Once again, ECA was blessed with perfect weather for a merry jaunt along linear
park (Torrens River) toward Campbell town. We thank the lovely staff at City
Bike, Adelaide's free bicycle loan centres for providing us the use of "trusty
steeds" to enjoy the lovely, winding track. Managing a round trip of 12kms, the
students enjoyed their lunch under the shade of a big, beautiful, lemon scented
gum tree at the turn around point. We arrived back in the city pleased with a
job well done and feeling pleasantly puffed.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fabulous weather and fun had by all. Taking advantage of a
beautiful sunny day with a brilliant blue sky, the school went to Goodwood oval
to enjoy some fun in the sun. Students were shown how to kick and Australian
Football, realising that it's not as easy as it looks but with perseverence,
getting the hang of it and doing well too! Some of the other students tried
their hand at the basketball court, shooting some hoops and getting a sweat up.
All in all, a very enjoyable way to lead into the weekend.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Today ECA ventured outdoors and headed to the famous Grange Beach. The afternoon
was a lovely one, with beautiful summer weather, crystal clear oceans and
cloudless, blue skys. Our students went swimming and played with a Waboba ball
(water ball that bounces extremely high and fast), worked on their tan and
chatted to the locals. Overall, it was a fabulous afternoon in the sun.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
MAGIC CAVE VISIT DECEMBER 20th, 2011
Getting into the Christmas spirit, students spent
some time in the morning learning about some Christmas traditions. After
morning break we made our way down to the Myer centre, home to the Myer Magic
Cave where students marvelled at the huge selection of fun, stylish and zany
decorations. Some of the students and staff brought along their young
children for the outing. Next stop was the polar express train ride where
students chatted to the helpful attendants and wrote emails to Santa.
After a break for lunch we formed new teams amongst the students and had a
variety of fun quizzes and challenges on the theme of christmas, ending in some
fun and funny stories/poems about Christmas in Australia.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
MARION PRIMARY SCHOOL VISIT DECEMBER 6th, 2011
Today's excursion was a great mingling of ages and
cultures. The students of ECA were thrilled to have the chance to both
teach and learn from some of the classes from Marion Primary School. In a
great tribute to multiculturalism, ECA students travelled to the school to share
some of their cultural elements with the great kids at Marion. ECA
students taught words, writing, styles, songs, games and dances to the well
behaved kids of Marion. In turn the kids had loads of great questions,
lots of enthusiasm and beautifully made posters of the ECA student's various
National flags. The ECA students also enjoyed a hilarious Aussie Christmas
song put on by the kids.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
SOUTH AUSTRALIA MUSEUM VISIT DECEMBER 2ND, 2011
For this week's activity, students enjoyed the beautiful displays of the South
Australian Museum. Everything from whale skeletons, animals of the world,
Pacific Island cultural artifacts and the vast flora and fauna of South
Australia were oohed and ahhed over. Some students were able to share
their knowledge of experience of the different exhibits adding to the
informative and interesting outing further.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
This week ECA experience both an icy cold and hot dry climate in one day. Today
the students and teachers ventured out to ‘The Snow Dome’ in Thebarton,
Adelaide. While the group of students consisted mainly of learners this was only
for a short time. It seems that our students are not only quick learners in the
class room but also in the sporting arena. Our advanced ice-skaters not only
avoided any serious collisions, but also did so to some funky beats. Overall, it
was a great afternoon for all those involved.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
While rummaging through documents we found some lovely
drawings by our past student Noe Taya. We thought they would look lovely on our
page so we decided to upload them on our face book and webpage.
Thank you Noe for the lovely Drawings.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Whether it was relaxing in the shade of the giant fig tree or
running around with an AFL, basket or volley ball, students enjoyed this weeks
outing to nearby Goodwood oval. With azure skies and the thermometer rising,
students worked on their tans, improved their kicking skills and shared a chat
and a laugh with some of the locals who were also out to enjoy the weather and
have a kick of the “footy”. It was a great “arvo” for all involved.
