‘So always treat others as you would like them to treat you’
Matthew 7:12
From The Principal
Thank you to all our families for your diligence and support in relation to ensuring a ‘covid-safe’ return to school. The surveillance testing process has been successful in identifying approximately 25 cases of COVID-19 across the College. In most cases, the students have been asymptomatic at the time of testing and fortunately for all those that have developed symptoms, they have only been mildly unwell. We continue to encourage all our families to maintain the regime of surveillance testing and I encourage all students from Year 3 and up to wear a mask while indoors at school. Thanks again to all families for your support with the ongoing challenge of the pandemic.
The College and ‘Friends of EAC’ would like to develop the links that exist between all families across the College. One important way for this to be done is to establish a network of contacts based on the students' class groups (primary). To coordinate this network, in each class group we are seeking a volunteer to take on the role of Class Parent.
A Class Parent would:
- Coordinate a WhatsApp or Facebook page for parents in a class or year group
- Support social initiative among the parents
- Be a point of contact for the ‘Friends of EAC’ to assist them with communicating with parents
The Class Parent role is really important as it helps build the friendship networks for parents and families. If you are interested in nominating for such a role please email Mrs Kate Jenkins, College Registrar on kjenkins@eac.nsw.edu.au
Special mention this week to Year 6 student Curtis Moore who recently represented Queensland in the Under 11’s Futsal National Championship where his team was narrowly defeated in the finals. Following the tournament, Curtis was selected to represent Australia in the Under 12 Years Division in Italy later this year. This is an outstanding achievement. Congratulations Curtis!
We look forward to two very successful days of competition in the pool at our Swimming Carnivals this week.
Mr Robert Tobias
Principal
off the deputy's desk
What holidays! It is difficult to imagine that the students and staff have been away from the College for so many weeks. There is a buzz of laughter and conversations around the school as quickly everyone slips into a busy year. There are Primary and Secondary School Swimming Carnivals to plan as well as Chapel Services and Year level camps. Already students have been informed about the new College band format that offers more opportunities to new and aspiring musicians with the creation of a Mezza Band and a Senior College Band. You will have received information from the Leader of the EAC Duke of Edinburgh program, Mr Randall Evans, about the upcoming Bronze and Silver Camps. Such opportunities provide valuable skills development and leadership experiences that will come in handy when students are keen to impress future employers and universities.
The opening of the new Year 2 classrooms has provided wonderful spaces for the students and staff to further develop their teaching and learning. Such purpose built spaces are invaluable as demonstrated by the Year 5 students recently when they made their paper mache solar system in the Innovation Area Art Space. The Year 9 Marine Studies class have returned from their recent excursion to a tropical fish retailer full of ideas as to how best approach their challenge to construct an aquarium and successfully breed tropical fish. The end result will be the commercial viability of their venture which may involve some of you being the new owners of an array of tropical fish.
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu passed away in Cape Town on Sunday 26 December 2021, aged 90. While he was known to speak out against social injustices including apartheid and homophobia, issues around children’s rights remained close to Tutu’s heart.
“When we see the face of a child, we think of the future. We think of their dreams about what they might become, and what they might accomplish”.
May this be our journey in 2022.
Dia dhaoibh
Mr Francis McGuigan
Deputy Principal
TERM 1 WEEK 4
Monday 14 February
- Elevate – Years 7,11,12 MIA.
Wednesday 16 February
- Year 11 Assessment information session Period 1 (9.08am-9.58am) BOL.
Thursday 17 February
- Year 5 Wellbeing Experience CRW.
- Year 9 Digital Art Excursion (9am -12.00pm) RAJ.
- Year 10 Assessment information session Period 1 (9.08am-9.58am) – BOL.
Friday 18 February
- Year 5 Wellbeing Experience CRW.
- Year 9 Assessment information session Period 1 (9.08am-9.58am) – BOL.
TERM 1 WEEK 5
Wednesday 23 February
- Year 12 University show case.
