Term 2 | Week 7 | 13 June 2019
“And something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire, these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” Acts 2:4
From The Principal
I wish to share with you a phone call I had last week from a member of our community regarding a couple of our senior students.
Last Thursday, a call came through from a lady who lived in Lennox who wanted to speak with me about a couple of our senior students. She explained that on Wednesday afternoon she was sitting at Sydney Airport waiting to catch her flight back to Ballina. While sitting in the departure lounge she received a very sad call to say that a close relative had died unexpectedly and in tragic circumstances. She said that at first she was quite shocked and then, as the gravity of the news sunk in, she became very upset. To add to her distress, she was also travelling alone which made the situation even more difficult. Much to her surprise, two girls in EAC uniforms approached her, asked if they could help, sat down with her and consoled her. The lady said that one of the students went and bought some tissues and water from a nearby shop, while the other stayed with her and supported her. By chance the two girls were catching the same flight and one of the students even asked if she could move her seat so as to sit with the women during the flight. When they arrived at Ballina Airport, the women was planning to catch a taxi back to Lennox but the girls insisted she travel home with one of them, which she did.
In the conversation the lady said many times that she was so incredibly grateful for the support of the girls. She said that they showed such amazing maturity, compassion and sensitivity. She could not speak more highly of the impression the girls had left on her about the quality of their school and their families in raising such fine people. The two students were Year 12 girls Matilda Winchester and Mackenzie Woods who had both travelled to Sydney to participate in the NSW Parliament Young Leaders program. I am so proud of Matilda and MacKenzie and also very humbled by their capacity to reach out to someone in their moment of need and provide them with such great support.
On Tuesday of this week, we were blessed with very kind weather so that we could take the annual Whole College Photo. The College is 21 years old and remarkably we have a photo of the Whole College for each year of operation. This year there were more than 720 students from Early Learning through to Year 12 and almost 100 staff in the photo. The journey of the College from 16 students and 2 staff on the first day to today is nothing short of amazing. I wish to congratulate all the students on their cooperation during the set up for the photo as logistically it is quite a challenge to arrange students for the snapshot.
While most of us were relaxing over the long weekend, 10 of our senior students spent four days trekking and canoeing through the Clarence Valley as part of their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award Adventurous Journey. The self improvement award is demanding at every level, but this is particularly true of the Gold Award. This expedition is one of two they must undertake along with the other components of the Awards which includes community service, developing both a physical and non physical skill and a participation in a residential project. The feedback from the student about the trip was incredibly positive. A huge thank you to Mrs Felicity Regan and Dr Justine Jacob for giving up their long weekend to accompany students on the journey. Their generosity and enthusiasm is greatly appreciated by all involved with the program.
Mr Robert Tobias
Principal
Off the Deputy's Desk
For those of you who follow AFL you would be aware that Collingwood vs Melbourne on the Queen’s Birthday weekend is one of the biggest games of the home and away season. In recent years it has been made bigger by the introduction of ‘The Big Freeze’-a fundraiser where famous sporting identities go down a giant slide into icy water to raise funds for research into Motor Neurone Disease. The man who invented the concept of the ‘Big Freeze’ is Neale Daniher, who is suffering the inexorable march of MND through his body. Neale was a great player for Essendon and a highly respected coach of Melbourne. Known as ‘The Reverend’ for his eloquent and sometimes passionate pre game addresses to his charges, Daniher was never short of a motivational speech. To watch his speeches to both teams who play in this match brings tears to your eyes, such is the respect that this person engenders no matter what your footy colours are. However, whilst his deeds as coach and player equate to legend status in the AFL it is his achievements outside the game that have made him more of a legend as he puts his own suffering to the side to tirelessly raise funds for research into MND and to support others who are suffering from this insidious disease. Daniher embodies that very rare human quality of presence-the ability to put yourself second. In a society where the rights of the individual far outweigh their responsibilities, Daniher shows that by helping others and not dwelling on his own suffering how truly uplifting community service can be. I strongly urge all members of our community to consider trying to adopt the concept of putting others first and ourselves second, there would no doubt be much for us to gain.