![]()
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
On this lovely warm day, the students and staff
celebrated the Melbourne Cup. There was an array of cheese and wine to be shared
while everybody placed their bets and chose their horse in the sweep. Some only
made one bet while other more serious "gamblers" chose multiple horses. From the
beginning of the race until the end, everybody was off their seats, cheering and
urging on their horse in the hope it would take first place. It was the closest
finish ever! Although there was only one winner, everybody had a great time.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
For a change from the usual focused study or sporting Friday
afternoon, students walked down along the Torrens River to arrive at the
entrance to the Botanical Gardens. Then, wandering through the elegantly
sculptured and varied gardens containing flowers, fountains and ferns, we
admired the classical conservatory, originally constructed in 1877, the cacti
collection, giant water lily pad preserve, where students marvelled at just how
big leaves can grow. On from there, we paused in the papered pathway of peace
and serenity. Our final part of exploration of the gardens took us past the
“glass pasty”, the eye catching modern conservatory and on to the rose gardens
which were in full bloom with fragrance aplenty. Even the tough blokes had to
concede that the gardens are gorgeous.
We finally made our way back towards school by way of East Terrace, home to some
of Adelaide’s many, popular cafes, restaurants and bars. We all arrived back at
school with the pleasant feelings one gets from getting back in touch with a bit
of nature.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
We stayed close to ECA headquarters for
our excursion to St Peter’s Cathedral this week. On the way there we passed
through the Festival Centre, saw some dragon boat racing on the River Torrens
and stopped for a photo with Adelaide’s cricket legend, Sir Don Bradman “the
greatest batsman of all time”. We also got a sneak peek of the 2011 Adelaide
Cathedral Art Show and browsed for bargains at the op shop next door.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
To celebrate the end of the term the teachers and students joined together for an
Aussie style BBQ at Orphanage Park, near Goodwood. It was fantastic to see a few
past students and friends also come along.
Many students helped to prepare the vegetables and
spent time looking after the barbecue as we cooked chicken, kangaroo steaks and
a mountain of sausages.
Many people kept warm by playing sports such as
tennis, basketball and Aussie Rules football. Others just enjoyed the chance to
socialise with friends outside of the classroom after a term of studying hard.
It was sad to say goodbye to a few students finishing at ECA, but Term 3
was fun and this was a a great day out to kick off the break.
See you next term!
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Adelaide’s weather is warming up so on Friday we took the
tram to Glenelg beach. Although no-one was brave enough to go for a swim, the
group enjoyed looking around, relaxing in the sun and playing volleyball with an
imaginary net!
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
On a gloriously sunny spring day of 25 degrees we made our way to Wayville for
the opening day of the Royal Adelaide Show for 2011.
Some highlights included the pig racing and diving, tasting wines from different
regions of South Australia, and choosing the 'cars of our dreams' at the motor
exhibition.
Students also spent time checking out the motor cross, woodcutting, many
different breeds of animals (cats, dogs, rabbits, goats, alpacas, etc!), and the
huge variety of showbags on offer.
Some were brave enough to go on rides in the carnival section while others
instead decided to try as many free samples of gourmet foods as possible.
Perhaps some even stayed long enough to see the evening finish with a bang at
the fireworks spectacular.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
On Friday 19th of August a group of about 15 set
out from ECA headquarters on a walking tour of sites in the city exhibiting work
as part of the SALA (South Australian Living Artists) Festival.
The first stop was The Science Exchange, where we were amazed
by a crocheted coral reef of all shapes and colours. Hundreds of people were
involved in creating the project.
The tour then passed through Peel Street (but a little too
early for the zine shop to open and the Saturday night street party) on the way
to Magazine Gallery, off Hindley Street. Here we saw an exhibition of portraits
by Ruby Chew, but a couple of cute dogs playing in the gallery were just as
popular.
After a group photo in a car park - which was more unusual
than it seemed at first (Look up!) - We moved on to the Jam Factory. The
exhibition by Format Collective was an interesting collection of interactive art
with video, sound, and a giant pink blob.
We started to sweat while watching artists at work in the
glassblowing studio then headed outside to the cold streets and back to ECA. A
good time was had by all.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
To our surprise one of the students who studied at ECA ten years ago returned to
our school for a visit. It was lovely to see that our alumni are still keeping
in touch. We are very proud of all our students and we hope to hear from them as
much as possible.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________