‘I chose you and I commissioned you to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last”
John 15:16
From The Principal
Welcome back for 2019!
It has been great welcoming our Year 1 to Year 12 students back in recent days as we commence the 2019 College year. We look forward with great anticipation to welcoming our Kindergarten students next Monday. In particular, I wish to welcome all those students and their families who have joined the EAC community this week. I look forward to getting to know you and I am sure that in a very short period of time you will all feel part of our wonderful community.
At the Whole College Assembly today, I encouraged the students to think about some goals to make 2019 a happy and rewarding year for all. I invited them to:
- get down to the business of learning immediately and to set high goals for learning and achievement.
- consider how they would grow their friendship groups, build on the strong friendships they already have and how they might go out of their way to welcome the new students, staff and families who have joined our College community
- think about ways they could get involved in the extra-curricular life of the College
It will be a very exciting and busy start to the year and I ask all parents to make a point of regularly visiting the College website and accessing the Parent Lounge to ensure that you are up to date with the many activities and events that we have planned.
The Innovation Centre is in the very final stages of construction and we hope to move students into these incredible facilities next week. We will also open the new parent drop off and pick up zone as well. In the morning, this zone will be a ‘Kiss and Drop’ area only with no parking. In the afternoon it will become a ‘Park and Pick Up’ area. I have included a map and further instruction in the newsletter and I ask all parents to familiarise themselves with the new procedure. I also ask families to note that due to the addition of a refuge island on Horizon Drive no stopping zones have been added in the vicinity of the new drop off and pick up zone.
Our first Whole College Chapel Services will take place next Tuesday 5 February at St Mary’s Anglican Church at which we will formally celebrate the commencement of the College year. We will also induct our Primary Student Leadership Team. All families are welcome. Please note that Kindergarten will attend the College as normal as it is too soon to add such a significant change to the newly established routine.
On Monday evening 11 February, we will hold the Parent Welcome and Information Evening commencing at 6.00pm. There will be an information session for each year group and an opportunity for parents to meet staff and ask questions about routines, programs and expectations. Parents will also have an opportunity to tour the Innovation Centre and new facilities. Following the information session, there is a wonderful opportunity for parents and staff to connect in a less formal setting over nibbles and refreshments in the Ezzy Centre. The evening concludes around 8.00pm. If you are a new parent to the College please ensure that you come along, as it will be a great opportunity for you to connect with parents within and beyond your children’s year group(s).
We have a number of new staff who have joined the highly talented and motivated EAC staff. We welcome:
- Michael Campbell – Science Teacher
- Randall Evans –Sport and Coaching Assistant
- Rachel Rynehart –RaVE Coordinator and Teacher
- Joe Mule –Learning Support Assistant
- Tina Thompson – Learning Support Assistant
Each of these people bring with them many gifts and talents and I am sure they will prove to be great assets to the College.
I am very much looking forward to meeting new families, catching up with current families and watching all our students grow and learn in 2019.
Mr Robert Tobias
Principal
Mr Randall Evans
Mrs Rachel Rynehart
Mr Joe Mule
Mrs Tina Thompson
TRAFFIC FLOW PROCEDURES - STUDENT DROP OFF AND PICK UP
Mid next week the newly constructed Drop Off and Pick Up zone will be opened for use. This will include additional car parking spaces and support the existing drop off zone. To ensure the safety of the children and to enable a smooth and efficient flow of traffic, I ask all parents to note the following operational procedures. I thank all uses in advanced for their support.
Mr Robert Tobias
Principal
- Please note the traffic flow directions. All traffic moves through the new and existing areas in one direction only.
- The new zone will be a ‘Kiss and Drop’ area is the morning. If you wish to park then either use an on site parking bay or park on the street.
- The new zone will be a Park and Pick Up area in the afternoon. A covered area has been constructed where parents can wait and this will become the Parent Pickup point each afternoon. Parents are asked to wait outside the fence in the covered area.
- The car park adjacent the Ezzy Centre is a reserved for staff only. Please do not use this area to drop off or pick up students.
- A pedestrian island has been added to Horizon Drive and both sides of the road adjacent to this have been declared no stopping zones.
Off the Deputy's Desk
There is an old adage in the sport of rowing that says that you never win a race at the start but you can almost surely lose a race if you get a poor one. I liken this adage to the start of a school year. Students can make a choice of how well they start by utilising the habits of mind such as striving for accuracy, thinking flexibly, remaining open to continuous learning and thinking interdependently among others. Whilst this list is not exhaustive our students need to be aware that an organized, business like start to the year will reap benefits further down the track when the academic pressure comes on.
