I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10
From The Principal
On Saturday, EAC hosted the Northern Rivers Division of the First Lego League Challenge. There were 22 teams from schools all over the region, including three from the Gold Coast who were involved in the day. The challenge has two components. Firstly, the team must design, build and program a EV3 robot to complete a number of pre-determined challenges that include navigating a course and interacting with items and obstacles. The second part of the challenge involves researching an issue and developing an innovative solution to improve the current situation. It was an amazing day and simply inspiring to see the students working collaboratively and learning from one another in order to solve challenges. All of the teams displayed excellent team work and were innovative and creative in the ways they approach the various problems before them. It was also lots of fun and quite exciting to see the teams go head to head in the robotics challenge. Congratulations to our Year 6 team, who were trophy winners on the day and will travel next week to Brisbane to compete in the Queensland State Championships.
A huge thank you to Mrs Lee Boyd and Ms Jo Spring who coordinated the day and to all of the staff, students, parents and volunteers who gave up their Saturday to support the event. Thanks to the Friends of EAC and a special mention goes to Mr Chris McCotter who was the MC for the day and came dressed in character at Doc Emmett Brown from Back to the Future fame. A big thank you also to Mrs Tina Cahill and Mrs Danielle Payne who prepared the EAC teams for the challenge.
Last Thursday evening, I had the delightful opportunity to join with the Class of 2018 and their families for the Year 12 Formal. It was a wonderful evening and the students presented themselves with great elegance and style. It is always lovely to see the students present themselves in such a dignified way and a great opportunity to share their excitement about the next instalments in their young lives. The celebration was held at the Ballina RSL, with Rev Sally and Mrs Mellissa Evans doing a wonderful job as the MC’s for the evening and Mr Mitchell Raguse and Mrs Mel McClelland speaking of their experiences at either end of their schooling journey as their Year 12 and Kindergarten teachers. Aaron Hughes and Erica Truman fulfilled their final duty as Captains with a heart-felt thank you to the parents and teachers of Year 12 for all that they have done to support the students through their final year of learning. They also paid tribute to each of their peers, thanking them individually for the contribution they have made to the year group. As they depart, I ask that you keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they await their HSC results and embark on the next stage of the journey.
Mr Robert Tobias
Principal
Off the Deputy's Desk
As part of our implementation of the Thinking Curriculum I get the great pleasure of visiting classrooms to observe teacher strategies and take up of this initiative. This week I have seen the following:
- Mrs Crichton’s Year 7.3 were involved in reflective writing about Japanese Sports Day.
- Ms McLintock’s Year 8 English class were using the thinking routine of posing question starts in the study of Romeo and Juliet.
- Mr Kelly’s Year 12 Business class were applying past knowledge to new situations.
- Mrs Regan’s Year 12 Legal Studies class were studying crimes legislation and were using a creativity thinking routine.
- Miss Guest’s 7.3 PDH class were using the habit of using precision of language and thought when giving feedback.
- Mr Falvey’s Year 3 Science lesson were involved in an investigation to develop an understanding of the concept of centre of gravity.
- Mrs Kent’s Kindergarten class were engaged in reflective writing about their weekend.
- Mrs Campbell’s Year 12 English Advanced class were studying 1984 and were using the thinking routine of Think Puzzle and Explore.
- Mr Raguse’s Year 12 Visual Art class was using the habit of creating, imagining and innovating with regards to the planning of the major body of work.
These lesson observations demonstrate that our staff are continuing to develop their willingness to apply the pedagogies of Habits of Mind and Thinking Routines and I am delighted in our progress thus far this year.
I look forward to sharing more classroom news from my observation visits in next week’s newsletter.
As the year begins to wind down we still have some events that need to occur. One of these is the Year 6 Celebration. The Year 6 Celebration is a rite of passage and a symbol of the transition between primary and secondary schooling. I have been lucky enough to work with some committed staff and some wonderfully generous parent volunteers in planning what will hopefully be a wonderful evening for this great group of students on Thursday 29 November.
The Christmas Concert is on Tuesday 4 December and I encourage our community to come along and be involved. I have it on good authority that there will be a visit from a large, bearded gentleman wearing red at some point during the night.
Tuesday 5 December is when our Primary classes for 2019 are read out and students spend time with next year’s teacher and have the opportunity to build some all-important teacher-student rapport before the holidays come along.
Finally, in the last week of term we have Picnic Day, the final Whole College Chapel of the Year and the Presentation Day ceremonies. It makes me want to take a deep breath just thinking about all the jobs that need to be completed before the year ends.
