8 May 2020

From the Principal

Dear families

It has been great to see the vast majority of our students return to school over the last fortnight. Learning has returned to normal, with the addition of lots of hand washing, hygiene and cleaning activities. Students have by and large loved coming back to school and connecting with their friends and teachers and getting back into the routine of learning.

For the small number of students who are still learning from home, we are asking you to provide a medical certificate which outlines the requirement to still learn from home. The consistent advice from the government is that schools are safe and it has now been more than a month since a case was diagnosed in Alice Springs. If there is a medical reason why students should continue to learn from home, we will continue to support you. If not, we want you to bring your young person back to school. Please make sure that they return the workbooks so that teachers can assess the learning completed from home. Learning is a social and collaborative process that requires interaction and exploration.

The Northern Territory Government has outlined a Roadmap to the New Normal. This provides a timeline for the reopening of businesses and the recommencement of events, and the hygiene and social distancing expectations that are required to do so. At this stage the Roadmap has no impact on schools – we are not yet restarting excursions or cross and whole school events and are continuing handwashing, hygiene and distancing measures. The bubblers are still off and students need to bring water bottles to school. We are awaiting further advice from the government and will follow guidelines provided.

Warm regards
Paul van Holsteyn
Principal

School news and updates

Youth Recycled Art prize

Congratulations to Takeena Loy who received a highly commended mention in the Alice Springs Recycled Art prize for her sculpture, Sherman the Bird.

We are staying hydrated

Staying safe during coronavirus means that the schools have had to keep drink bubblers turned off. Thanks to kind donations of reusable drink bottles from DonateLife NT, the Northern Territory Legal Aid Commission and Central Australian Women’s Legal Service, our students are able to stay hydrated and reduce plastic waste. Thanks DonateLife, NTLAC and CAWLS!

Year 9 - Term 1 – Hospitality Class

Term 1 was a very busy term for our young hospitality students. While learning all aspects of Hygiene and safety in the kitchen, they have also learnt how to work effectively with others. Here is a recap so far.

We started the term off light with some lovely thick and fluffy Pancakes to get the feel for measuring and using the stoves. After our Pancakes, we discussed what we would like to cook for the Semester, the year 9’s surely did not disappoint with their list of recipes!

A small platter of Bruschetta was sent up to the staff room for them to taste test.

We worked on a recipe to cook enough special fried rice for a group of 30 people. There was plenty for everyone and it was thoroughly enjoyed by many!

Et voila!

Throughout the program we learn a lot of safe techniques. We are also practicing how to use a knife, a very important skill to have in the hospitality industry. These skills were put to the test when we chopped all the ingredients needed to make the Special Fried Rice and Scone based pizzas.

A good cooking class would not be complete without learning how to bake a delicious desert!? So to finish up our menu, we made a Chocolate Oreo Cake. We learned that when baking, it is very important to first read the recipe very well, we also learned that to avoid a disaster all ingredients have to be measured to the exact amount in the recipe.

And look at these cakes, they turned out great!

Spaghetti Bolognese with Garlic Bread is a staple in many restaurants. We cooked ourselves a big feed of spaghetti bol for lunch and to show our talent with something more original and inventive we presented a very unique Bolognese Cob Loaf to the staff room for everyone to try!

Nearly every young person’s favorite, is a burger. We learnt the ins and outs of putting together a healthier alternative to buying it from a fast food restaurant.

And the result speaks for itself!

As part of the Hospitality program students also learn to prepare and serve expresso coffee. This is a great skill for a young person to have, the beginning towards acquiring an accreditation, and be ready to move into the workforce!

Jaydon was so keen to learn that he stayed behind during lunch time and poured two beautiful single expresso shots, well done Jaydon!

There is always time for a bit of fun in class! A quick selfie while we talk about where the hygiene posters and signs should go in the kitchen!

Scott Berry (DoE Trainer), Jet Thompson, Siu Palavi, Jaydon Roberts, Ariki Robertson, Rydan Richards, Rohanie Acub, Lachlan Thompson.

Small Group Classes

This term 7.2 students have been experimenting with different kinds of pancakes.

Clontarf Corner

Clontarf is still OPEN for business in these challenging times. Although we are unable to do our morning trainings and afterschool activities, we are jamming in as much as we can during school hours. We believe our fellas need our help and support more than ever; as a result, we’ve had to think a little differently and come up with some new ways to engage the fellas and so far, the engagement has been fantastic.

ACADEMY MEALS

High on our list has been cooking food such as hotdogs on Mondays, Taco’s on Tuesdays, and our “good bunch lunch” for high attendance on a Fridays. As well as having lots of fresh fruits, muesli bars, and emergency noodles and pies for fellas with no lunch on the days we don’t cook.

ANZAC DAY

Anzac day is usually a special day on the Clontarf calendar, our fellas really enjoy going to the dawn service to pay their respects on Anzac Day. Unfortunately this year, we did not get that opportunity. However Pietje and his year 7’s did not let that discourage them. They got dressed into their Clontarf shirts and posed for a picture to pay their respect in a different way. Well done fellas

Photo of the Year 7’s on Anzac Day

CLONTARF’S WORKING

We have also had many of our young men wanting part time jobs; and have been helping them with their resumes and applications. As a result, Isaiah Miller in Year 8 recently started at K-Mart. Fantastic effort.

Photo of Isaiah at work

We have also been running a lot of competitions at recess and lunchtime, giving away prizes to encourage the fella’s as much as possible. Some of these comps include:

• Table Tennis staff Vs Students
• Teacher Taco Thursday Week 2
• PS4 comps
• Pool comps
• Dodgeball in the hall
• Connect 4 comps
• Quoits comp

UP COMING EVENTS

We will be continuing our comps, as well as coming up with some new ones. Some other activities coming up next include a vegie garden, music lessons, master chief cooking lessons and more.

To view the quarterly update from the Clontarf Foundation, click the link below

“From Little Things Big Things Grow”

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