Around the College
The Voyage Family Evening
The Voyage program for Year 9 students was introduced to families at the Welcome to The Voyage Family Evening on Monday 27 February. It was great to see so many families attend and learn more about The Voyage and how it will impact their children during Year 9 as well as their support networks as they engage with this significant program throughout the year.
During the evening, families learnt about the overarching themes within The Voyageprogram. Further insight into the checkpoints that the students will go through on their Voyage was given to families, including the Challenge Accepted Camp which will occur during Weeks 4 and 5 of Term 4.
Families had the chance to be involved in two significant moments during the night. These being ‘The Letter’ which each student wrote to their parents and the ‘Stepping Up’ pledge.
The letters were used as a tool to open communication within each family in potentially a new way. The students were asked to share their gratitude, be as honest as possible and to write about what was on their heart and mind.
The Stepping Up Pledge was an opportunity for each of the Year 9 students to make a pledge about different ways they will step up during 2023. They wrote these on Endeavour Way coloured pieces of paper, attached them to the school cross and these will be reflected upon throughout the year.
We are looking forward to a great year in The Voyage. Please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s Voyage teacher or myself if you have any questions.
Rachael Piro
Year 9 Year Level Leader
Voyage Teacher
Indonesian Partnership
This year, Endeavour College is proud to be able to continue developing the partnership between the College and Indonesian Schools (SD GKPS , SMP GKPS 3 and SMK GKPS 3).
We were extremely thankful to host Rev Dedi Pardosi recently as he visited Endeavour.
Rev Dedi and Komite Nasional Lutheran World Federation (KN-LW) are in communion with thirteen Indonesian Lutheran Churches, mostly based in North Sumatra, Indonesia. KN-LW’s priority is to strengthen the Lutheran identity, theology, and the education of these churches. They oversee a human rights advocacy program, the Lutheran Study Centre and community development programs.
In addition, KN-LW’s is an implementer organisation who connect the thirteen Indonesian churches with the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand (LCANZ), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva, Switzerland (LWF). Some of these churches have schools, therefore KN-LW is responsible for support of the churches as they support the schools.
Erin Kerber, Program Officer for Lutheran Church of Australia International Mission, and Ruth Butler, past principal of Grace Lutheran College and partnership facilitator were both part of the rich discussion around building an education program to support staff and students in Indonesia.
It was a joy to meet with them and we look forward to continuing to develop and build on our strong connection.
Helen Carter
Service Learning Leader
National Student Voice Initiative
Gemma Mann (Year 11) has recently been selected to represent Endeavour College in the National Student Voice Initiative. The Student Voice Initiative is an international network of students and staff from tertiary institutions partnering to foster and embed a culture of authentic, meaningful and inclusive student engagement in institutional decision-making across governance, learning, teaching and student experience.
What a huge honour! We're so excited to see where this takes you.
Meet our German Exchange Students!
Hi! My name is Marie and I’m 15 years old. I’m here for an exchange from Germany and I’m staying ten weeks in Adelaide with my exchange partner Gracie Oborn. My hometown Landshut is around 40 minutes away from Munich, Bavaria. I have a little brother and two pets, a cat and a dog.
In my free time I love playing the flute and the piano. With the flute I’m in the orchestra and in a flute ensemble at my school in Germany. In my home parish I’m singing in the youth choir. We make music for many church services, especially on feast days in the Easter and Christmas season. Another hobby of mine is playing badminton as member of a junior team in my hometown sports club. Besides this I like taking pictures and reading books.
In Germany, I’m in grade 10 of Gymnasium Seligenthal. Here in Australia, I’m in Endeavour College in grade 11. The Gymnasium Seligenthal is also Christian educational school based like Endeavour. It belongs to the foundation of the catholic diocese, Seligenthal.
When I arrived in Adelaide in February, I was very excited about what to expect in the exchange. When writing this article just three weeks have passed and I have already gained so many indescribably impressive experiences in this short time. I practiced incredible things I haven’t done before, for example sleeping under the open sky in the outback or swimming with dolphins and sea lions as well as surfing in the ocean. All those adventures I’ll always keep in mind! Living for this short time the Australian everyday life I noticed differences as similarities as well between Germany and Australia. The most noticeable contrast at first sight is the left-side driving in Australia in contrast to the right-side driving in Germany. The teaching system in school offers much more interesting subjects and gives students more choices. The mealtimes have different names and a slightly different rhythm. Besides this I find Australians to be very open-minded, friendly and tolerant. And the weather is definitely much more pleasant here than in Germany.
I’m looking forward to the following weeks I might enjoy here in Adelaide. After such a short time I can absolutely say that I appreciate and love Australia and the people in Australia. I can recommend it to anyone who wants to do an exchange and I definitely would do the exchange again!
Marie Bernt
German Exchange Student
Hi! My name is Marie Seidl and I’m 15 years old. I’m from Bavaria, Germany, from a town called Kempten, which is in the very south of both Bavaria and Germany. Currently I’m doing an exchange to Australia for about two and a half months, and in that time, I’ll be going to school at Endeavour.
I’m playing the violin and the piano, I also love to dance, which is probably my favourite hobby. In my free time I like to meet up with friends or go skiing and ice skating in winter.
The biggest difference between school in Germany and school in Australia is that you have Care Group in the morning We don’t have that at all, even though school starts way earlier in Germany. I really like that you get the opportunity to relax before school starts. I also like that, in some subjects, you can sit outside of your classroom, listen to music and work on your assignments at your own pace. In Germany especially the listening to music part is forbidden and you would immediately get detention.
Marie Seidl
German Exchange Student
Middle Years Design Tech Happenings
Our Middle Years students have been very active and inventive in the Design Technology area during Term 1. The cutting boards that our Year 7 students have been constructing demonstrate their inventiveness and creativity. The students plan and design a cutting board that meets their needs using the design process. Students have been shaping and polishing their finished product over the past few weeks after laminating their preferred timbers together. In the upcoming weeks, students will have the chance to use the laser cutter to engrave a little design into their finished product.
For their gardens at home, our Year 8 students have been planning and building Bee Hotels. A bee hotel is a sort of insect hotel that is typically used by solitary pollinating bees. Bees who are not a part of a hive can find shelter and rest in bee hotels. In order to assist in building the frame for their Bee Hotel, students have been honing their skills with cordless drills.
Furthermore, Year 8s have designed and produced portable mazes. Students design their mazes using Adobe Illustrator, then they use a laser cutter to cut the appropriate shape and style.
Students have been honing their skills and creating a collapsible camp chair in Year 9 Material Solutions. Throughout the term, several new skills have been created. Students have been planing a 10mm angle for the timber slats with a hand-held wood plane. Students have started putting their chairs together using drills and impact drivers. See pictures of the many camp chairs in development below.
Students in Mr O'Connell's Year 9 Material Solutions class have been creating CO2 dragsters from scratch. In order to construct an efficient and aerodynamic design, students have obtained a deeper understanding of mass, thrust, surface friction, and drag.
We are constructing a new raceway and plan to run the dragsters in Term 2.
Students in Year 9 Advanced Manufacturing have designed and made laser cut clocks. Products can be laser-cut from plywood or acrylic, and various creative designs are possible.
Throughout Term 1, a great deal of imaginative concepts have been generated.
In Term 2, we anticipate seeing further innovation and creativity within projects.
Wayne Slattery
Design Technology Learning Leader