The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Psalms 19:1

There is much to celebrate at Bishop Druitt College at present. Our new Investigation Centre for Stage 1 students is now in action. Our students are enjoying this new space during their Investigation classwork, they can now spend time outside and explore exciting learning opportunities. 

Our Year 5s are starting to harvest produce from their vegetable garden. Students have some delicious fresh produce that they are looking to sell within our community. I am looking forward to seeing and tasting what our students have grown. 

The AIS Virtual Debating Competition happened this week. Congratulations to those students who participated. 

Our kindergarten students and staff are celebrating their first 100 days of school. This year has had its challenges but our students have proven to be wonderfully resilient and it is great to see this milestone celebration. 

Our Year 12 students are also celebrating an important milestone by sharing their major works during our annual ‘Seen Ya’s On Show’ exhibition. We had parents and students attend our Seen Ya’s On Show last Friday night and the works were outstanding and student performances were impressive. Thank you to everyone involved in making this event a success and well done to our senior students for producing excellent works. 

Congratulations to Maxyn Dorz whose essay ‘The Crow’ has won the secondary level category of the Bellingen Writers' Festival.

HSC Trials

Our Year 12 students will move into their HSC trials next week (Week 5) and I wish them well in their final preparations for these important examinations. There are 34 tasks that our students and their teachers will be working through in the weeks ahead to prepare for their finals. Well done to our Year 12 students who have adapted to such an unusual lead up to their HSC. We wish them well. I also wish to recognise my inspirational staff who have worked tirelessly to provide our unique teaching and learning environment here at BDC. 

School Improvement Plan 2021

In recent weeks, staff have been reviewing our 2020 school improvement plan and starting the process of planning for 2021. This process takes a considerable amount of time and takes into consideration our strategic plan, our 2020 School Improvement Plan, feedback from our Perspectives Survey that gathered key data points in the domains of school environment, teaching and learning, student wellbeing, leadership and community. The 2021 school improvement plan will also for the first time include student feedback from both the Year 11 Society and Culture Whole School Project and our Educator Impact teaching and learning data.

Reconciliation Action Plan 2020-2021

College staff and our Goori students are starting to draft our updated new RAP over the next month and would welcome interested Aboriginal parents to have input into the process. If you are interested please contact Rev Naomi ncooke@bdc.nsw.edu.au and she will be happy to forward you the working draft for input. We are planning to complete this project during the month of August.

Northern Beaches Campus

We are continuing to develop planning for our Northern Beaches Campus and have started advertising for enrolments in this new location. The Campus will be located in the heart of Woolgoolga at 1852 to 1856 Solitary Islands Way. I am excited to announce that we are now taking enrolments for Kindy to Year 2 for 2021 and for Kindy to Year 4 for 2022. Please share this information with family and friends - they may wish to be part of history.

Raised to love

Author of “Parenting for Character”, Andy Mullins, is now sharing parenting wisdom online at Raised to Love. An academic as well as a former Head, Andy's doctorate describes the neuroscience underpinning virtue — and he is currently teaching at the University of Notre Dame Australia. His new site brings together parenting best practice and the science of parenting in a series of one-minute videos featuring real parents and families.

https://www.raisedtolove.com/

Nick Johnstone
Principal

Recently, the BDC Environment Group, Principal Nick Johnstone and students from CVAS visited Farnworth for a working bee to remove fireweed. Students had the opportunity to work together and walk around the property visiting the creeks and pastures. They were hosted by Ted and Peggy Clarke who informed them about the history of the farm and the current operations including flow hives. Students were able to remove multiple ute loads of fireweed which was greatly appreciated by Ted and Peggy. 

A big thank you to all involved!

In our chapel time over these past few weeks we have been reflecting on a statement by Jesus “I am the Bread of life”. This statement would have resonated with his audience due to the fact that bread was, and still is an important part of life. For the first ‘followers in the way’ and their ancestors who occupied the lands before the birth of Jesus, bread was central to their society and culture. During his life Jesus exemplified the goodness and nourishment that bread bring to those who are hungry and in need of sustenance, whether that be in body, mind or spirit.

Students and staff have reflected on ‘the bread of life’ in the following inspirational video, bringing an awareness of present day life in the land of Jesus. Please take the time to watch and reflect.

Some words to contemplate…

This extract is from a communion hymn by Andre Pratt.