He is also incredibly optimistic and finds the silver lining in a terrible personal situation. For our students, optimism is a great thing. They each have so much to live for and so many unique gifts although they often don’t see this themselves. As parents, we can encourage our children to be optimistic and see the silver lining even if they fail a test, don’t make a sporting team, have a call go against them on the netball court. A positive, optimistic individual is able to find the resilience in their heart to fight through adversity and come out the other side of a potentially negative situation, treating it as a learning experience rather than a giant setback.
As teachers, we can support optimism and positivity in our students by creating an environment where they are supported to take risks and feel free to sometimes fail. Recently, I challenged the staff to find positives in our students and hopefully there will be a number of students receiving positive postcards in the mail as a result of their efforts in the classroom or around the College. As we move towards the end of term and people become tired the need to be upbeat is essential for our students if they are to have a great finish to the term.
Last Thursday night our Secondary SRC members certainly demonstrated presence by serving the College community admirably with their efforts in the Secondary Social. The prime objective of a Secondary Social is for students to enjoy themselves and if we make some money to donate to charity then that is a bonus. I want to publicly thank the SRC members for their servant leadership last Thursday night by giving up their personal time so that other students could have an enjoyable night. I really appreciated their efforts and I hope that the students felt the same.
Mr Darren Parks
Deputy Principal
Sports Update
Finnigan Robinson and Kalani Franklin Selected to Represent NSW in Hockey
Congratulations to Finnigan Robinson and Kalani Franklin from Year 6 who have been selected to represent NSW in Hockey. Kalani and Finnigan spent three days last week competing at the NSW PSSA Hockey Championships. The boys were representing NSW CIS at the championships, which were held in Goonellabah.
In a fantastic competition, the NSW CIS team were runners up going down in the grand final (2-0) to a strong Sydney North Team. Kalani Franklin was the team captain for the NSW CIS team and scored multiple goals in attack. While Finnigan was very strong in his defensive role, with fantastic positional play. Having the event locally was fantastic for our families and I was fortunate to be able to go out to watch the grand final. I was very proud to be watching our boys who displayed great skill, team play and sportsmanship.
Based on their outstanding performance at the championships both boys were selected in the NSW team. Amazingly, this is the third year in a row that Kalani has been selected to represent NSW. Kalani and Finn will travel to Bendigo in Victoria to represent NSW at the School Sport Australia Hockey Championship in August. Well done boys and best of luck at the National Championships.
NSW CIS Secondary Football (Soccer) Championships
Well done to Charlotte Kean (Year 9), Emmaliesse Ulriksen (Year 11), Lachlan Mumford (Year 11) and Jayden Thomson (Year 11) who travelled to Sydney in to compete in the NSW CIS Secondary Football Championships. The students were representing NCIS the competition that was held over two days at Valentine Park the home base for Football NSW. The standard of play at this competition is very high and although the NCIS teams did not win any games, they were competitive in each one. Thank you to Mr Mason Brenton who attended the championships with the students as a team coach for NCIS.
Gold Duke of Edinburgh Adventurous Journey
Over the long weekend our Gold Duke of Edinburgh students completed the first of their Adventurous Journey's for the year. This year we have ten Year 11 students completing their Gold Duke of Ed Award: Josephine Carey, Abigail Hanna, Thomas Lane, Grace Liebmann, Isabella McMahon, Jade Monti, Brianna Nay, Alanah Osborne, Blake Stewart and Lara Truman.
The students were accompanied on the trip by Mrs Jacob, Mrs Regan and leaders from Scouts NSW including Mr Ian Hale. I would like to sincerely thank these staff members and Mr Hale for giving their time to take the students on the trip.
The adventurous journey was a four day, three-night trip where students travelled under their own steam and cooked all their own food. Based on the Clarence River the group spent the first two days hiking up river and then two days canoeing back down the river. Camping out along the river overnight. The students and staff enjoyed the experience, exploring this beautiful part of our country.