Thursday 24 February
- NCIS Primary Swimming Alstonville
Chaplain's Chat
Finally some sunshine, and with it comes the (mostly) wonderful sound of the students playing during their breaktime. But I must admit, it is still very strange seeing so many masks. The kids are utterly amazing with their adaptability though aren’t they.
There can be no doubt that the past few years have stretched all our capacities for dealing with what life holds – COVID-19 has been the ultimate curve ball. Yet the one thing I have noted – our kids are incredibly resilient. More than we often give them credit for.
I think this is one of the hardest aspects of parenting, knowing when to step up, and when to stand down. As a parent some of the toughest times can be when we need to sit on our hands, bite our tongues and watch our children work their way through life’s dilemmas.
The urge to step in and lend a hand is a hard one to resist – for many reasons. Ugh – like when it’s time for the Lego to be packed up, or teeth to be cleaned before bed! Good grief that can take FOREVER! Oh – and when they are learning to ride a bike, or surf, or insert other risky skill here – that is SO hard to watch!
It can also be hard when our child is struggling at school, with friendships or classes, in their learning or socially.
When is the right time to step in?
Sadly there is no hard and fast rule. What I do know is if we jump too soon to fix the problem, or bail the child out we can send a message that is completely the opposite of the one we want to.
When we step in too quickly, what our children can hear is that we think they cannot manage it. I think the analogy of tying shoelaces is a good one here – how often we hear ‘I can’t do it’, and for sure it would be quicker for us if we simply did their laces for them…but where is the learning, the skill development if we do?
It is the same with their socio-emotional learning. Problem solving, managing friendships, wrangling the myriad of social dilemmas, these are all skills that are honed over time, through actually practicing. That’s how we learn and grow into well rounded adults. Each problem solved and situation managed puts another resource into our children’s tool kit for life.
And that’s why we need to make ourselves pause before we jump in to smooth things over for our kids! They need to know we believe in them, that we will be there to help pick up the pieces when things don’t go well. They need to hear it AND see it. We show it when we let them sort the problem. Then when they face another problem we can remind them of the resources they already have in their tool kits.
That’s resilience! And that is surely what we want for all our kids. Happy, healthy and resilient!
That’s what we aim for here at EAC, and we love that we can partner with you – their significant adults.
So let’s all practice the pause – before we leap in to make it better, and ensure that our kids have the best tool kits to take into adulthood.
Peace
Rev Sally
Secondary News
Computers, Learning and managing distraction
Last week all students in Year 7 – Year 11 were provided with a College owned device for their learning. Year 7 and 11 undertook training on the use of the device on February 1 and the remaining years have completed the training this week.
For many parents, computers and learning is something that we never experienced at school. Showing my age, I remember in my first year of teaching there was one internet linked computer in the whole school. How has the world changed and how can we support our children as they grow up with the constant online presence and distraction?
The College has The Student Electronic Communication Code of Conduct and User Agreement which can be found on the College website. This agreement talks about the appropriate use of the devices and has been created to provide opportunities for students to still socialise whilst at school and gives guidelines of appropriate Netiquette. It is important that all students and parents are aware of the College’s expectations with devices.
When at home, it is important that all students consider their digital thumbprint and exercise safe digital citizenship. Being a responsible digital citizen means behaving lawfully, protecting their own privacy and thinking about how their online activities affects themselves, other people and the wider community.
Teenagers express themselves by sharing and posting comments, images and videos. They are mostly collaborative and engaging socially in social media platforms and online gaming. It is important as parents to have regular, relaxed and respectful conversations with their children to help them make good decisions about online behaviour. This could include talking about the use of social media, cyberbullying, sexting and how to avoid online pornography.
Some tips that can be implemented at home to help your child be safe on their device include:
- Using computers in open spaces where you can physically monitor what your child is looking at
- Reduce the use of devices in the bedrooms. This also allows children to get better quality sleep.
- Talk to other parents and find out what other parents are thinking and allowing their children to do.
- Keep up to pace with new ways to stay safe online. The online world is ever changing and new services and features continually emerge. Knowing about them can help you manage any concerns that you might have for your child.
