Edmund Rice Education Australia Touchstone

Liberating Education

As a Catholic School in the Edmund Rice tradition, all members are challenged to prophetic leadership within the school community and beyond.

Professional Renewal Leave

I am very grateful to have been provided with the opportunity to participate in Professional Renewal Leave throughout Term 3. It was a wonderful experience in which I travelled throughout various regions of our beautiful country taking time to relax but also visit a range of schools to learn new ideas. The focus of my visits to schools centred on learning about a range of initiatives on the topics of Aboriginal Reconciliation, teaching and learning and student well-being. While I was able to learn a great deal from these visits, I also felt very affirmed about the excellent work that we do at St Edward’s. We are fortunate to have very professional, caring and committed staff who work tirelessly to provide a holistic education in a nurturing environment for the boys in our care.

I would like to acknowledge the great work of Mr Cameron Alexander who took over the role of College Principal in my absence as well as Ms Jodie Connor and members of the Senior Leadership Team for their support of Cameron during this time.

COVID Update

On September 30, the National Cabinet announced that from Friday October 14 people who test positive to COVID-19 do not need to isolate. With the lifting of this Public Health Order, NSW Health has advised that schools can continue to determine their own school-based requirements. As outlined in the letter distributed to parents earlier this week the College will adopt the following protocols to manage COVID-19 throughout Term 4.

• Parents continue to be required to notify the College if their son has contracted COVID-19 via the Online Notification Form. Household contacts are not required to be notified.
• Students are not to return to school until they are symptom free. We strongly urge parents and carers to monitor their sons for symptoms and follow this requirement for the safety and well-being of all members of our community.
• Students can continue to wear a mask if they are concerned about the risk of infection.
• We have received an additional supply of RAHTs which are being distributed throughout the first two weeks of the term.
• The College will continue to implement the COVID-19 safe strategies that were in place throughout Term 3.

Further to these protocols, NSW Health strongly recommends that any student or staff member who tests positive to COVID-19 follow the advice outlined in the NSW Health Testing Positive to COVID-19 Fact Sheet:

• Do not visit people at high risk of severe illness, anyone in hospital or an aged or disability care facility for at least 7 days
• Wear a mask when indoors and on public transport, if they must leave home
• Avoid large gatherings and indoor crowded places
• Tell people that they live with, or spend a lot of time with (such as the school), that they have COVID-19
• Try to separate from people they live with as much as possible
• Register their positive rapid antigen test result with Service NSW

Parent Consultation Meetings

We are committed to maintaining a strong relationship with our families and truly value parent and carer input into our ongoing school improvement agenda. It is therefore my intention to establish voluntary Parent Consultation Meetings which will be held once per term as an opportunity to gain feedback from interested parents on operations of the College. I am aware that family life can be quite busy so these meetings will be offered in two sessions, one day time and one evening session on the topics for the term. Earlier this week, parents were emailed a letter outlining the first session which is to be held on Wednesday 9 November. This letter included a survey link to register attendance, with an outline of the topics for discussion. These meetings are not designed for parents to raise individual concerns regarding their son and parents are encouraged to follow the normal channels of communication to inform appropriate staff of any concerns that arise. It is anticipated that these meetings will provide us with excellent feedback to inform our practice and I encourage all parents to consider attending.

HSC Commences

The HSC commenced last week and will continue until Friday 4 November. I wish all our Year 12 students the best of luck in these exams and we pray for them during what can be a challenging time.  I look forward to celebrating the end of their time at St Edward’s with them at their formal in early November.

Year 11 Commencing HSC

Year 11 students have commenced work on their HSC courses from the start of this term. It is important that students begin to establish some clear routines, ensuring that they manage their time between schoolwork, part-time work, a social life and sport so that a healthy balance is maintained. The Preliminary reports will be made available to students in the coming weeks and this report provides some valuable information to assist boys in establishing learning goals in each of their courses as well as their pattern of study for the HSC Year.

Additional advice to support parents as their son embarks on the HSC Year is available at the NSW Government Department of Education Website at:   HSC help for parents and carers

Year 11 Outdoor Recreation

Year 11 Science

Year 11 Legal Studies

Scholarship Bequest 2023/24 – Open to current Year 8 and Year 10 students

Through the generosity of various College stakeholders, the College is able to offer the Catholic Women’s League part scholarship to current Year 10 students and the Judy Skeahan, St Vincent de Paul part scholarship to current Year 8 students, which will contribute to the costs of schooling for the subsequent two years at St Edward’s.  Applications for these are currently being accepted from current Year 8 and Year 10 students.  Please click here to visit the College website for more information.