annie has also been selected to play in the Far North Coast U13 Rugby 7's team in Forster in a couple of weeks time. We wish Annie all the best and look forward to hearing how she goes.
Mr Mike Ryan
Leader of Sport and Coaching
NCIS Primary Netball Championships
Congratulations to our EAC Primary Boys and Girls Netball teams who attended the NCIS Netball Championships in Tweed Heads on Wednesday.
Our boys team went through undefeated in their three games against Lindisfarne, improving as the day progressed. Our girls team had 3 wins and 1 draw. Their toughest match against Bishop Druitt College.
Both teams came out on top as 2023 NCIS Primary Netball Champions!
Thank you to Mrs Kate Sculley, Ms Nicole Wagland and Miss Ellese Morrissey who coached and supported the students on the day.
Mr Mike Ryan
Leader of Sport and Coaching
School Sport Australia Swimming Championships
A huge congratulations to EAC's very own Eve Drew who recently represented New South Wales Primary School Sports Association (NSWPSSA) at the School Sport Australia Swimming Championships in Sydney, following what has been a tremendous year in the pool for Eve.
Eve placed 4th in 3 out of her 5 events, finishing just outside the medals, but setting a number of personal bests and new College records.
Results
- 10 Years Girls 50m Butterfly - 4th (35.01)
- 10 Years Girls 100m Backstroke - 9th (1:26.13)
- 10 Years Girls 200m Medley Relay - 4th (Team NSW)
- 10 Years Girls 200m Individual Medley - 4th (2:57.13)
- 10 Years Girls 100m Freestyle - 7th (1:11.96)
Mr Mike Ryan
Leader of Sport and Coaching
Primary Interhouse Netball Results
Last week we saw the close of our Netball activity for Term 3 (there has been lots of it) and what a great way to end our lessons in Primary Sport by competing at the recent Interhouse competition.
There were impressive passages of play, quality passing and pin point shooting throughout the two days, particularly from Blade Goode, Year 5, Smith House, whose team tactically changed his position in the final from Goal Keeper to Goal Shooter and finished the match scoring 8 goals.
Results
- Year 3 - Brockington
- Year 4 - Smith
- Year 5 - Smith
- Year 6 - Smith
Thank you to the EAC Sports staff, teaching staff and our student referees; Olivia Rose, Max Whitaker, Mili Docherty and Maddie Jewell.
Mr Tony Lancashire
Primary Sport Leader
Primary Sport Achievement Awards
Our Primary Sport Achievement Awards are designed to give all students a chance to be recognised for their sporting achievements. These awards are presented not only for excellence, but for many different reasons like leadership, commitment, respect, support and more.
Previous Winners
Term 1: Archie Ellis-Harry, Year 3
Term 2: Henry Roberts, Year 4 and Olive Isaac, Year 5
Term 3: Annie Docherty, Year 6
Our most recent winner, Annie, is very talented and successful in school sport, although this award was not presented for her achievements, but the personable qualities she shows every week. Annie's leadership and support, perseverance through challenges and her commitment and confidence to always give 100%, even when trying new things is absolutely commendable. I am sure these qualities have a huge part to play in the results she achieves in sport. There are many students amongst Stage 3 who younger Primary students look up to, and Annie is most certainly one of them. Our next winner will be announced soon.
Mr Tony Lancashire
Primary Sport Leader
EAC Mountain Bikers Step Up, Literally
On Thursday 31 August the inaugural NCIS Mountain Biking championships took place at Wedding Bells State Forest, Woolgoolga.
38 students from Year 7 to 12 made the early morning start and rode consistently throughout the day. The race consisted of three timed trails and students could have a maximum of five goes on each trail to gain their best time. Points were awarded for each track completed and bonus points awarded for being the quickest on any of the three tracks.
Excitement was high and seeing students having to lay down at the end of each run told the story of how much effort they had expelled.
Live timing updates to the event website ensured that participants continued to attempt to better their times over the course of the day.
After a long day of racing there were many outstanding results. Overall, Emmanuel was awarded second place overall out of the 10 schools that attended.
