Week 9 Term 3 2020

Principal

Good news! We welcome the decision on Tuesday by the Chief Health Officer of Queensland to provide interstate students with exemptions to return home for the coming holidays. Many in the school community will be aware of the strain that was being placed on our Boarding families, as well as hundreds of young people from around the state. The College has been a part of the significant lobbying that has taken place over recent weeks to encourage the Government to take a more compassionate and common sense approach to students returning home from boarding school. The exemptions are good news and the happy smiles on the faces of our young boarders and, no doubt, their parents, are a testament to that.

There were also many happy faces at the Year 12 Mothers’ Luncheon last Friday. At the request of some of the mothers who were present, I share with you Dr Tracey Harbour’s speech from that event. Tracey is the mother of our College Captain, Injarra Harbour. We all know that Injarra is a gifted speaker. Now we know that he inherited this quality from his mother who has kindly agreed to share her speech with the community here. I commend it to you as a beautiful reflection on mothers and the powerful role they play.

It is Child Protection Week in Queensland and this was a focus for Dean of Students Mr Peter Todd in last week’s newsletter, as well as during Tuesday’s Assembly. I share with you the Statement of Commitment made by EREA earlier this year, as well as links to various online resources. Our boys are always at the centre of our decision making at Nudgee College. Keeping them safe and protected to the very best of our ability is of the highest priority for all our staff. My hope would be in reflecting on these words that parents would believe that our actions authentically reflect this intent.

Edmund Rice Education Australia Statement of Commitment to Child Safety

All children and young people have a right to feel safe and be safe. Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) is committed to embedding a culture where the safety, wellbeing, and participation of all children and young people under our care is paramount. Particular attention is given to the needs of vulnerable children and young people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, children and young people with disability and mental health issues, children and young people from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, children and young people who are unable to live at home, and those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex. We are committed to at all times acting in the best interests of children and young people.

We have zero tolerance of child abuse and all allegations and safety concerns are treated very seriously and consistent with our robust safeguarding policies and procedures. EREA is committed to nurturing the wellbeing of all children and young people, respecting their dignity, ensuring their safety and protecting them from abuse and other harm. EREA, its schools and its staff, contractors and volunteers have legal and moral obligations to respond swiftly including contacting authorities where relevant when we are concerned about a child’s safety, which we follow rigorously.

EREA and its schools demonstrate commitment to the safety and wellbeing of children and young people by:

taking into consideration the views of children and young people about decisions that affect their safety and wellbeing;
empowering children and young people by taking their views seriously, and addressing any concerns they may have;
acknowledging the cultural diversity of families, and being sensitive to how this may impact on child safety;
taking proactive steps to prevent child abuse, and identifying risks early so that such risks may be removed or reduced;
involving families, carers and relevant communities in decision making processes that support the development of a child safe culture;
continuously reviewing and improving our systems and practices to protect children and young people from abuse;
providing children and young people with the knowledge and skills to understand and maintain their own personal safety;
ensuring that EREA and its schools have in place strategies to embed and enhance a culture of child safety and wellbeing through the leadership, governance and culture of the organisation;
applying robust human resources and recruitment practices for all staff, contractors and volunteers;
providing regular training and education on recognising the nature and indicators of child abuse and other harm, responding to safeguarding risks and how to build culturally safe environments for children and young people;
implementing specific policies, procedures, training and a National Code of Conduct and a set of Child Safeguarding Standards to support the achievement of a child safe culture;
listening to concerns about the safety of children, and suggestions to improve the child safety processes in place;
responding swiftly to any child safety concerns and implementing clear procedures for managing and reporting child safety concerns; and
ensuring that every person involved in EREA and its schools understands the important and specific role they play individually and collectively to ensure that the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people is at the forefront of all they do and every decision they make.

(Statement endorsed by the EREA Board 1 June 2020)

Relevant Links

Finally, we wish our Year 10s well as they undertake their Immersion program next week. Despite the limitations provided by COVID-19, we believe that we have created a program that will enable our young men take another step in becoming Signum Fidei – ‘Signs of Faith’.

Mr Peter Fullagar
Principal

Deputy Principal

There is strong empirical evidence indicating the importance of feedback. Learning is made possible when high-quality feedback is shared between teacher and student – and the student’s parents. Dr John Hattie and Dr Helen Timperley, in their 2007 research to determine the factors that are most effective in improving student learning, found that effective feedback can almost double the learning growth of a student in a year.

