The Chronicle Issue 5

Dear Parents, Guardians, Friends and Students

It is amazing how busy those of us working in schools have been since the start of COVID 19. For us, it began very early in the year, prior to any of the restrictions being put in place. Since then there have been extra meetings via Teams or Zoom making sure that we are all working together and following the government’s guidelines. I know there has been more conversation during this year than ever before. I think I have had 20 mins this week when I was not in a meeting, doing interviews or online meetings. I can only imagine what life may look like for each of you. 

School has returned to a new normal. We have most of our Year 9 – 12 students onsite and it is wonderful to see them all working and engaging with other students and staff. We are all looking forward to seeing our whole student group back next term if the restrictions are changed around boarding. 

If you haven’t already had a look at our Facebook site, could I please encourage you to do so. The students and staff are putting up lots of posts and it is really exciting to see. Make sure you click to ‘Follow’ then you will get notified about new posts. 

Our prayers are with all of our families, particularly those with students still at home. Look after each other and stay well. 

God Bless
Marie Barton
Principal

Recently I have been really enjoying seeing our students and staff working so well together and it has been wonderful to see many of our students return to us. All the staff have taken great nourishment from listening to their stories during Yarning Circles in our Pastoral Care time. We have been greatly rewarded and affirmed on our vocations through listening to our students tell us that they missed us and their classes and were so happy to be back.

At ERC we believe that to improve academic outcomes, students need to be engaged in their learning. We know that for students to engage in their learning, the nurturing of authentic relationships must be at the centre. ERC staff place their students at the forefront of everything they do. Each student is know personally by our staff.  ‘Know your students’ is the very first Aitsl (Australian Professional Standards for Teachers).

Above: ERC students are happy to be back and learning, whether it is in the classroom or out on our beautiful grounds.

Relationships allow students to feel safe in their learning environment and hence fosters students to take risks with their learning as the fear of failure is taken away. At ERC our teachers are committed to building positive relationships with students to ensure the best possible educational experience. Academic success means different things to different people. Every child is unique and has different interests and talents. Academic success can be classified and measured in many ways. Research tells us that some individuals think intelligence is “fixed” – with certain people being naturally cleverer. Other people believe intelligence is malleable and can change with effort and implementing different learning strategies. Our focus is always on improving our students learning with a particular focus on Literacy. At ERC our staff believe intelligence is malleable and this is linked to positive educational outcomes, such as working hard in school, persisting in the face of setbacks and choosing challenging goals.

We acknowledge that we do things a little differently here at the College. Our programs and structures are set up to enable us to best cater to the needs of all our students. Hence our broad options programs and VET courses expose each student very early to different learning choices and ways of learning.  Our students also experience success in learning both in and outside the classroom and in many different contexts.

As Educators we also recognise there are many ways for students to learn and demonstrate success. Our staff work closely with individual students to develop personalised learning pathways that will ensure every child can develop their strengths and actively pursue their passions. Our comprehensive pastoral care system and class structure ensures that every child is known and cared for providing wraparound academic and social and emotional care.

During this very different time our staff have worked tirelessly to ensure each student had the opportunity to learn and remain connected to the College while being away. For this and for their care, love and passion for teaching I would like to sincerely thank them. To our parents who have been so supportive and have provided us with wonderful feedback and conversations we thank you. We strongly believe our parents, carers and guardians are central to our students’ success and I know our staff have really enjoyed all the chats they have had with you. Once again thank you. I would also like to thank Miss Nikol who came in with her beautiful bubba Archie to cut our Boarding student’s hair to keeping them safe.

Take care

Paula Bacchiella
Deputy Principal

Above:  Students and staff both enjoyed the ‘Play Date’ with the baby goats.

This term, the Year 7’s have been studying goats as part of their Agricultural Science Program.

They’ve been learning all about different Breeds of Goats and their Uses in Food, Fibre and Milk Production, all while having heaps of fun.

This week the class taste tested different types of goats cheese and compared goats milk to other dairy products while learning about marketing of each.

Many thanks also to the Fawcett family who recently brought three orphan baby goats up to the College for a ‘Play Date’. The Year 7’s were incredibly lucky to get the chance to bottle feed them too, which turned out to be such an amazing experience.

By the end of the day the little ‘kids’ proved to be quite the attraction. Drawing in big ‘kids’ passing by for a quick cuddle too.

Jennine Thomasson
Agricultural Science Teacher

For this term, students of Year 10 & Year 11 are carrying out an investigation to find the weight gain between twin lambs and non-twin lambs. They had the advantage of selecting two sets of twins and four non-twin lambs for earmarking. They are then able to weigh them every week and see how they are progressing. Moreover, students from both farming and non-farming backgrounds have enjoyed the experience of holding the cute lambs.

Salonee Poongavanon
Teaching Team

Above:  Year 10 & 11 students check the sheep’s weight before earmarking selected twins for further checks on their progression.