Edmund Rice Education Australia Touchstones

Liberating Education

As a Catholic School in the Edmund Rice tradition, we are committed to enabling students to experience personal achievement within a safe, supportive and healthy environment.

Welcome to the start of the school year

Welcome to the first edition of Touchstones for 2024. I welcome all students and families, in particular new families to our community. We welcomed a new cohort of Year 7 students to the College, and it has been great to see how well they have already begun the transition to high school. I look forward to sharing with you throughout this year the wonderful achievements of so many staff and students each fortnight.

I would like to begin this year by sharing the major theme for 2024 which was discussed with students at the commencement of the year. At St Edward’s, we constantly work with our students on challenging themselves to  be the best they can be. Teachers work closely with our young people in developing safe, inclusive and nurturing environments with the aim of inspiring them to work hard at becoming the best versions of themselves. We focus on challenging them through rich and engaging learning experiences both within and outside the classroom, which are not only designed to improve their academic outcomes but also develop in them the College values of respect, inclusion, resilience, compassion, forgiveness and a commitment to personal growth.

These core values were launched last year alongside our Learner Profile, and we will continue this year to spend time providing learning opportunities for students to reflect deeply on what these values mean to them. Importantly we have commenced this year explicitly discussing the value of respect. Respectful relationships are at the heart of all we do at St Edward’s, and we are very fortunate to be part of a learning community in which respect is valued and lived out each day.

We have promoted classroom routines that focus on establishing respect for each other, the learning environment, our facilities and resources to ensure that all students feel safe and are willing to take risks with their learning, challenging themselves to grow and improve. I encourage parents and carers to discuss with their sons the value of respect in relation to their own personal development.

Excellent HSC Results in 2023

I would like to congratulate the 2023 Graduating class on their outstanding HSC results. It is very pleasing to share that our results last year continued to demonstrate the improvement both in results in high bands and overall learning gain that teachers and students have continued to work hard at achieving. The 2023 results proved to be the College’s best results since commencing the HSC.

Congratulations to our boys who achieved results which place them on the NESA Distinguished Achievers List. A special mention to Alexander Cutting who achieved an ATAR of 97.45 and Troy Duncan who received 96.3. Students achieved marks well above the state average in a number of courses, and students achieved as expected or above expectation in relation to learning gain in every course offered.

Alexander Cutting

Troy Duncan

Well done to all our students, teachers and support staff for their hard work and achievements. Congratulations in particular to our Band 6 recipients listed below.

Parent Information Sessions

Information sessions have been scheduled for parents of students in Years 7 to 11, to provide parents with valuable information on a number of topics associated with College procedures. Topics covered at these meetings relate to pastoral care and student well-being, student learning and the Learner Profile, curriculum matters, cyber-safety and responsible use of personal devices, student attendance, assessment and careers education for Year 10 and 11.

New Members of Staff

We have welcomed a number of new staff members in 2024. It is with great pleasure that I introduce the following staff to our community, and we wish them well for the exciting years that lie ahead.

Dianne Bonnici   – Executive Assistant

Brianna Jones – Teacher Science

Sabine Kieken – Acting Leader of Learning Languages

Chris Louie – Teacher TAS

Jack Lynch – Teacher Science

Tim Woodbine – Leader of Learning Mathematics