The Chronicle Issue 3

Principal Report

Celebrating Blessed Edmund Rice Day

On Friday 5 May, the entire college community gathered in the Chapel to celebrate Blessed Edmund Rice Day, honouring the legacy of the founder of the Christian Brothers. The liturgy was an opportunity for students and staff to come together in prayer and reflection.

During the liturgy, participants were reminded of the values and principles that Edmund Rice championed, including the importance of faith, service, and knowing each individual. Students and Staff shared readings, prayers, and reflections that emphasized the relevance of Edmund Rice’s teachings in our current times.

Following the liturgy, students participated in the annual Cross Country event, a popular tradition at the school. Students ran through the beautiful natural surroundings of the college, showcasing their athletic abilities and team spirit. This was followed by a shared lunch with the whole College community.

Above:  Students and staff participated in the Touchstone activity.

Later in the day, students took part in a Touchstones activity, which was designed to deepen their understanding of the EREA Touchstones, a set of guiding principles that underpin the College’s educational philosophy and all of the work we do here. In four groups, students walked to various locations on campus: Statue Hill, Holy Family, the Cemetery, and the Grotto. At each location, they completed a Touchstone on the ground with natural fibres that had been collected beforehand. This activity allowed students to reflect on the importance of community, social justice, and environmental sustainability.

The Blessed Edmund Rice Day celebrations were a testament to the College’s commitment to educating students to be responsible and compassionate citizens of the world. The day’s events served as a reminder to all students that they are part of a community that values and nurtures their personal, academic, and spiritual growth.

God Bless,

Marie Barton
Principal

College Prayer

We pray that God may bless us in all our
undertakings today.
May we keep tolerance and honesty in our hearts,
and respect and excellence in our minds throughout
this day.
As our founder Blessed Edmund Rice inspired us,
let us offer hope and opportunities through education.
May we always keep the teachings of Jesus in mind.
Stronger together.

Amen.

Curriculum Report

Stronger Together.

The Staff at Edmund Rice College have been very busy assessing and rearranging the curriculum, resources and the manner in which we are teaching our students. In the last few weeks, classrooms have been rearranged, the Literacy Hub has been initiated and the lap top computers are in high demand for class teaching.  Teachers have been making regular bookings in the Hub and the computer room to expose greater IT engagement in our courses. Education Perfect and E Singapore Maths are enhancing our monitoring of student’s progress and setting the learning more specifically to the level our students need. Adaptation of class programmes and implementing online support models will be a focus this term for literacy and numeracy.

Staff have been very busy facilitating and administrating the requirements for external performance testing this semester. Years 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12’s have had a busy time with Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessments (OLNA), Progressive Achievement Tests PAT, National Assessment program– Literacy and Numeracy – (NAPLAN) and Externally Set Task EST – exams and the preparation and undertaking for Consensus moderations.

Literacy and Numeracy

A variety of strategies have been implemented, and currently being initiated to support students with their learning here at the College within literacy and numeracy. Teachers have modified timetables, units and independent lessons to cater for students Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The ZPD is aimed to ensure that students can access the curriculum to their level and ability. Lexia PowerUp has been running for approximately 4 weeks and is working on increasing students’ overall Lexile. This programme is facilitated through literacy support for all students from years 7 to 12.

Drop Everything and Read – (DEAR)

The Drop Everything And Read – (DEAR) programme is up and running across the school and this initiative is helping students to re-engage with books after break times and to really find time to be absorbed into reading.

In addition to DEAR, we are also trialing transition strategies which have been prepared to enhance student mindfulness and to enhance student focus in settling down after classes and break times. The booklets have been prepared to provide students with a strategy and focus for a positive time with class transitions.

International Excel in Learning – (IXL)

International Excel in Learning – (IXL) has now been trialed for students to access literacy support.  Literacy support will be set up to cater for students who the coordinator will determine require additional support with their learning. IXL has predominantly catered for Y9 -12 students.

e-Singapore Maths

e-Singapore Maths has been purchased and will provide 70 licenses to support students around visualization process in the context of problem-solving in mathematics.

