2024 has been an adventurous start with Year 7 commencing their rite of passage with outdoor education this week as they transition into high school, swimming carnival, NCIS Tennis and Hockey and mountain biking down south this week. Year 10 look brilliant in their senior uniforms and Year 11 finally into their HSC courses. The Class of 2024 commenced the year developing community with their House Leaders in our commencement assembly and carnival promoting house spirit. 2024 energy is very evident as we continue to build community, character, and the love of lifelong learning.

The BDC Way is embedded in opportunities beyond the classroom, learning and teaching and in everyday habits. At the end of 2023 a project team commenced the next step in developing our knowledge of a framework that reflects our belief in deep learning. A global outlook and future minded school recognise that learning is not only lifelong, founded in literacy and numeracy skills and a deeply embedded capability framework. AISNSW commenced our professional learning in late 2023 for the Designing for Deep Learning #DDL or a New Pedagogies for Deep Learning #NPDL which is a global movement for capability or competency development in school students.

Known in short as the 6C’s for: character, citizenship, collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. The project team are now working with staff across K-12, and we will share this throughout the coming 2 years as we integrate this into our programs, activities and the BDC Way. #DDL works with and brings a common language and depth to these competencies that often already exist in our school. They have also been identified through national skill frameworks as work ready skills and many exist with the NSW syllabus.

Uniform Code

Families need to juggle a lot at the start of each school year. Thank you for the extra shopping trips, getting devices charged and of course getting the college uniform ready. After we have commenced, a reminder that black polishable shoes are required and nose rings are not permitted.

Personal Devices, Phones

Off and Away are the words to use to remind our children before school that once the bell goes, phones, air pods etc are away until 3.10pm. This started in Term 4 2023 and has been very successful. However, we are still getting 2-3 devices confiscated each day. It would be wonderful to have no need to confiscate any device.

Laptops

A positive start for our laptops that are required each day fully charged. It is often fully charged that is difficult for some students. Please do a reminder this week.

Year 11 Outdoor Education Program

Camp Kokoda is only a few weeks away for Mrs Gudgeon, Mr Chapman, and Tutor Team. This experience is a very different outdoor education experience and something to look forward to as a senior student. Please check your information notes and let Mr Chapman know if you do have any questions.

Term 1 has commenced with a sense of community that is very positive. This week we have also commenced Easter preparation with Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, a time to reflect and consider can we do something a little different or make peace with friends or family and to build new relationships. Thank you to our Chaplains for the K-12 service this week.

Agriculture in Year 11 and World Options and Entertainment has commenced in Year 11 as new curriculum courses. The mathematics block is only a few weeks away, new Science labs have been fitted out and we are aiming to commence a refurbishment of English classrooms in Semester holidays. I also encourage you to attend the Mother’s and Father’s Day Breakfasts later in the year.

I hope you enjoyed the Sundowner at Margaret’s Field for those who could attend and across the year, if you have questions, please consider asking your child’s Tutor Teacher as a source of support and help, Year Coordinators and our Head of Faculty for curriculum matters. With over 100 new students and staff as we start 2024, we welcome our new families and staff to our BDC community.

Simon Doyle
Assistant Principal (Head of Secondary)

New Zealand Round Square Conference

Sienna:
Good Morning to teachers and students, we are going to be sharing a little bit about the New Zealand Round Square Conference we attended in December last year.

Our journey started when we flew via Sydney to New Zealand. Once we arrived at Wanganui Collegiate we were all excited to check out the boarding houses and meet new people. Whanganui school has some really old buildings and traditions as it was founded in 1854.

It was an amazing experience being overseas and meeting students from other countries such as India, China, Bermuda and obviously New Zealand.

Will:
Some of the adventure activities we did at the Round Square Conference included.

Visiting Makahika: an outdoor activities camp where we did high ropes, and orienteering and learned about the importance of sleep.

On the Whanganui River we did Waka Ama - Outrigger paddling which is part of the Maori culture.

We also made poi which are a traditional NZ object used in dancing.

Mitch:
At the Wanganui Round Square Conference, we were inspired by three unique guest speakers.

The first was a local dentist, who served on a Mercy Ship in Cameroon, providing free dental care to remote communities who could not access, or afford to go to the dentist.

Another standout was Andrew Tripe, the Mayor of Wanganui. He taught us about the meaning of leadership.

But by far the most inspiring speaker was rock climbing Paralympian Rachel Maia. Rachel suffered a devastating injury that led to a leg amputation after a rock climbing fall. She recovered and went on to represent New Zealand in the Paralympics.

We took away a very important message from her about overcoming adversity and how through determination you can achieve your dreams.

Sean:
We learned a lot about the strong culture in New Zealand. At a Marae they taught us some Maori language through songs, dance and traditional outdoor games.

We experienced the very loud and fierce Haka and Powhiri, which is the traditional Maori welcome, performed by the Whanganui school students.

We learned that the main focuses of the Maori culture are caring for the community and connecting to the environment.

Caroline:
The guiding belief of Wanganui Collegiate School is, “If you are called to lead you are invited to serve”.

Each term the school organises a day for all students to participate in acts of service around their community. At the conference we were included in their service day. Some of us planted trees at Bushy Park, others painted classrooms at a local primary school or painted games in their concrete playground such as hopscotch.

As part of the leadership conference, we experienced the ripple effect a leader can have, as one act of service inspires others to do the same. Leaders that serve, foster trust and empowerment, building a more connected community.

Ultimately, we learned from this experience that if service is below you, leadership is beyond you, which is another one of Whanganui’s mottos.

Whanganui Round Square Conference has truly been an inspiration to us as a group, and we look forward to Bishop Druitt leading similar acts of service around the community here in Coffs.

iHub Matters

Welcome back

Even before the students returned to school, the iHub was ‘buzzing’ with activity. Our wonderful teaching and support staff took part in a professional development program, called Dive into Deep Learning - to better support our student community. It was a big day of teacher learning, and fun as well! 

Textbook distribution

In the first weeks of term, with the masterful logistics of Mr Andrew Walker (Library Technician), amazing assistance from Mrs Hockey (Library Assistant), and Mr Rodham (Archivist) there were over 2000 textbooks allocated to our senior students. These tasks are a team effort, and require a great deal of work to prepare. A huge vote of thanks to all of the staff that assist with the organisation and distribution of these resources to our students!

The school has recently purchased new texts, many with added digital access for: Maths 7,and 8; Geography; Agriculture; Science Extension; Rep; Society and Culture; and a variety of new English texts. These resources are a great investment for the student community - giving them the most up-to-date information for their learning, and supporting recent national curriculum changes. 

Safer Internet Day

On Tuesday the 6th of February the iHub hosted displays and materials to feature a global initiative to raise awareness of online safety issues. The initiative in Australia, is led by the eSafety Commissioner. Their aim is to educate people about online safety risks, like online abuse, how to be safe online and where to go for help.

This Safer Internet Day encourages you to take three simple actions when approaching online safety: Connect. Reflect. Protect Connect safely by keeping apps and devices secure and reviewing your privacy settings regularly. Reflect on how your actions online may affect others or your safety. Protect yourself and others by visiting eSafety.gov.au to find out how to stay safe online and report online abuse. 

eSports Rocket League

Practice for our secondary Rocket League legends starts in Term 1. Although we currently have a team, Mr Walker has said that anyone interested in playing should contact him at the library information desk.