Every one of us has received feedback: welcome and unwelcome, positive and negative, constructive and destructive, often judgemental and frequently unhelpful. In education, however, feedback has a more specific meaning and purpose; it is evidence-based information about a student’s current performance in relation to a set of defined learning goals. It is intended to effect changes in student and teacher behaviours that can help drive a student’s progress towards learning goals and identify future goals.

Everyday activities in the classroom, including formative and summative assessment tasks, provide opportunities for our teachers to gather information about our boys and their learning progress. This then informs the feedback given to them with regard to where they are now in their learning progress, where they should be next week and into the future, and what explicitly they need to be doing to get there. In answering these criteria, our teachers are constantly reflecting on the impact of their teaching practices on student achievement and adapting their teaching strategies and activities to provide the necessary scaffolding to move our boys forward.

If you were to walk through the school at any time on any day, you would see evidence of students being provided with feedback everywhere. This may be a Junior School teacher crouching beside one of our youngest lads discussing what type of sentence he might use to start a paragraph, or a Year 12 student in the study room watching a video created by his teacher in class explicitly teaching a complex mathematical operation.

Feedback might be verbal one to one, for a small group or even a whole class where appropriate, or in written form such as comments on a student’s completed task. Our system of continuous reporting provides feedback a fortnight after each task is submitted and provides descriptive and critical feedback. It should provide information about each boy's performance on the assigned task and provide ideas as to how to improve.

Regardless of the form it takes, the most effective feedback empowers our boys to take an active role in their learning. It encourages them to continue to ask questions until they fully understand what they need to know and do in order to meet current and future learning goals. And. it enables them to plot and plan, pursue or discard and then revisit all the different ways in which they may shift their performance to meet these goals with the support and guidance of their teachers.

As we approach the end of Term 3 all boys will be finalising assignments and undertaking exams. The Year 12s are sitting mock exams for the first time in over 30 years in Queensland. No matter what the style of task, be it a Year 7 Religion assignment or a Year 12 Specialist Maths mock exam, feedback will be a critical component of the learning process. Encourage your sons to read or listen to the feedback and seek clarification when unsure.

Mr David Johnston
Deputy Principal

Identity

Discernment

This time of year brings with it many opportunities for decision making. Subject selections, QTAC applications, and, of particular importance this week, who will be our College Prefects in 2021?

Much of our decision making for this year has been curtailed because the current conditions have limited our options – not many decisions to make about holiday destinations this year! The choice of leaders for next year is just as difficult as it has been in previous years, with many young men of enormous generosity and potential having put themselves forward. Such decisions take a search of our hearts and an application of criteria. This is not a simple decision, but a discernment. Discernment is the ability to obtain sharp perceptions or to judge well. Within judgment, discernment involves going past the mere perception of something and making nuanced judgments about its properties or qualities. Considered as a virtue, a discerning individual is considered to possess wisdom, and be of good judgement; especially with regard to subject matter often overlooked by others.

Some tips to the discernment process:

Give yourself space: Don’t rush, avoid distractions and become comfortable with your thoughts.
Pay attention to what’s going on in your heart: Our passions bring energy and we can harness that energy to activate our decisions.
Ask for guidance and insight: People you trust and who love you want to help you in these situations
Pray!: God won’t tell you what to do but has ways of informing our minds and touching our hearts

Today, O God of all days,
give me an experience of your heart.
Draw me deep into your very being,
into the core of your love for me, others, and the world.
Give me a glimpse of others the way you see others:
loving them, forgiving them,
and delighting in the way they give glory to God
through their very existence.
Help me to discern out of that open place of deep affection
so that I too might be a useful vessel of your love in the world.
Live Jesus in our hearts! Forever.

Mr Stephen Meara
Dean of Identity

Learning and Teaching

Year 12: How General subject results will be calculated in 2020

At last week's parent webinar a question was asked about how the calculation of ATAR subject scores would be affected after an internal assessment was cancelled due to COVID-19. As if by the providence of God this wonderful summary from the QCAA arrived on Friday. I trust it will help explain the process.

