clontarf aboriginal college newsletter · rotary awards by chris reddy, data systems coordinator...
TRANSCRIPT
PRAYER
Holy God, of holy dreaming,
through your breath of life you bring creation into being.
You shape the myriad forms and features of this land,
and form its rainbow of many colours, cultures and peoples.
We commit ourselves to journeying together in a spirit of
reconciliation.
Through your redeeming love you give us peace in Jesus Christ.
AMEN
Principal’s News
Kaya,
It has been a positive and busy start to Term Two with students engaged
in our learning programs, extra-curricular and residential activities.
This Term we have celebrated National Sorry Day on the 26th May and are
celebrating National Reconciliation Week through assemblies, class
activities and excursions. Sorry Day is an important event which
commemorates the anniversary of the handing down of the Bringing Them
Home Report in the Commonwealth Parliament in 1997. Sorry Day is a
day we reflect on the profound grief and trauma experienced by members
and families of the Stolen Generations due to past government policies. It is also an opportunity to celebrate the strength and
resilience of Aboriginal people, and to reaffirm our shared commitment to healing and reconciliation. Our annual Year 12 Retreat
always focuses on the history of the Stolen Generation, reconciliation, forgiveness and ‘our story, our journey’. As part of our
reconciliation journey, there are truths to tell, stories to celebrate, and relationships to grow.
Reconciliation Week is the National Week to celebrate and build respectful relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people and all Australians. This year, we reflect on two significant anniversaries in Australia’s reconciliation journey – 50
years since the 1967 referendum and 25 years since the historic Mabo decision.
Reconciliation is at the heart of our nations’ future. Jesus is our example of the spirit of healing and reconciliation. We honour and
pray for those who have struggled and fought us in the past, and we come together as a community for our future.
In Week 7 of this term, we will also have RE Week, an initiative of our Religious Education Coordinator, with various activities to
celebrate our faith and culture throughout all aspects of Clontarf Aboriginal College.
On Monday 26th June we will have our NAIDOC Week Celebration Day, please mark this day in your calendar as we invite all our
families and friends to join in with some our festivities on the day celebrating ‘Our Languages Matter’.
I am proud that we have a strong community here at Clontarf Aboriginal College. We celebrate our history, our culture and our
diversity. We grow even stronger together through our commitment to education and learning for life.
Thank you and God Bless.
Troy Hayter
295 Manning Road, Waterford WA | T: (08) 9251 0666 | E: [email protected]
2017 TERM 2 WEEK 6
CLONTARF ABORIGINAL COLLEGE NEWSLETTER
Religious Education and Campus Ministry By Salvatore De Luca, Head of RE & Campus Ministry
What a fantastic and busy term it has been in the Religious dimension of the College. The annual Edmund
Rice feast day in Week Two set the tone for the wonderful term of events. The feast day celebrated the life
of Blessed Edmund Rice who was the founder of the Christian Brothers in 1802 and a very influential figure
in providing education for all people. All students proudly displayed their souvenir Edmund Rice pins and
participated in an online quiz about the life of Edmund Rice followed by a cake sale at morning tea. A lovely
mass was celebrated in the College Chapel where all the students displayed respect and reverence. The
participation of the students, in particular the readers and the singers was a highlight which brought the
celebration to another level. It was also wonderful to host several Christian Brothers’ who, following the
mass, spoke to the students in their house groups. A whole school lunch followed and then in the afternoon
the students participated in fun novelty games, earning house points. A sensational Edmund Rice Day!
Week Two also saw the official launch of the Christian Service Learning program (for which
letters were sent out in the school holiday break). Christian Service Learning is a program that
all students from Years 7 to 10 (in future years this will extend to Year 11 and 12) are a part of,
that amongst many things: Provides students with opportunities to meet people with needs;
Challenges students to think and act in ways that reflect values that are consistent with the
Gospel; and Provides students with the experience of ‘service’ as a way of learning and living that is part of all aspects of life rather
than an activity that is isolated from the rest of their lives. The students have responded very positively to the launch of the
program actively participating and offering to be involved in various initiatives. Please do not
hesitate to contact me if you would like further information on this program.
