1 February 2023

A very warm welcome to the start of the 2023 academic year to all members of the Radford community, especially families new to the College. I hope all Radford families had an enjoyable and relaxing holiday period and that all students are ready for the challenges of a new school year. We also hope that the orientation programs, Parent-Teacher sessions in the Junior School and the upcoming Parent-Mentor interviews in the Secondary School prove to be useful in answering some questions, alleviating concerns and lessening the nerves.

Across the school, 249 students had their first full day at Radford yesterday, and we hope that the settling-in process has begun successfully. We also hope every new child’s association with Radford College is long and fruitful.

It is a welcome change this year to be starting a school year with the knowledge that our planned events and activities can actually go ahead. The COVID-19 pandemic of the past three years certainly made it extremely difficult to plan the myriad of events that occur here at Radford during the first term. I ask parents to keep on top of information coming out through Nexus about all these events.

Work on the Campus

School campuses are usually relatively quiet over the long summer vacation, but that certainly was not the case at Radford over this Christmas holiday period. Work continued in earnest on our three major capital works projects, with the Multi-Purpose Hall starting to take shape, the G. Wigg Sports Centre Gymnasium extension, and the Boorer Cricket Centre piers and slab construction well underway. The six outdoor courts were finally completed with the laying of the surface and line marking is currently being finalised.

These new sports precinct facilities will provide much-needed capacity for us to offer a range of co-curricular sports, have a comprehensive Physical Education curriculum, and provide a range of meeting spaces for students across the College.

The Sports Department has been fielding enquiries from parents asking if they are able to book the courts after hours and on weekends. Before this can happen, we have to monitor the needs of our co-curricular sports program to establish what level of public use will be possible. We will then announce the process and cost for booking the courts.

At this stage, the construction company, FDC, predicts that all three projects will be completed by mid-to-late August. However, having had experience with several large capital works projects, I am not ‘hanging my hat’ on those timeframes as anything that can go wrong, will go wrong!

Other works completed on the campus over the holiday period included:

Installation of a new air conditioning system in the G. Wigg Sports Centre gym.
G. Wigg Sports Centre gym refresh, removal of internal wall and resurfacing of the gym floor, and installation of a new drainage system.
Replacement air conditioning systems in the Senior Library.
Refurbishment of a series of classrooms.
New play equipment in Year 2 area.
Artificial turf Kindergarten and Year 1 play space.
Painting of external bull nosing across the Secondary School and re-fitting of shade covers.
Painting of Kindergarten to Year 2 rooms.
Resurfacing of all timber decks across the College.

The maintenance team was kept busy over the holidays working on tree and grounds maintenance, refreshing playground soft fall, sealing timber play equipment, pressure cleaning pathways, and installing additional stair tactiles and improvements for vision-impaired students and staff.

A Further Reduction in Federal Government Funding

As detailed in previous Bulletin articles, in 2018, the Australian Government introduced a new funding model that it felt was simpler, more transparent and based on need. Under this new scheme, funding is based on the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS), which is a measure of the amount of public funding needed by each school to meet the educational needs of its students in both government and non-government schools. Under the previous model, the Australian Government’s contribution to the SRS varied between states and territories.

Under this new scheme, Radford was deemed to be funded above its target share and was informed that it would need to transition to the new (and significantly lower) target by 2029. Under these transition arrangements, Radford was informed that it would lose real funding each year over that time period.

For most non-government schools, the calculation of Commonwealth funding includes a reduction in the assessed capacity of the school community to financially contribute to the school's operating costs. This is called the 'capacity to contribute' (CTC) assessment.

In 2020, the Australian Government introduced a new method for calculating a school community’s CTC based on a Direct Measure of Income (DMI) of parents and guardians of students at a school.

The DMI is based on the median income of parents and/or guardians as determined through the linkage of personal income data (from the Australian Tax Office) and residential address data collected.

The median family income of each school is converted to an annual DMI score, which is used to create the CTC score of the school. The CTC score is then used to discount the amount of base funding a school receives from the Australian Government.

