Term 4 | Week 8 | 04 December 2019

"With God all things are possible"

Matthew 19:26

From The Principal

Thank you to all the parents who attended the Christmas Concert on Tuesday evening at St Mary's Anglican Church. It was a wonderfully fun and entertaining way to formally embrace the Christmas season. Congratulations to all the students who were involved in performances on the night and to the wonderful group of teachers who help plan the event and prepare the students. I was delighted to see the huge amount of goods that were donated to create hampers for the Anglicare Appeal. We also raised over $900 on the night through the entry fee and this will also be donated to Anglicare for their Christmas Appeal. A fabulous effort. Congratulations and thank you, to everyone who either attended or participated in the evening. It was a delightful community celebration and a lovely way to usher in the Christmas season.

It was a very excited, happy but tired group of Year 6 campers that returned from their end of primary years' trip to Queensland last Friday. The students spent three days exploring the sights and surrounds of Hervey Bay and Fraser Island prior to heading to Brisbane to visit the Queensland Museum, Sciencentre and Planetarium. On the way home on Friday they spent a few hours at SeaWorld. It was a wonderful week, blessed with incredible weather and a great way to celebrate the end of their journey through primary school. A huge thank you to Mrs Sculley, Mr McCotter, Mrs Anderson, Mr Papworth and Mr Christensen for giving up a week of family time to allow the students to enjoy the wonderful adventure. Congratulations also to Year 6 who demonstrated excellent behaviour and were very respectful and responsible throughout the trip.

Students in the Primary school will participate in 'Step Up' day today and spend the afternoon with their 2020 class group and teacher. There has been quite a buzz among primary students as they speculate about who might be their teacher, what room they will be in and who will be their classmates. Over the last few weeks, teachers have gathered data and provided input into the structure of classes for 2020. All primary school students have completed socio-grams and teachers have used this data along with information about students learning styles, educational needs, learning outcomes and group dynamics to help them formulate the class groups for 2020. It has been a very thorough and well considered process and I thank the teachers for the care they have taken in building class groups that will best support the social and educational needs of all students.

With the announcement about primary classes for next year, I also wish to ask parents to consider nominating as a class parent for 2020. One of the most important roles of the class parent is to welcome new parents to the College and help them make the initial contact with other parents in their child's year group. With a number of new families joining the College next year, I would like to have the class parents in place as the year commences. A nomination form will be emailed to all parents on Friday. Please consider taking on this extremely important task.

It is with mixed emotions I inform you that Mr Daniel Kelly has accepted a leadership position at St Columba Anglican School in Port Macquarie and will conclude his time at EAC. Daniel has made many outstanding contributions to our community over the last decade as an excellent classroom teacher and highly effective Pastoral and Curriculum Leader. He and his family will be greatly missed. I am sure you join with me in saying thank you to Mr Kelly.

Mr Robert Tobias
Principal

Off the Deputy's Desk

What a great community evening the annual Christmas Concert was. Grace Killingbeck and Patrick Thornton did an outstanding job as hosts and have made a wonderful start to their leadership appointments as Community Outreach Leader and Arts and Culture Leader. All the performers were outstanding with Raised Voices, Kindergarten, The Concert Band, Strings Ensemble and Stage 2 and Stage 3 choirs presenting themselves with confidence and just that right amount of Christmas spirit. Thank you to all the members of our community who contributed to the Anglicare Christmas hampers and for your donations at the door which will also support Anglicare's Christmas Appeal. It was a wonderful thing to see generosity and good will being shared with those whom we don't know but they may experience a better Christmas because of our efforts.

This evening our Year 6 students will be the stars as they have their Year 6 Celebration. Starting in the Discovery Centre, there will be staff and student speeches and the formal part of the evening. They will then move over to the Ezzy Centre for drinks and refreshments and conclude their night with a disco upstairs in the library. Our parent committee has done a wonderful job planning the evening and coming up with some lovely ideas that will hopefully be appreciated by the parents. Thank you to all the parents on the committee for your ideas and sense of place and wanting the best for the students on the night. This is again a great example of our community coming together to make an event happen.