Crowded table, urgent faces,
people longing for the bread,
bread of life and bread for living,
bread for rising from the dead…

All are welcome, wise or foolish,
at this table all are fed,
sharing wine in celebration,
eating Christ’s communion bread.            
© Andrew Pratt

Reverend David Morgan                                                                                                   
Chaplain

The Year 11 CAFS students of Bishop Druitt College are keen to support and raise awareness for the campaign 'Share the Dignity'. 

Share The Dignity’s philosophy is that no woman should suffer the indignity of choosing between eating and buying sanitary items.

The reality is that they too often do. 

• There are currently 106,237 homeless people living in Australia (Homelessness Australia)
• Of whom 44 per cent are female 
• The number one (55%) cause of homelessness in women is domestic violence 

One recurring challenge homeless women have to deal with, on top of their other struggles, is their period.

The aim is to provide homeless and at risk women locally with sanitary products to allow them a sense of dignity at a time when they need it most. 

No woman should suffer the indignity of choosing between eating and buying sanitary items. 

They collect every year for certain months. This year we will collect at Bishop Druitt College in August.

Year 11 CAFS group 2020

http://www.sharethedignity.com...

Keeping kids safe online

The Office of the eSafety Commissioner’s 2018 survey of over 3500 Australian parents found that while most parents felt online safety was a critical challenge, less than half felt confident to deal with cyberbullying or online threats to their children. To help, the linked article from the Office of the eSafety Commissioner offers parents four useful tips for getting involved with and supervising their child’s social media use.

https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/blog/fight-or-flight-4-tips-get-involved-your-childs-social-media

School Refusal

School refusal, sometimes called school avoidance or school phobia, is not uncommon. It is different to ‘wagging’ or truancy and is often related to worry or anxiety-related issues about going to school. School refusal may start gradually or happen suddenly. Although it is normal for a child to occasionally miss a day of school, parents should only be concerned if a child regularly complains about feeling sick or often asks to stay home due to minor physical complaints.

School refusal is a complex issue as there is rarely a single cause. It affects children of all ages across primary and secondary levels. It can often occur during times of transition at school. More recently, the Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the educational experience of all students, affecting some more than others. Dealing with a school refusal child can affect the whole family, adding pressure to an already challenging time. School refusal is not considered a formal psychiatric diagnosis. It’s a name given to an emotional and/or behavioural problem.

In this edition of SchoolTV, adult carers will learn how best to approach this issue and work towards a solution. We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this month’s edition, and we always welcome your feedback.

If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, please contact the school for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to this month's edition https://bdc.nsw.schooltv.me/newsletter/school-refusal

This week, we were treated with a performance streamed live from the United States. The NED Show is a fun and creative performance to highlight the importance of having a growth mindset, made famous by Dr. Carol Dweck in her book titled Mindset.  Using the power of magic and yo-yos, the performance talked about NED and how he uses the power of ‘not yet’ to overcome obstacles.  

As we watch the final touches being made to our Investigations Centre, it is a wonderful example of how we can use this growth mindset message in our everyday experiences. The centre will see our students move outside and create new learning areas which include large construction areas and water and sand stations. As adults, we know that life’s challenges will always present themselves and so it is a vital life skill to be able to think through these hurdles and persist when things get tough.  

The NED Show performance is a wonderful reminder to us all that each of us are on our own learning journey and we will face challenges along the way.  Seeing our failures as opportunities to learn is a vital part of this process and a vital part in our infinite success.  

Whilst we are all very excited, we will use the next few weeks to watch how our students interact with this space and adapt it as we go. A grand opening will be announced later in the term.

Richard Smith
Assistant Principal (Head of Primary)

BDC's annual Jump Rope for Heart Day is coming up on the 18th of September. Families can sign up to raise money for this amazing organisation. As your kids earn money they will also earn great prizes! Here is the link for parents to register: www.jumprope.org.au/parents

A great family activity for a great cause!

Year 9 Geography Fieldwork Activities

Year 9 Geography have been studying in class this term the biophysical environments (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere) and the processes that occur within them.

Part of their study has been to do some fieldwork around the school. In weeks 2 and 3, Mr Barron’s classes completed soil testing by collecting samples, measuring the ph levels and analysing their soil structure and texture.

Students enjoyed the outside activities and developing their Geography and critical thinking skills.