Congratulations to everyone involved and thanks for a great day of racing. A massive thank you must go to the parents who supported on the day; Mr Cook, Mr Beck, Mrs Rodowicz, Mr Carter and Mr Spencer as well as staff Mrs Kathryn Ashdown and Mr Gavin Hartel.
Mr Justin Cleverley
Teacher of Music and Leader of EAC's Mountain Bike Team Leader
Results - Girls
Year 7 and 8
- 2nd Coco Beck
- 3rd Amelia Atkinson
- 4th Amelia Polidano
Year 9 and 10
- 1st Miley Spencer
Results - Boys
Year 7 and 8
- 9th George Morgan
Year 9 and 10
- 4th Finn Robinson
- 5th Jack Lawson
- 7th Jett Beck
Top of the Arts
RORY LEAPS INTO THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET SCHOOL
Thanks to years of dedication, hard work and lots of practice, Year 9 student Rory Neaves has been selected to attend the Australian Ballet School in 2024. This prestigious accomplishment is testament to Rory's goal setting and the support of both his family and his friends and teachers here at EAC.
Congratulations Rory. We are all very proud of you and look forward to applauding your future performances.
SOPHIA'S EISTEDDFOD EXCELLENCE
Congratulations to Sophia Mumford, Year 6, for her excellent performance at the recent Lismore Eisteddfod. Sophia's mother Karina credited EAC's support saying "Playing at school helped a lot with Sophia’s confidence and she had a great first experience at the eisteddfod."
Sophia competed against children that in many cases had been learning music for much longer than her, but she held her nerve. Sophia achieved a First, Second and Third place and 2 Highly Commended Awards.
Mr Justin Cleverley
Teacher of Music
Mind Matters
OUR GREAT DEBATERS
EAC has reason to celebrate as both our Primary and Secondary Debating teams have achieved an incredible feat, making it to the Grand Finals of their respective divisions in the HICES Debating Championships. This prestigious competition brings together talented debaters from independent schools across New South Wales, making our achievement all the more impressive.
Our Primary Debating team has displayed remarkable eloquence and critical thinking, proving themselves as formidable contenders in their division. Likewise, our Secondary Debating team has demonstrated exceptional debating skills, showcasing their dedication and perseverance throughout the competition.
This remarkable success is a testament to the hard work and commitment of our students, as well as the guidance and mentorship of our dedicated coaches and teachers. Emmanuel Anglican College takes immense pride in nurturing the art of debate and public speaking in our students, and this accomplishment underscores our commitment to academic excellence.
As we eagerly anticipate the Grand Finals, we extend our best wishes to both teams. Regardless of the final outcome, your journey to this stage has already made us immensely proud. Congratulations, and may you continue to shine in the world of debate!
Chess Team Shows Off Their Skills with Flare
Last week, our EAC Chess Team, comprising of students from both Primary and Secondary, competed at the Gardner Chess Competition at Alstonville High School.
Our team challenged schools from around the region in eight rounds of close, and tension filled competition where they demonstrated lots of excellent strategies and skill across three different divisions.
During the day, it was great to see the camaraderie between our EAC students and their competitors. The tournament was played with great spirit and persistence to achieve the best results for their team and the College.
EAC was fortunate enough to come a close second in the team event in both the Primary and Secondary competitions. Congratulations to Jack Higgins, Oliver Darnell, William Davis and Jake Campbell in Primary and to Robbie Mumford, Anthony Coutinho, Joshua Weingarth and Braith Cahill in Secondary for this achievement.
We also featured in the individual point score competition with Anthony Coutinho coming equal second.
There were also many students who achieved five points or more in the overall point score and received a merit ribbon. Charlie Walsh, Jack Higgins, William Davis, Oliver Darnell, Jake Campbell, James Fryer and Nolan Wang all achieved merit ribbons in the Primary. In Secondary, Noah Samin, Braith Cahill, Benjamin Morgan and Joshua Weingarth achieved a merit ribbon.
It was wonderful to see these students show great skill, determination and camaraderie as they represented EAC with great dignity.