- Report risk or danger to law enforcement straight away.
The Office of E-Safety Commissioner provides a range of resources to support families manage devices in the home. Each year students are reminded of the importance of digital citizenship as part of the Wellbeing program.
If you would like to talk further regarding the use of devices, feel free to contact the Leaders of House or myself.
Mrs Amanda Middleton
Director of Secondary School
Ballina Australia Day Awards
The Ballina Shire Australia Day Awards were announced at the livestreamed ceremony held on Wednesday 26 January 2022.
30 nominations were acknowledged across the award categories of Sports, Young Citizen, Senior Citizen, Environmental, Community Event, Arts/Cultural and Volunteer of the Year. The awards celebrate the achievements and contributions individuals and organisations make to our community.
Congratulations to Alex Chapman (Class of 2021) on being nominated in the Young Citizen category. Although Alex did not receive the Young Citizen Award, we are extremely proud of his tireless community service.
PRIMARY NEWS
It has been a fairly smooth start to the year for our Primary Students. Our students (and staff) showed great resilience in their first week with days of high humidity and flooding rains. Our new Kindergarten students started their schooling life with gusto and look to be a terrific bunch of kids. Our Year 2 students are settling into their new classrooms in the Discovery Centre extension and enjoying the large spaces, both inside and outside on the expansive decks.
Afternoons at Parent Pickup were busy last week with many students being collected by their parents on their first day and during the wet weather. Please remember that students are available to be collected at Parent Pickup until 3:20pm, with the large crowds and number of vehicles reducing down at around 3:10pm.
This week we held our first Primary Chapel for the year, where our Primary Leaders were badged and signed the Register to kickstart their year of leadership. This leadership will be on show on Friday at the Primary Swimming Carnival where the Year 6 Leaders will be leading their Houses throughout the Carnival. At the Carnival, our wonderful Friends of EAC committee will be selling sausages for $2.50 and the pool canteen will also be open for the students. As per the communication that was sent out earlier in the week, we are allowed to welcome one parent from each family to attend the swimming carnival. Please note, our Year 2 students attend the carnival until 12:30pm.
Our Primary Leaders for 2022 are:
Primary College Captain – Alexandra Kent
Primary College Captain – Henry Drew
Brockington
Primary House Captain – Hudson Blake
Primary House Captain – Arlan Ainsbury
Purcival
Primary House Captain – Olivia Shume
Primary House Captain – Max Mostert
Smith
Primary House Captain – Abigail Grier
Primary House Captain – Marlon Andrews
Walker House
Primary House Captain – Lara Neaves
Primary House Captain – Curtis Moore
Next week our Year 5 students can look forward to two days at Lake Ainsworth Sport and Recreation Camp. This wellbeing experience will provide the cohort time to get to know each other as many new students join the college in Year 5. This two-day experience will see the students challenge themselves mentally and physically with group initiative activities, kayaking, sailing and archery.
We take sun safety very seriously here at EAC and remind parents to ensure that the students have applied sunscreen before they come to school each day. We have sunscreen throughout the classrooms for the second application around midday, though do also recommend if your child has a preferred sunscreen to carry one in their school bag. We enforce the rule of no hat, no outside play and insist the students stay in the undercover areas if they do not have their hat.
Like me, I am sure you often get frustrated when a perfectly healthy and nutritious school lunchbox comes home full! The students are given 10 minutes at each break to eat from their lunchbox. If they have not finished after this time, our K-2 students are asked to stay in the undercover area to finish their lunch and our Years 3-6 students are asked to take their lunchbox with them to the front oval to finish eating there. If this is a constant problem in your house, please remind your child to follow the rules that allow them time to have adequate meals each day.
It was lovely to have some parents in attendance to see their child receive their leadership badges at our Chapel this week and we look forward to seeing you at the swimming carnival. We are planning to welcome our Kindy, Year 1 and 2 families to special picnics here at the College later in the term when we are confident it is safe to do so.
