Principal's Report
Love, Treasure, Acclaim
All are welcome
Hospitality
During 2019 all Kildare Ministries schools and community works are focusing on the core value of hospitality. Our College theme for 2019, at the top of this page, encourages us all to value each and every human being as made in the image and likeness of God and receiving God’s unconditional love.
We read in the parable of the good Samaritan about a good man who went out of his way to help someone who is in dire need. Often it is easy to go out of our way to help someone like the man who had been beaten by robbers and was left half dead on the side of the road because they are in front of us and clearly visible. However, it is not so easy to go out of our way to help someone who is just as needy but may not be as visible. When we focus on what hospitality really means, we need to keep in mind that hospitality forces us to make a conscious effort to consider who in our world is in need.
As we focus on our core value of hospitality during 2019, I would encourage each and every one of us to consider how we might go out of our way to look around and specifically find in our community people in need ; Are there students at recess or lunchtime who need a kind word? Perhaps someone struggling in class that we could give a bit of help to. There may even be the opportunity to extend the hand of friendship to someone who is not necessarily being friendly in return.
True hospitality encourages us to be countercultural, to seek out the marginalised in our local and wider communities and to extend to them the hand of friendship and assistance. If we can learn to do this, especially in our local community, then we can be role models in the wider community and gradually bring about a change for the positive: a change where our school theme for this year becomes actions rather than just words.
Where we truly are genuine when we state that we:
Love, Treasure, Acclaim, and
All are welcome.
Planning for 2020
This is well underway, and I would like to thank everyone for the efforts that are going into this; especially the staff who in recent weeks have worked very hard to ensure that things like subject selection booklets, information nights and subject selection processes have run so smoothly. Subject selection processes are just about complete and we are beginning to move into the timetabling and staffing stage of preparation for the 2020 academic year. Thank you again to all staff, students and carers for the efforts and cooperation that have gone into making this process smooth this year.
Term 3.
As this Term rapidly draws to a close, Year 12 students are beginning to make final preparations for their coursework and to focus on exam preparation. The first three weeks of Term 4 will pass very quickly and then they will be right into exam mode.
It is as Year 12's move into this final phase of their secondary education that the rest of the students in the school realise that they too need to finish their academic year diligently and responsibly. As with all students in the school, it is always my prayer that when they get to the end of each academic year there are no regrets that they haven’t worked hard enough. I would encourage everyone at this point in time to sit down and review their study timetable with a view to making sure that they get the most out of the learning opportunities provided over the remainder of this academic year.
God bless
Michael Delaney
Principal