Mr Paul Christensen
Teacher of Year 5
HERE TO HELP
Parenting Support for Students with Anxiety and Depression
This week saw the continuation of our Parent Workshop series and the exploration of how parents and carers can support their children in terms of anxiety and depression. CLICK HERE to access one of the great resources shared with the group on the day.
Mr John Noble
Guidance Counsellor
Library Lowdown
Books Bought to Life
This past fortnight the College has continued to celebrate books. The Early Learning Centre students, Kindergartener, Year 1s, 2s, 3s and 4s were transported to Penguin Village via Meercat Production's performance of 'Frank's Red Hat' by Sean E Avery. The children were delighted with the experience and regarded the performers very much as superstars!
Meercat Productions also performed for our Year 5 and 6 students. 'The Way of Dog' by Zana Fraillon is a remarkable verse novel narrated from the perspective of a puppy farm dog, which describes the world in a way that cleverly bridges the gap between human reader and animal protagonist. Meercat Productions always do a great job of bringing stories to life.
Ms Jasmine Jordan
Library Resource Centre Manager
Ms Jordan Turns the Page
We bid a fond farewell to Ms Jasmine Jordan, our Library Resource Centre Manager, as she embarks on an exciting new journey in her career. For the past three years, Ms Jordan has kept our Joan Pickup Library running smoothly and shared with student her passion for books and stories.
Ms Jordan will finish on 15 September and is keen to remind students to return their overdue books before the holidays and to drop by to say goodbye.
Go well Ms Jordan!
Canteen Counter
FRESH CHANGES CONTINUE
Thank you for your support and understanding as we continue to improve our Canteen menu to be more sustainable, delicious and nutritious than ever. More changes are coming and, to stretch our adaptability a little more, we have changed suppliers for a number of items. Many of these changes are simple swaps to opt for more environmentally friendly packaging.
As we navigate these changes through the remainder of the term, you may notice some items are temporarily unavailable. Our bakery items in particular have been effected by the closure of Brumby's and renovations at Baker's Delight.
Please bear with us as we do our best to deliver your favourites and introduce you to new sensations.
The Canteen will be open each day until the holidays and will reopen from Day 1 of Term 4.
Friends of EAC
LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!
Get ready to test your movie knowledge at the Friends of EAC Trivia Night, themed "At The Movies," this Saturday night. The event will be held at The Lindsay Walker Centre and the fun begins at 6.30pm and wraps up at 10.30pm.
Thanks goes to the wonderful Friends of EAC for their organisation of the event which promises to be an evening filled with laughter and prizes. Thank you also to the Emmanuel Anglican College community for their patronage of the event and to Morgans Financial Northern Rivers for their generous support as the presenting partner.
Here are some hints for a great night:
- There will be prizes for best dressed, winning table, lucky door plus loads more
- BYO drinks but leave the wine glasses at home, these will be provided along with water, tea and coffee
- Remember to bring some small change for games
- Tickets to our Rubber Duckies game can be purchased by EFT or cash
Thank you to our generous prize donors Georgie and Gus Clark, Elizabeth and Pat Dwyer, Claudia Lawrence, Leanne Dunnings, Shelley and Sean Riley, and Amanda and Paul Coughran.
How to EAC
SPRING VACATION CARE PROGRAM ANNOUNCED
With just a few weeks left before the end of term, planning for the Spring School Holidays is well underway.
The program for Vacation Care has just been released with 'Wheels Day' back by popular demand!
EAC's Vacation Care is open to students from Kindergarten to Year 6 and does book out so be sure to email enrolments@eac.nsw.edu.au to secure your spot.
Early Learning Centre Corner
SPRING HAS SPRUNG AT THE ELC
Our Early Learning Centre garden is going gangbusters now that the weather has started to warm up. Our herb and vegetable garden is brimming with goodness and our hedges are sprouting lots of new growth which means even better places to hide! Our Educators having been enjoying leading the children in cooking experiences that further enhance their interest in all things green and grown.
