Events & around ASC

Exciting News from the School Farm Over the Holidays!

We’ve had quite the busy holiday season at the school farm! 

During the break, we welcomed 9 new lambs into our flock, with 8 healthy little ones thriving, including an incredibly uncommon set of quads! Unfortunately, one didn’t make it, but the remaining lambs are doing well. Huge thanks to our dedicated staff who came in every day over the holidays to check on our heavy ewes. Your hard work truly paid off! 

We were in for a delightful surprise when our resident bottle-fed Merino ewe, "Little Kevin," who was donated to us, gave birth to twin ewe lambs! These little first-cross ladies have quickly become a hit with all the students, just like their mother.

Year 7 Tech 1 got hands-on with a lesson about measuring and assessing lambs within their first 24 hours of life. It was a fantastic opportunity to learn how to evaluate their health and potential future growth. 

Thanks to this lesson, we now have a total of 10 live lambs: 6 female and 4 male!

Pictured are Locky Murray-Roberts and Isabella Barnden holding "Twin A." Aren’t they adorable?

Dance News

Our talented Dance Ensemble has achieved an outstanding milestone with their performance of "Hanging Hats." Not only was this remarkable dance showcased at the Mid North Coast Dance Festival, but it has now also been accepted for the State Dance Festival! 

This is a huge accomplishment for our dancers from Year 7 to Year 10, and we couldn't be prouder. A special thank you to Lauren Cordingley, our dedicated permanent dance teacher, who has been leading the ensemble with amazing guidance and support. Thank you also to Hilary Pearson for assisting Lauren and the dancers along this journey.

This year's State Dance Festival theme is "Perpetual Motion," and the event will take place at the prestigious Seymour Centre at the University of Sydney.

Congratulations to all involved! We can't wait to see our incredible dancers shine on this state-wide stage

STEM News

We're thrilled to announce that five of our talented students are attending the One Giant Leap Aerospace Camp in Inverell! 

Students: Boki Lay, Monty Wood, Lucas van der Werf, Tom McDonagh, and Reuben Kennedy.

These young minds embarked on a four-day journey filled with incredible STEM education, hands-on activities, and unique experiences that will inspire their passion for science and technology. 

Highlight of the Camp: Last night, our students had the extraordinary opportunity to participate in a Q&A session via Zoom with NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff! 

We are so proud of our ASC representatives and can't wait to hear all about their adventures at the camp. Go ASC!

Netball NSW Schools Cup Update!

We had a terrific day filled with great teamwork and sportsmanship! A huge shout-out to our three amazing teams:

ASC Pink (Year 8 Girls)

ASC Green (Year 8 Boys)

ASC Teal (Year 10 Boys)

All three teams have made it through to the regional finals in Tamworth on 25th September! 

A big thank you to everyone who umpired and a special shout-out to Payge Peterson, Kim Kelly, Bec Tarrant, and Hilary Pearson for their fantastic coaching and organisation.

Let’s keep up the great work and support our teams as they head to the finals!

On Thursday 8th August we were delighted to welcome Michele Bullock, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia to Armidale Secondary College. Michele is a previous student of Armidale High School and was given a tour of the new school and facilities by our Year 12 leaders. 

Michele then delivered a speech and answered student questions in a session attended by Years 9 and 10 Commerce and Year 11 and 12 Economics students, here is a snapshot of her speech to our students: 

How the RBA sets monetary policy 

The mandate of the Reserve Bank Board is to contribute to the economic prosperity and welfare of the Australian people by delivering price stability and full employment. In practice, this means setting monetary policy to keep inflation between 2 and 3 per cent and employment at the maximum level that is consistent with maintaining low and stable inflation. We achieve this by setting the interest rate on overnight loans between banks (‘the cash rate’). The cash rate influences other interest rates in the economy, affecting the behaviour of borrowers and lenders, economic activity and ultimately the rate of inflation. 

That sounds straightforward. But it is quite complex. It involves the Board assessing current economic conditions, forecasting how the economy is likely to evolve over the coming year or so, considering the risks and trade-offs and then deciding what level of interest rates is required to deliver an inflation rate of between 2 and 3 per cent, while at the same time keeping the unemployment rate as low as possible. The experience since the pandemic has demonstrated just how complex this can be. 

Since the pandemic, there has been a worldwide surge in inflation. Initially it was driven by disruptions to supply chains. Resurgent demand coincided with difficulties getting goods produced and distributed around the world, which led to large price rises. Then, when Russia invaded Ukraine, there was a second shock as energy prices rose dramatically. As with other countries, Australia felt the impacts of these shocks. We saw inflation rise sharply, peaking at 7.8 per cent at the end of 2022. We hadn’t seen inflation this high in more than 30 years 

Our students asked some very insightful questions about the future of the economy, women in Economics and why Michele chose to change her career direction from Medicine to Economics. 

We sincerely thank Michele for her time and for sharing her passion for Economics with our students. 

Support Unit 

The Support Unit has had another busy start to term.

The students in the Support Unit would like to thank all the ASC Community for its support of fund raising efforts,  to get our bikes back up and running.

Don't forget that Side by Side Choir is back on and any student is welcome to attend, keep an ear out in notices at roll call for details.

Out and About adventures have proved to be a highlight as per usual-Dumaresq Dam in particular was a fabulous outing.

Students at ASC got to combine their love of science and Taylor Swift this week in the name of National Science Week! Students from years 7-12 made friendship bracelets inspired by Taylor’s ERA’s tour concert, spelling out the names of a variety of organelles found in both plant and animal cells! It was fantastic to see so many students participating in this activity and to also see the year groups socialising and getting to know each other at the same time!

- Mrs Van der Eyk

Under 15 Boys Basketball

On the 16th of August 4 schools met to see who would go through for North West Under 15s Basketball. ASC had a strong side with several players returning from last year and a number of new junior players who were nervous but keen to represent the school and wider community. It was time to show the Tamworth sides they wouldn’t be having it all their way and we began by soundly defeating Tamworth High with Darnell Smith the standout.

Oxley High were our next opponents and after a tight opening 10 minutes we stretched away from them and there was a good opportunity for the bench players to get good minutes on the court. Our next opponents, Farrer, would be our toughest opponents and resting our starting players would be very important as they would be needed at full strength if we were going to hold out the very tall and strong Farrer team.

The game against Farrer was tightly contested. Their size was the key problem and the ASC forwards toiled away trying to hold them out and not give up too many offensive rebounds. Sadly the team ran out of energy about 3 quarters into the game and Farrer mounted a decisive run of about 8 unanswered points which took the game away from us. Despite playing hard and not dropping their heads when it got out of reach the ASC boys were soundly beaten and Farrer won the day and progressed to the next round.

All players were extremely positive and diligent throughout the day. 

Will Alexander-Tolhurst worked tirelessly against all the tall players in every game and provided excellent leadership, Thinley Dorjee and Darnell were the other 2 players who led the team and stood out for their excellent play.

Birrang Enterprises is offering to cover the costs for ALL students getting their P's (Provisional licenses) or L's (Learner's permits) and Driving lessons for more hours.

More info below.