Rwanda is a country full of hope, looking towards a new African future that is free from what President Paul Kagame has called the “mental slavery” of a colonial past. Our intention is to be a small part of that hope, and equip the students and teachers we meet with skills that are useful throughout their lives.

The 2014 GO Rwanda Team consists of ten students and eight adults, flying out at the end of next week to again visit the Northern Province of Rwanda. The team works to support local schools and staff in partnership with the Shiyra Anglican Diocese. Our contribution this year will focus on a new technical school, hoping to look at work ethic and entrepreneurship in particular. We will also be assisting with the provision of IT infrastructure, and bringing over durable kitchen utensils.

Another way we are able to help the local area is through the provision of English language dictionaries. When visiting schools and villages – or even walking down the main street of Musanze – members of the team are often asked if we have any dictionaries to give. School students are examined in English in a country that up until about six years ago was officially French speaking (along with the more widely spoken Kinyarwandan language), and most people simply do not have access to English dictionaries to help them learn. It has been estimated that about 95% of teachers in the region cannot speak English with confidence. This inevitably means that students are likely to fail Year 6 exams and get stuck in a cycle of repeating and ultimately unemployment.

As we work in Primary and Secondary schools in the region, we encounter teachers who are highly motivated to improve their professional skills, and we focus on helping them adapt the Rwandan curriculum into teaching and learning activities that will develop skills in their students to equip them for employment and creating new businesses. Rwandan teachers and students are both equally keen to practise their English on any team member, at any opportunity. Any one of the Rwandan students that we meet has the potential to become the doctors, teachers, engineers, parents and developers of Rwanda’s future.

Student team members for 2014 are Amy Anderson, Sarah Handy, Ashleigh Hooimeyer, Aidan Kerr, Joel Mann, Isaac Mann, Emily Nesbitt, Jess Robinson, Bree Turkington and Katarina Uher, accompanied by Stephen Harris, Mark Burgess, Dan Wearne, Michael Harris, Belinda and Chris Tolmie, Ros Moore and Stuart McKerihan.

We are very grateful to the NBCS community for partnering with us in making a very real difference in people's lives. If you would like to make a specific contribution to GO Rwanda, we are looking for light paperback English dictionaries to take with us. One dictionary, or a hundred, would be gratefully received, and can be left at Reception or sent via the School Office.

Mark Burgess
GO Rwanda Team Leader
 

Travel dates

Friday 28 June to Tuesday 15 July.
 

Follow the journey

Facebook: /nbcsgorwanda (please note new URL)

Musical week is here! Performances of the Broadway favourite ‘Annie’ run this Wednesday to Saturday. We hope that everyone in our community is able to support this fantastic production and the students involved. The Marina Prior Centre is looking fantastic with the stage coming to life and final rehearsals underway.

We hope to see you at one of the performances this week.

Performance Dates:

• Wednesday 18 June, 12noon (School Preview Performance)
• Thursday 19 June, 7pm (Opening Night)
• Friday 20 June, 7pm (Evening Performance)
• Saturday 21 June, 2pm (Matinee)
• Saturday 21 June, 7pm (Closing Night)

Tickets:

• Adults - $20
• Children/ Concession - $15
• Family - $60 (2 adults & 2 children)

Book tickets now (allocated seating)

The String Ensemble is made up of students from both Primary and Secondary, and incorporates a range of string instruments including violin, viola and cello. Under the experienced violin bow of Melissa Khoh, the Ensemble has worked hard to expand their repertoire to feature some of today’s most well-known pop tunes, combining classical instruments with contemporary songs. They recently performed at Grandfriends’ Day, and will feature in the Showcase evening in Term 3.

If you play a string instrument and are interested in joining the String Ensemble in Term 3, please contact Dani Cosford in the School Office, or via email: dcosford@nbcs.nsw.edu.au

Students from Year 12 and Year 9/10 Agriculture classes recently embarked on separate excursions to Central Western NSW to visit large scale agricultural enterprises.

Starting closer to home, the students joined in the vegetable harvest at the University of Western Sydney, milking dairy cows at the University of Sydney Dairy and toured the high performance horse facility at the University of Sydney Veterinary Hospital before travelling over the Great Dividing Range to Wellington.

Both Year 12 and Year 9/10 visited a number of farms in the Wellington and Parkes area. The farm hosts were very generous and allowed the students to work with the livestock, assessing their health and weight, as well as participating in the management operations of drafting and drenching. It has been an excellent start to the season in the area and the students were able to observe how farmers use different grazing methods to protect their pasture and the environment. Of particular interest to many of the students was the chance to sit in the driver’s seat of some of the large machinery used in broadacre cereal cropping.

Thank you to all the students that made these excursions such a great experience.

Norman Kobelke
Science Learning Leader

On Thursday 28 May, Year 10 NBCS students joined 6 other schools participating in the Science and Engineering Challenge which is a nationwide outreach program lead by the University of Newcastle. The Challenge is designed to inspire students to study Science and Engineering.

Students worked together in small teams on a range of exciting hands-on activities that included bridge building, earthquake proofing, glider design, building a Mars rover and a hovercraft.

Our students, known as “Team Innovation”, worked extremely well on the day, producing creative and inventive designs. The day concluded with a test of all of the balsa wood bridges using the “Bridge Buster”.

The NBCS students were extremely competitive in all of the challenges and and ended up winning the day. Congratulations “Team Innovation”!

Tracey Cameron
Science & Engineering Teacher

Thank you to the parents who have recently joined the organising team for the Trivia Night in Term 3. There is still the opportunity to get involved. The next meeting is Monday 23 June at 9:15am, meeting in Reception.

If you would like to be involved but cannot make the meeting next Monday, please contact Jo Rombouts in the School Office via jrombouts@nbcs.nsw.edu.au. All help is appreciated, and there is always lots of laughs.

This week’s Parenting Ideas information sheet:

• Helping kids who struggle at school

In association with our Empowering Parent Seminars, we have been providing additional weekly parent information sheets to support NBCS parents. Some information will be more relevant to Primary than Secondary and vice versa. This is to support families within our school community covering all age groups.

If you would like an information sheet on a specific topic sent via Wavelength, please contact Mrs Anne Jobson via the School Office (9450 1311).