From The Principal

Today was a special day for our Year 12 students as we celebrated their final assembly at Radford College. The final Year 12 assembly is the first of the ‘end of year’ events, and in keeping with tradition, the official farewell to the Class of 2019 today was a wonderful mixture of sadness, entertainment and reflection.

Today’s assembly was not only an opportunity to reflect on all that our Year 12s have done over their time at the school, it was also a chance to farewell staff leaving the College at the end of the year. Suzanne Goddard (31 years), Glenn Demery (16.5 years), Peter Haynes (14 years) and Robyn Evans (14 years), Chris Bleys (10 years) and Maggie Holmes (two years) were all thanked for their commitment to the College over a long period of time. A special farewell was given to Fr Richard Browning, who has guided this and many other cohorts of students through their entire time at Radford. As a sign of respect to Richard, the students played some of his favourite music, detailed the influence he has had on them, and mimicked some of his mannerisms. The affection the students have for Richard was obvious throughout their tribute to him. Quite simply, it was a joy to watch and a privilege to be there!

Fete Evaluation
The 2019 Radford Fete was yet another incredible success and despite some worrying early weather forecasts, the entire event went off without a hitch. It was wonderful to observe families and individuals of all ages, enjoying the festivities, appreciating the entertainment and taking advantage of the food and drink available for sale.

The success of the Fete is dependent on a large group of people, but I would like to take this opportunity to single out a few who were instrumental in bringing it to fruition. First and foremost, I would like to thank the Fete Convener, Mrs Monique Glavonjic, who once again oversaw all the logistics involved in the organisation of the Fete from the very beginning (starting this time last year), right through to the very end, late on the Saturday evening. Monique’s tireless energy meant that every detail was checked, and then double checked, resulting in a highly successful community event.

I would also like to thank the P&F Executive, led by Mr Jim Lilley, for their support of Monique. I know Monique would say that she could not have done it without them. The Radford Facilities staff were also incredibly important in helping set up and dismantle the infrastructure for the Fete, as were the Stall Coordinators and Conveners. And finally, thank you to more than 300 volunteers who helped in a variety of ways.

While the Fete is predominantly about bringing the community together, it is great that the P&F can raise funds, which are then poured back into the College through the support of special projects. This year’s Fete has resulted in a profit of nearly $33,000 which will be used to support two projects. The P&F will announce the details of those projects in the near future.

Emailing Protocols
Unfortunately, on a couple of occasions in recent times, I have had to intervene in altercations that have surfaced between staff members and parents. On each occasion, the dispute has arisen because one of the parties has taken offence at the tone and/or nature of an email that was originally sent. For these reasons, the College has recently reviewed and updated its Emailing Protocols policy, which is available here.

Emailing teachers when information needs to be conveyed or when there is a question to be asked, is eminently sensible because teachers work to different timetables and are often time poor during the school hours. Emails can combine the immediacy of the telephone with the control the receiver has in choosing when to read and when to respond to it. However, several things need to be considered when sending emails and these include the length of the email, when an email is sent, to whom the email is addressed, copying others into an email and using standard greetings.

In general, unless there is an urgent need, communication to teachers via email should occur Monday to Friday during business hours (8.30 am–5.00 pm). The standard timeframe for a teacher to respond is within 24 hours, Monday to Friday during business hours, through the minimum of an acknowledgement email.

In the first instance, we encourage students to speak with their teacher if there is a problem or something needs to be clarified. However, if a parent wants to communicate with a teacher, the email should be brief and sent to the appropriate staff member. If the discussion is about a particular subject, then either the teacher or the Head of Department should be contacted. If the discussion is about a range of subjects, then it should be either the Tutor or Head of Year/ Assistant Head of Junior School who is contacted. cc’ing should be limited to those people who are necessary, and a cc’d recipient is not expected to reply.

Commissioning of The Senior Chaplain
On Tuesday night, our community gathered for the Commissioning of The Reverend Katherine Rainger as Senior Chaplain of Radford College by the Right Reverend Dr Mark Short, Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn.

It was a wonderful event, attended by students, staff, parents, Board Members, VIPs to the College and members of the clergy, from across the Diocese. Reverend Katherine’s parents Fred and Helen, her friends and parishioners from Holy Covenant Church also attended.

In my welcome, I said the event represented a celebration, because we have been able to have someone join our faith community who is perfectly aligned to our values, has a wonderful array of previous experiences and understands the educational context in which she is required to work! Katherine’s caring nature and capacity for self-reflection was evident in her very first Bulletin article, which described how travels overseas and in Australia had taught her to never make assumptions and never judge people. In fact, in the short period of time that Katherine has been here, she has just been able to blend in with everything we do. It makes us feel like she has been here forever.

Congratulations Reverend Katherine.

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