‘Booket’ Year 9

This term for the Year 9 Numeracy, we implemented the use of ‘Booket’ once a week in addition to the normal Mathematics lessons.  Booket is an exciting new take on the modern classroom review game. It aims to match action with education to create the ultimate learning experience. We had trailed this program at the end of last term and student feedback was positive. The Year 9 students loved the competitive games, design, and embedded incentives (earning and spending coins) as well as the mechanics of the programme. The speed and competitiveness of game play has incentivized students to answer questions without the use of a calculator, and also effectively recall mathematical topics covered in the class lesson while fostering learning that is fun. In class Math we have also incorporated ‘real world’ Math that uses shopping and exchanging money, designing houses and using everyday examples of applicable Math problems.

Year 9 Adjustments to learning format

We are looking into several changes in how the class functions this term. We have re-vamped Pride into 2 separate lessons with activities that are more hands on and achievable. We are doing small craft projects. We have started with wool projects first – Octopus, Pom poms, knitting/crochet of stuffed animals.

The teachers would also like to explore opportunities for doing mosaics. In Literacy, they have chosen a more accessible novel that the students are engaging with. It will be backed up with a comparison to the movie version where they will explore the author’s choices and how they differ in the two mediums. The class will be focusing on literacy skills to write an essay and exploring avenues that such as ICT based Education Perfect to assist with this activity. In Math we have integrated the E Singapore Math and Education Perfect into 2 lessons per week. In HASS the teachers are incorporating 1 lesson per week in ICT for students to complete research work. Lastly, they are taking opportunities as they arise to create more of a working wall for the students as we progress in our topics- this will be more math and HASS based – although this may change up as needed.

Science

In Science, we have upskilled all students in years 7-10 in Science Inquiry Skills. This strategy provides all students with a base in  understanding the Scientific Method, i.e. hypotheses, variables, graphing etc. Whilst planning to use resources, we select materials with small amounts of text. We will always read aloud all information provided, and get the students to read along with the reader. Rather than use textbooks, we will select a power point with easy to read font, and get students to copy down the relevant information.

In the most recent assessment done by all years, assessing SIS, the students were given two practice worksheets that are very similar to the test, thereby giving the students an increased chance of success.

We will be looking forward to opportunities throughout the rest of the year to use the Science lab and engage the students in some hands-on learning.

Year 7 and 8

This term we are cooking and working towards setting up a “canteen program”. This will look like students preparing food for students and staff. This focus is being incorporated into English, Math, HASS and Religion.

In English we will be looking at procedural writing and focusing on economics and business so as to simulate putting this focus into the delivering of the cooking program. In Religion we are looking at an overall message of “giving back to others”. This will happen by using this through the cooking for others and taking skills back home. We are also working in groups for in class activities once explicit teaching has happened, which so far is proving successful and getting a better quality of work produced more consistently.

Also enhancing our day-to-day learning are the extra curricular activities such as Clontarf AFL carnivals, our girls new High Performance Eagles Squad, Edmund Rice Day celebrations, Cross Country and Touchstones activities. We are using these supplementary activities as engagement activities.

Stronger Together.

Cameron Eglington
Assistant Principal

Congratulations Br George

Congratulations to Br George Thornton who has completed 40 years of service at the College.  Br George has spent many years with the students both as a House Parent, has has been involved in the agriculture programme, assisting with shearing, tending the sheep and assisting the farm as needed.  Br George also supplies the kitchen and staff with eggs from the chicken hatchery he has overseen over the past few years.  The College community looks forward to many more years of service.

Introducing our new Staff

Joanne Day – Administration

My name is Joanne Day and I have recently taken over the position of Administration Assistant here at the College on the Reception desk.

