Term 2 | Week 13 | 8 May 2019
“You are the light of the world, A city built on a hill top cannot be hidden. No-one lights a lamp to put it under a bowl. In the same way your light must shine in the sight of all, so that, seeing your good works, they may give praise to God."
Matt 5:14-16
From The Principal
The importance of praising effort
For those familiar with golfing parlance, in big tournaments they often talk about the third round as ‘moving day’. It refers to the importance of securing a good position on the leader board at the end of the round as for key contenders, and most tournament winners, the third round sets them up for success on the final day of competition. At the assembly on the first day of term I spoke to the students about how I often think of Term 2 as the ‘academic term’ and how the good efforts made to complete class, home and assessment work set students up for academic success throughout the year. Parents often ask how they can support students with their learning and I thought I share with you something about the work of Professor Carol Dweck from Stanford University and the findings of her extensive research into the mindset of individuals and how what we value about learning impacts on their approach and success as learners.
Her studies highlighted that using praise that focused on effort and the process of learning, rather than the outcome, created better learners who achieved more of their potential. Praise focused on effort created an understanding in learners that:
- success in learning comes from hard work
- making mistakes is an important part of learning
- persistence is a core component of learning new concept
- The ‘struggle’ associated with learning is important in the process of mastery
- Taking on a challenge is the fun part of learning
She highlighted the fact that all of the great achievements in human history were made by people that worked incredibly hard, made lots of mistakes, failed many time but persisted and eventually achieved.
Her studies found that praise centred on results (Well done you scored perfect marks!) or ability (Well done you must be really good at maths) created a fear of failure, identified having to work hard to solve problems as a weakness and that learning is only difficult if you are not smart. The high expectations of success impacted negatively on their desire to take risks as a learner and therefore they achieved less of their potential.
Her advice to parents and teachers was to applaud hard work, celebrate effort, encourage students to keep struggling and working with difficult challenges and to acknowledge mistakes and failure as the first step towards learning and understanding.
Some tips for talking to children about learning
- Ask about the process they used to develop a project
- Praise the strategy used to tackle a problem
- Acknowledge the effort they put into an assignment
- Encourage them to keep working at something they haven’t mastered yet. Professor Dweck spoke a lot about using the word ‘yet’ as it suggest possibilities and potential.
- Congratulate their persistence
- Talk about what they have learned from their mistakes
Praising effort and valuing the processes of learning creates a love of learning and individuals who love learning achieve more of their potential.
A reminder to all our mums that there will be a special Mothers’ Day Morning Tea this Friday in the Ezzy Centre from 8.30 to 9.45. The Friends of EAC will be hosting and there will be some scrumptious cake and a cuppa, as well as some entertaining performances by various students groups. If you have 10 minutes to drop in and have chat, if would be great to see you there.
Mr Robert Tobias
Principal
Off the Deputy's Desk
Primary Peer Support starts this Friday and I am looking forward to getting out on Friday and watching the groups in action. Peer Support is such a worthy activity for a number of reasons. The Peer Support Program is a proven, preventative evidence-informed program which centres on peer-led interaction. The program benefits a whole-school culture and promotes leadership, wellbeing, positive relationships, resilience, and mental and social health.
Through working together for wellbeing, Peer Support Australia has provided Australian schools with the opportunity to create and maintain a positive school environment. The outcomes of which include:
• authentic leadership opportunities
• acquired leadership skills
• positive relationships
• improved wellbeing
• enhanced mental health
• increased student resilience
• improved social skills
I hope to share further news of our peer support activities throughout the term.
In the Secondary, Mr Holmes has organised a wonderful day of workshops for the Concert Band. Themed under 'My Band, Your Band, Our Band' Mr Holmes and his Tutors will be encouraging the teamwork aspect of playing in a band and reinforcing the responsibility that members have for one another and the performance of the band as a whole. Excellence in music takes commitment teamwork and a willingness to make marginal gains for improvement. A wise colleague of mine once stated that a school can put a volleyball team on a court and a soccer team on a field to play but you just can’t throw a band together at the last second and hope that it will perform in front of an audience. No disrespect to sport as I love sport but to gain excellence in music there needs to be a devotion to detail. I wish the Secondary Concert Band every success at its workshops next week.
Week 3 sees NAPLAN testing commence for the students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9. NAPLAN is an acronym that sometimes strikes fear into the hearts of students, parents and educators right across Australia. My premise is that we need to encourage our students to do the best they can at NAPLAN but this has to be kept into perspective by remembering children don’t need the enormous pressure and build up that the testing receives in the media. Let’s take a common sense approach and use the data not to compare students or schools but rather to help us gain further insights into how we can improve student learning in literacy and numeracy. We can analyse the data at a macro level to look at school trends in certain elements of the test and then we can also use the data at a micro level to look at individual students and performance in individual questions. Please keep a sense of balance and perspective when talking with your child regarding NAPLAN.
Our football teams have headed off to Armidale for NCIS Football and I thank the coaches for their efforts in preparing the teams. The sheer depth and breadth of the sporting opportunities that we offer is quite astounding. I wish our teams all the best for the tournament and hope that they play their best.
