Every afternoon, teachers end the day reading to their students. This provides an opportunity for students to enjoy good quality literature that expands their vocabulary, provides models of excellent writing, showcases aural reading, and brings pleasure to the classroom. Several teachers have told tell me that this is the high point of the day for their students. In addition, we use high quality non-fiction texts in other learning areas such as History, Geography and Science to broaden students’ understanding of the world. To support this emphasis on reading, over the past 12 months our library staff have been working diligently to expand our library collection to ensure that there is an excellent range of books for students to borrow and read.

In our Monday staff meeting this week, Junior School teachers participated in training on how to effectively use the World Book Encyclopedia site that we subscribe to. This training will help teachers to ensure that they get the most out of this excellent site that is filled with high quality articles written at different reading levels for both teachers and students to read. These articles can be used to help students develop their skills in reading non-fiction texts as they expand their knowledge. The site also provides a safe online space for researching topics.

Developing a love of reading works best in partnership with families as they make reading a feature of their daily life. I have three grandchildren all under 3 years. It is great to watch them, even as young babies, enjoy books being read to them. They love sitting with their parents, aunties and uncles, and grandparents as they are read to. When my children were young, we would visit the local library for books and read them together before going to bed. Even after they had learned to read, we continued reading to them in the evenings. This is a wonderful way to end a day with your child and it is also a great way to support their developing understanding of reading. If you speak another language at home, this is also a good time for reading stories in your language. I also encourage you to listen to your children read.

In Early Stage 1 and Stage 1, students are reading decodable texts, books whose simple narratives are made up mainly of words that contain phoneme-grapheme (letter-sound) combinations that children have already been taught. As students move into Stage 2 and 3, they are selecting their own novels and non-fiction texts, and it is valuable to also encourage them to read aloud.

With the Winter break approaching, I have already visited my local library to get a stack of books to read. I am looking forward to a few mornings in the winter sun enjoying a good book. I hope that you will also find time to read with and to your children, and to model the joy of reading as you read your own books.

“During teenage development, with new and emerging social roles, increased autonomy, changes to circadian rhythms, and a greater tolerance for sleep pressure (literally resisting the urge to sleep), it is even more essential to put in place better sleep hygiene” (Tarokh et al., 2016).

Much of the resistance to sleep comes from the enticement of social media and technology which many teens can freely access in their bedrooms well after the reasonable hours for going to sleep have passed. As Mr Hartley wrote last week , the impact of technology on our children is explored effectively in Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation .

Creating good sleep hygiene through positive habits can be as simple as following these steps:

• Implementing a screen curfew (experts suggest stopping 1-2 hours before bed time)
• Avoiding caffeine (soft drinks and coffee are the worst offenders here)
• Avoiding sleeping with a pet (research has shown that their movements can interrupt our sleep patterns and has more detrimental effects than the initial comfort of their presence)
• Assessing the bedroom environment (creating a calm and clean space)

Any activities that promote good physical and mental health outcomes for our teens are important - and sleep hygiene is just a part of the bigger picture. The three week break ahead gives our children time to assess their current state of sleep, their habits and environment, and consider how a new routine might improve the quality of their rest. This can only benefit their learning in the future!

Resources

• Good sleep hygiene for teenagers is key to mental wellbeing
• Jonathan Haidt (2024) The Anxious Generation: How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness
• 20 Sleep Hygiene Tips and Worksheets for Kids and Teenagers
• Tips for a healthy headspace
• Get enough sleep for a healthy headspace

One last note...

As the term - and semester - draws to a close, we can be encouraged by the wonderful events and opportunities that our students have engaged in both inside and outside of the classroom. Thank you for your ongoing support of the College and your children.

Have a wonderful break! God bless.

• Land
• Descendants
• His name would be great and all peoples on earth would be blessed through him.

Abram’s (name changed to Abraham) descendants, through the line of Isaac and Jacob, would become the people of Israel and as God’s people they were to be a blessing to all people.

But before they took ownership of that land, they were enslaved by the Egyptians and God called Moses to lead his people out of the slavery of the Egyptians, to the promised land.

Secondly, Psalm 80:8-9;

You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.