In Week Three, a group of students represented the College at the annual Archbishop’s
Lifelink Secondary Forum. The students were wonderful ambassadors for the College on the
day, listening to keynote presentations from Archbishop Costelloe
and Bishop Don Sproxton about the Lifelink Appeal for 2017.
In the classrooms, the students have continued to build on their
knowledge from Term One. The Year 12 students have recently completed their Externally Set Tasks, a
form of assessment for all Year 12 students in Western Australia completing the Religion and Life:
General course; the Year 9’s have commenced their preparation for the Bishop’s Religious Literacy
Assessment which is in Term 3; and all students in their R.E classes have also been busy preparing handshake symbols for the
upcoming National Sorry Day and National Reconciliation Week - these will be on display during Week 6 in the main foyer of the
College admin building.
Week 7 (June 6 to June 9) sees the inaugural Religious Education Week taking place at Clontarf Aboriginal College. The aim of this
inaugural Religious Education (R.E) week is to celebrate R.E and Aboriginal Spirituality. R.E and Aboriginal Spirituality are broad
areas and many links and similarities exist; the week will be a cross-curricular celebration - through
various learning areas with enjoyable and fun, cultural, faith, music and sport activities. An exciting list
of guests will present and be part of the week from religious, cultural, sporting and musical
backgrounds. A variety of games and free competitions will also be part of the week for the students
to participate in. All members of the community are welcome to come along and join in the
celebrations throughout the week.
Finally, the College continues the ever-growing relationship with Aboriginal Catholic Ministry with the mass on the third Sunday of
each month. The next mass is on Sunday June 18th at 4.45pm in the College Chapel. All members of the community are welcome
to come along.
IMPORTANT NOTICE There has been a recent increase in prices for the College uniform as per below:
PRICES CURRENT AS AT 15 MAY 2017
EVERYDAY WEAR WINTER WEAR
College Polo Shirt $35.00 each College Tracksuit Jacket $75.00 each
College Black Shorts $25.00 each College Tracksuit Pants $35.00 each
SPORTING/CULTURAL EVENTS OPTIONAL WEAR
College House Shirt $35.00 each College Cap $10.00 each
Rotary Awards By Chris Reddy, Data Systems Coordinator
The Rotary Club of Mill Point have introduced an Annual Endeavour Award for two of
our Year 11 day students to assist with their educational needs.
The Inaugural Winners for 2017 were Pearl Coppin and Glen Prosser.
Tricia Smith, Vocational Director of Mill Point Rotary Club and Brian Johnson attended
our whole school assembly on May 24th to present Pearl and Glen with their Awards.
Congratulations to both students and many thanks to our partners at Rotary.
We look forward to continuing this partnership as well as seeing who will be next
year’s Endeavour Award winners.
Sporting Achievements By Shannon O’Connor
Congratulations to Robin Johnson (Year 11), Leno Thomas (Year
11) and Martina Karadada (Year 11) for their outstanding
sporting achievements this semester!
Martina Karadada has been chosen to represent Western
Australia in the 2017 NAB AFL Women’s National
Championships where she will head to Sydney in May and to
Gold Coast in July. Martina has been involved in the Indigenous
pathway programs such as the 2015 Kickstart Championships
where she then was chosen to represent the Woomeras the
following year. The AFL Indigenous Kickstart and Woomeras
programs have quickly become an aspiration point for many
young indigenous women which have been put in place to
increase the transition rates of indigenous females into the
mainstream pathways, which Martina has successfully done.
Robin Johnson and Leno Thomas
have been selected to be a part of
the 2017 DEPPRO WA State
Academy Under 16’s. The boys will be training and playing with the state squad. The State Academy
program is a critical part of the WA talent pathway and all the players selected have a great opportunity
to showcase their talent and earn the chance to represent WA at the National Championships. All the
best boys!
Deputy Update By Jennie Morley, Principal for Teaching & Learning
Hello to all our Clontarf family and friends both near and far.