Maxyn Dorz first place in both the Banjo Paterson and Bellingen Writers’ Festivals 

Congratulations Maxyn Dorz, Year 11, who has won first place in the 2020 Banjo Paterson Writing Awards and first place in 2020 Bellingen Writers’ Festival. Maxyn submitted the short story she wrote for her Advanced English: Reading to Write assessment task earlier in the year. The extract below is from her piece titled “The Crow”, a powerful and confronting story about dysfunctional relationships. 

...The crow returns hours later to thick black smoke, twisting into the sky as if to strangle it. 

The woman stands before a pile of belongings that are being eaten feverishly by greedy 

flames. She looks down at a picture frame for a long moment, before pitching it into the 

destruction. Next come ties and shirts and books and CDs, one after one disappearing into 

the orange and yellow and quickly reduced to ash. She screams suddenly. Inhumanely. 

Startled, the crow is off again, chasing the smoke into the dusk... 

Amy Dal Pozzo
Head of English

Year 7 - 10 Principal and Scholars List Recipients

We had a fabulous night on Friday night celebrating the Seen Yas On Show.

Started in the Art Department with a variety of works on display from Fine Art, Woodwork, Film Production, Music Composition and Textiles being represented.

Well done to all our students with the high quality of work and amazing creativity.

Thanks to Teena who organised the program and hosted the first part of the evening. A big thank you to Katie and Rachel for the wonderful thought-provoking Drama performances and to our Music Performances.

This week we have the music trials for HSC Music Performance.

We would like to welcome Pablo Blitzer to the Music Department. He teaches piano. We lost Louise at the beginning of Term 3, as she needed to go to Tasmania to look after her sick parents.  We hope she can come back and teach at our school in the future.

We have Training Band performing in Primary Assembly Week 5. They are very excited to be able to perform again. James Quodling will be performing a solo piano piece.

I would like to thank Wendy Nathan and Connor for donating his viola to the Music Department for a student to be able to learn viola on a beautiful instrument. Connor has graduated onto a bigger size.

That’s all at present.

Have a great week.

Sandra Smith
Acting Head of Performing Arts

Sport administration phone number – 0417859252 or 66515644 ext 295.
Please do not use any other mobile number you may have to contact the sport administrator.

Important Information

Due to the COVID-19 virus all NSWCIS have been cancelled/postponed until Term 4. Some NCIS events will still be running during Term 3 and updates will come out according to current COVID-19 recommendations.

NCIS Secondary Netball

There was excitement last week as we finally got some interschool sport back on the calendar.

The NCIS Secondary Netball gala day was held in Tweed Heads. Unfortunately due to COVID, it was a very early start for our teams that had to travel for 4 hours instead of being able to stay overnight and do some team bonding.

It was great for our open teams that were mostly made up of Year 12 students, as this was the last opportunity for most of them to represent the college in sport.

Congratulations to the 15&U girls team who were the overall winners on the day. They played some tough games but came through with a strong finish to win the final 20-13 over Lindisfarne.

The open girls and boys both finished in 3rd place.

Thank you to Meegan Bruggemann, Eliza Corcoran, Lucy Spain and Nat Titcume for coaching and accompanying the teams on the day.

Congratulations to Martin Kelleher on his first big event as NCIS administrator, super job!

NCIS Athletics (cancelled)

The NCIS Executives met to discuss NCIS events in Term 3.

Considering the Covid-19 situation in Victoria & the emergence of cases in NSW it was decided to cancel NCIS Athletics this year.

Equestrian

I am updating my rider and contact lists for the BDC equestrian team. If you haven’t received an email from me this term and would like to be added to the equestrian list please email bhilton@bdc.nsw.edu.au and I will add you to the list.

BDC Barracudas Basketball and Rugby

General Sport

It has been great to have a development officer in again in Term 3. Tony Pollack is running tennis for Years 3 and 4 thanks to a grant from sporting schools.

We have our fingers crossed that sport will continue to grow in Term 3. Please see the list below for upcoming events. If these are cancelled and permission is given you will receive an email and refund.

Permission for sporting events is done via Parent Lounge. Parents will receive an email when their child has been invited to participate in an event.  

Attached to the invitation is a note, you must open the note to agree to the terms and conditions before permission can be given. The note contains all relevant information, time, cost, travel, what to bring or to wear and venue etc.

This can vary between events, please check these details carefully before giving your child permission to attend.

If your child will not be attending please decline the invitation, this will save you receiving reminder emails and give staff a clear indication of who is definitely attending.