For the past 19 years I was employed within local government , where I honed my customer service and administration skills within the Rangers and Security departments at Melville and Bayswater.  I then joined Swan as part of the building services team, to broaden my knowledge of how local government works.  I have been a resident of Bindoon since buying my little patch of dirt in 2007, and enjoy the area and lifestyle offered here in Bindoon.  I share my home with my partner of 12 years, and between us we have two dogs, two cats, two horses and chickens/ducks.  I’ve had both my horses since they were born and the Friesian breed ties in nicely with my love of medieval history and the Knights Templar.

Interhouse Cross Country

The annual Edmund Rice College Cross-country Championship was held on Friday 5 May 2023, as part of the celebrations for Edmund Rice Day.

The day started off in classes as per the normal timetable and then into the Liturgy to acknowledge the Edmund Rice Day and afterwards onto the school’s cross-country championships. The day finished off with interactive ephemeral touchstone art displays around the farm created by students and teachers together.

The day was good in terms of the temperature but very challenging due to the strong and persistent wind. The staff who set up the course had great difficulty leaving markers out as they were constantly blown away by strong gusts.

Fifty-six students ran the course and many found the sheep paddock the hardest part with a long uphill climb and strong headwinds.

Following here are the Championship results and in saying this, we wish to acknowledge the two top runners in each division who were the medal winners for this year’s championships.

Together, staff and students assisted with the setup, marking out of the course and the pack up.  Many thanks to everyone who made the day such an enjoyable experience.

Cameron Eglington
Assistant Principal

Student Success

Year 7/8 Class Activities

This term the year 7/8 students are focusing on a weekly cooking session as part of their ‘canteen program’.  Last week the students made sandwiches and this week the students made some delicious fruit skewers, which were then placed in the staff room for the staff to enjoy.

Each week the students will make something different to share.

Left:  Year 7/8 students made delicious fruit skewers for all the staff to enjoy.

Mummified Apples

Yr 7/8 HASS classes are covering the topic of Ancient Egypt this term! To kick start the learning students were set with a task of creating their own mummified apples.  Students were asked to make predictions at the start of the experiment based on their thoughts and which ingredient would preserve the apples the best. Each student shared their predictions and why that was their thoughts.

To mummify apples, students were given a selection of ingredients (bi-carb soda, sugar , salt and vinegar) students were asked to slice their apples into 6 slices, then on each slice they were to place one of these ingredients and wrap it in a bandage, placing the piece in a container once done. With the 2 left over slices, students were given an option to combine some of the ingredients together also wrapping the slices up.

We placed the wrapped apple slices in containers and placed them around various parts of the classroom.  A week later we opened these wrapped apples and observed which apple slice had preserved the best. Students were then asked to create a writing piece describing what they observed from the mummified apples and what the process was to get there.

Natalie Talbot
Teacher

Above – Year 7/8 students create mummified apples as part of their HASS class.

Feeding the Students

Above:  Some of the delicious and nutritious food prepared in the College kitchen.

Last term was quite the busy one in the kitchen, with new and old staff coming and going and myself moving into the position of Kitchen Operations Manager.

Moving forward this term we have started on a good note with everyone working over and above to provide nutritious and healthy meals for the students.  We all work together as a great little team focused on the same goals.

Nurse Tash and myself have had some productive conversation around cutting down sugars to reduce medical issues with diabetes and introducing more red meat and leafy greens to help boost iron levels. I am very interested to know if this changes the results throughout the term and if our awareness in the kitchen is making a positive contribution.

It’s lovely to hear the positive feedback from staff, parents and students regarding the meals we provide. They are really enjoying the ‘home cooked’ meals, made fresh every day.  Thank you to those who have shared their compliments, we do appreciate it a lot and I’m proud of my team for all the efforts they have made. (We’ve even had a student asking for recipes of the food we cook!)

Finally, thank you Carole, Tas and Courtney for all that you do to help our kitchen run smoothly.

Chondelle Turner
Kitchen Operations Manager