Mr Darren Parks
Deputy Principal
Term 4 Week 7
Monday 26 November
Year 8 PDH Excursion
Tuesday 27 November
Secondary Chapel
Primary Assembly
Year 10 PDH Excursion
Secondary Concert Band Performance at Blue Hills College
Wednesday 28 November
Year 9 PASS Excursion
Thursday 29 November
Year 6 Celebration-6.00-9.00pm-Discovery Centre then Ezzy Centre
Year 8 Retreat Day at Lismore
Friday 30 November
Kindergarten Excursion to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary
Unity Games Training Masterclass
Secondary Sport
Term 4 Week 8
Monday 3 December
Year 10 Transition Program-All week
Year 11 Hospitality Placement-All week
Tuesday 4 December
Christmas Concert Rehearsal Day at St Mary’s Anglican Church
Christmas Concert at St Mary’s Anglican Church 6.30-7.30 pm
Year 10/11 Elevate Study Skills Program Workshops
Primary Chapel
Bishop Murray Visit to EAC-9.00-11.00am
Wednesday 5 December
Step Up Day Yrs. 1-6
Year 7 2019 Experience Day
Year 3 Christmas Performance
Thursday 6 December
Sport NSW Girls Get Active Program at Byron Bay
Friday 7 December
Year 6 Cake Stall Fundraiser at Recess
Secondary Sport
Early Learning Centre News
Scaffolding has become a key concept in education. It is a framework to describe an adults' supportive role in children's learning. Scaffolding enables a child to solve a problem, carry out a task or achieve a goal which is just beyond his or her abilities. The following images are examples of scaffolding that occurred throughout the day as a group of children showed an interest in building sand castles.
Mrs Docherty provided the group with a range of vessels for the children to explore. Size, shape and consistency were experimented with throughout this learning experience - otherwise known as play. According to Albert Einstein, play is the highest form of research.
Natasha Livock
Early Learning Centre Coordinator
Geography News
Year 9 Geography Excursion to The Permaculture Institute
‘Permaculture’ is defined as the development of agricultural ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient.
On that very hot Wednesday last week, Year 9 travelled to The Channon to take part in fieldwork based on the topic “Sustainable Biomes”. Students were broken up into groups and instructed by the very friendly staff about seed and plant propagation, looking after small animals for meat and egg production, growing vegetables and fruit tree forests, and milking cows.
The students were absolute troopers, listening attentively, throwing themselves into every activity and never complaining despite the near 40°C temperatures. Some of their highlights included:
The staff:
“… were very passionate about their job and were great at explaining and communicating”.
“They knew a wide range of facts about their area of expertise. They were patient with us and answered all of our questions. Overall, excellent”.
“They were all very nice and helpful. Able to answer any questions and let us have a go at different activities throughout the day. Very friendly, great people”.
The activities:
“My favourite session was the potatoes. It was loads of fun getting our hands dirty and learning about types of soils and potatoes”.
“I liked learning about the small animals because I got to get an egg from the chicken and hold a rabbit”.
The most interesting thing learned was:
“You can make plants grow from the seeds in the food that we eat instead of just throwing them away”.
“The farm makes its own produce (they don't import anything), and they recycle furniture to make useful farm equipment”.
“Dairy cows are skinnier as more of their nutrient intake goes into their milk, while meat cows are bulkier”.
“The most interesting thing I learned was the everyday life of the chickens. I was very interested in learning about the ‘personalities’ and ‘cliques’ formed between them”.
The best thing was:
“Planting the lettuce seeds”.
“I loved trying to guess what plants where what and what seeds belonged to which plant”.
“THE POTATOES!!!!!! IT WAS SO MUCH FUUUUUN!!!!”
“I enjoyed the whole day, I found each part really informative and fun. There was always an interactive activity which I liked”.
“The dog, Possum”.
Nihongo NEWS
WORD OF THE WEEK
Chess News
Gardiner Chess Individual Age Championship Tournament (Term 4)
Last Wednesday, 14th November, a group of 40 Primary and Secondary EAC students travelled to St Joseph’s Primary School, Alstonville, to compete in the Gardiner Chess Individual Age Championships.
This local tournament was a fantastic day of competition and our students represented the College with excellent sportsmanship. A total of 13 participating EAC students were awarded medallions for placing in their age divisions.