The DMI impacts only the Commonwealth’s contribution to the base amount of funding under the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) for non-government schools. There are no changes to other components of school funding, including the six loadings that provide extra funding for disadvantaged schools and students. For example, students with disability, students with low-English proficiency, students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds, students from socio-educationally disadvantaged backgrounds, students in regional and remote areas, and small schools.

On 17 November 2022, the College received notification from the Commonwealth Department of Education regarding the increase in the College’s CTC. We were able to estimate that this increase in the College’s CTC score would result in an equivalent further reduction to Commonwealth funding of approximately $1M, on top of the already known approximately $1M.

This advice was received after the Board had approved the 2023 budget, including the fee schedule for 2023, and after the College released this information to the Radford community. The College subsequently appealed to the Department of Education regarding the timing of this information without success.

After some deliberation, the Board made the decision not to revisit the 2023 fee schedule and manage the nearly $2M reduction of funding for this year. Such late notice from the Department is well out of planning cycles for all schools. This reduction in funding will need to be considered by the Board during 2023, as it discusses the setting of fees for future years, from 2024 onwards.

Strategic Priorities for 2023

As is customary in mid-January, a large group of senior staff from Radford, including all of the Senior Executive members, the four Assistant Heads of Junior School, the Senior Chaplain, and the Director of Digital Learning and Innovation spent two and half days together on retreat to prepare for the year ahead.

The first morning was spent thoroughly working through the results and feedback from the MMG survey that parents with students in Years 3, 5, 7, 10 and 12 in 2022 and Year 12 students themselves from last year, had completed. The results are always very interesting and help to inform strategic priorities for the upcoming year. The second part of the morning allowed us to reflect on things that had gone well last year and the things we could have done better.

That afternoon was spent analysing our current strategic plan and determining which sections required further work, which sections needed to be revised, and which sections were no longer relevant. From there, we formulated a long list of Strategic Priorities for 2023, some of which are detailed below.

The next day we took some time to work through a ‘nuts and bolts’ meeting, including recent staff changes, finalising plans for the long list of camps and other events which will take place in Term One, and working through some issues that arose over the holiday period.

Lisa Plenty, our Director of Digital Learning and Innovation then gave us all a very interesting presentation on the challenges and opportunities that IT will continue to provide us as educators, especially in relation to AI. If you have not yet had a chance to read Lisa’s article, entitled Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT for Parents that she posted on Nexus on Monday, I strongly encourage you to do so. Here is the link.

Later that day, we spent time making further refinements to the documentation that will be submitted as part of a five-year Evaluation for both International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) and International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB DP) programs that will take place this year.

The retreat was concluded with small group work on Strategic Priorities for various sections of the College. Some of the Priorities discussed and detailed were:

Impact of Al on assessment and opportunities from Al for learning.
IB five-year Evaluation.
Review of co-curricular music.
Scope and sequence for study skills and home learning in the Junior School.
Further embed ATLs and review of rubrics/feedback.
Interdisciplinary learning in the Secondary School.
Junior School moderation process and RaVE curriculum.
Consistent, quality teaching and consolidation of pedagogical approaches, along with instructional coaching.
Digital technologies/literacies.
Review mentor group time/program.
Professional development in the use of Intellischool.
Identifying patterns of behaviour that are a roadblock to student growth and achievement.
Implement a staff well-being survey.
Develop a schedule of continuous policy review and update.
Intellischool implementation.
Nexus continued rollout.
IT Security.
Refinement of ICT Strategic Plan.

A Busy Start to the Year

Over the past two days, the College has celebrated the start of the new school year with two major assemblies. Tuesday’s involved the Secondary School and this morning’s involved the whole College.

The Secondary School assembly was particularly important as it was not only a way to welcome students back to the College, but we also had our 2022 JA Mackinnon Dux, Jess Do, speak to the student body and the 2023 Prefects were inducted into their roles. Jess spoke very well about the importance of being involved in the whole life of the College, while our Prefects - many of whom had their parents in attendance - were clearly pleased to finally receive their badges of honour.

