From the Principal: 15 Sep 2021

As we approach the end of a very unusual, at times unsettling, and at intervals frustrating, Term 3, I write to provide a large amount of important information that I would encourage all parents to read.

I apologise in advance for the length of this Bulletin article but feel it is important to give the whole community an understanding of the complexities we are currently dealing with.

Arrangements for the beginning of Term 4

All Year 12 students will return to on-campus learning from the start of Term 4, which begins on Tuesday, 5 October. As we all know, this is a critical time for our Year 12 students, who are completing their final weeks of school, examinations and assessments.

We are hoping that by the time our Year 12 students return, they, along with all College staff, will have taken the opportunity to obtain priority vaccinations.

Year 11 students will return to on-campus learning from Week 3 of Term 4 – Monday, 18 October – if health advice allows. This will allow them to complete course work and assessments that contribute to their Senior Secondary Certificate.

While we will be liaising individually with all teaching staff over the coming days about how yesterday’s announcements from the Chief Minister affect them personally, it is important to understand that all Year 11 and 12 staff may not be able to return to on-campus learning on the dates outlined above. Many of our staff who teach these two year levels have young children who currently cannot attend school, some are compromised by health issues, and others live in jurisdictions outside the ACT. This may mean that whilst our Year 11 and 12 students can return to face-to-face learning, some teachers will need to continue online learning, albeit with a supervising staff member in the classroom.

We are currently looking at ways to maximise the number of staff returning, including providing child-care on campus, and personalised classrooms from which to teach (both face-to-face and online).

Remote learning will continue for all students from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 10 for at least the first four weeks of Term 4.

We will be working over the school holidays to develop further plans for a phased return to on-campus learning, when it is safe to do so, for the Pre- Kindergarten to Year 10 levels. Of course, any plans will be subject to ACT Health advice, who take into consideration case numbers and vaccination rates.

Throughout the early stages of Term 4, Radford will remain open through our Learning Hubs for the children of essential workers and vulnerable students whose families cannot have their children at home.

Parents may also be aware that yesterday the ACT Government announced that from Monday, 20 September all children in the ACT aged 12 years and over will be able to book a Pfizer vaccination appointment at an ACT Government clinic. There are two vaccines approved for 12- to 15-year-olds in Australia, with Pfizer available from participating GPs already, and Moderna expected to be available from participating pharmacies from Monday, 20 September.

The ACT Scaling Tests (ASTs)

All Year 12 Tertiary Board of Senior Secondary Studies (BSSS) students will complete the official ACT Scaling Tests (ASTs) on Tuesday, 12 October and Wednesday, 13 October, on campus at Radford College. To prepare our students for these tests, the students will undertake a practice short-response AST task on Wednesday 6 October from 1:40 pm–3:25 pm. Mr Moss will advertise the details of this practice short-response AST task to the Year 12 students via Teams in the coming days.

A letter will also be sent home to students, parents and caregivers to outline the details of the official AST tasks, as well as the BSSS expectations of students.

The timing of the release of Year 12 results

All BSSS Tertiary and Accredited students will receive their record of achievement and official testament on Wednesday, 15 December 2021. This is in line with previous years’ release of results.

The ACT BSSS has announced that the release of the ATAR will be delayed until Thursday, 20 January 2022.

The ACT BSSS works closely with the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) to produce the ATAR so that ACT students can apply for direct university admission. The delay is due to the postponement of the NSW Higher School Certificate examinations. The ATAR and therefore university offers for ACT and NSW students are processed at the same time. UAC processes applications on behalf of all ACT and NSW universities, including applications from students in other states and territories. Tertiary Admissions Centres in other states and territories do likewise. The later release of rankings will not affect university applications through UAC as they are processed in the same way and at the same time for all students.

All Diploma Programme students will receive their results on Monday, 3 January 2022.

All of these changes mean that the College will not be sending out a communique to all community members in early December regarding Year 12 results. This will now come out in late January with IB and BSSS results combined.

Student Leadership for 2022

After an extensive selection process, involving a review of applications, voting by students and staff, short-listing and further discussion and interviews with senior staff, the final group of student leaders for 2022 has now been selected.

At our virtual Secondary School assembly this week, the Prefects and Captains and Vice Captains for 2022 were announced to staff and students. I have every confidence that they will be a wonderful group of students with whom to work and I know they have the support of the students and staff who voted for them.

Their names and portfolios are as follows:

• College Captains: Claudia Kendall and Patrick Walker
• College Vice-Captains: Nishita Chavalam and Jye Rajen
• Performing Arts Prefects: Ben Charlton and Molly Lilley
• Service Prefects: Will Gregory and Beth Chua
• Sport Prefects: Tom Hundy and Hannah Hardy
• Student Council: Darcy Wiseman and Amulya Thumma
• Acacia House Prefect: Olivia Hickey
• Banksia House Prefect: Charly Snare
• Boronia House Prefect: Mia Phelps
• Huon House Prefect: Neve Maguire
• Jarrah House Prefect: Katie Wood
• Karri House Prefect: Matt Wang
• Kurrajong House Prefect: Joshua Kingston
• Wandoo House Prefect: Ben Ni

These students are shown in the image below, in alphabetical order.