A special mention goes out to Lukyn Patrick (Year 6) who was not only awarded first place for his age group but was also crowned the overall tournament champion after a near-perfect day of chess. Lukyn competed against a series of high-ranked players (some upwards of 17 years old) and was victorious in 6 out of 7 games - this massive achievement also happened to fall on his birthday!
Interschool Chess Tournaments are held once a term at varying locations. Students interested in participating are encouraged to become involved in the College Chess Club which meets at recess and lunch throughout the week in the Library.
Thank you to all the students who have been involved in College Chess this year. We have managed to experience a lot of success and I’m excited to see what we can achieve in 2019.
Mr Tom Papworth
College Chess Coordinator
♔♛♗♞♙♜
NSW Junior Chess League - Primary School Chess Competition
Following the success of our primary teams at the Interschool Northern Rivers Tournament in Term 3, a group of four Stage Three boys qualified to represent the College in the NSW Junior Chess League.
Lukyn Patrick, Charles Cross, Kaiden Smith and Matthew Smith were all jointly selected as a team to enter the North Coast Regional Finals.
In the first stage of this competition, the boys saw victory against Maclean Public School and were then required to compete against Westport Public School, who were the current champions three years running. After an intense comeback victory against Westport, the boys were awarded the title of ‘North Coast Regional Champions’ - an incredible achievement!
Our team then progressed to compete in the NSW Country Inter-regional finals. For the quarter-final stage of this competition, the boys travelled to Grafton to play Armidale City Public School (North-West Region Champions) and were once again able to secure a victory.
The semi-finals of this State competition were held this week. The boys travelled to Macksville to take on Newcastle Grammar School (Hunter Region Champions) to see who would progress to the NSW Country Finals in Sydney. It was an extremely close competition and our team showcased an incredible level of gameplay, but Newcastle Grammar came out on top with a single point advantage.
The boys’ progress through this regional tournament has been nothing short of remarkable. Lukyn, Charles, Kaiden and Matthew have all represented the College with a high-level of sportsmanship and have inspired many other EAC students to become involved in the College Chess Club. Their use of critical thinking skills, active problem-solving and strategic gameplay is amazing to witness and I commend them for their outstanding commitment to this competition.
Well done, boys! You’ve done the College proud.
PDHPE News
Wheelchair Basketball
On November 14, secondary school was lucky enough to try wheelchair basketball. The NSW government runs a program that allows students to try sports for the disabled.
Brenden, our instructor, ran us through the background of some disabled sports, and told us a little about his life and how he has travelled the world through wheelchair tennis. He then ran us through how the chairs we were going to use were specific to basketball and how to use them properly. Playing the actual game of basketball was a lot harder than we expected, but it was fun to get in the chair and have a go.
At the end of the day, it is important to remember that even though you will hop in these chairs and have a lot of fun, you will be able to get out and walk out that gate and go on with your life in a normal way. But for people who are in a wheelchair, that is very different.
Brenden told us that at the end of our session, and I think that it is a very important message to think about.
Thank you very much to the teachers who organised the day and for Brenden for coming in and sharing his experiences and teaching us a new exciting sport.
Ella Peart
PDHE Student
From The Office
Parent Lounge
The Parent Lounge is a portal for parents to accept and pay for camps and excursions, access academic reports, pay school fee accounts, update address details, update medical information, contact class reachers, check attendance and view the student timetable. Please make yourself familiar with the features on the parent lounge and check that all of your data is current and accurate. If you have any questions relating to your log in or access to the parent lounge please do not hesitate to contact the front office. Please see the instructions below to enable or disable your contact details for sharing with other class parents.
Canteen
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 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.
I will keep you posted of the availability of item through this newsletter and in the parent lounge, updated daily. I will post what is no longer available and what stock I am running low on.
I will always have available fresh items sandwiches, rolls etc but will also guarantee dino nuggets and junior pies.
Thank you for your continuing support of the canteen in 2018.
NO LONGER AVAILABLE - Ham Pineapple Pizza
LOW ON STOCK - PLEASE GIVE ANOTHER OPTION - Lasagna
Canteen opens at 8.30am and the Menu is available here:
Special Lunch Dates - Term 4
NOODLE BOX DATES: 27 November
SUBWAY DATE: 4 December
Noodle Box – Tuesday 27 November
Noodle Box from “Noodle Box” at Ballina Fair, will be available from the canteen next Tuesday, 27 November. If you would like to order Noodle Box for your child’s lunch next Tuesday please complete the 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, 26 November . Order forms will be sent home but are also available at the canteen, office or online.
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. 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
Community News
