Taking the Lead
With Term One coming to an end next week, so do our sporting fixtures for this season. The ATC Cricket season concluded on Saturday with a wonderful game under lights at Chelmer. Around 300 people gathered to watch a highly entertaining match between our current 1st XI and the Old Boys team. In a close game, the Old Boys triumphed by 12 runs. There was quite a bit of chat happening on the field, and the wild celebrations from the Old Boys that accompanied every wicket showed how much the result meant. It was a great community event with students of all ages in the crowd and so many families. Thank you to Mr Jarrod Turner, the Sports Support Group and the many volunteer parents who assisted in so many ways to make this such a huge success.
Leaders Assembly
I congratulate all the students who were nominated by their peers and endorsed by their Formation Leader to be a part of their respective Student Council. Two Leadership Assemblies have been held to acknowledge and celebrate these students. A wonderful aspect of ATC is that there are so many young people who daily do the little things very well. Leadership obviously is one of our three pillars, and we believe every person has the capacity to be a leader. The message last week to the whole student body was that leadership is about doing the little things right, particularly when people are not watching. Let’s all continue to promote leadership as a part of the development of our young people, in the classroom, in the playground, during co-curricular activities and out in the community.
Final Two Weeks of Term
The final weeks of term are always busy with assessment, and I encourage all boys to be focussed on their revision and completion of tasks. For our Year 5, Year 7 and Year 9 students this is on top of four days of NAPLAN. Please support your son to stick to routines and to focus on his schoolwork until the end of term. Do you a have a visible list of assessment tasks for your child on the fridge? Helping your son prepare for their assessment includes awareness of tasks and dates, time being allocated for assignments and study, and a positive attitude. It is a time when some boys begin to feel very tired, particularly with our current heat wave, and can be a period where mistakes are made. It is important that we work together to finish the term positively and enjoy a break.
ATC Care & Concern
The ATC P&F are actively involved in many ways across our community. The ATC Care & Concern Group is one of the ways that this school shows that we are a community, as well as an educational establishment. The volunteer members of the Care & Concern group demonstrate the practical, personal kindness that Jesus, Edmund Rice and Ambrose Treacy showed, in their teachings and lifetimes, by helping out other families in our ATC community, when it is needed. Ways that the ATC Care & Concern Group can help are
- cooking meals to help a family going through a hard time (such as illness, bereavement etc)
- delivering food etc. to families confined at home with covid or other illnesses
- being available to provide comfort by being a good listener
- in times of need (like floods!), a central point for the ATC community to help other ATC families with disaster preparation, clean ups, uniforms etc.
The service is all provided with complete discretion and privacy. We use the Take Them A Meal
ordering portal. Once you have registered via our online form to be part of the ATC Care and Concern group, you will be notified if there is a family in need. If you can help on this occasion, you go to the Take Them A Meal website, click on the purple ‘Find’ icon. Enter “One” as the Recipient Last Name and “ATC” as the Password. Once logged in, you can use this website to give notice of the dates on which you can prepare food. Group members generally don't know the identity of the family that they are helping - it is simply a matter of knowing that (for example) a family of 4 needs a dinner, which is dropped to the school office for distribution. With over 80 volunteers in the group, it isn't an overly onerous burden to help - when there is a need for meals, volunteers can work out if this is a good time for them to provide a meal, then choose a day that would suit them to cook an extra dinner, and join an electronic roster. We are very blessed to have so many volunteers who make a real and tangible difference in our ATC community. If you want to sign up to be part of our Care and Concern group, please CLICK HERE.
2023 Next Step Year 12 Completers Survey
All our students who completed Year 12 last year will soon receive an invitation to do the Next Step survey. The short five-minute survey asks graduates about the study and work they have been doing since finishing school. The results from the survey help our school improve our senior programs and prepare students for work and further study. We ask parents, siblings and friends to encourage our graduates to complete the survey. If their contact details have changed, please assist survey interviewers with their updated details or forward the survey to their new address so they can participate. Graduates may receive an invitation by mail, email or phone. The survey can be completed online or by phone. For more information about Next Step, including previous results, visit www.qld.gov.au/nextstep.
National School Improvement Tool Affirmations
Last week I shared the commendations from the recent National School Improvement Tool process. This week I provide the affirmations of ATC that the NSIT report included:-
• Staff are committed to providing a safe, nurturing, inclusive and caring educational environment for all boys, in the Edmund Rice tradition.