One way that we aim to help our students with their organization is through planning assessment due dates and calendars. Mrs Boyd and the curriculum team have planned the assessment calendar out in full and these will be available early in the year. Thanks to the curriculum team for its work in expediting this process.
Equally as important for a good academic start are maintaining an organised student planner and locker. Our pastoral care teachers will be dedicating significant time to assisting students with this organization over the first few days of the school year. We have allowed more organizational time for all year levels across the secondary as this was seen as an area of need when we reviewed our start up processes.
However, the most important element of academic success is the attitude and mindset of each individual student. Having a growth mindset that is tuned to learning, seeing new possibilities and positive self-efficacy will stand our young people in good stead. A fixed mindset puts limits on individual ability and is a blocker to personal growth and achievement. Our teachers will be working hard to model and develop this growth mindset in our students this year.
Year 7 Girls
Year 7 Boys
Finally, I welcome all students back and hope that they take the time to develop goals for 2019 and find ways that each one of them can contribute to building and enhancing the culture of the school. The more you put into something the more you will get out of it rings true. When it comes to the analysis of student achievement data some research studies demonstrate a significant correlation between student academic results and standings and student extracurricular involvement. In other words, it would be wonderful to see many of our students involved in all of the activities on offer. There is something for everyone.
I hope that our students are excited to be back and I look forward to another exciting year of growth for our College community.
Mr Darren Parks
Deputy Principal
UPCOMING EVENTS
Week 2
Monday 4 February
Kindergarten commences
Kindergarten Parents Morning Tea-9.00 am-Library
Primary Football Trials
Tuesday 5 February
Whole College Chapel-Induction of Primary Leaders-9.00am –St Mary’s Anglican Church
Primary Football Trials
Wednesday 6 February
Secondary Basketball Trials
Elevate Study Skills Workshops-Years 11, 12
Thursday 7 February
Elevate Study Skills Workshops-Years 7-10
Elevate Study Skills Parent Workshop-Ezzy Centre-6.00pm
Primary Swimming Carnival-Ballina Pool
Friday 8 February
Secondary Swimming Carnival-Ballina Pool
Secondary Basketball Trials
Week 3
Monday 11 February
K-12 Parent Information Evening-6.00pm-Undercover Area
Tuesday 12 February
Primary Football Training
Whole College Assembly-Presentation of Swimming Age Champions and Champion Houses-9.00am-Undercover Area
Wednesday 13 February
Year 7 Camp-Thunderbird Park
Year 9 Camp-Camp Bornhoffen
NCIS Basketball Trials
NCIS Swimming Training
Thursday 14 February
Kindergarten My Child Interviews
Friday 15 February
Kindergarten My Child Interviews
NCIS Swimming Training
NCIS Basketball Trials
Year 7 Camp Returns
Year 9 Camp returns
Sports Update
Primary Sport Program & Welcome Mr Randall Evans
This year Primary sport lessons will have an increased focus on our key NCIS team sports. Plus the introduction of an interhouse competition for these sports for Year 3 to 6. The interhouse competition will be held to conclude each sport over a double lesson, with both classes from the grade participating. Term 1 will be a Soccer program followed by Netball. To deliver this program we welcome Mr Randall Evans to our team of staff. Mr Evans will be working with all classes from Kindergarten to Year 6.
NCIS Primary Football (Soccer) Trials
Year 5 & 6 students are invited to trial for the EAC team to compete at the NCIS soccer championships. Trials are on Monday 4th February and Tuesday 5th February from 7:15am to 8:30am. Parents need to provide permission for attendance on the Parent Lounge. Experienced coach Wendy Britton will be leading our football coaching team this year.
NCIS Secondary Basketball Trials
Secondary Students from Year 7 - 12 are invited to trial for the EAC Team to compete at the NCIS Basketball championships. We will be selecting both an U/15 and Open team for this event. Trials are being held on the following Dates & Times:
Girls: Wed 13th Feb at 7.15am to 8.30am
Boys: Fri 15th Feb at 7.15am to 8.30am
There will also be a catch up trial the following week at the same time. Parents need to provide permission for attendance on the Parent Lounge. We are fortunate to have North Coast Academy Coach Mr Nash Campbell leading our basketball coaching program again this year.
