Principal’s Report

COVID-19 has resulted in a vastly different form of school–led remote learning and considerable and daunting challenges:

• Reduced one-to-one engagement with teachers • Difficulty in ascertaining engagement levels of students • Restricted ability to monitor individual student progress • Increased level of oversight required from parents and carers (particularly for younger children) • Increased social isolation and reduced ability to support student wellbeing • Interruption to learning support for those children with additional needs • Differential levels of access to technology, including internet and devices, to support learning.

Mark, Jay, the leadership team, the teaching and support staff with the hands-on support of our IT professionals, prepared for a transition to a different teaching and learning model.

• Learning materials were collated • Hard copies were made available online • Management of interactions with students and parents • The logistical challenge of Mark and Jay managing a workforce that would be split between classroom and home

Our teachers quickly upskilled and adjusted to increased use of technology. The experience has presented a number of exciting possibilities – including how remote teaching may play a bigger role in the education of our students.

We also acknowledge the skilful work of Ron Featherston our Business Manager and his finance team.

In closing may I wish you, on behalf of the School Advisory Council, a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and the prospect of an unrestricted 2022.

Inclusive Community

Our community is accepting and welcoming, fostering right relationships and committed to the common good.

College Prefects 2021

Kai Wheelock College Captain

Byron Bird College Prefect

Joel Cross College Prefect Samuel Beatson College Vice Captain

Cooper Boyce College Prefect

William Drennan College Prefect Joshua Zaia College Vice Captain

Charlie Crimmings College Prefect

Harry Ellwood College Prefect

College Principal

Mark Bonnici

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.

Who would have thought when we commenced 2021, that we would once again be thrust into Home-Based Learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic? Reflecting on our experience of Home-Based Learning this year, I must acknowledge how wonderfully our students stepped up to the challenge of having to work online. The time working from home in many ways was different to our experience of 2020 mainly due to the extensive length of time of lockdown.

Our students were able to extend themselves demonstrating greater independence in their learning, problem solving, critical and creative thinking, questioning and listening skills and developed a greater appreciation of their friendships and their relationship with their teachers.

Our focus throughout the experience of Home-Based Learning was to work with our students in delivering rich and engaging learning experiences that struck a balance between covering the content of each of their courses and the development of greater independence in their learning while fostering the contemporary skills of critical thinking, communication and problem solving.

It is important that I acknowledge the outstanding dedication of the teaching and support staff. Their professionalism and commitment to ensuring that we not only provided the best possible learning opportunities for students, but their devoted attention to establishing relationships with students and monitoring their wellbeing, is something that the community will be forever grateful.

Although the pandemic has caused major disruption to the lives of so many again this year, it is important that we reflect on and celebrate the many wonderful initiatives that were undertaken which evidenced the College’s commitment to challenging our students to being the best they can be. The remainder of my report this year will focus on some of the standout moments of 2021.

College Principal

A Catholic school in the Edmund Rice tradition, our community is accepting and welcoming, fostering right relationships and committed to the common good.

Respectful and Inclusive Relationships:

St Edward’s College holds at the very heart of its foundation a commitment to the promotion of respectful and inclusive relationships. We are in a unique position as an all-boys school to foster in our young men a deep understanding of the role they play in working alongside the women in their life in becoming part of the solution to the inequities that exist in society today. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day on Monday March 8 was “Choose to Challenge”. This theme challenged us to call out gender bias and inequality when we see it and to celebrate the wonderful achievements of women in our lives.

On Friday March 5, the Prefects led an assembly item which called on all members of our community to come together and pledge our commitment to work towards breaking down gender inequality. We are committed to promoting the idea that both men and women must be active and equal partners, developing a common and clear understanding on topics such as sexism, consent, domestic violence and gender bias, ensuring that gender equality initiatives involve men and women in advocating and being strong role models and agents of change.

As a community of staff, we gathered on International Women’s Day to establish our commitment to working with our boys in this endeavour. At this gathering Ms Jessica Beagin, a Visual Arts teacher at St Edward’s, gave a powerful speech to staff providing wonderful insights into her thinking on this important issue.

As an Edmund Rice Community, we are committed to working with and walking alongside the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia, advocating justice and promoting reconciliation.

National Reconciliation Plan

As a member of the Edmund Rice Education Australia schools’ network, St Edward’s offers a liberating education based upon a Gospel spirituality, within an inclusive community committed to justice and solidarity. The values that underpin the Touchstones of Edmund Rice schools provide a blueprint that establishes our direction and defines our goals, ensuring that we follow the vision of Blessed Edmund Rice as we seek to make the Gospel a living reality within our community.

In line with this vision, St Edward’s has made a commitment to live out the message of love and inclusion, particularly regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, refugees, people of other faiths, sexual orientation and gender.

St Edward’s has made a commitment to reconciliation through the establishment of our first Reconciliation Action Plan which is a formal statement of this commitment. The plan is aspirational and designed to challenge our community, providing guidance as we walk alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our nation’s journey towards reconciliation. The plan was developed through a process of consultation between the St Edward’s Reconciliation Action Plan committee and members of the local Aboriginal Community. In establishing this plan, we acknowledge the harm that has been done to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples throughout our history and all that has resulted, including the Stolen Generation. For this, we are truly sorry.

Importantly St Edward’s acknowledges the strengths and resilience shown by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, cultures and communities in the face of discrimination, and we aim

College Principal

to celebrate the continued significance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contributions in shaping a shared sense of national unity and identity.

We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land on which our school is situated and we respect and honour Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge the stories, traditions and living cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on this land and commit to building a brighter future together.

Thursday May 27 marked the commencement of Reconciliation Week which was acknowledged at St Edward’s with a special assembly for the whole community.

Highlights of our commemoration of Reconciliation Week included a meaningful opening ceremony. At this liturgy boys participated in prayer and reflection about the true meaning of Reconciliation. Mrs Tracey Burraston, a member of the College’s RAP Committee, spoke to the boys about what reconciliation means to an Aboriginal woman living on the Central Coast. We commenced the liturgy with an Acknowledgement of Country in Darkinjung language which was developed for us by Aunty Bronwyn Chambers from Newcastle University and lead by Mrs Madelene Whitford the College Languages Leader of Learning. A highlight of the week was the moving sacred smoking ceremony which was conducted by Mr Tim Selwyn, a local Aboriginal man and friend of the College. We were very proud of the reverence and deep respect of the sacredness and privilege to witness this ceremony that our young men demonstrated. They were a credit to themselves. A range of activities were conducted through homeroom each morning and in class throughout the day, which were designed to raise our awareness as a community and to develop a deeper understanding of Reconciliation. Students got to vote online for the Darkinjung name of “Yadaba” that means become well, which will be given to our Wellness Centre. To conclude the week a thought-provoking episode of SECTV was presented to all students on Thursday June 3.

In a meeting held with family members of our community who are of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage on the evening of Thursday June 3, I explained that the real work commences now. We must do more as a community than celebrate key events such as Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC week. We must live up to the actions outlined in our Reconciliation Action Plan in providing our young men with a true sense of the role that we all play in walking alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders on our nation’s journey towards Reconciliation. We look forward as a community to continuing this important work.