• There is a college-wide belief evident that every student can learn and experience success.
• The systematic analyses of college longitudinal data by the leadership team identifies focus areas for improving student outcomes.
• The school advisory council express a high level of confidence in the principal, college leaders and staff.
• ATCentral, an interactive internal website, has been developed recently and provides ready access for staff to a range of relevant information and resources.
• The Class Placemat is valued as a data tool by staff, for gaining insights into students at the beginning of each year.
• Collegial and respectful relationships are consistent features of staff, student and family interactions and relationships.
• Parental involvement through a range of strategies and communication modes in the lives of their sons at ATC is sought and valued.
• A clear budget process has been developed to ensure alignment with improvement priorities and the Edmund Rice Education Australia expectations.
• A collegial culture is a highlight of the school, with a strong commitment by all to supporting and caring about each other.
• School leaders prioritise the recruitment of staff who exhibit the values, beliefs and capacity to work in the inclusive environment immersed in the Edmund Rice tradition.
• The extensive TLAPs provide a foundation for building a consistent approach to planned curriculum-delivery strategies across the college.
• Prominence is given to developing a value-added learning approach as a means of measuring students’ educational growth.
• Learning journeys and welfare are promoted through mentoring, supporting and caring for students’ wellbeing in clear and consistent processes.
• A three-tiered model has been established to provide for the delivery of the whole-school approach to inclusion.
• The unit-planning documents in use across the college provide facility for teachers to record their planned program adjustments for students with additional learning needs.
• A daily 15-minute silent reading session, Flash Fiction, has been introduced to Year 7 to promote a love of reading.
- Partnerships with a range of local community organisations and businesses support and enhance student pathways, enabling learners to explore vocational training opportunities that begin in Year 9.
- A strong commitment by the college to working closely with the local First Nations community seeks to support the nurturing of an environment that is inclusive of and celebrates the cultural heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Catholic Education Response: Australian Law Reform Commission Inquiry into Religious Educational Institutions and Anti-Discrimination Law
On 4 November 2022, the Federal Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus KC MP, released the terms of reference for the Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) Inquiry into laws protecting faith-based schools. The ALRC’s Consultation Paper, released on 27 January 2023, sets out four general propositions and 14 technical proposals for reform on which the ALRC sought stakeholder submissions by 24 February. The National Catholic Education Commission made a submission to the ALRC Inquiry outlining the disappointment of Catholic education stakeholders and serious concerns with the proposed reforms. This submission represents the interests of 1,759 Catholic schools and education authorities, educating one in five or nearly 794,000 students, and employing over 104,000 teaching and non-teaching staff in Australia. Catholic education will continue to make strong recommendations to the government and opposition to ensure religious rights are protected alongside any changes to anti-discrimination law that seeks to narrow or remove current exceptions. The following messages may be helpful in conversations or communications you may be involved in:
• Catholic education is highly valued and respected in Australia and has educated millions of students over 200 years
• Catholic schools should be free to be Catholic, and operate and teach according to their ethos
• Religious freedom needs the same protection as other rights in Australia
• A parent’s right to choose a school that reflects their values and beliefs must be protected and respected
• The ability of faith-based schools to operate, employ and teach according to their faith needs to be consistent in every state and territory to meet the needs of all Australian students.
• Changes to current anti-discrimination laws must go hand-in-hand with the introduction of laws to protect religious freedom.
St Joseph's Day
Given our long history as Nudgee Junior College, it is fitting to acknowledge St Joseph’s Day which was celebrated on Sunday. Joseph was the husband of the Virgin Mary and father of Jesus. He is referred to in many texts as humble and ‘just’, as well as a hard worker and a person of great faith, very similar qualities that are demonstrated by the wonderful staff and students at ATC on a daily basis. The Edmund Rice building hallways are filled with photos of former students and staff who attended this campus when it was formerly a Junior School for St Joseph’s Nudgee College and our beautiful chapel is named after St Joseph.
Final Day of Term
Our Final Day of Term 1 is Friday 31 March, with students finishing at 3.00pm. I ask that all families support the College in regard to this full day schedule. Friday will include an meaningful Easter liturgy, the competitive, fun and highly anticipated Inter-House Cross Country, plus some lessons and activities across the year levels. The expectation is that ALL students will be in attendance on that day. House shirts and supporter colours can be worn on this day.
All the best for a positive Week 9.
God bless,
David Gardiner