Ms Nicole Wilson
Director of the Early Learning Centre
Primary Pulse
SWIMMING INTO SPRING
With the warmer months ahead, our nation’s favourite pastime of swimming at the beach or in backyard pools will soon be a daily occurrence for our students. It was therefore timely this week for our Kindergarten to Year 2 students to head up to the Alstonville Pool each day for their swimming intensive lessons. I know there were a lot of tired kids by Friday this week from not only the rigorous swimming lessons but also the task of getting changed, losing and then finding articles of clothing and the all important decision of who you sit next to on the bus! We never take for granted here these seemingly small tasks that play such an important part in the wholistic development of our students.
Next week our Years 4 to 6 students hit the pool, with our Year 5 students progressing from learning to swim lessons to lifesaving skills and our Year 6 students immersing themselves in a week of water polo. Thanks to the families (and the washing machines) for keeping up with the towels and the togs each day!
Over the past few weeks all Primary students watched the Brainstorm production entitled Sticks and Stones. Students enjoyed the performance, especially the circus elements with juggling taking centre stage in the story. The true take aways from the performance were the behaviours modelled by the characters in dealing with issues such as bullying, online cyber safety and respectful relationships. I
do hope that the after seeing the shows, the students initiated conversations at home about these important issues.
As reported above, our Primary Debating team of Stella, Emily, Freddie and Banjo have once again made the state final for the HICES debating competition. The final will be held in Sydney next Thursday and I congratulate the team and Mr Dan Walsh for all their hard work and dedication to achieving such success.
Speaking of success, our Primary NCIS Netball teams finished in first place at the carnival this week. Mrs Nicole Wagland and Mrs Kate Sculley coached our girls and boys team who both made and won their finals at the meet.
Next week we will see the finals of the Stage 2 and 3 Public Speaking competition for our EAC students. All students in Years 3 to 6 competed for a place in the semis to then progress to the final. On the morning of the competition, the students will receive an impromptu topic to prepare and deliver alongside their prepared speech that got them through to the final. Best of luck to all involved.
Mr Wayne Cross
Director of the Primary School
Tournament of Minds Round Up
Tournament of Minds (TOM) is a voluntary extracurricular activity in which you are given a problem and you as a team have to solve it. You must attend tryouts and then give up some of your own time to solve the problem.
If you are:
- Good at acting or dramatic performances
- A creative thinker who wants to share their ideas with a larger group of people
- A person that wants to have fun
Then I highly recommend joining next year's TOM team!
On Sunday 27 August, EAC’s 2023 TOM team journeyed to Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School to complete with other schools including;
- Byron Bay Public School,
- Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School,
- Alstonville Public School and
- Richmond Christian College.
Team EAC consisted of 6 people: Oliver Darnell, Heath Guy, Sabre Smith and Anna Zanelli from Year 5 and Emily Evans and Sadie Rose from Year 6.
We arrived at Lindisfarne at 8:50am. We were given a room to set up and place our belongings. After we dropped off our props and costumes we sat down to have an important team meeting. We talked about how we were going to place all of our props on the stage like tables, clothes and our homemade Turkish delight. We also discussed our spontaneous challenge and what we will say so we don’t fight about it. Then after the team meeting at exactly 9:40am we headed into Room 201 to showcase our wonderful performance.
After we performed we all took a photo together in costume.
After that we headed downstairs to discuss more about our spontaneous challenge. The spontaneous challenge is a critical thinking challenge but was actually easier than our first challenge. Teams have 4 minutes and 30 seconds to think of their ideas. We performed our spontaneous challenge at 10:20am in Room 5C.
Overall our day ran for about 3 hours and finished around lunchtime. Sadly we did not place but we got amazing feedback on our performances.
Written by Oliver Darnell, Year 5 and Sadie Rose, Year 6
Secondary Scoop
TIME TO REFLECT
This week our Year 8 students undertook their first Retreat in their Secondary School journey.
Life is full of stresses and it seems that there is always so much that we do, be it sport, assessment tasks, work etc. EAC's Retreat Program allows for a calm place where students can experience nature, friendships, spirituality and personal growth. It is a time for students to reflect on where they are within their lives and provides opportunities for them to disconnect from their phone and academic pressures, and reflect on their lives.