These are to be commended on their efforts completing the Duke of Ed program while they are doing senior years of study. Apart from the Adventurous Journey these students are also completing weekly community service, a skill based activity and a physical activity. Well done and keep up your great work.
Mr Graham Walker
Sport and Coaching Administrator
Primary Inter house Netball
The Primary School Inter-house Netball Tournament was held on 10 and 11 April.
Congratulations to all the Year 3 to 6 Primary school students who participated in this event, all staff were particularly impressed with the high skill level demonstrated after only 4 weeks of Netball sport lessons as well as the level of house spirit, sportsmanship, kindness and respect shown to teammates, the opposition and referees.
A netball tournament such as this one requires referees and therefore a special mention goes out to our head referee (and former school captain) Sarah Coghill and our volunteer netball umpires from Yr 8, 10 and 11 (Paige Wilkie, Letia Paton, Stella Atkinson, Lara Atkinson & Lola Saul). Particularly Paige & Letia who umpired throughout both days of the tournament.
The Inter-house Netball Tournament point scores are detailed below:
Yr 3 House Point Scores
4th Place: Brockington
3rd Place: Purcival
2nd Place Walker
1st Place: Smith
Yr 4 House Point Scores
4th Place: Walker
3rd Place: Smith
2nd Place: Brockington
1st Place: Purcival
Yr 5 House Point Scores
4th Place: Purcival
3rd Place: Walker
2nd Place: Brockington
1st Place: Smith
Yr 6 House Point Scores
4th Place: Smith
3rd Place: Walker
2nd Place: Brockington
1st Place: Purcival
Overall Combined Netball Tournament House Points
In 4th Place on 12 pts was Walker;
In 3rd Place on 16 pts was Brockington;
There was a tie between (Smith & Purcival) on Points for 1st & 2nd (The final result was based on Overall total number of goals scored across all Yr 3– 6 netball games for each house)
In 2nd Place was Purcival (29 goals)
In 1st Place with 37 goals and the winners of the 2019 Primary School Inter-house Netball Tournament Trophy was Smith house.
Early Learning Centre News
Young children are often enthusiastic helpers and assisting with real and meaningful tasks inspires a sense of importance. This enthusiasm provides a wonderful opportunity for adults to guide and model the necessary skills and tool use in order to successfully complete tasks. When tasks are repeated in an authentic manner, valuable skills and knowledge become embedded and children can transfer this from one context to another.
At the Early Learning Centre there is a high expectation that children take part in many routine tasks. Children assist with the setting up and packing away of learning environments, with bed making, wiping tables and setting these for meal time. Children are also responsible for watering the gardens, sorting waste, tumbling the compost and picking leaves for pots of tea.
ELC Director
Primary News
Looking after our environment
The SRC have decided to have a mufti day for K-6 on Friday, 21 June for the Primary school.
The idea behind the day is to raise awareness of looking after the environment so that we have a future. Students would be wearing what they would like to be in their future job. The SRC are putting up posters in various locations around the primary school. There is no donation required.
Mr Paul Christensen
Leader of Welfare - 4-6/Year 4 Teacher
Friends of Emmanuel
SAVE THE DATE
24 August 2019 - Trivia Night
1 November 2019 - Freaky Friday
More information to come in future newsletters.
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:
Term 2 Special Lunch Orders
Sushi: 18 June
Noodle Box : 25 June
Subway: 2 July
Sushi – Tuesday 18 June
Sushi from IGA, will be available from the canteen next Tuesday, 18 June. If you would like to order Sushi for your child’s lunch next Tuesday please complete the order form found here
then attach your order to a paper bag with your payment enclosed. This should then be put in the canteen basket on Monday morning, 17 June.
DATES WHERE HELP IS REQUIRED:
June: 13AM, 14AM, 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
Can you help in the canteen?
Community News