Today’s whole-of-school assembly was truly a sight to behold, with just over 2100 students seated together on the Morison Centre lawn. The students heard from our Senior Chaplain Katherine Rainger, Deputy Principals Andy Gordon and Brad Cooney, and me. The Prefects performed a skit similar to Dr Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham about the importance of “being brave and getting involved.”

Tomorrow will be our third major event for the week when the whole of the Junior School comes together for its Commencement Service.

By Rev. Dr Katherine Rainger, Senior Chaplain

Welcome to 2023! Yumalundi (‘welcome’ in Ngunnawal language)! Every blessing for the start of the school year.

New beginnings bring a mixture of emotions and expectations that we navigate together.

One of my habits is diary writing - not every day, but I try to capture moments and encounters. One year I used Dawn French’s, Me. You. A Diary. This undated diary is full of prompts for writing and reflection; “a lovely ramble through the year together.”

One of the prompts was to write a list of “some things you know for sure...” Looking back at the list of the ten things I wrote in 2018, I’d have to say that they’ve stood the test of time – at least according to me!

I was reminded of this exercise as I read the Gospel passage set for this week (Matt 5: 1-12).

The Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7) is a comprehensive “some things I know for sure” moment in Jesus’ ministry. The key difference being that when Jesus had finished teaching, “the crowds were astounded . . . for he taught as one with authority” (Matt 7:28).

Jesus begins his sermon with eight declarations of blessing, known as the beatitudes:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

I wonder which of these beatitudes speaks to you today?

The beatitudes are as profound as they are provocative. Jesus’ promise of fulfilment, favour and protection comes to those who are open to the values and way of life that Jesus embodies. Living by these values can be costly and the blessings may not be immediately evident.

Within the violence and dispossession of the past and the present, God is with us calling people to seek and rely on God as they live into the call to be merciful, to thirst for justice, and to be bringers of peace. May God’s kingdom come as we pray, support, and take action that leads to healing, hope, peace, and justice.

Professor Tom Calma at 2020 Dirrum Dirrum Festival.

Senior Australian of the Year: Professor Tom Calma AO

Congratulations to Professor Tom Calma AO who has been awarded Senior Australian of the Year. As Chancellor of the University of Canberra, he is our ‘across the road’ neighbour on College Street.

We were fortunate enough to have Professor Calma speak at the Dirrum Dirrum Festival in 2020. He shared deep insights, called us to action and had many conversations with festival goers and student organisers.

As the Australian of the Year website says, Professor Calma is a Kungarakan Elder who has worked for more than 45 years at local, community, state and international levels championing the rights, responsibilities and welfare of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. His call for Australia to address the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples was the catalyst for the Close the Gap Campaign. Tom was instrumental in establishing the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples; has led the Tackling Indigenous Smoking program; co-chaired Reconciliation Australia for more than a decade; and has co-led the co-design of a Voice to Parliament initiative.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Football Refereeing

Capital Football has significantly increased referee payments (as much as 50 per cent in some age groups) for the 2023 season. You can now earn up to $70 refereeing Junior League games. Parents and students are encouraged to consider refereeing, which is also a great way to develop life skills and keep fit.

Those who commit to refereeing at Radford will also have the cost of the course and registration and half the cost of the uniform and equipment reimbursed.

Check out the Capital Football website for further information and upcoming courses, including online and female-only course options starting as soon as early February. The Level 4 course is recommended.

Contact Dianne.Wilson@radford.act.edu.au once you have completed a course to be appointed to games.

Orange Tour — The Under 15 team competed in the Western NSW Junior Carnival.

Cricket

A number of Radford College cricketers were involved in tours and representative carnivals over the holiday period.

The College sent two teams (Under 13 and 15) to Orange for the Western NSW Junior Carnivals. Both teams recorded two wins and two losses against representative-level opposition.

The six Radford College First XI members who represented the ACT in the Under 17 National Championships put together some solid performances across the nine-day tournament. This was highlighted by Cricket Captain Jake Smith and player Raakin Rahman being named in the Australian Under 17 Merit Team. In addition, fellow First XI teammate Amber Smith was a standout performer for the ACT in the National Under 16 Girls Championships.

