The Chronicle Issue 11

Dear Parents, Guardians, Friends and Students

It has come to that time of the year when it is necessary to say farewell to some of our staff and families who will not be with us in 2021. 

• Paula Bacchiella will be on a secondment  to the position of Leader of Teaching and Learning and member of the Leadership Team in the Xavier Flexible Schools Network for the first six months of 2021. Paula will then take Professional Renewal Leave (PRL) in the next term. She will return to Edmund Rice College Bindoon for Term One of our 2022 Academic Year as our Acting Principal while I am on PRL. 

• Goodbye to those families who will be leaving us at the end of the term: To the Johnson, Lawrence, Lincoln, and Nurse families, good luck in all that you do and we trust you will always treasure the time that you have spent in our community. 

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge several sectors of our community: 

• To every single staff member at the College for all they do throughout the year. Without their dedication and commitment it would not be possible to offer many of the programs available at the College and the care which is provided on a daily basis. Thank you. 
• To all of our wonderful trainers from Central Regional TAFE, for all the work that they do with our students in the Trade Training Centre, your contribution is integral to the work of the College, your contribution is outstanding. Thank you. 
• To all of our parents thank you for your ongoing support of the work which we do here. Your partnership is vital. 
• To our wonderful students, have a fantastic holiday. I look forward to working with you next year as we work towards building a community which is the best! 

I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday and may the blessing of this season of love be with each and every member of our community. 

God Bless, 

Marie Barton
Principal 

Above:  Edmund Rice College staff caught up with past students and were introduced to some new students for 2021.

Building Relationship and Connections

Recently Miss Sam, Mr Brett and I were invited to engage in a community visit in Kununurra. The deep red dirt contrasted against the clear blue sky captured my attention straight away. The magnificent Boab trees stood strong and proud in the space landscape. The ancient rocks tell a story of how the earth was formed millions of years ago, as do the people who have lived on this earth for over 60 000 years. One is drawn into the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People’s history and culture and the more you connect with the land and people the more you want to learn. This wonderful experience awakened deep within my soul a curiosity to learn and discover more about their rich history and culture.

We had a wonderful trip catching up with old students and meeting new students and their families. We hosted a BBQ dinner on the Friday night as the lightening broke in the sky in the distance. The humidity was so high you could feel the electricity crackling through the dark clouds. On Monday morning we provided breakfast at the Waringarri Corporation. Some lovely men appeared from nowhere and took over our job on the BBQ and cooked us up a storm as families dropped in to say hello and enjoyed a feed.

We particularly enjoyed listening to the Elders as they spoke about their culture and their dreams for their students. Their connection to land and history is very strong and I felt very privileged to be able to share this time with them on their ‘Block’. I will hold those precious memories in my heart for a long time to come. Along the way we met many lovely locals who loved sharing stories about their life and meaning of their Totems and how they use these to guide them in their life journey. We also learnt about different bush medicines and foods and watched local artists paint – their hands being guided by a deep spirit that came from within.  Everyone was so welcoming, caring and happy to see us. I have been invited to come and stay on some of the blocks so they can take me Barra fishing when I return. I cannot wait.

Connecting with people through sharing stories is very powerful and it allowed us to understand what their dreams are for their children so we can work together to achieve this. I am very thankful for having been invited to have this experience. We had many laughs – like trying to pick up the BBQ trailer without a tow bar on our rental and Mr Brett and myself making a fools of ourselves calling out to some stranger whom we thought was one of our relief teachers! Luckily Miss Sam was sensible.  My thanks and appreciation go out to Miss Sam and Mr Brett who were so wonderful to travel with. Miss Sam did all the organisation and ensured we were where we had to be at the right times. I labelled Mr Brett ‘King of Kununurra’ as he knew everybody in the town and it was through his connections that we were able to engage and meet so many different people.

I would like to wish you all a safe and wonderful Christmas!

Take care.

Paula Bacchiella
Deputy Principal

Peninsula Tour

In week 5, Miss Sam and myself were given the opportunity to travel to Broome, Lombadina, Beagle Bay, Derby and Djarindjin. These communities welcomed us with open arms, and we were able to connect with past students and their families. We also had the opportunity to talk to prospective students about the opportunities that are available when they attend Edmund Rice College. A highlight of the trip was the final part of the road from Broome to Beagle Bay, which was finally completed and we were one of the first vehicles to travel down this road. Thank you to all those who met with us and shared their stories we look forward to connecting with you again.

Anne Brown
Teaching Staff

Some of the wonderful sights while travelling through Broome, Lombadina, Beagle Bay, Derby and Djarindjin communities.

On Friday 13th November the school celebrated NAIDOC Day after much doubt. Due to COVID-19 our usual day of celebration (July) was cancelled, but luckily we did an awesome job and were able to reorganise it. We began our day with a smoking ceremony with Uncle Jim being our special guest. We also introduced our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and included this in our smoking ceremony. The students finished the ceremony by adding their leaves to the smoke to add to the cleansing time.

We then moved into the Chapel for a Liturgy and Uncle Jimmy gave us a talk out his life as an Aboriginal person growing up. From there we had morning tea and that’s when the fun began. Due to rain we moved the activities indoor and once that was sorted and the students were put into groups we began.

The students were given 20 minutes for each activity and while some of the students completed these activities, another smaller group was in the kitchen cooking up a storm.

Under the direction of Brett Nelson and his sister Blondie, they had roast beef, roast pork and kangaroo being cooked. We also had kangaroo tails, back straps and stew also being cooked. The students worked on the salads and damper and it all came together for a shared lunch.

The last part of the day was a relaxing time watching the movie “Satellite Boy”. They also got to finish off some of their art and had an ice pole to complete a great day. Next year hopefully the day will be back in July.

Miriam Ifould
Aboriginal Teaching Assistant

The activities we had were:

• Badge making
• Mural
• Paper spinners
• Salt dough ornaments
• Paver painting, and
• Beading

This term the Year 8 class have been studying the text “A Fortunate Life” by Albert Facey.  This is an autobiographical account of Albert’s life story.  The Year 8 class experienced the highs and lows of Albert’s life while reading the novel and at the end of reading each chapter the class had to write a paragraph summary of the chapter. Once we finished reading the novel, we all watched the mini-series, and we were then fortunate enough to go and see the stage adaptation of the novel.  Students were given the opportunity to not only speak with the Director, but also Albert Facey’s granddaughter, Christine. During this encounter we were allowed to see the original copy of the book, which was all handwritten by Albert and his wife, Evelyn, into exercise books, and some of Albert’s memorabilia, including his war medals.  My favourite part of the stage production of “A Fortunate Life” was the actors and their skills in verbal and non-verbal communication.

Delena Hall
Year 8

Above:  The Year 8 students have been studying “A Fortunate Life”.  Students attended a stage production and viewed some of the memorabilia.