May has been a busy month for our students as they have
undertaken a range of OLNA, NAPLAN, ACER and EST tests; and
they are to be congratulated for the excellent work ethic they
have generally demonstrated. Semester One course work
concludes in Week Eight, and our Year 12’s are now more than
half way through the school year. We strongly encourage our
senior students to continue to push themselves ‘above and
beyond’ in order to complete all class work and assessments
required. Semester One reports are also presently being
prepared and will be mailed home to families within the next
few weeks. I look forward to the rest of Term Two as a busy,
happy and enriching opportunity to work with you and your
children.
DEADLY THINKING By Courtney George & Shannon O’Connor, Junior English Teachers
This term in Junior English, the students have been participating in an exciting new program
labelled Deadly Thinking. The program leads students through a series of activities and
challenges which aim to build six different skills. These skills and the program itself were named
by some of our Aboriginal staff in collaboration with Junior English teachers.
So far, students have been exposed to all the skill areas through small group rotations. The
images to the left depict some of the activities we have completed so far. We look forward to
diving deeper into the program as the term progresses!
WESTCOURT News By Maria Valli, Westcourt House Coordinator
We have certainly had a busy start to
the term with the cold weather hitting
us very early.
It’s wonderful to see the high number of
students following the College rules,
unfortunately, there a few students
needing constant reminders to go to
classes or are often late to school or
classes.
I do, however, appreciate the support
the many families give us to ensure their
children are at school and doing the
right thing.
Westcourt Homeroom 2 opened the
term with the whole school assembly
and I thank those students who with
some encouragement spoke and
presented.
Many Westcourt students attended the
recent reward day held in Week 4. By all
accounts spending half a day at
Elizabeth Quay in the city with lunch and
ice-cream was a far better option than
staying at school. Congratulations to
those special people!
The next planned reward trip will be
held in Week 8, so we are watching
excitedly to see who will be attending as
the next activity is so cool.
The extended Homeroom inter-house
challenge is something new introduced
this year. The students wear their house
shirts and it gives the students an
opportunity to compete and participate
in a more fun and relaxed way, giving
the house extra bonus points for
something special at the end of the
year.
There have been many activities
planned by the Boys and Girls Academy
that the students have enjoyed
attending, again this is based on
attendance and behaviour. If students
have missed out, I urge them to strive
hard to improve so they too can enjoy
these activities.
Academically, this term saw many of our
students sit NAPLAN, Acer tests in
English and Maths and complete
external exams for students in Year 12.
Well done to you all!
This week we all come together to
celebrate Reconciliation Week! The
week reminds us that ‘big changes take
persistence and courage’. I sincerely
hope that this message resonates and
enables our students to take the next
steps to move on in a positive and
resilient manner.
Who you? Students work on identifying their strengths & weaknesses in order to gain a sense of character.
Your mob Students identify the values and characteristics of their culture and communities.
Coming together Students build on their collaboration skills within small groups.
Yarning Students work on improving their communication skills.
Creativity Students use their imagination to develop unique ideas.
Which way? Students apply critical thinking skills to a range of problems.
ON A BRIGHT SUNNY MORNING AT THE BEGINNING OF TERM WE FINALLY HAD A HOUSE PHOTO.
SION News By Dean Campbell, Sion House Coordinator
Sion House is doing some amazing things. The Homeroom teachers, Damien Dimasi, Gina Harcourt, Shannon O’Connor and Chris
Lee have been working hard to create a team atmosphere amongst all the Sion students.
A couple of times each term we have inter-house activities as part of the extended Homeroom time on Wednesdays. Recently we
had a tug-of-war competition against the other houses and Sion was certainly the best team on the day. The light-hearted
activities had all the students pulling for their team and cheering on the other students. It has been a great success.
Sion House recently took out the Inter-House Cross Country carnival. The event was held at Lake Monger and the students needed
to complete the 3.5-kilometre course. Sion had the most competitors and also won a number of divisions. Each student who
competed got a point for their House, so it was great to see Sion take out the shield.
As you would be aware, every Wednesday the students are to wear their House Shirt to school. This is so we can develop the team
spirit even more and our team looks awesome in their black Sion shirts.