A reminder regarding car parking around the College. The staff car park is not designed to be a drop off area-we have a number of these. It is unsafe to drop your child here in this area. Also, please do not park in disabled parking or delivery spots as this can cause congestion should these need to be accessed by the appropriate persons.
On Saturday afternoon and evening a small yet hardy band of EAC students, staff and parents braved the rain to participate in Relay For Life. Due to the weather the conditions for the relay were a little uncomfortable; however, the effort was still there for all of our participants. We will be having a fundraising sausage sizzle this Friday with sausages and drinks being sold for $2.00 each and all profits will be donated to Relay for Life. Congratulations to EAC students and families who relayed with other community groups as well.
Lost property has become an issue recently so could I please ask parents to ensure that all items of uniform are named so that if handed in to front desk the items can be returned quickly. I would also ask parents to check their child’s uniform items and if they have any that belong to other students then these can be returned to their rightful owner. Things often get picked up by someone by mistake and it is only by checking that the rightful owner has their property returned.
Year 10 immunisations are next Monday. If you have a form at home for your child and you want them to be immunised please return it to the office ASAP. There will also be a catch up happening on Monday for Year 7 and Year 8 students who were absent when their needles were administered.
Finally, with Mother’s Day approaching this Sunday, I thank my Mum for everything that she has done for my brother and Iover the years. Her unconditional love and guidance can never be replaced. Happy Mother’s Day to all of our Mum’s out there in the EAC community. You are number 1 in the eyes of your children and your efforts make our community a better place.
Mr Darren Parks
Deputy Principal
Upcoming Events
Term 2 Week 3
Monday 13 May
Secondary Girls Touch Football Training-7.15am
CIS Primary Hockey
Year 10 Immunisations-Ezzy Centre-9.00am
Tuesday 14 May
NAPLAN Testing-Year 3-Writing and Reading, Year 5-Writing, Year 7-Writing, Year 9-Writing
Cross Country/Athletics Training-3.10-4.10pm
Secondary Chapel
Wednesday 15 May
Secondary Band and Ensemble Workshop
HSC Kick-start Workshop-Chemistry and Physics
NAPLAN -Years 3,5,7,9 Catch Up Writing
Thursday 16 May
NAPLAN Testing-Year 5 Reading, Year 7 Reading
Friday 17 May
NCIS Cross Country at Lennox Head
Kindergarten Farm Excursion
Secondary Boys Touch Football Training-7.15am
Athletics Training-7.15am
Term 2 Week 4
Monday 20 May
Secondary Girls Touch Football Training-7.15am
Athletics Training-Sprints and Throws-7.15am
NAPLAN Testing-Year 3 Language Conventions; Year 5 Language Conventions; Year 9-Reading
Tuesday 21 May
Primary Boys and Girls Touch Football Training-7.15am
Cross Country/Athletics Training-3.10-4.10pm
Primary Chapel-9.00am-Discovery Centre
NAPLAN Testing-Year 7 Language Conventions, Year 9 Language Conventions
Wednesday 22 May
NAPLAN Testing-Year 3-Numeracy; Year 5 Numeracy
Lizard Island Trip Information Night-6.30pm-Library
Thursday 23 May
NAPLAN Testing-Year 7 Numeracy; Year 9 Numeracy
Friday 24 May
Secondary Boys Touch Football Training-7.15am
Athletics Training-Sprints and Jumps-7.15am
Secondary Sport
Silver and Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Adventure-Bronze returns Sat 245 May. Silver returns Sunday 26 May.
Chaplains Chat
I’ve been searching for the word to describe the phenomenon of living in our world at the moment. I’ve found some, but none are really appropriate for polite conversation.
Our news feeds have been full of terrible, awful matters for so long, but the past month seems to have been back to back tragedy and pain. We have seen attacks on places of worship of all faiths around the world, brutal and senseless acts that serve only bring pain and create fear. At the same time, we are now at week three of our Federal Election campaign. The experience of this campaign is akin to watching a Punch and Judy show, rather predictable, lots of shouting and not always a lot of sense being spoken. Just hang on in and hopefully there may be a democracy sausage for all of us come the day. Whilst it is important to be aware of the varying party’s stance on policy, that’s not what has been of concern to me this time around. I am deeply disturbed by the rate at which politicians are falling to the side because of comments made, generally on social media, but others in more broad media format. Comments that have seen them step down or be removed from the running.
I am a huge proponent of freedom of speech. I remember my high school English classroom had a poster on the wall that declared “I may not agree with what you say but I will fight for your right to say it”. I also remember feeling betrayed when a fellow class mate took that statement to its fullest meaning and said something decidedly inappropriate, and was duly punished. I questioned my teacher about this and his response has stayed with me all these years.
Freedom of speech does not equate to freedom from consequences.