Year 10 students are currently involved in transition week and they have undertaken a variety of workshops designed to develop their academic, physical, service and spiritual development. Mrs Campbell has worked tirelessly to give them a variety of experiences and I sincerely hope that they have appreciated the opportunities that they have been presented with. They have represented the College very positively this week and they will make a wonderful Year 12 cohort in just over a year's time.

Finally, today is Step up Day in the Primary and this day is always greeted with much excitement as the students spend time with their teacher and class for the following year. Step up Day is a carefully planned transition activity and much thought, time and planning goes into the class formation process. Parents must understand that class allocations are our responsibility and our professional decision making needs to be respected as there will be no changes made to classes based on parental preferences for a certain teacher or a certain combination of teachers. We need your support and for you to trust and back our systems and processes that occur when classes are formed. Thank you to Mrs Mule for her work in planning Step up Day and I hope to see some excited faces in the Primary this afternoon.

Mr Darren Parks
Deputy Principal

Term 4 Week 9

Monday 9 December

College Picnic Day

K-2-Meerkat Productions here at EAC

Years 3-6-Ten pin bowling and movies at Ballina Cinema

Years 7 and 8-Ballina Pool

Years 9 and 10-Byron Bay beach and lighthouse walk

Year 11-Wet and Wild

Tuesday 10 December

Primary Assembly-9.00am-Discovery Centre

Secondary Assembly-1.20pm-UCA

Stage 4 Rock Band Performance-3.30pm-4pm TC6

Wednesday 11 December

Presentation Day Ceremonies

Primary Presentation-10.00am-St Mary’s Anglican Church

Secondary Presentation-12.15pm-St Mary’s Anglican Church

Term 4 concludes

Correction to Issue 37 - Year 5 & 6 Rock Band Performance: please be advised the performance will take place in the Undercover Area this Friday 6 December at 2.10pm, not 1.20pm as advised in last week's newsletter. Parents are welcome to attend.

Chaplain's Chat

A light shines in the darkness...

This week in Primary Chapel I reminisced about a gift my aunt gave me many years ago. It was a small white box, well it was box shaped. It didn't rattle and it was very light. The package said that it was a face cloth - but it was the size of my 8-year-old palm...that's a teensy tiny washcloth - maybe it was for my doll.

The instructions said to unwrap and to place into water - so I did. Yep, you know it - it unfolded, expanded and became a full sized Micky Mouse face cloth!

That was all very cool - but try as I might (and try I did!) I could not make it small and compact again. Once it was out - it was out and there was no turning back.

A bit like Jesus, or should I say, the story of Jesus. The biblical story of Jesus' birth reminds us of this, with angels and shepherds and in time, wise men all coming to share this story. And presumably, going on from this incredible meeting, to share the crazy, noisy messiness of this story with anyone who would listen.

There was no squishing this story back into the tiny spark of a promise that preceded it.

To this day, the story continues. The story of a speck of hope that swelled, of peace promised, of joy experienced and love that enlivens, still has life today. And it is a story for everyone. Not just children. I have long suspected that the reason we retell the Nativity of Jesus is because we need moments of wonder and awe, we need a story bigger than ourselves. We need hope and peace, joy and love. We don't need presents, we need presence.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. John 1:5

This is the essence of Christmas.

The celebration of the light coming to dwell among us, coming to illuminate the shadowy corners and to shine with clarity on those 'monsters' that make their homes in our gloom. All this in the birth of one small, unlikely leader. The Christ Child.

May your Christmas be a time of blessing - the blessings of contentment and companionship.

Rev Sal

May You Always:

Faith, hope and charity.
May we always have these
not just at Christmas time
but all the year throughout.

We tend to have more faith
More hope and charity
during the season
but can we have it always?

May you always have
something to hope for
faith in something bigger than you
and dreams that come true.

And may you always
share with others
Your blessings as a result
of your hopes, faith and dreams.

