Staff Insights
Out of the classroom experiences is an integral part of daily life at Radford College. This is evident in the time, effort and enthusiasm shown by staff and students alike, and the investments made to have our young people reach their full potential – whether that be in service learning, sport, performing arts, camps, tours, Round Square, digital literacies and other activities of interest.
Many parents are all too familiar with standing next to a field on an icy winter’s morning, or next to a lake in the hot summer sun, cheering their children on.
Several pages in the special 40th edition of the Radford Report has been dedicated to cocurricular activities at Radford over the past decades and the achievements of our young people.
I recently came across a social media post that rang true for me and I'm sure for many parents whose children partake in co-curricular activities will relate to. It’s specifically about sport, but it is very transferrable to all areas of co-curricular.
"Why do you pay so much money for your kids to do sports? Well, I have a confession to make; I don't pay for my kids to play sports.
So, if I am not paying for sports what am I paying for?
- I pay for those moments when my kids become so tired they want to quit but don't.
- I pay for those days when my kids come home from school and are "too tired" to go to their training, but they go anyway.
- I pay for my kids to learn to be disciplined, focused and dedicated.
- I pay for my kids to learn to take care of their body and equipment.
- I pay for my kids to learn to work with others and to be good teammates, gracious in defeat and humble in success.
- I pay for my kids to learn to deal with disappointment, when they don't get that placing or title they'd hoped for, but still, they go back week after week giving it their best shot.
- I pay for my kids to learn to make and accomplish goals.
- I pay for my kids to respect, not only themselves, but other players, officials and coaches.
- I pay for my kids to learn that it takes hours and hours, years and years of hard work and practice to create a champion and that success does not happen overnight.
- I pay for my kids to be proud of small achievements, and to work towards long term goals.
- I pay for the opportunity my kids have and will have to make life-long friendships, create lifelong memories, to be as proud of their achievements as I am.
- I pay so that my kids can be out on the track instead of in front of a screen . . .
I could go on but, to be short, I don't pay for sports; I pay for the opportunities that sports provide my kids with to develop attributes that will serve them well throughout their lives and give them the opportunity to bless the lives of others. From what I have seen so far, I think it is a great investment!" (Author unknown)
I believe character development is at the heart of a Radford College education.
Lead well,
Andy
By Rev. Dr Katherine Rainger, Senior Chaplain
The Jewish concept tikkun olam means to heal, improve and repair the world. Within the Jewish faith tradition, tikkun olam also has a specific meaning about partnering with God while working to redeem a hurting and broken world.
Daily life for many people in Ukraine, Sudan, South Sudan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other places is full of much suffering and uncertainty. Closer to home we can all think of people who are facing difficulty and struggles.
Through prayer, through giving what we can where we can, through care and advocacy we can each participate in healing and repairing the world. A life of faith recognises the healing and creative power of God at work in our world and the invitation to join in.
Mary Oliver’s poem offers a poignant invitation to receive all of life as a gift. In receiving this gift there is also the invitation to turn towards, rather than away from, each other.
As we celebrate the gift of spring, Mary Oliver’s words have a particular resonance.
The Sun
Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful
than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon
and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone–
and how it slides again
out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower
streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance –
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love –
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure
that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you
as you stand there,
empty-handed –
or have you too
turned from this world –
or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?
News
By Mrs Louise Wallace-Richards, Assistant Principal Teaching and Learning
Regular readers of the Bulletin over the past four years would be well across Radford Secondary School’s engagement in a three-phase project led by Dr Shyam Barr to teach our staff about what self-regulated learning (SRL) is, why we need to teach it to our students and how to teach it. When Dr Barr was seeking a venue to launch his new book about SRL educate to self-regulate, Radford College, under the auspices of the Radford Institute, was happy to offer our Morison Centre to host the event.