Finally, in Week Five, Sion 2 was responsible for running the School Assembly. We had Shontae Coppin and Nikkita Smith do an
awesome job as the comperes and we had guests from Rotary come to present two students with a cheque to assist them with their
schooling. One of those students was Sion 1 student, Pearl Coppin.
So, it’s congratulations to Sion on a great start to Term Two.
Clontarf X-Country Carnival By Rob Thomson, Sports Coordinator
With a cool run around Lake Monger, this year’s Clontarf Cross Country Carnival proved to be a close contest. Waterford and
Westcourt both ended up with 17 points each, Sion ended up in First Place; being the overall winner with 21 points.
Well done, SION. It was great to see the effort and participation of all students, especially by all the Champions and Runner Ups.
Thank you to Phys Ed staff and to the Girls Academy Staff for helping out on the day.
SION WESTCOURT WATERFORD
First place Tied for second place Tied for second place
YEAR BOYS GIRLS
Y07 Champion No runners Grace Taylor
Y07 Runner Up No runners Tenaya Prosser
Y08 Champion John Yates Tameika Webb
Y08 Runner Up Dean Bonney Tahlia Donaldson
Y09 Champion Jahn'Taye Lawford Kirra-Mae Josephsen
Y09 Runner Up Atharren Hicks Jasia Taylor
Y10 Champion Beau Langer No runners
Y10 Runner Up Amos Webb No runners
Y11 Champion Adrian Hardy Martina Karadada
Y11 Runner Up Glen Prosser No runners
Y12 Champion No runners Felisha Swan
Y12 Runner Up No runners No runners
Indigenous ANZAC Service By Anton Schirripa, GECKOS Coordinator
Each year, people across Australia celebrate our fallen soldiers and acknowledge those who continue to fight for our country in the
Armed Forces. What many people don’t realise, however, is how many Indigenous soldiers have been involved in various conflicts
around the world and continue to serve for us today. In WWI there were at least 1,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander soldiers
sent to fight for our country, and in WWII there were at least 8,000. In fact, there have been Indigenous soldiers fighting for
Australia in conflicts since before federation. Unfortunately, Indigenous soldiers did not gain the recognition or respect that other
soldiers did and as a result, were left nameless in the records that existed. This has now changed.
Each year, an Indigenous War Veterans Memorial is held in the last week of May to recognise fallen Indigenous soldiers and the
Indigenous men and women who continue to fight today. On Wednesday, 31st of May, six of our student leaders attended this
memorial and laid a wreath in acknowledgement of these soldiers.
I’d like to thank these students for the reverence and respect they showed on the day, and the outstanding example they continue
to set for their peers. Thank you to Clare Pigram and Michael Bailey who attended with our student leaders.
This is what Clare Pigram had to say about the day:
“It was a fantastic event and I would like to acknowledge our wonderful leaders: Billie-Rae Whitehurst, Damien Gidgup, Amos Webb, Pearl and Ronan Coppin and Jen Stokes who participated in the event today; they made Michael, Nigel and myself very proud to be a part of our Clontarf Community. Well done and thank you Anton Schirripa and Jennie Morley for allowing and suggesting that these excellent students represent our College with great pride on this special day.”
Information for parents and carers WHAT IS THE NATIONAL DATA COLLECTION?
The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students
with Disability (the national data collection) is an annual
collection that counts the number of school students receiving
an adjustment due to disability and the level of reasonable
adjustment they are receiving.
The national data collection counts students who have been
identified by a school team as receiving an adjustment to
address a disability as defined under the Disability
Discrimination Act 1992 (the DDA). The DDA can be accessed
from the ComLaw website at www.comlaw.gov.au.
WHAT IS THE BENEFIT FOR MY CHILD?
The aim of the national data collection is to collect quality
information about school students receiving an adjustment due
to disability in Australia.
This information will help teachers, principals, education
authorities and families to better support students with
disability to take part in school on the same basis as other
students.
The national data collection provides an opportunity for
schools to review their learning and support systems and
processes to continually improve education outcomes for their
students with disability.