Key Sporting Dates Term 1 2019
| Event | Venue | Date |
| EAC Primary Swimming Carnival | Ballina | Thursday 7 February |
| EAC Secondary Swimming Carnival | Ballina | Friday 8 February |
| NCIS Hockey Trial Day | Grafton | Tuesday 19 February |
| NCIS Swimming Carnival | Alstonville | Thursday 28 February |
| NCIS Primary Football | Coffs Harbour | Tuesday 12 March |
| NCIS Secondary Basketball | Coffs Harbour | Tuesday 19 March |
| NSW CIS Primary Swimming | Sydney | Wednesday 20 March |
| EAC Cross Country | Ballina | Friday 29 March |
| NCIS Primary Netball | Tweed Heads | Wednesday 3 April |
EAC Swim Carnival Clinic (Alstonville Pool)
Blessed by some hot weather and use of the beautiful new Alstonville outdoor 50m swimming pool the Swim Clinic proved to be a success with 25 -30 students attending each training session. The clinic focused on improving the students swimming technique in all disciplines (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly) as well as their starts and finishes to a race. It was evident to the coaching staff that the swim technique/skills of the students improved over the course of the swim clinics. We look forwrad to watching the students use their new swim techniques and carnival racing skills to their advantage at school swimming carnival.
Chaplains Chat
Welcome back!
You know you’re of a certain age when that phrase brings to mind old American sitcoms, John Travolta before he developed Saturday Night Fever, and afros of enormous proportions. I am of that certain age!
It is wonderful to welcome you back:
back to the routine of school days, packed lunches, homework, uniforms, real shoes and no afternoon naps (as I said…I am of that certain age!). More than this, welcome back to the community of Emmanuel Anglican College as we look forward to another year of growing minds, bodies and friendships. In our staff Professional Development days, as we prepared for the year ahead, we looked at the Anglican Diocese of Grafton Schools Ethos Statement*. This document strives to give words and shape to the intangible thing we call the “Anglican Ethos”; that is the way that we work as a school that reflects and embraces the Christian, Anglican way of viewing the world.
Sometimes we can forget that the Anglican part of our title actually means something, that it stands for something. We can have a vague awareness that this is maybe why the students go to chapel, and that we have a College prayer. But being an Anglican school is so much more that simply this. It can shape the way we engage with words in the Bible, the way we speak about and understand who and what God might be, how we ask the big questions about the meaning of life and all its ups and downs. Most significantly, it shapes the students we have, bringing to the fore important qualities of love and compassion, kindness, forgiveness, a sense of service of others. We believe that the Anglican aspect of the education that we offer at EAC is vital in the shaping and nurture of our students into whole, thoughtful and contributing people.
If we ever wonder about the importance of a wholistic approach to education, I leave you with this, challenging and thought provoking piece written by a holocaust survivor.
Dear Teacher,
I am a survivor of a concentration camp.
My eyes saw what no men should witness:
gas chambers built by engineers; children poisoned by educated physicians; infants killed by trained nurses; women and babies shot and burned by high school graduates.
So, I am suspicious of your education.
My request is: help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns.
Reading, writing and arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more human.
We know that our students, your children, need more than knowledge, they need assistance in developing wisdom and compassion…and humanness.
It our privilege to partner with you in raising a generation of wise, loving and compassionate humans!
Every blessing for our year ahead.
Rev Sal.
College Chaplain
*The Anglican Diocese of Grafton Schools Ethos Statement is available on our website.
Canteen
Welcome to 2019
EAC Canteen operates 4 days a week: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, with special lunches on Tuesdays, canteen is open on Tuesdays for general sales at LUNCH only.
Canteen opens at 8.30am and the Menu is available on the EAC website www.eac.nsw.edu.au/publications/forms then scroll down to canteen forms or see below:
Special Lunches
SUSHI DATES: FEBRUARY 5 & 19, MARCH 5 & 19, APRIL 2
NOODLE BOX DATES: FEBRUARY 12 & 26, MARCH 12 & 26
SUBWAY DATES: APRIL 9
Sushi – Tuesday 5 February
Sushi from IGA will be available from the canteen next Tuesday 5 February. If you would like to order Sushi for your child’s lunch next Tuesday please complete the order form 
SUSHI ORDER FORM then attach your order to a paper bag with your payment enclosed. This should then be put in the canteen basket on Monday morning, 4 February.
Order forms will be sent home but are also available at the canteen, office or online.
PRIMARY LUNCH ORDERS
Please place the money in a paper bag of sufficient size to fit all of the lunch items. If you are ordering a drink with your child’s lunch please provide two (2) bags.
BAG 1: Name, Class, Teacher, Lunch Order (John Smith, 5A, Mr Falvey, 1 Junior Pie)
BAG 2: Name, Class, Drink/Cold Order (John Smith, 5A, Mr Falvey, 1 Orange Juice)
Any change required will be placed in the bag for return with the child’s lunch order.
Dates when help is required
February: 4, 7. 11, 18, 21 AM., 22, 25, 27,
March: 4, 7, 11, 14AM, 18, 21AM, 22, 25, 27
April: 1, 4, 8, 11
Christine Hall
Canteen Supervisor
0414 811 668
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