The Radford Institute was first started under former Principal Phillip Heath as a concept to promote the sharing of ideas across a range of issues. More recently, we have reinvigorated and relaunched the Institute as an education and school improvement research centre. The aim of the Institute is to support teachers to translate learning and research into practice. This is achieved through a number of means, including:
- Provision of high-quality professional learning to teaching staff linked directly to achieving the SS Strategic Action Plan,
- Research into improving teaching practice at Radford College’s Secondary School,
- Sharing practice with colleagues of Radford College and other independent schools in Australia,
- Sharing practice with pre-service teachers through practicum experiences, and
- Building partnerships with other institutions of learning and experts including other Secondary Schools and national and international universities.
The event was a great success, with attendees from a variety of institutions, including the University of Canberra, Catholic Education, Association of Independent Schools, and a variety of leaders and teachers from Radford College, Canberra Girls' Grammar School, Burgmann Anglican School, Dickson College and Bonython Primary School, two of the other schools Shyam has worked with to encourage the teaching of SRL to students.
Professor Deborah Pino-Pasternak from the University of Canberra acted as the master of ceremonies for the event and during the evening interviewed myself, Ms Amanda Hawkins, Deputy Principal of Bonython Primary School and Ms Margaret O’Donnell, Mastery Learning Record Project Coordinator of Dickson College, about our experiences with SRL over the past few years. It was wonderful to hear the positive experiences students are having across the ACT with learning SRL.
Many thanks for the success of the event must go to the University of Canberra for, as Shyam expressed “contributing both human and financial resources to help this important conversation about SRL take place . . . and, of course – supporting an ongoing research agenda in this field.” Thank you also to The Book Cow for their pop-up bookstore, Mr Jason Golding, Acting Assistant Principal Curriculum for his excellent bar tending skills and Mr David Burcher for his assistance with the AV set up for the evening. Finally, and most importantly, to Ms Kelly McMahon, Mr James Rogers, Mrs Ali Dunne and Mrs Lisa Baker of the Secondary School Admin team for their organisation to ensure the event was a success.
By Miss Melinda Hamilton, Kindergarten Teacher
Kindergarten has been learning about bugs and insects as part of our investigations into ‘How the World Works’.
The Kindergarten classes enjoyed a visit to one of the Radford worm farms and learnt from Ms Shellee Nikolaou about how worms turn our food waste into good soil. They were fascinated by holding the worms and watching them bunch together to get away from the light. We’re now trying really hard to place the correct items in the worm farm bin, which include fruit, vegetables and other food scraps.
One class even worked collaboratively to create some additional homes. The Facilities team were very helpful by preparing wooden houses and drilling holes into lots of different pieces of wood for us to use.
The students then decorated the homes with images of different insects and bugs to help encourage them to come and stay. Then they selected different pieces of wood and puzzled the pieces into the home to create lots of small holes for the insects to reside. It took a lot of teamwork and cooperation!
Finally, the Caretaker, Mr Florin Suciu and Mr Forrest Koch from the Facilities team helped the students to hang their insect hotels in the locations they had carefully chosen around the College. The students wanted to put the hotels near nature to best cater to insects. We look forward to helping lots of insects and bugs with our insect hotels.
It was so fun to make the insect hotels. We put a hotel near the Godly Play-room as there is lots of nature there – Ethan
We put our hotel ‘Out the Gate’ on a tree. There are lots of trees there and we can look when we play there at lunch – Celina
Bush school has lots of nature. We put our hotel there on a tree, right near Gossan Hill. I hope lots of bugs live there! – Elena
The best bit was drawing insects on our hotel. I drew a butterfly on the front. We put our hotel on the oval – Avery
Saturday 7 September, 6.30 pm in the T.B. Millar Hall
Our Evening of Fine Music is a showcase of some of our top Year 12 musicians. Our featured performers this year are as follows:
Finn Robinson – Bass guitar
Ellie Archer – Voice
Sebastian Leigh – Voice
Sarah Lin – Violin
George Birmingham – Trombone
Luke Peebles – Tenor Saxophone
Sohum Shukla – Guitar
Tickets to attend this event are available to purchase here. Audience members are invited to bring food to enjoy during the evening, and wine and other beverages will be available for purchase at the hall.