This psalm picks up the story from their journey from Egypt and states that Israel, God’s people, are God’s vine planted to flourish and be a blessing. But this vine turned it’s back on God and so we pick it up in verses 16-18:

Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish.
Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.

With this in mind, now read John 15:1-17 – “I am the True Vine”

The questions I asked the students in Chapel:

• Are you bearing fruit?
• Are you connected to Jesus?
• The fruit that you bear, is it fruit that will last?

Year 12 students, as you are now in your final 100 days of school, you continue to be in our thoughts and prayers every day. You are all incredible individuals and each and every single one of you is an asset to our grade.

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails ( Proverbs 19:21 ).

Watch the video below to get a glimpse of anything-but-a-backpack day.

Monday, 24th June

• N/A

Tuesday, 25th June

• N/A

Wednesday, 26th June

• Junior School Music Ensemble Showcase - All welcome. Refer to information in 'College News'

Thursday, 27th June

• N/A

Friday, 28th June

• Last day of Term 2

Monday, 24th June

• Y11/Y12 Legal Studies Incursion
• Y12 VET Business Services - work placement
• Y12 IT Timber Technology - major project development session

Tuesday, 25th June

• Y12 Geography Barangaroo Excursion
• Senior School Music Ensemble Showcase - All welcome. Refer to 'College News' for details.
• Y11 Study

• Y12 VET Business Services - work placement

  Y12 IT Timber Technology - major project development session

Wednesday, 26th June

• Y12 Study Afternoon

• Y12 VET Business Services - work placement

• Volleyball Club

• Y12 IT Timber Technology - major project development session

Thursday, 27th June

• Y12 VA Studio Time

• Y12 VET Business Services - work placement

• Y12 IT Timber Technology - major project development session

Friday, 28th June

• House Day
• Y8/Y9/Y10 HICES Debating
• Last day of Term 2

For the competitive session , there is a set time of 40 minutes for each field event. If students have already signed up, this allows teachers to get straight into the competition rather than spend 15 minutes writing down students’ names and competitor numbers. It also allows for serious competitors to finish and place, potentially making it through to the HZSA Carnival.

The participation session will have an allocated time at the field event of 1 hour and 20 minutes. There is no need to sign up to participate. Students are able to walk up to the event with their friends, have a throw or a jump and collect a House Point for their participation. The throws and jumps will not be measured, allowing more students to have a turn and experience the different field events at the carnival. It is similar to the ‘Lizard Lane’ that was trialled at the swimming carnival. It was a success because students who were not necessarily confident to compete in the races found enjoyment and fun in participating in the event with their friends.

Students do not need to sign up for track events on the day, as these run smoothly within the allocated time. Below is a copy of the program that will be used on the day, to show the approximate competition times and participation times.

If you are unsure which session your child should be in or if you have any questions or concerns, please send an email to [email protected]

Nomination Guidelines

• All nominations should come from the student interested in trialing.
• Students MUST email all nominations to the Head of Student Opportunities [email protected] AT LEAST 2 days before the nomination date. Late nominations will not be accepted. Students who do not nominate will be turned away from any trial they attend.

Nominations need to include the following information:

• Name:
• Event:
• Date of birth:
• Year Group:
• Parents email:
• Playing positions (1st and 2nd preference):
• Playing/representative experience (only include information from the past 2 years):

Once the nomination has been completed and accepted, further information about the trial will be sent to students and their nominated parent email address.

All lolly bags will be sold at $5.00 per bag so please bring along some money if you would like to help out. We will also accept some gold coin donations too at the entry if you would like to make donations then.

All of our music ensembles will be performing at this event. Please come and enjoy our musicians perform to provide you with a great night of entertainment.

• SS Ensemble Showcase – Tuesday, 25th June at 7:00pm (Auditorium)
• JS Ensemble Showcase – Wednesday, 26th June at 5:00pm (Auditorium)

Download the flyers below.

• RHAC’s vision, values and approach to learning
• uniform and stationery requirements
• lost property
• a map of the College
• managing student absences
• student illness and well-being (e.g. caring for students who are sick at school, school counselling and reporting student success)
• extra-curricular opportunities
• technology
• communication - flowcharts are provided to assist parents in knowing who to contact, an explanation on how to make a complaint
• parent involvement and the work of the RHAC P&F
• policies and procedures