The Year 8 Retreat was held at St Mary's Ballina and students participated in a range of activities including doing the labyrinth, creating poetry, drawing or just sitting and reflecting on things to be thankful for. The day ended with a short reflective service.
Students were highly engaged on the day and are already reaping the benefits of this time well spent.
Ms Amanda Middleton
Director of the Secondary School
YEAR 9 GOOD TO GROW
Year 9 have been working closely with the Primary Industries Education Foundation Australia (PIEFA) to 'grow' our EAC Market Garden initiative.
PIEFA have visited the College to check out our Market Garden and were impressed by the diversity on show and gave us some great ideas for soil and plant health. We will implement PIEFA's suggestions for crop rotation and new enterprise ideas from Term 4.
Our students have also visited two primary industry contexts: Banyula Farm and the Marquis Macadamias processing facility.
Banyula farm are implementing cutting edge and sustainable practices to grow macadamias and shared details on how they improve the soil health using sustainable methods. Students also learned about reforestation methods that aim to improve both yield and the ecosystem. We visited their native bees and enjoyed cracking some nuts!
At Marquis Macadamias students got to see behind the scenes at this fascinating facility and saw first hand the process macadamia nuts go through from raw product to consumer ready packaging.
Thank you to Banyula Farm and to Marquis Macadamias for hosting us and to PIEFA and Ben Holmes for their fantastic support in providing the excursion without cost. We hope to work with all of these organisations again in the future as we build knowledge of sustainable food production into our STEM curriculum here at EAC.
Ms Kathryn Ashdown
Leader of Curriculum (TAS/VET) and Teacher of Biology and STEM
Access to Experts via EAC
Our Year 12 History Extension class had their final Zoom session this week (the last of three sessions) with Jonathon Dallimore from the History Teacher’s Association. Jonathon is highly experienced History teacher and is somewhat of a ‘guru’ in this field. It has been a wonderful opportunity for our regional students to access his advice and knowledge without having to travel to the Sydney area.
Ms Jenny Holmes
Leader of curriculum (HSIE) and Teacher of Changing Worlds, History and HSIE
MARINE SCIENCE MENTORS
This past fortnight, our Year 9 Marine Studies class ventured to The Serpentine to study the marine habitat, especially that of the yabby. As well, students turned their hand at fishing and were delighted with their catch.
Upon returning to the College, Mr Ben McRae, Student Services Officer and qualified chef, taught students how to prepare, fillet and cook their fish.
Taking the experience even further, Year 9 Marine Studies put their newly found fishing skills to the test in a cross-College collaboration with the Year 4 Coastal College program. Year 9 students were partnered with Year 4 students to mentor them in their fishing lesson, teaching them to rig up rods and try to catch some estuarine species of fish.
Dr Justine Jacob
Teacher of Marine Studies and Science
Year 9 Students Tackle Food Waste and Recycling Contamination: A Lesson in Mathematics and Sustainability
In Year 9 Mathematics, the students are learning about food waste and the impact of waste on our environment.
On Friday 1 September, two representatives from North East Waste presented to our Year 9 cohort to educate them on food waste in Australia. Did you know that 1.7 million tonnes of food is wasted in NSW each year? That is equivalent to 1 in every 5 shopping bags! Our students learnt that food waste doesn’t just waste their time and money, but it also generates methane – a greenhouse gas that is a major cause of climate change. The representatives from NE Waste discussed ways in which we can minimise food waste, including planning our grocery lists, storing food correctly, and using leftovers to create other meals (like fried rice or soup).
Our Year 9 mathematicians will be putting this knowledge into practice this term when they prepare, shop for, and cook a meal for their assessment task this term.
Some useful resources from this presentation by NE Waste are listed below:
Continuing with the theme of waste, the Year 9 students who are studying ‘Stats in the Media’ are collecting data for a mathematics project that is focusing on the contamination of the recycling bins. These project groups have conducted visual audits on our school bins and developed interventions in an effort to improve waste contamination at EAC.
Ms Alyce Norman
Teacher of English, Visual Arts and Mathematics
Northern Rivers News
