"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
John 10:10
From The Principal
House Based Pastoral Care system to be introduced to the Secondary School
Following on from the feedback provided by the ‘Towards 2030’ community survey, the secondary welfare leadership team have been exploring ways to better meet the wellbeing and character development needs of the students while also supporting a growing student enrolment. As a result, the Secondary School Pastoral Care System will be restructured and will become a House based system, commencing in 2021.
This will include the introduction of four ‘Leader of House’ positions, which will replace the existing three ‘Stage Coordinator’ roles. It will also see the creation of ‘vertical Pastoral Care’ groups, with 24 students in each Pastoral Care group made up of four students from each year level. The weekly Wellbeing lesson will take place in year group based classes. Subject lessons will remain year group based for each year level.
The new model creates an enormous number of opportunities to support student wellbeing, grow student character and build community. The House system will:
- Enable the Leader of House to build up a relationship with a family which is maintained as the students in that family progress through the secondary school.
- Greatly enhance House identity, culture and spirit. There are so many opportunities for inter-House activity across all facets of College life.
- Bring together students from all year groups and provide opportunities for the senior students to model good learning habits and behaviour.
- Strengthen opportunities for leadership, role modelling and peer mentoring.
The Wellbeing lesson educational program has been created to support student development across a range of age appropriate and relevant topics including right relationships, cyber-safety, study skills, transition (to high school, to senior school, post school), community service and involvement, to support positive mental health as well as targeting particular character trait and values development including respect, independence, resilience and justice.
This is a very exciting initiative and one that will provide enormous benefit to the students, strengthen House spirit and build community across the Secondary School.
Mr Robert Tobias
Principal
Off the Deputy's Desk
As the term begins to take shape, it is important to wish our Year 11 students all the best as they commence their HSC courses. Two Wednesday evenings ago, at the conclusion of Year 11 Parent Teacher Interviews, we hosted a Q and A session for parents. This was well attended and the parents asked some great questions to a panel of staff who were available to assist them with their enquiries.
Service learning is an important element in the development of student character and it is vital for our students to realise that service is far more than donating money. Giving your time is the most committed and valuable form of service. Jade Harris in Year 10 has recently achieved a Silver Lighthouse Service Award for achieving 75 hours of community service. Jade has volunteered at school and in the community and is to be commended on her commitment to service. Congratulations to Jade on her extraordinary efforts. Students in the secondary school should ensure that they record and get signed off, all elements of community service that they are involved in.
The operation of a constitutional democracy and social justice are key passions of Scarlett Donovan in Year 11. As SRC President, Scarlett was our natural choice to represent EAC at the NSW Schools Constitutional Convention, being held this week via Zoom. Congratulations Scarlett and we hope that you enjoy your experience in this field.
It is an opportune time to start talking about planning for end of year special events. Unfortunately, due to COVID 19 restrictions, many of our end of year events will look very different in 2020. We will write in the near future regarding new details of these and how they will look. This will mean that Christmas Concert and Presentation Days will not occur in their traditional format this year. We crave your understanding with regards to this and assure families that we will do all we can to ensure that key junctures in schooling will be celebrated in a COVID safe manner.
Finally, keep encouraging your children to give their best effort at all times in class, bring their best selves to school each day and to find the positives in each learning opportunity that they receive. It is important that each student strives to have a successful conclusion to the school year, all the while remembering that success doesn’t always equal straight A’s for academic results.
Mr Darren Parks
Deputy Principal
Reminders
Student Supervision
Supervision of students does not commence until 8.15am. Staff will not supervise students who arrive at the College before this time. Supervision ends at 4.10pm.
Buses
Buses run to timetables and it is impossible for us to hold buses for students who are late or not focusing upon the time. Staff let students out in adequate time to catch the bus.
Driving Around Schools
Please keep your speed down in the carpark and around the school zones near the College. Being late or in a hurry is not an excuse for compromising the safety of your child, my child or anyone else’s child.
School Excursions and Sport
Please ensure that you read and give permission, where applicable, for all variations to College routine. We communicate extensively with parents regarding these events and if permission is required it is always given via the Parent Lounge.
Secondary Sport on Fridays
All students in Years 7-10 are expected to attend the sport that they have been placed in. Rolls are marked at the commencement of sport and this is important given that many students are travelling offsite and we need to account for each student.
Sports Uniform in Secondary
Sports uniform can be worn only on Fridays and on days that students have PDHPE practical lessons. It is not a substitute for day uniform. We have allowed this practice to continue due to COVID 19 and it has worked well but it also requires trust that students do not abuse the privilege by trying to circumvent uniform expectations.