Fixtures resumed over the weekend for Stage 2 and 3 teams. With a significant number of players unavailable, it was very encouraging to see so many Radford cricketers putting their hand up to fill in for other teams so there weren’t any forfeits. Special thanks to the Brown family (Tom, Dan and Mark), Aiden Wilton, Milaan Gera, Om Kondapally, Owen Henderson, Tejas Yellu, Tom Kendall, Archie Boorer, Ayaan Khan, Josh Barnett and Charlie Moss.

Sport Achievements

Congratulations to Elsie Osbourne (Year 6) who was selected in the ACT/NSW team that took part in the 2023 National Ninja Competition in January. She finished 12^th overall among a very competitive field of 32 participants.

Please note – Radford Sport does not get officially notified by SSACT nor ACT-based associations when a student is selected in a representative team. This information is publicised on the SSACT Facebook page, the State Sporting Association websites, or needs to be provided by the student or parent to CCSports@radford.act.edu.au to be celebrated.

By Freya Alblas, Year 12 Prefect

Just before school resumed, the 2023 Prefects headed to B.FIRM for Radford’s first-ever leadership retreat. Little did we know that we would be spending the good part of two days booting each other over high fences and wading chest deep in muddy trenches.

The highlight was when Mr Cooney, Mrs Lilley and Mr Corbett joined us for the final muddy challenge. We also found plenty of time to discuss what it means to be college leaders and our plans for the year, including our new 2023 theme: Be brave, try new things.

The trainers at B.FIRM taught us a lot about leadership. We learnt how to work together and support each other as a large group while racing with loaded stretchers across mud and around the campsite. We were also taught how to follow and trust one leader in order to complete obstacles in record time.

We surprised ourselves with our ability to work in smaller groups and trust each other while leading blindfolded partners along tightropes and across water-filled pits. But most importantly, we learnt from and about each other, and I for one feel confident that Radford’s 2023 leadership team is ready for the challenges ahead.

Class of 2022 student, Tia Priest-Willimott, has been named a Highly Commended Storyteller in ABC’s 2023 Heywire Competition, acknowledging her impressive writing talent.

Tia’s entry, Trips to the Theatre, which can be read here, details how performance has shaped her.

“We received hundreds of applications, and we are delighted that yours has received this award,” said The Heywire Team to Tia.

“We were so impressed with [your] ability to craft an authentic and compelling story of your lived experience. Thank you for being brave and sharing your story with us.”

Heywire is a storytelling competition open to young people living in regional or rural Australia, which includes Canberra.

Students in Years 10-12 were invited to join a Heywire workshop at Radford, offered by local ABC producer Katie McAllister in August 2022, to help them get started on an entry to the competition.

Katie spent a lunch time with a small group of enthusiastic students, including Tia, inspiring ideas for possible stories they could share in their entry. The students heard past winning entries, discussed them, and did lots of writing.

“It was a really exciting process,” said Tia. “[Katie] talked us through the process of writing an inspiring, honest, and captivating entry and gave us time to workshop some answers to a few questions that she posed, such as how do you know when you're home and where's your favourite place to go in Canberra? She taught us that such simple questions can give way to strong pieces of writing filled with emotion and beauty.”

Tia decided to write about the theatre after rehearsing for Radford’s performance of Macbeth and going to see another show at the theatre that same night.

“I realised just how important theatre was to me and so many others,” said Tia. “I think being in shows and going to see them is something that everyone should try as it encourages people to see the world differently and be more confident in themselves.”

Tia hopes to become a journalist and plans to study journalism at university this year, buoyed by her recent award.

“To be named a Highly Commended Storyteller surprised me! It proved to me that writing about something personal that you're passionate about often creates wonderful stories that entertain and inform,” said Tia.

Year 9 student (as of 2022) David Windeyer has been accepted into the Queensland Ballet’s prestigious Academy Program, starting from the beginning of 2023.

David will train with the Queensland Ballet for four years, with each day split between half a day of dance and half a day of academic studies with Kelvin Grove State College (Queensland Ballet’s partner college).