Catherine Pulsifer

Sports Update

Secondary Sports Update 2020

We have some exciting changes to our School Sports Program for 2020. Trials and Training sessions for some NCIS Representative Team Sports will take place as part of our Friday afternoon sport program for Year 7 to 10. This will allow more advanced training sessions and some lead up matches to be played before the NCIS Championships. With the added bonus of less early morning training sessions for busy students and families.

These sports will be classified as Representative Sport and students will need to select this option to trial for their chosen sport. We will still be offering Recreation Sports for those students who do not wish to try out.

Term 1 Friday Afternoon Sports 2020

Representative Sports Teams

- Representative Basketball

- Representative Football (Soccer)

We will be selecting Under 15 and Open Teams for both boys and girls. Year 11 and 12 students wishing to try out for our representative teams will attend the trials on Friday afternoon. If selected, they will attend three whole team morning training sessions in the lead up to the NCIS Tournament.

Trials will last for 2 weeks. Students who do not make the representative team will then be allocated to a recreation sport. Students do not have to try out for a representative sport and you are welcome to choose recreation sport options.

Recreation Sports

Recreation Sports for Term 1 are: gym classes, walking, tennis, dance, multi-sport tournament, cross fit, ten pin bowling, jui jitsu.

2020 Key Sports Dates

2020 will be another busy year of sport at EAC. The key dates for 2020 are outlined below:

Mr Graham Walker
Sport and Coaching Administrator

Primary Inter-house Touch Football Tournament

It was the last of five Primary Inter-house Tournaments held throughout 2019 in Soccer, Netball, AFL, Basketball and Touch Football.

A huge congratulations to all the primary school students who participated in each tournament throughout the year. The sport staff and primary teachers have been particularly impressed with the skill level demonstrated by the students in each sport after only learning and practicing that sport for a few lessons before each tournament.

It has also been pleasing to see the level of house spirit and sportsmanship shown to teammates, the opposition and referees by students in each tournament.

A touch football tournament such as the one this week requires referees and officials and therefore I would like to make a special mention to our volunteer referees from the Ballina Touch Football Association as well as our student referees from Years 7, 8 and 9 (Lily Smith, Chloe Neilson, Aidan Rogers and Indiya Ledingham). Furthermore, a huge thank you to all of the Year 3 to Year 6 Primary teachers for their assistance in managing the house teams and scoring on the day of the tournament and for your support and assistance throughout the year at each Inter-house Tournament.

The winners of each year group for the Inter-house Touch Football Tournament are as follows:

Year 3 - Smith House

Year 4 - Smith House

Year 5 - Brockington House

Year 6 - Walker House

The overall winning house for the Inter-house Touch Football Tournament will be announced at next week's Primary Assembly.

Mr Randall Evans
Sport Coach and Duke of Edinburgh Leader

Drama News

On Wednesday afternoon, Year 1 came and visited the Drama Room for a puppet performance and workshop with the Year 9 Drama students. The Year 9's reprised their performance of the Bethlehemian Rhaposody and then showed the Year 1's how to use a simple Bunraku puppet.

The Year 1's had a wonderful afternoon learning to work with two others to make a Bunraku puppet come to life.

Ms McLintock
Drama Teacher

* Throughout the day children will have the opportunity to be involved in games, craft, physical activity and free play experiences.

Please ensure your child has their lunch box containing a water bottle, fresh fruit, vegies and healthy snacks for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. Sunscreen is provided and your child will require a hat for outdoor play. Please ensure children wear covered in shoes.

For Wednesday 18th December, swimmers are recommended over a spare a change of clothes as children will be getting wet. Swimmers must include the relevant sun protection.

EAC Vacation Care will resume on Monday 20th January and continue through to (and including) Monday 3rd February 2020.

For bookings, please email enrolments@eac.nsw.edu.au or call 6681 5054.

Primary News

Year 6 Camp

Day 1

"Rise and shine!" my mum yelled at me on the morning of Year 6 Camp. I woke up in a start and got dressed as quick as a bolt of lightning. When I got to school I heard the rumble of my classmates chatting excitedly, waiting for our long journey to begin.