As your child settles in for the year, we thank you for your support of the college, ensuring uniform standards are met, homework is complete and students are prepared for specialists’ lessons with the correct uniform or equipment on days where they may have band or instrumental lessons. We ask our Year 3-6 students refer to the student planner if you are unsure of expectations around uniform such as appropriate jewellery. Our K-2 students will be gently guided by their teachers.
Here’s to a great year in Primary at EAC.
Mr Wayne Cross
Director of Primary
our new sporting leadership team
I'm Andrew Davy and I recently moved to Ballina to take up the role as Leader of Sport and Coaching at EAC from Tamworth, Australia’s country music capital. Previously I have been teaching PDHPE for thirty years, and a Leader of Student care for ten years, having lived in NSW and WA. Sport has always been my passion, in particular hockey as both a player and coach. I am unashamedly a diehard Roosters supporter in the NRL and Collingwood in the AFL. I am looking forward to providing the students of EAC with the opportunity to be involved in and enjoy the many benefits and learning experiences sport can provide. You will find me in The Lindsay Walker Centre if you need my help or have any questions regarding sport …. “Always stay humble and kind”
I'm Randall Evans and I have been working in the Sport Team for the past 3 years. This year I moved into the position of Primary Sport and Duke of Edinburgh Leader. I am responsible for the programming and management of the primary sport programme along with the delivery of that program with my new assistant Jack Murphy. The role also involves the appointment of specialist primary sporting team coaches, together with the coaching and management of EAC Primary representative sporting teams. As EAC's Duke of Edinburgh Award Leader, I am privileged to see the our student participants grow and develop through the program and assist them with this journey of self development. I am passionate about the positive mental and physical role that sport can play in the school environment and post school life. I feel fortunate to be able to encourage students to find their passion for sport, health and fitness.
I'm Heidi Craig and I have worked at EAC for the last 12 months. During this time I have been involved in teaching K-2 sport, working with representative teams and helping out with College and NCIS Carnivals. I have enjoyed watching the children thrive through their involvement in their chosen sport. My current role is The Lindsay Walker Centre Duty Manager. The students are extremely lucky to have an amazing state of the art facility to use, for sport, music and drama. I am looking forward to seeing the events we will be able to hold in the space.
I have grown up in the area, live locally and enjoy spending time at the beach, swimming and playing waterpolo.
I'm Jack Murphy and this will be my first year as part of the EAC community. I have worked within the education sector across several schools in Australia and abroad, predominantly in boarding schools. I have studied Exercise Science at university and am currently completing my Bachelor of Secondary Education with Physical Education and Psychology being my areas of study.
I have competed in many sports including Swimming, AFL, Surf Life Saving and Triathlons, in which I represented Australia at Age Group World Championships across multiple distances. I have a strong passion for teaching children how their body works and am looking forward to working with Randall in providing a fun and rewarding sports program within the primary school.
Canteen
Canteen Menu 2022
Canteen Coordinator
Online Canteen Ordering
We are excited to be able to offer online Canteen ordering via the 'School Stream' app. Please refer to the recent letter to all families with instructions on how to download the app to your phone, tablet or computer.
Once the app is installed you will be able to view and select from the canteen menu by clicking on Canteen. This will bring up the canteen order form where you will be able to enter the child's details and select desired items from the dropdown lists under the relevant headings and pay. You will be prompted to tick which break you require your selection for.
All online orders must be completed and submitted prior to 8.45am on the day they are required, to enable Canteen staff enough time to prepare and distribute orders.
Manual Canteen Ordering
If you are unable to use the 'School Stream' App please place the money in a paper bag of sufficient size to fit all of the items. If you are ordering a drink with your child’s lunch, please provide two (2) bags. Please write the information on the LOWER half of the bag. If money is short we will substitute items to the value received.
REMEMBER, if ordering at both breaks, you must have a separate bag for each break.
Any change required will be placed in the bag for return with the child’s order.
All orders must be received at the canteen before 9.15am.
Christine Hall - Canteen Supervisor
contact: chall@eac.nsw.edu.au
Community News
