Edmund Rice Education Australia Touchstones

Liberating Education

As a Catholic School in the Edmund Rice Tradition, we aim to provide quality teaching and learning experiences to enable students to experience personal achievement within a safe, supportive and healthy environment.

Student Reflections on Home Based Learning

As we enter week six of Home Based Learning, it is pleasing to see how our boys are responding to the challenges of working independently online. All students’ experience of Home-Based Learning will be different. Some will have days in which they are engaged, while at other times they may find it far more difficult to maintain motivation. All we can ask is for them to do their best. I have asked some students in Year 7 to share with me their thoughts on the experience and their reflections appear below.

Mrs McDonald’s Pet Lesson

Mr Sullivan’s Hat Lesson

Mr Marks’ Guess Who Lesson

 

 

 

 

 

Year 7 Reflections

“I would say home learning is going great for me, there aren’t many challenges I need to face, with most of the challenges occurring mainly being around technical issues. I am really proud of the way I am learning from home, as it is going really smoothly for me, as everything has been going great with the way I am learning, and how easy it is to go from class to class while online and learning the same as I would in face-to-face learning.” Cooper Harker

“To become a better learner at home I could spend less time on video games because having too much screen time isn’t good for me. I am really proud of the way I’m working from home because I’ve learnt to have more depth in my writing and answers and to also be engaged in everything I do.” Daniel Lyons

“One thing I want to do better when working from home is more revision after I’m finished with the task so I can show greater understanding with whatever it is I am doing” Giuseppe Merillo

“Learning from home is a lot easier for me because it gives me more time to complete unfinished work while having zero distractions.” Lachy O’Brien

“Some things to do to become a better learner at home are trying to study when I can, going outside and get some exercise if I can, putting depth into my learning during my classes and helping others when they need it.” Joe Kelly

“Online learning is good – I haven’t found anything challenging, everything is going smooth except when my internet is bad but besides that all good. I found it much more relaxing learning at home, but I’m still annoyed that I can’t see my mates.” Will Haines

“I am really proud of the way I work from home because it is really hard to adapt and be able to work well.  I have been trying as hard as I can throughout the time being in lockdown. I haven’t fallen behind in any subject and am working really well.” Dylan Hitchenson

“I am really proud of the way I work from home because I feel like I have not as many people to talk to as distractions when in the classroom” Ben Green

Noah Cox – Year 8

Kieran Campbell – Year 8

The great work being completed by students during Home Based Learning continues to provide us with evidence of the capacity of students to take responsibility for their learning. The College Aspiration Statement which defines our learning goals, declares At St Edward’s College, we aim to inspire students to be compassionate, curious, respectful and autonomous learners who demonstrate resilience, discipline and perseverance on their learning journey. We do understand that some students will, at times, feel disengaged and unmotivated as they deal with the emotional stress of being isolated and away from their peers and teachers for such a long time and we will continue to encourage boys to do their best in the difficult circumstances. I am pleased to announce that we have two students in Year 8 whose level of commitment and engagement has seen them achieve a Principal’s Award. I would like to congratulate Kiernan Campbell and Noah Cox of Year 8 as the next recipients of the Principal’s Award having received a total of sixty merits to date. Congratulations to Kieran and Noah on this great achievement.

Year 11 Max Potential

As a Catholic School in the Edmund Rice tradition, we aim to provide challenges to all members of the school community to prophetic leadership within the school community and beyond.

St Edward’s College responds to the challenge of developing student leadership through the community service program the Waterford Project. This program encourages students to look beyond themselves through acting selflessly in the service of others in need within the local community. Another excellent opportunity is provided to our Year 11 students each year through an invitation to participate in the Max Potential program.

The Max Potential program is an initiative of Clubs NSW, and offers twenty-two weeks of personal leadership development, including coaching, to young leaders from schools, TAFE, University and the community to help them maximise their potential during the final years at school and beyond. Max Potential also encourages students to focus on the local community and ways that they can work to improve it.  Gosford RSL Club has been successfully facilitating the program in the Gosford City local government area since 2008 providing young people with an opportunity to impact on others and their region through a community project supported by local community leaders and networks.

St Edward’s College has been proud supporters of the Max Potential program since its inception with Year 11 students participating each year. This year four Year 11 students participated in the program and their personal leadership outcomes were publicly showcased in an online celebration on Tuesday August 17. The Year 11 students who participated this year were Jett Heaney, Cooper Lord, Luke Richards and Louis Whyatt. Congratulations to these fine young men for completing this program. Their video presentations appear below.

Ausgrid Power Outage

We have been informed by Ausgrid that they will be conducting critical scheduled maintenance work across their network meaning some customers may experience power outages over the coming weeks.  I have contacted Ausgrid who explained that any household who will be impacted by the power outage will have already received a notification in the mail or via SMS. Families wishing to check if they will be impacted are able to search for planned Ausgrid works by suburb using the following link. Power outages list – Ausgrid