We hastily said goodbye to our parents and boarded the bus and one movie behind us, we stopped and engulfed our recess. Just as we were soaking up the sun, we all loaded back onto the bus and started towards our destination, lunch.

We pulled up next to Lake Alford, where it looked like bird island. There was every type of bird you could imagine. Many of us spotted the magnificent turtles and majestic swans. As soon as we got back on the bus, Mr C convinced us all to watch a basketball movie called Like Mike.

We were all so pumped when we placed our bags onto a truck and hopped up the steps to the ferry. We sat on our seats while the ferry puffed along, getting closer and closer to Fraser Island.

When we got to Fraser Island we headed to the Dingo Bar and got our room keys. All I could hear was the excited chatter of people asking other people what room they were in. "Everyone follow me!" yelled Mrs Sculley. We all scurried up the steep hill behind her. The time we got to sort our rooms was short.

Everyone raced up the stairs at the Sand Bar. As we walked into the restaurant you could smell the strong aroma of Mexican food. Gathered at the restaurant we went in turns to get our food. There was every type of Mexican food there is - burritos, nachos, tacos, beans and much more!

Next, we entered a room that would hold the Fraser Feud. All the teams tried hard but one team had to come out on top, the Boiled Mangoes won! All of us were exhausted from the long trip and we reached our home away from home. Most of us went straight to sleep!

by Zali Falconer

Day 2

At 7:09am we went to get a buffet breakfast at the Dingo Bar. After cleaning and packing up our dishes, we got on the bus and headed for Eli Creek Along the way we drove down 75 Mile Beach.

After playing at Eli Creek for 30 minutes, we drove down the beach and saw the Maheno shipwreck and the coloured sands. On the way back to lunch we saw 2 dingoes.

After having a buffet lunch, we went to the souvenir shop. We then left to go to Central Station where we did a bush walk along a small creek and saw lots of old machinery. We even saw an eel. Then we went to Lake Mackenzie for a swim. We also had dingo cookies there.

We then went back to our cabins to get ready for dinner. After dinner, we went on a night walk to look at animals and we saw a scorpion and lots of spiders.

by Stuart Blair-Hickman

Day 3

"Rise and shine!" Mrs Sculley exclaimed. I was really excited for a new day because we had amazing activities ahead of us.

I raced out of my comfy bed and quickly got ready. Once everyone got dressed and packed their bags, we all got out of our cabins and walked up the stairs to the meeting place around beautiful rainforest. The sounds on Fraser Island were jaw dropping, it was like as if the birds were singing in harmony. After Mr C finished his meeting and checked that we had got everything we went to breakfast.

Soon after the meeting, we paced around 200 metres down to the Dingo Bar which was our regular breakfast place. Mr C told us to sit down and the winning cabins got breakfast first before everyone else. We had a large variety of cereals and fruit. We also had a choice of delicious scrambled eggs, tomatoes, mini sausages, hash browns, mushrooms and toast with the usual spreads. The quality of the food was immaculate and it tasted delicious. After that, we filled up our drink bottles and headed out for the day.

After our scrumptious breakfast, we said goodbye to Fraser Island and headed away on the ferry back to the mainland. We met our bus and got to watch Mr Bean and Cool Runnings.

We finally made it back to Brisbane and our first stop was the Planetarium, it was amazing! We walked into the dome shaped theatre and got to sit in comfy chairs with nice calming music playing in the background. As the show was starting, the lights dimmed and the dome was filled with colourful images and the amazing outer space. I learnt so much in just an hour, I was astonished!

After that, we got a chance to buy something from the gift shop but it was slightly overpriced. Then we had a quick photo and jumped back on the bus and went inside. We then went ten pin bowling. Mr C put us in alley groups and we proceeded to choose a ball to play with and began our competition.