As I have grown (ok aged) I see more and more each day the harm that opinion shared as fact does. I believe I have the right to say that I am a Christian, I believe that God has standards for our life, and I believe there are consequences for choosing to turn our back on these standards. I do not believe that I have the right to tell you what you should be thinking and believing. I do not believe that I have the right to label you as a terrorist, a lay about or some other pejorative term if you do not share that belief with me. Further to this, as a follower of Christ I do not see a place for racism, sexism, homophobia, or any other kind of speech, thought or action that leads to hate and harm for another.
I will take it one step further; I do not see any support for such behavior in the scriptures. At all. Ever.
I might also add that I find it fascinating that those who feel safe to tell others they are going to hell tend to focus on sexual behavior, which is essentially barely mentioned by Jesus, rather than on matters of caring for others, being generous in our care of the widow, the orphan and the stranger in the land (=refugee). Jesus frequently speaks of the danger of valuing ourselves so highly we bring harm to the other, he is most furious when the haves look down upon the have nots – reminding us all that this is our responsibility to seek for equality and to lift up the down trodden. And man, do not get him started on those who use their position of power to obstruct, constrain and oppress others. Funnily enough, such things are rarely the material of the memes of the self-righteous.
It worries me that there are those among the leaders and the powerful in our country who believe that words carry no weight. I can say what I like and I do not have to be held to those words tomorrow.
It worries me the most because I am seeing this attitude amongst some of our children. Our soon to be adults. It is not ok to say something, or write something mean, rude or offensive and expect to be absolved of responsibility by simply saying ‘Just joking’.
We teach our kindergarten students the importance of using kind words. We teach (hopefully) our children to say please, thank you and hopefully we teach them to show gratitude. Sometimes we all blurt out things that we should not have (Yup, putting my hand up for this), but this is when our true character shows, for this is when humility kicks in and we need to learn to say:
I WAS WRONG.
I am sorry.
I was out of line.
I’m wondering if I should have been teaching my children to say please, thank you and I was wrong, I am sorry….and really mean it. Of course we can only teach this if we are also living it, modeling it.
As we come to vote for our government, I would invite you to pray for all our leaders; political and otherwise, that we might all look out for the other, that we might all live humbly, with honesty and compassion for all.
Peace
Rev Sal
Sports Update
NSW CIS Swimming
NCIS Football (Soccer) Championships
EAC was represented by 60 enthusiastic soccer players at the NCIS Football championships in Armidale on Tuesday this week. The team travelled out the day before with a training session in the afternoon and an overnight stay in the New England Girls School boarding house. The tournament was played held at The Armidale School (TAS), it was a perfect day for soccer with clear skies, warm conditions and fantastic playing fields. Our teams have been training since the start of the school year with our team of coaches, Mr Brenton, Mrs McClelland and Mrs Britton. All their training payed off, all our teams performing very well on the day.
Overall Results were
NCIS Football Team Selections
- Jayden Thompson
- Alexander Fleeting
- Lachlan Mumford
- Stella Atkinson
- Emily Fleeting
- Emmaliesse Ulriksen
Mr Graham Walker
Sport and Coaching Administrator
From The Office
EARN & LEARN
Help us get new equipment and resources with your stickers collected from Woolworths. We have Earn & Learn collection boxes located in the students reception at the College and also at Woolworths at Ballina Fair and River St Ballina.
2nd hand uniform shop
The secondhand uniform shop will be closed on Tuesday 14 May 2019.
Study Tour 2020
Australia's Great Barrier Reef
Emmanuel Anglican College is planning a research experience at the Lizard Island Research Station, a facility of the Australian Museum, in the April 2020 School Holidays (20 to 27 April 2020). The Lizard Island Research Station is a world-leading supplier of on-reef facilities for coral reef research and education, located on the northern Great Barrier Reef (270 km north of Cairns, Queensland), a ruggedly beautiful island that provides access to numerous habitats and exceptional biological diversity. The Lizard Island Research Station provides all the necessary facilities for a successful, safe and exciting field trip.
To be able to organise this tour we need to determine if there is sufficient student interest. To assist in helping students and families make this decision, we will be holding an information evening on Wednesday 22 May at 6:30 pm in the Joan Pickup Library.
If Interested, please see the attached Expression of Interest form and return it to Dr Justine Jacob by Tuesday 14 May.
Canteen
EAC Canteen opens at 8.30am and 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 here:
Noodle Box – Tuesday 14 May
Noodle Box from Ballina Fair, will be available from the canteen next Tuesday, 14 May. If you would like to order Noodle Box for your child’s lunch next Tuesday please complete the order form found here:
Please print then attach your order to a paper bag with your payment enclosed. This should then be put in the canteen basket on Monday morning, 13 May .
Help is Required in the Canteen
May: 13, 15 am, 16, 20, 23, 27, 30
June: 3, 13, 14 AM, 17, 19AM< 20, 24, 26,
July: 1
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. Please remind your child to place their lunch/recess bag in the class tub NOT directly to the canteen.
PLEASE DO NOT STAPLE / TAPE BAGS CLOSED, FOLDED IN 4 APPEARS TO WORK WELL
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.
Christine Hall
Canteen Supervisor
0414 811 668