Around the College

Readers and Writers Week

The power of storytelling was celebrated in style at Endeavour College throughout Week 4. A genre-bending combination of activities, presentations and competitions immersed us all in stories, characters, performance, and literature. 

We started the week with a visit from Poetry in Action who inspired Year 10s and Year 12s to explore their passions through the spoken word. Their performance highlighted the injustices of our world through verse. 

On Tuesday, we hosted Manga illustrator Tsunami Hee Ja for cross-curricular workshops on character creation in the Japanese art of Manga. Tsunami was generous with her time, mentoring experienced artists and encouraging students new to the style. 

Wednesday was a day for celebration of our own readers and writers. We held a Dress-Up Day where students and staff came to school as their favourite character. All funds raised have been donated to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation to provide culturally relevant books, resources, and programs to support remote Communities to create and publish their stories in languages of their choice. 

Congratulations to the winners of our ‘best-dressed’ competition: 

• The Heathers:  Jessie Roberts, Kayla Georg, Charlotte Mudge, Monique Beattie  
• Alice in Wonderland: Eliska Wirth, Alana Tunn, Oscar Stevens, Mikayla Carr 
• Queen of Hearts: Olivia Gillett 

We are fortunate to have our very own author in residence at Endeavour. Many students did not realise that our Principal, Mr Glyn Roberts, is a published author who has written two picture-books! Mr Roberts spoke to Year 7 students about the process of authoring a book. They had many questions; how did you come up with the characters? How much money do you make?  

On Thursday, a lunchtime debate between students and staff once and for all cleared up the question on everyone’s mind: Marvel or DC?  Mr Roberts, Ms McIlvena and Cobey Davis (Year 8) on Team DC, battled Rachel Ratsch (Year 8), Jemma Gillard (Year 8) and School Captain, Oliver Cox on TeamMarvel. Speakers were well-prepared and presented their arguments in front of a keen, albeit split, audience. After tense debating and a lengthy deliberation from the judges, the Marvel enthusiasts were announced the winners, much to the disappointment of die-hard DC-fan Mr Roberts! The debaters were super-heroes on the day and public speaking was their super-power indeed. 

Adelaide based theatre company, Waxing Lyrical, let Year 11 English students experiment with voice projection and character intention in workshops run by a professional theatre director and producer. This new-found knowledge and confidence will certainly come in handy as the Year 11s construct and deliver their own Shakespeare-inspired monologues later in the term. 

Year 9 Voyage classes were also treated to stories during the week. This time, the storytelling was authentic, inspirational and true. The Saidi sisters, Sophia and Cecile, spoke to girls about the importance of believing in yourself as you face hardship, being an ally to your friends and following your dreams, while the boys learnt more about resilience and human endurance from ex-special forces officer, Derrick McManus. 

Across the week, the library ran bookish games and a fierce competition for ‘Endeavour’s Favourite Genre’. The eventual winner was ‘Crime/Mystery’ with a strong showing by ‘Action/Adventure’.  

Readers and Writers Week was once again a celebration of words. When stories are shared, fiction, fantasy and fun collide with culture and community. One thing we know to be true; students at Endeavour College are avid readers and enjoy a good story. 

We thank all staff and students for their enthusiastic participation and support of Readers and Writers Week. 

Annicka Adolphi

English Learning Leader

National Reconciliation Week

Be Brave, Make Change

The 2022 National Reconciliation Week theme was Be Brave, Make Change, and the Endeavour community engaged with it in a deep and meaningful way. 

Our recognition of this important week was strong, and there were many highlights. On Monday, our students were super keen to taste barbequed kangaroo sausages and crocodile fillet marinated in lemon myrtle. Demand was high and our students enjoyed trying something new.  

On Tuesday the whole school experienced a highly engaging presentation by The Dusty Feet Mob, a group of young dancers from Port Augusta. We heard many moving stories, learnt much about First Nations culture, enjoyed watching the dances and even got out of our seats to join in with the final dance.   

Our students reflected on what reconciliation means to them during Care Group and each wrote their understanding on the U-shaped Aboriginal art symbol which represents a person. The Middle Years Leaders took all those symbols and created a stunning Reconciliation Wall in the Mall.  

There was First Nations music played each recess in the Mall, a Friday Film Festival which screened First Nations films and documentaries in three locations at lunchtime, an Art workshop, and plenty of Care Group activities to get involved in.  

Sadly, rain made our fire pit and yarning circle impossible to achieve, and Covid cancelled a Sorry Day event at the Salisbury Council, which many of our students were looking forward to. But, reconciliation is something we encourage our community to reflect on and put into action every day, not just in National Reconciliation Week, so we won’t wait until next year to experience these events. 

Endeavour College has completed the draft of our very first Reconciliation Action Plan (the RAP) and we look forward to making our RAP available to our community soon.  

The RAP Working Group