We then arrived at our last stop, Frederick Marsden. Everyone was really tired by then so we got our cabins sorted with the girls upstairs and boys downstairs. After that, we had a yummy roast dinner in the main area. Mr C told us to go to our rooms and pack then to go to sleep because we needed rest. We were excited for the last day because we got to go to SeaWorld!

by Ellen Miller and Maya Bright

Day 4

The feeling when we woke up in the morning was nothing short of astounding. As we walked up for breakfast our minds could not stop thinking of the day ahead and the one and only SeaWorld. It was our last but not least day on Year 6 Camp and we couldn't wait to get started. Our minds were buzzing about the rides we would go on. Little did we know the Dolphin Affinity and Thunder Lake shows were top notch, nothing could beat it!

There can be only one highlight, the teachers screaming their heads off on The Storm - one of the funniest things year round. Don't just take our word for it, ask any Year 6 student and they would tell you it was one of the best times of their life. Words can't describe the support we had from the teachers. We had grown inside and the teachers were there for us.

This was a great success to celebrate the end of the Primary School adventures. Our friendships after the camp had become stronger and we could look back at this experience with fondness many times in the future.

by Jack Carrigg and Kelly Campbell

Student Exchange Update

I am in Estonia for 3 months in the main city called Tallinn. I have been here for one and half months so far and it is perfect. Everyone has been so welcoming and helpful. I have experienced things I never thought I would be able to and try so many new things. I have made some friends that I know I will have for a very long time.

School is so different! Everyone is giving homework from every class, every day. We have 4-5 classes a day that go for 75 minutes, with one break. I never thought I would say this, but I am thankful EAC has uniforms, picking an outfit every day is annoying after a few weeks.

We had our first snow over the weekend, I couldn't stop jumping up and down. I can't wait to have a white Christmas and spend it with my host family and all the extended family.

Biggest shock for me is two things:

Being cold and having snow at this time of year when it's meant to be boiling hot!
Even though I live in the city it feels like a small little town, as the population is nothing compared to Australia.

I just wish I could stay here for ever. I am so thankful to WEP for giving me this opportunity and school allowing me to embark on this once in a lifetime journey.

Ali Colburt - Year 10

Ali-6D7DD3EA-E646-404B-96A0-E79A5346799A

From the Office

Stationery lists

The 2020 stationery lists for all Year Levels are now available on the EAC website (Publications/Stationery Lists) or click here.

Senior Blazers at Secondhand Uniform Shop

Year 12 students who would like to sell their blazers on consignment are able to do so through the EAC Secondhand uniform shop. Bring your clean blazer to the EAC office with your name and contact details and this will be available for sale in the Secondhand uniform shop.

Parents wishing to purchase a secondhand blazer please come to the Uniform shop in the Ezzy Centre on one of the following days:

Thursday 5 December from 2.00pm to 4.00pm
Tuesday 10 December from 2.30pm to 3.30pm

Friends of EAC

Friends of EAC would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the whole EAC Community for a fantastic year of fundraising and 'friend'raising...

- To our committee members for their input at each monthly meeting and support at events.

- To all the EAC students, families and friends for supporting Friends of EAC events through attendance.

- To every parent, grandparent, friend and staff member who has baked for or helped in the canteen at an event.

- To the EAC staff for getting behind each Friends of EAC event and helping to build enthusiasm among students.

- To our sponsors and prize donors for their generous and continued financial support.

Jodie Manning-Hayter
President, Friends of EAC

Canteen

Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year

With the term and year drawing to a close, I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. I would like to thank all the volunteers who made it possible for the canteen to provide the thousands of lunches in 2019.

May you all have a safe and relaxing break and I look forward to seeing you in 2020.

Some highlights of 2019 in the EAC Canteen:

- New faces and some, not so old, but regular faces.
- The number of grandmothers in the canteen is wonderful - more required!
- Numerous cups of tea and coffee.
- Year 12, 11 and 10 students helping in the canteen.
- 152 volunteer spots filled and more needed in 2020.

If you are able to help in the canteen in 2020 please fill out the attachment and email Christine Hall, chall@eac.nsw.edu.au or drop it into the office.

Canteen Help