2021 NAPLAN results

The College is due to receive NAPLAN results for individual students currently in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 this week. As soon as we have received them, we will be sending them out to families via Australia Post. This means that parents should receive NAPLAN results in the mail at some stage in the coming weeks. If we believe they are going to be significantly delayed, we will let parents know.

A change of leadership for Rowing

After leading our rowing program through its most successful season ever this year, culminating in Radford being crowned the national champion school for both boys and girls in Tasmania earlier this year, Sports Program Manager for Rowing Ms Vicky Spencer announced earlier this term that she wanted to step down from the role at the end of this term to concentrate on her family and dedicate some time to herself.

Over the past four years, Vicky has led the rowing program at Radford extraordinarily well, building the number of students involved in the program, overhauling the instructional program on and off the water, and revitalising the equipment. She has also spent a great deal of time and energy developing the coaches’ expertise and experience, which has obviously had a direct result on our successes on the water.

In short, Vicky has done an outstanding job as our Sports Program Manager for Rowing and her determination, endless energy and dedication to the students will be sorely missed.

I am pleased to announce that Mr Craig Mueller will be taking over as the Acting Sports Program Manager for Rowing for the summer 2021–22 season.

Craig has a long and highly involved history in rowing, competing successfully in the late 1970s and through the ’80s at club, state, national and Olympic levels. Craig began coaching while still competing in the early ’80s and began his professional coaching career in 1991.

Craig brings significant experience in whole-of-program management and development, specifically, large schools and high-performance programs have been of particular interest. Coach development, athlete pathways and welfare are at the forefront of Craig’s practice, as is the promotion of rowing for adolescents as a means of learning the great value of teamwork, tolerance and working towards goals.

Craig’s past coaching appointments include Loreto Normanhurst, Adelaide Rowing Club, Mosman Rowing Club, The Scots College, ACTAS and the Radford rowing program.

Craig will officially start once school is scheduled to return to face-to-face learning and sport begins again. In the meantime, Craig is working closely with Vicky to transition the rowing program, ready for the start of the coming season.

A new Head of Mathematics for 2022

As previously detailed, former Head of Mathematics Ms Jennifer Missen left Radford at the end of Term 2. Ms Missen’s departure, along with another mathematics teacher returning to Sydney and another teacher taking previously approved Long Service Leave in Semester 2, has meant that there has been an unusual level of staff movement within the Mathematics Department in recent times. Although we can never control staff needing to take time off for sickness or parenting obligations, we are now looking forward to a more consistent level of staffing in the near future.

Following Ms Missen’s departure, the College embarked on a nation-wide search for a new Head of Mathematics. As a result of that intensive recruitment exercise, I am delighted to announce that Mr Damien Nemeth, current Head of Senior School at Merici College in Canberra, has accepted the role from the start of the 2022 academic year.

As well as having significant senior leadership experience at Merici, Damien has also previously been the Head of Mathematics at St Francis Xavier College in Florey. In this role, Damien was able to significantly increase the number of students taking higher level mathematics in the senior years and instilled in his staff the confidence to differentiate at all levels, use technology to enhance pedagogy, and encourage ongoing professional development. Damien is incredibly excited to be joining the staff of Radford and I have every confidence that he will be an outstanding leader of the Mathematics Department.

In the meantime, Ms Alyssa Maier will continue as our Acting Head of Mathematics for the remainder of 2021. Should any parent have queries or concerns about the teaching of mathematics, they are requested to contact Alyssa at: alyssa.maier@radford.act.edu.au.

Traffic changes on campus

The development project has been affected by the ACT COVID-19 shutdown. Fortunately, the project was confirmed as part of the contingent of projects which were able to proceed under strict controls on 3 September.

The project team are working to minimise the impact of this delay on the new carpark by reprogramming other areas of work to take best advantage of the school holiday period and the lower population on campus during this time.

Works to convert the existing carpark area to the new ‘Sports Precinct’ will commence next week. This upcoming stage of the works will also see the area between the ovals and around the College Street frontage upgraded. Improvements will be made which expand the oval usable space, eliminate boggy areas and establish more of a sustainable landscaped frontage.

Students and staff in attendance at the College can expect to see large areas around the oval segregated with fencing and earthworks underway shortly. The works will require removal of trees; however, the replacement landscaping will establish more trees than removed, along with the replacement of pest and undesirable species with a professionally selected mix of native eucalypts and casuarinas.

The safety of student pedestrian movements around the College and the impact of construction traffic access is being carefully considered as we move into this next phase of works. Further information will be forthcoming shortly to clearly inform all parents, students and teachers of specific construction management plans for the areas affected.