Mr Jason Sepetauc
Dean of Learning and Teaching

Year 7 Geography

In Geography this term, we are creating an infographic about natural disasters that involves water. The infographic is titled ‘A Land of Drought and Flooding Rains’. We were given the choice between the Brisbane floods in 2011 (which I chose), Kalgoorlie drought or a choice of any water related natural disaster in Australia. Our first task was mapping, in which we used BOLTSS (border, orientation, legend, title, scale, source) to create an effective map. The second section of the infographic was creating a climate graph. In the climate graph, we used data from the Bureau of Meteorology. It needed to include SALTS (scale, axis, legend, title and source). Then we coloured a bar graph (for the precipitation in each month), and a line graph (for the average temperature for each month). Our next task was researching hazards, for which we needed to outline the cause and the environmental, social and economic impacts. We also included pictures and climate data about our location during that time. We needed to include water management and discuss what the government has done to minimise or reduce damage from a possible disaster in the future. Then it was time to be innovative as we had to devise new strategies that the government could put in place to mitigate future natural disasters. This is a wonderful task because it involves researching and creating ideas which affects the future response in a natural disaster.

Tejas Ashok
Year 7 Student

Write a Book in a Day

As an extension opportunity, eight Year 9 students were invited to participate in the annual Write a Book in a Day competition on Monday 24 August. Students were required to plan, write, edit and illustrate a story based on unique parameters. Participating students from Year 9 included William Duffield, Jacob Gillam, Jonathan Hawtin, Oliver Kele, Max Pilgrim, Joseph Wesche, Thomas Woodhead and Daniel Wright. Students worked effectively as a team from 8.00am to 8.00pm to create The Unexpected Treasure.

A second team competed on Wednesday 26 August with students from Years 5 and 6, which included Blaize Antonie, James Carroll, Will Dallimore, Matthew Fuller, Rhys Griffiths, Tom Kewley, Ryan Khatmimaab, Edward McDonnell, James Neubecker and Jack Walker. This group also created a book in 12 hours entitled The Mystery of Blue Lake.

As a combined effort, the students raised more than $3,100, which will be donated directly to The Kids’ Cancer Project. The completed books will be donated to sick children in hospital who are battling cancer.

It was an excellent experience for participating students as it provided the opportunity to work collaboratively to improve the lives of others. In true Nudgee College style, these gentlemen jumped at the opportunity to make a difference.

I’d like to thank Ms Robyn Frappell for her assistance in preparing, assisting and supporting students throughout the competition.

Ms Stephanie Spicer
Enrichment Program Leader

Student Formation

Experience has shown that towards the end of Term 3 and into Term 4, as we head into spring and then summer, that this is a pertinent time to remind students and parents about the College’s policy regarding out of school functions and parties. This year COVID-19 has presented us with a whole new set of rules to adhere to in order to keep our students as safe as possible. Below is an outline of the current policy regarding parties.

The College does not officially condone parties, neither does it condemn them. The College encourages parents to be actively involved in monitoring their student’s social life outside of school, being mindful of the fact that the attendance of Nudgee College students at an outside social gathering does not classify the event as a school activity.

We encourage parents to personally contact the host parents of any student social gathering, share with the host and their student their behavioural expectations and organise safety mechanisms (e.g. clearly defined drop-off and pick-up procedures and phone access). The College recommends that discussion between parents also covers such issues as security and the presence of alcohol and illicit drugs.

We recommend to parents that their student does not attend parties that are unsupervised by a responsible adult and/or have little or no security measures in place. Detailed advice on parties and other related matters can be found on the Queensland Police website.

The College will involve itself in parties under the following conditions and in the following manner:

Where a student's behaviour is unacceptable legally or against the College’s values, and they involve the College via the wearing of Nudgee College clothing or have in their possession any item that identifies the College.
Where the party is, quite frankly, known as the Nudgee College Rowing/Rugby/Football/post-formal etc. party and is poorly managed, with incidents arising.
If Nudgee College students bring the College’s name into disrepute through their actions and then connect the College via war cries or chants, which are part of the College's traditions.
In the event that a Nudgee College student’s behaviour is illegal and it is reported to the College. The College reserves the right to hand the matter to the police for investigation and action.

Our aim as a College is that boys, staff and parents, live up to the ideals of our College motto, and the final line of our College song – that we are a Sign of Faith.

In regards to being COVIDSafe, please be aware that as of the time of writing this, people are only permitted to have 10 people, including the normal occupants of their house, present for a gathering. If reported, exceeding this number could result in a $4,000 fine per person in attendance. For further information please refer to the Queensland Health website.

Finally, here are a few pieces of advice I regularly give at parent events:

If you can say you know where your child actually is and who he is with at all times (because you have strategies to confirm that without being a ‘helicopter’) his chances of being safe are great.
Respectfully, please do not host a party Nudgee College does not want you to host, or send your son to a party we recommend you do not send him to, and then ring the College on Monday for help when things go badly or you need something resolved. Then, the College will respond on its terms.

