From the President  

As we turn into the second half of the College's academic year, I continue to be both impressed and comforted with every engagement I have had with members of the Old Virgilians and past students of the College. There is genuine interest in how the school is progressing including its success not only academically and on the sporting field for current and past students, but equally importantly as members of a worldwide community positively contributing to social, welfare and economic outcomes.

Communication

The challenge for us all is to determine how we can best share our achievements amongst our extended community. We will be investigating other communication channels, such as our use of social media, which will complement the monthly edition of this electronic newsletter.

There will be many avenues to gain feedback from our Old Virgilians, including at our upcoming reunions and luncheon. I look forward to seeing you and to discuss how we can can proactively improve engagement with our broader membership base.

Melbourne Reunion

Our ability to engage with our community is restricted by seeking to do so through the newsletter only. This is evidenced through the responses to our proposed Melbourne function in August. Even though this was planned well ahead and communicated in that time frame, many of our Melbourne colleagues remained unaware. As matters have transpired and as there remains genuine interest in running such a function, the Committee has made the decision to postpone the event until the last week of October 2023 (refer to Calendar information) to enable those that would have liked to come the opportunity to do so. 

Maypole Gathering

Just a reminder that our luncheon will be on Tuesday 8 August at the Maypole and despite the cold weather I will be pleased to see as many attend as possible.

Diversity & Inclusion

In the last OVAtions I acknowledged that as a community we must improve our recognition of diversity and inclusion at all levels and I believe this can only be achieved through ensuring representation at the highest levels of the organisation. To make this happen I would welcome suitably experienced members of our community to contact me through the College to assist me in positioning such a role on our Committee as a start.

St Virgil's College Annual Report 

Each year schools are required to prepare an Annual Report on school performance for their parents and the community as a requirement of the Schools Assistance Act. 

I would like all readers to access the College Annual Report through this link. It is informative and contains excellent information about the progression of our College. It also identifies areas where the OVA can and should apply its skills to support the College. 

Calendar of Events

Please refer to your calendar of events on the following page and participate as much as you are able. Your feedback and contributions are greatly valued and these events are a good opportunity to socialise your thoughts.

I encourage your support of the Old Virgilians Association and your alma mater. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to meet with many of you at one or more of our upcoming functions.

David