Term 4 Week 4
Monday 2 November
Under 15 Girls Touch Football Training - 7.30-8.30am - Oval
HSC Examinations
Tuesday 3 November
Under 15 Boys Rugby 7’s Training - 7.30-8.30am - Oval
Primary Chapel - 9.08am - Sent out as a recording
Open Boys Cricket Training - 10.48am-11.18am - Nets
HSC Examinations
Wednesday 4 November
Secondary Chapel - 8.48am - Sent out as a recording
Secondary Boys Basketball Training - 10.48-11.18am - Courts
HSC Examinations
Thursday 5 November
Secondary Chapel - 8.48am - Sent out as a recording
HSC Examinations
Friday 6 November
Secondary Girls Basketball Training - 10.48-11.18am - Courts
Open Cricket and Open Netball vs Xavier - 10.30am-3.00pm - Cricket; Netball - 1.00pm-3.00pm
Secondary Sport - Years 7-10 - Periods 5 and 6
HSC Examinations
Term 4 Week 5
Monday 9 November
NAIDOC Week
Under 15 Girls Touch Football Training - 7.30-8.30am
Year 6 Interrelate
HSC Examinations
Tuesday 10 November
Under 15 Rugby 7’s Training - 7.30-8.30am
Primary Assembly - NAIDOC Week
Secondary Assembly - NAIDOC Week
NCIS Primary Basketball - 6.00am-6.00pm - Coffs Harbour
Year 5 Interrelate
Open Boys Cricket Training - 10.48-11.18am - Nets
Friends Meeting - Via Zoom - Time TBC
HSC Examinations
Wednesday 11 November
Secondary Boys Basketball Training
Remembrance Day Service - Pre recorded and played at 11.00am
HSC Examinations
Thursday 12 November
HSC Examinations
Induction of 2021 College Leaders and Year 11 Presentation Ceremony - 9.00am-St Mary’s Anglican Church - Compulsory for all Year 11 students
Tobias Marquardt Cup EAC vs LAGS @ EAC - 12.30-6.00pm
Year 7 2021 Information Evening Q and A Session - 6.30pm - Via Zoom
Friday 13 November
Year 12 Sign Out Day
Concert Band Performance Day
Secondary Girls Basketball Training - 10.48-11.18am
Under 14 Basketball vs Xavier - 1.00pm - Courts
Secondary Sport - Periods 5 and 6
Sports Update
It has been fantastic for our students to be able to play some representative sport this term. After a challenging year, they are really enjoying the opportunity to get out on the courts and fields.
Mr Graham Walker
Sport and Coaching Administrator
NCIS Tennis Championships
The College Tennis Team competed at the NCIS Tennis Championships in Grafton recently. The competition was well attended by the schools in the association. EAC had the largest team on the day and was represented in all six divisions: Primary Boys and Girls, Under 15 Boys and Girls and Open Boys and Girls.
Our team performed very well against some strong competition. We were the best performing school overall, winning three out of six divisions.
Primary Boys Champion: Paco Schultheiss
U15 Boys Champion: Oscar Parker
Open Girls Champion: Sylvie Peart
Other strong performances were:
Runner up Open Boys: Finley Parker
Semi Finalists: Chris Weingarth, Ella Peart, Ziggy Kowalski, Skye Maclean
Congratulations to all our tennis players who were great representatives of our school, with great sportsmanship and performance.
Secondary Inter School Basketball
On Friday 23 October, our Under 14 Basketball teams played games against Xavier Catholic College at EAC. With the first game starting at lunchtime, there was an enthusiastic crowd of EAC supporters in attendance to watch the game. Our teams played well and enjoyed the afternoon of basketball. The Xavier teams were strong and won both games well. Stand out players for EAC were Olivia Mills and Abe Tasker. Thank you to Bailey Wilson and Nkosi Malaba from Year 9 for refereeing the matches. The teams are looking forward to more games against Richmond Christian College and Xavier later in the term.
Inter School Rugby 7's & Touch Football
Last Friday EAC hosted Xavier College for Rugby 7's for Under 15 boys and Touch Football for Under 15 girls. In the first game of their season both teams played well and learnt a lot from the experience.
Xavier won both of the Rugby 7's games 6 tries to 1 in the first, but the EAC boys improved in the second game to hold Xavier to 2 tries to 1. Stand out players for EAC were Ethan Jenkins and Ryan Neilson. Try scorers were Atzin Matuz-Jacobson and Jackson Bond. Thank you to Mr Jenkins and Mr Jukes for coaching the boys.
The girls' touch football was an exciting game with plenty of great attacking opportunities for both teams with Xavier winning 3-0. For EAC Lily Smith, Taylah Ledingham and Lily Boyd all had very strong games. Thanks to Mr Evans for coaching the girls.
Primary Inter School Basketball
Last Tuesday EAC hosted Richmond Christian College and Holy Family Skennars Head for a fun day of inter school basketball. The games were played at the Ballina Indoor Sports Centre. EAC had four teams of Year 5 and Year 6 boys and girls playing. All the students had a great time, enjoyed representing their school and improved their basketball skills during the day. Thank you to Mr Christensen, Mr Evans and Miss Coghill for coaching the teams on the day. Thank you also to Bailey Wilson and Nkosi Malaba for refereeing.