We look forward to everyone having a restful Term 3 holiday and returning to school in Term 4 refreshed and reinvigorated for the final quarter of the game so that we end the year strongly.

Mr Peter Todd
Dean of Students

Boarding

Good News for Boarders Regarding the Queensland Borders

Behind the scenes there has been a lot of activity throughout Term 3 on the subject of getting our boys home for the holidays. When Victoria went back into lockdown we held a collective breath as to what this was going to mean for Queensland and our borders and how that would affect our boarders. We were given news last Friday that Moree had been added to a ‘border bubble’, which was good to hear; however, yesterday Chief Executive of ABSA Richard Stokes the sent us a letter that answered our prayers. Dr Jeanette Young the Chief Health Officer has granted an exemption for our boarders to go home for the holidays. I gave this fantastic news to our boys last night and now there is a real buzz in the Boarding Village.

Almost daily in the lead up to this news I have had requests from the media to speak to them about this issue. The latest was on Wednesday morning when Harry Coventry joined me to speak to ABC Radio 612 about their elation to being able to finally go home and see their families. If you’d like to listen to the audio, you can do so here, simply fast forward to 2:17:10.

We thank the many parents who have rallied with us to speak to their local members of parliament and Government departments. You have all played an integral part in bringing about this outcome.

Holiday Leave

With exam block starting next Thursday 12 September, boys should be starting to think about their travel home at the end of the term. Could I ask that you or your son enter his ‘vacation leave’ into REACH by no later than Monday 14 September to assist with rostering, meals etc.

If your son is in Years 5 to 11 and needs to depart prior to 2.55pm on Thursday 17 September, he must have approval from Learning and Teaching (this is also required if your son is not returning on the first day of school in Term 4). This can now be applied for directly through the Parent Portal.

We will have the usual buses to the airport and Roma Street Station on the last day of school. If your son needs transport to the airport on the last day, please enter this into the notes of his leave application, including the flight number and departure time, or alternatively contact your Head of Boarding House directly.

End of Term Goondiwindi Bus

For those returning to Goondiwindi and Warwick, we will be running the end of term bus, departing at 1.00pm Thursday 17 September. Tickets cost $40 and you can book here.

Mr Christian Oneto
Dean of Boarding

Sport

Please view this important letter from the Principal regarding this weekend's fixture versus BBC.

Basketball

Saturday was a great day across the board for the Nudgee College Basketball boys. The 1st V joined the winner’s circle with a solid victory. Although Brisbane Grammar School (BGS) were able to compete and challenge our lads for most of the game, the score blew out to a 30-point difference in the final quarter. Seniors Jaisson Angalo, Thasindu Chandrasekara, Heath Lillicrap, Jack Birch, Kaushikraj Srihari and Nic Cardiff all played well in their final home game for the College.

The A teams performed really well, with victories for all teams except the 5A and 10A boys. Nudgee College finished well for the round, with some very strong wins from our 2nd V and B teams.

Congratulations to the 5Bs, who escaped with a narrow two-point victory after a well-fought match.

The 10Cs also had a nail-biter of a finish, winning 32-30. Bastian Brady led the offensive attack while, Luke Berkeley held down the defensive end.

The 11As had a much-needed victory, overcoming a very competitive BGS side to win 50-34. Jed Richardson, Mitchell Doyle and William Smith were the standouts on the day.

As we come into the last round of the GPS season I want to thank you all for your continued support. Please keep the boys in mind as we prepare for the State Championships in the coming weeks.

Mr CJ Massingale
Basketball Director

Tennis

Round 8 of the GPS Tennis competition saw Nudgee College play BGS. They have had a formidable program for some time now and we knew it was going to be tough round of Tennis. This was reflected across the board with many tough losses. Highlights included the 5A and the 7C teams getting the only wins for the day.

The 1st IV played extremely well. BGS are currently sitting second on the ladder and they showed us why this is the case. Declan Townsend led the way with a great win from behind in the singles, but they were too strong across the board. What was most pleasing was the Nudgee College boys’ demeanour in which they conducted themselves against tough opponents.

Honourable mentions include:

Patrick Kennedy’s great ability to stay in each point
Alex Ropelin’s great ‘secret’ serve.
Oliver Gegg’s great sportsmanship.
Curtis Taylor’s all-round performance.

Mr Brendan McGuinness
Tennis Director

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