If you require any more information regarding sporting events please call the Sport Admin office on 66515644 ext 295 or email bhilton@bdc.nsw.edu.au 

Please note
Natalie Titcume ntitcume@bdc.nsw.edu.au will be taking over BDC Barracudas basketball and rugby this year as part of her role in the college. Please contact Nat if you have any issues regarding either of these sports.

Primary Rugby and Basketball are still taking nominations at the following links

Basketball noms- https://cutt.ly/krxvCnA 

There are still laces available in the U8, U10 boys and girls & U12 boys

Rugby noms - https://cutt.ly/Mrxv0Ey

Beth Hilton
Sport and Outdoor Education Coordinator K-12

Sandon Carpenter had his first race last weekend in Brisbane. He was in a team of 2 and came away with a first place. 

TAFE TVET courses 

Expressions of Interest from current Year 10 students are invited for anyone interested in studying a TAFE (TVET) course as part of their senior studies in Years 11 and 12.  

Information and list of available TAFE courses is here

Applications are closing soon, so contact Mrs Driscoll if interested asap!

Year 10 Work Experience

It is planned that Year 10 will undertake compulsory work experience in Term 4 from 23rd - 27th November 2020. While this activity will be subject to COVID-19 restrictions at the time, we are still asking all Year 10’s to approach a business they would like to do work experience in and request a placement, and get their paperwork in asap. There are many schools in Coffs and employers do get inundated with requests, so the earlier this is done the better. Students have been given a work experience pack, with an introductory letter to employer and work placement form. If you require an electronic copy for emailing, please contact Mrs Driscoll.

Do you have a business/practice and would be prepared to take a work experience student?  

Work experience is a crucial activity for our students to assist them in career exploration for their future.  It builds employability skills e.g. communication, networking, teamwork. If you are prepared to take a student from 23-27th November, please email gdriscoll@bdc.nsw.edu.au and we will refer interested students to contact you directly.   

BDC Careers Website

Did you know we have a dedicated Careers website for students and parents?  Students from Year 8-12 will be given student logins and will be shown all the tools and resources available to them through this website as part of their  Career Pathways Program. Year 12 are currently finding the website very useful to find university courses, scholarships, create E-Portfolios and more!  Check it out here here

BDC Careers Facebook page

Please like our Careers Facebook page. I post good news career stories, job opportunities and careers info on here regularly!

Find us here

Gina Driscoll
Careers Pathways Coach

We are proud to welcome Hoys Allied Health & Wellness into the BDC community. As part of our High Performance and Athlete Development Program, Hoys are providing strength & conditioning, physiotherapy and specific nutritional and dietary support for students – and are offering an ongoing discount of 10% to all BDC families for all services offered across their clinic locations.

Zac O’Brien from Hoys is the familiar face you may have seen within the school and on our social media pages  – find out a little more about Zac below:

I am extremely excited to be on board with the BDC High Performance Group alongside the rest of our Hoys Allied Health team by providing individualised strength and conditioning programs to each student. I love helping young athletes improve themselves both physically and mentally by providing them with the necessary knowledge to do so from a strength and conditioning aspect.

After a series of rigorous initial testing each student has now been provided with their own individual program to help improve their own athletic performance and to minimise their risk of injury. In addition to this I have been attending weekly supervised strength sessions at the wonderful BDC gym. At this stage most athletes are rather inexperienced when it comes to strength training, so it is very exciting to see the potential of each athlete in the gym. The energy in the gym the first few weeks has been outstanding!

Each student has been a pleasure to deal with so far and all are very eager to learn how they can improve their athletic performance and overall health with strength training. I am very much enjoying working with each student as they are all extremely motivated to excel in their individual sports.

I am very much looking forward to seeing the heights each student can achieve with their own sports and in their schoolwork.

If you would like to learn more about Hoys Allied Health & Wellness, please visit www.hoyshealth.com.au

Our college partnerships are collaborative relationships with businesses and organisations aimed at enhancing the educational journey of our students and contributing to making them world prepared.

Click here to view our partnerships. 

The NRL are running an 8 week skills program from 14th of October to 2nd of December 2020 from 4:30pm to 5:30pm. This will be held at the Reg Ryan Oval, Bray Street, Coffs Harbour (Next to the PCYC). The program is free and will be aimed at young people in years 7 and 8.

2020_TRYLeague_Coffs

For news on our Alumni, check out the BDC News or our Facebook page Bishop Druitt College Alumni.