Being accepted into the program is an impressive accomplishment in itself, but it's even more impressive given David has only been performing ballet for two years.

David began learning contemporary dance at QL2 Dance studio in Braddon in 2017, but it was joining the Year 7 Curriculum Dance Class at Radford College two years ago that enabled David’s ballet to flourish.

Radford College’s Director of Movement and Performing Arts Dance Teacher, Danielle White, noticed David’s natural talent for ballet during her Year 7 Dance Classes.

With some gentle encouragement from Ms White, and additional practice at MAKS Ballet Studio in Mitchell since 2021, David has gracefully risen into the Queensland Ballet. The young dancer practises six days per week.

David now considers ballet a future career, something he never would have believed if you’d told him in Year 7.

“It’s definitely something I fell into thanks to Ms White. If I hadn’t taken her class or received her encouragement, I would have stuck with contemporary dance,” David said at the time of writing in 2021.

“I can pursue ballet professionally after completing the four years with Queensland Ballet. My teachers have put a lot of effort into preparing me in the two short years for this.”

David is the first to pursue dance in his family, which is right behind him.

“My family is very excited. Although, the closer we get, the more it’s dawning on us that this will be a big change, but I’ll be back in the holidays,” said David.

Ms White congratulated David on behalf of Radford Dance and wished him all the best.

“This achievement is rare, and a dream come true for those learning ballet their whole lives, let alone only 2 years!” said Ms White. “I am very excited to see where David's journey takes him.”

Monday	3:00 pm-6:00 pm
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Monday	3:00 pm-6:00 pm
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1 February 2023

Term 1, Week 1

Staff Insights

Principal's Message

Principal's Message

Work on the Campus

A Further Reduction in Federal Government Funding

Strategic Priorities for 2023

Some things I know for sure...

Some things I know for sure...

News

P&F Welcome Back BBQ and Movie

P&F Welcome Back BBQ and Movie

Foundation Senior Scholarship (Years 11-12)

Foundation Senior Scholarship (Years 11-12)

Sports Report: 1 Feb

Sports Report: 1 Feb

Football Refereeing

Cricket

Sport Achievements

Prefects get 'stuck in' at retreat

Prefects get 'stuck in' at retreat

Highly Commended Storyteller

Highly Commended Storyteller

Parents roll up their sleeves for Radwear

Parents roll up their sleeves for Radwear

How to donate clothes

Worn up

ISC Sport & P&F Secondhand Shop (term-time) trading hours

Further information

Year 4 Sustainability Champion

Year 4 Sustainability Champion

Dancing with the Queensland Ballet

Dancing with the Queensland Ballet

Navigating the start of school

Navigating the start of school

Nexus Tip: Accessing Nexus

Nexus Tip: Accessing Nexus

Your Radford Account

Accessing Nexus

Mobile App & Browser Version

Mobile app

Browser

Parent Nexus Resources

Staff Insights

Principal's Message

Principal's Message

Work on the Campus

A Further Reduction in Federal Government Funding

Strategic Priorities for 2023

Some things I know for sure...

Some things I know for sure...

News

P&F Welcome Back BBQ and Movie

P&F Welcome Back BBQ and Movie

Foundation Senior Scholarship (Years 11-12)

Foundation Senior Scholarship (Years 11-12)

Sports Report: 1 Feb

Sports Report: 1 Feb

Football Refereeing

Cricket

Sport Achievements

Prefects get 'stuck in' at retreat

Prefects get 'stuck in' at retreat

Highly Commended Storyteller

Highly Commended Storyteller

Parents roll up their sleeves for Radwear

Parents roll up their sleeves for Radwear

How to donate clothes

Worn up

ISC Sport & P&F Secondhand Shop (term-time) trading hours

Further information

Year 4 Sustainability Champion

Year 4 Sustainability Champion

Dancing with the Queensland Ballet

Dancing with the Queensland Ballet

Navigating the start of school

Navigating the start of school

Nexus Tip: Accessing Nexus

Nexus Tip: Accessing Nexus