WHY IS THIS DATA BEING COLLECTED?
All schools across Australia collect information about students
with disability. But the type of information currently collected
varies between each state and territory and across
government, Catholic and independent school sectors.
When undertaking the national data collection, every school in
Australia uses the same method to collect information.
Therefore, a government school in suburban Sydney collects
and submits data in the same way as a Catholic school in
country Victoria and an independent school in the Northern
Territory.
The annual collection aims to, over time, lead to nationally
consistent, high quality data that will enable schools, education
authorities and governments to gain a more complete
understanding of students who are receiving adjustments
because of disability in schools in Australia, and how to best
support them.
WHAT ARE SCHOOLS REQUIRED TO DO FOR STUDENTS
WITH DISABILITY?
All students are entitled to a quality learning experience at
school.
Schools are required to make reasonable adjustments, where
needed, to assist students with disability to access and
participate in education free from discrimination and on the
same basis as other students.
These responsibilities are outlined in the DDA and the
Disability Standards for Education 2005 (the Standards). The
Standards require educators, students, parents and others (e.g.
allied health professionals) to work together so that students
with disability can participate in education. The Standards can
be accessed via the ComLaw website at www.comlaw.gov.au.
WHAT IS A REASONABLE ADJUSTMENT?
A reasonable adjustment is a measure or action taken to help a
student with disability access and participate in education on
the same basis as other students. Reasonable adjustments
reflect the assessed individual needs of the student, and are
provided in consultation with the student and/or their parents
and carers. Reasonable adjustments can be made across the
whole school setting (e.g. ramps into school buildings), in the
classroom (such as adapting teaching methods) and at an
individual student level (e.g. extra tuition for a student with
learning difficulties).
WHAT INFORMATION WILL BE COLLECTED?
Every year your child’s school will collect the following
information for each student receiving an adjustment due to
disability:
• the student’s level of education (i.e. primary or secondary)
• the student’s level of adjustment
• the student’s broad type of disability.
National Parents/Carers Fact Sheet Version No. 5 as at March 2017
The information collected by schools will be available to all
governments to inform policy and program improvement for
students with disability.
WHO IS INCLUDED IN THE NATIONAL DATA COLLECTION?
The definition of disability for the national data collection is
based on the broad definition under the DDA.
For the purposes of the national data collection, students with
learning difficulties, such as dyslexia or auditory processing
disorder, as well as chronic health conditions like epilepsy or
diabetes, that require monitoring and the provision of
adjustments by the school, may be included.
WHO COLLECTS INFORMATION FOR THE NATIONAL DATA
COLLECTION?
Teachers and school staff count the number of students
receiving an adjustment due to disability in their school, and
the level of reasonable adjustment they are provided, based on:
• consultation with parents and carers in the course of
determining and providing reasonable adjustments
• the school team’s observations and professional
judgements
• any medical or other professional diagnosis
• other relevant information.
School principals are responsible for ensuring the information
identified about each student is accurate.
HOW IS MY CHILD’S PRIVACY PROTECTED?
Protecting the privacy and confidentiality of all students and
their families is essential and is an explicit focus of the national
data collection. Personal details, such as student names or
other identifying information, are not provided to local or
federal education authorities.
Further information about privacy is available from
www.education.gov.au/notices.
IS THE NATIONAL DATA COLLECTION COMPULSORY?
Yes. All education ministers agreed to full implementation of
the national data collection from 2015. This means that all
schools must now collect and submit information annually on
the number of students receiving adjustments due to disability
in their care, and the level of adjustment they receive.
Information about the arrangements that may apply to your
school in relation to this data collection is available from your
child’s school principal and the relevant education authority.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Contact your child’s school if you have further questions about
the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students
with Disability.
You can also visit www.education.gov.au/nationally-
consistent-collection-data-school-students-disability.
An e-learning resource about the Disability Standards for Education 2005 is freely available for the use of individuals, families and communities at http://resource.dse.theeducationinstitute.edu.au/.
National Parents/Carers Fact Sheet Version No. 5 as at March 2017