This event was also the final selection trial for our NCIS primary basketball teams who will travel to Coffs Harbour to compete in week 5. Congratulations to the following students who have been selected: Cooper Bahadur, George Lee, Lucas Bazzana, Rory Neaves, Henry Fleeting, Brighton Wilson, Lennox Broadley, Angus Carter, Hayden Kelvin, Nick Ford, Katie Smith, Takiyah James, Charlotte Thompson, Sarah Vanem, Zoe Campbell, Abigail Matthews, Bella Delaney, Martha Atkinson, Amelia Atkinson and Stella Payne.
Primary Swimming K-3
Last week the Kindy to Year 3 Primary students were involved in Week 2 of the EAC school swimming program at the Alstonville Pool.
The K to Year 3 swimming program focussed on water familiarity and for the more proficient swimmers stroke correction based on ability levels.
We have been blessed with warm weather and some great swimming teachers which ensured there were lots of smiles and fun for students at the pool. It was evident that all students demonstrated improvement in either their water familiarity or swim stroke proficiency.
A big thank you goes out to the Primary teachers for their class organisation and assistance during the week.
Mr Randall Evans
Sport Coach & Duke of Edinburgh Leader
Secondary News
Year 8 Food Tech
Recently our Year 8 Food Tech students were the last to cook in the old S1 kitchen before renovations commenced. Nachos was a big hit with the students!
Ms Julianne Crichton
Secondary Teacher - Food Technology
Primary Update
Primary Pick Up Area Procedures
The Primary Pick Up area at the Primary gate is a busy place from 3pm. Please note that our policy is not to allow students to leave through the gate until the teacher on duty has sighted the student's parents. Whilst this can slow down the process, it is for the safety and protection of the students.
Early Arrivals
Please note that supervision of students is not provided before 8.15am. This term, we have noticed an increase in the number of students arriving before this time. If students are on site before 8.15am, they are to sit in the Primary Undercover Area until the teacher arrives on duty at 8.15am.
Primary Assembly - Term 4, Week 3
Book Week
Last Friday was Book Week Parade here at EAC and whilst the event looked a little different this year, the students looked wonderful in their costumes and teachers were very enthusiastic in portraying the 2020 Book Week theme 'Curious Creatures, Wild Minds'.
Mr Wayne Cross
Director of Primary
First Lego League - Year 6
Year 6 First Lego League team (Exercise for a Prize) have been busily refining their Robot Design, Robot Game and Innovation Project in preparation for the FLL Challenge at Merrimac State High School, on Saturday 7th November.
Rory Neaves
Lennox Broadley
Jayden Matthews
George Lee
Annie Peart
Katie Smith
Sarah Jacobs
Hugh Brandon
Nicolas Ford
Will Shepherd
We wish them all the very best for the day and look forward to hearing about their experiences.
Mrs Julie Beavis
STEM Teacher
Kindergarten Incursion
Last week Kindergarten enjoyed an afternoon of tennis fun with the ANZ Tennis Hotshots team. We practised some cool skills and were given our very own tennis racket to take home. Thank you to all those involved in organising a great opportunity.
Ms Baker and Mrs Smith
Early Learning Centre News
Pattern blocks enable young children to develop a range of dispositions for learning such as curiosity and creativity as well as develop skills and processes such as experimentation and inquiry. Pattern blocks are a resource Early Childhood Educators use with intention to create, identify and extend patterns. Children can use and identify the many relationships among the pieces to explore fractions, angles, transformations, patterning, symmetry and measurement. We can sort, we can explore 2D and 3D concepts and we can share our findings with each other as we work - either independently or collaboratively.
Book Week Parade
Early Learning Centre Coordinator
From the Office
Lost Property
There are a number of watches that have been handed in to the EAC Front Office as lost property. If your child is missing a watch, please come and see if it has been handed in.
Canteen
Canteen Stock - end of year
With the college year coming to an end, I will be cutting back on my ordering so that excess stock is not being held over the Christmas break.
This will begin in week six, 16 November. I will keep you posted on the availability of items through this newsletter. I will post what is no longer available and what stock I am running low on.
I will always have available fresh items such as sandwiches, rolls etc but will also guarantee dino nuggets and junior pies.
Thank you for your continuing support of the canteen in 2020.
The Canteen menu for Term 4 is below for your information and is also available on the College website.
All orders must be received at the canteen before 9.15am.
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 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 RECESS, you must have a separate recess bag.
RECESS: Name, Teacher, PC Class, Recess Order
John Smith, Mr Falvey, 3A
Recess
Cheesymite Scroll
Pack Sultanas, Small
LUNCH BAG 1: Name, Teacher, PC Class, Lunch Order
John Smith, Mr Falvey, 3A,
Lunch
1 Snack Pie
LUNCH BAG 2: Name, Teacher, PC Class, Drink Order
John Smith, Mr Falvey, 3A,
Lunch
1 Orange Juice
Any change required will be placed in the bag for return with the lunch order.
Christine Hall
Canteen Coodinator