Term 4: Off to a great start
By Mrs Louise Wallace-Richards, Acting Deputy Principal, Head of Secondary School
We are mid-way through Week 3 of Term 4, and there have already been so many activities that Secondary School students have been involved in worth celebrating. There are many more to come too with preparations well under way for the Year 12 Graduation, Year 10 Celebration and the 2024 Secondary School Celebration evening events at the end of Term 4.
We began the term with the opening of our Senior drama production’s performance of David Williamson’s Dead White Males. Directed by Mr Jason Golding and assisted by Ms Emily Ridge, the performance conveyed an important message to the audience about thinking for ourselves and not being forced into following one line of interpretation. Every Senior drama production I have seen over the years has been entertaining, but this was particularly so because of how the cast was able to convey Williamson’s humour, as well as the biting satire always present in his work. The students played characters aged well beyond their years convincingly and brought humanity to those characters who on the surface deserved our condemnation. I loved Shakespeare coming on stage every now and then and the final message about how Shakespeare is still relevant. What English teacher wouldn’t!
In Week 1 and Week 3 of this term, we celebrated the appointment of our 2025 College Captains and Vice Captains, Prefects and Activity Captains. We also congratulated our 2024 Year 12 leaders for their outstanding efforts leading the College and in particular, the Secondary School student body, throughout the academic year. In a tradition that has continued at the College for many years, this week Year 12 students will lead part of the Secondary School assembly and convey their parting wisdom to all attendees. This was just one of the planned activities for the class of 2024 to celebrate their 13 years of schooling before Graduation. Other activities have included wearing their high school uniforms and dressing up as teachers at the school. Next week they will be visiting the Junior School to reminisce about their primary years of schooling. Once exams are over, Year 12s will also be farewelled with a final Chapel service as well as a student and staff formed guard of honour.
Year 9 students set off for the Cooleman Plains at the start of Week 2 for an 8-day camp. They arrived at the AIS carpark at 6.30 am, many bleary eyed and excited, others a little anxious about what lay ahead. From all accounts as I write, after meeting them back at the AIS carpark on Monday, the students and staff had a great time. They were all, of course, looking forward to that first shower after 8 days of camping, trekking, cooking and working in their groups out on the Cooleman Plains.
The camp takes a lot of work to organise, and much thanks must go to Mr Dylan Mordike, Director of Student Experiences, and to Mr Jeremy Hawkes, Head of Year 9, who led the camp from its initial organisation to bringing them back safely on Monday afternoon. Thanks also to the teachers who led the groups on the camp, who left their families and responsibilities for more than a week and fully engaged in the camp experience with the Year 9s. Radford staff continue to offer our students experiences that we believe are essential to developing the Learner traits of resilience and self-regulation.
It was a real pleasure to see so many students, parents and staff as well the Chair of our Board, Mrs Vicki Williams, at the Blessing of the Fleet this past weekend, an event that also included honouring Mr Boyd Gibson, currently a teacher of Geography as part of the Studies of Society and Environment, with a boat named in his honour. Mr Gibson has worked at the school for as long as the school has welcomed students – 40 years! He is the first teacher at the school to have a boat named after him, and his quad scull boat will live in the Radford Boat shed in good company with other boats named after past Board members, Board Chairs and other people of note to the history of Radford College.
Year 10 students attended a presentation by Courage to Care this week organised by our History Department. Courage to Care is a non-government organisation that informs and educates Australians about the dangers of prejudice, racism, and discrimination. This incursion was explicitly linked to the Australian curriculum learning outcomes for Year 10 history and sought to deepen students' understanding of the significant events and turning points of the Second World War, including the Holocaust and the origins and significance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. During the presentation the students learned about the language to advocate “upstander” behaviour in the face of discrimination.
Other Week 3 events organised to enrich the learning of our students included the Year 7 English Mystery Tour, incorporating a week of learning for our Year 7s with Canberra writer Jack Heath focusing on improving their narrative writing skills. Year 8 students attended the Faith Around Us excursion led by their RaVE teachers which included visits to several religious institutions in Canberra to build our students' knowledge, understanding and empathy about world religions.
Finally, all preparations have been made to ensure the Secondary School Community Day on 1 November goes smoothly and that all students can enjoy the day, no matter what activities they are involved in. Our Years 7, 11 and 12 students will be at the CISAC pool, working together to have fun and earn spirit points for their House. Years 8, 9 and 10 students will engage in physical activities at school to earn House spirit points as well as pastoral and study skills lessons with their Mentors and study skills teachers, respectively. Thanks for the organising of this day go to Mrs Megan Fritsch, Director of Sport, Mr Alex Timms, Sports Program Coordinator, Miss Hayley Oldfield, Head of Houses, Ms Jenni Bodell, Head of Academic Care, Ms Jessie Thearle, Acting Head of Health and Physical Education, and the Heads of Year. Year 10 will enjoy a swimming activity at Jamberoo Recreation Park during their end of year program and Years 7 to 9 during the interdisciplinary program, also at the end of the academic year.