From the Principal

Dear Friends,

We congratulate our final year students on their achievements in the challenging time of the last semester. Our collective prayer is that you will do well in the exams and finish with results that are truly representative of your abilities and the studies undertaken over your VCE years at Oxley. Unfortunately, we will be restricted in our celebrations of your graduation with you and your families, but we know you will finish well and be a credit to the College.

I acknowledge your parent’s contribution to your schooling during these last two years and for their generosity in providing you all with a surprise package last week. I am sure you appreciate their loving support at this significant educational landmark, as well as that of Oxley’s teachers. As we celebrate World Teacher’s Day towards the end of October, I thank all our staff who have contributed to your journey. While you will have gratitude for the teachers, so many more staff are involved in the success of your time at Oxley, and we appreciate them all.

We are sometimes asked what led us to become educators, and the answer is, more often than not, the inspirational people we met in our own school days. They opened the door to learning and the creative expressions of our imagination. Teaching is the gift of the profession to building the future. The ancient Greek philosophers captured the essence of this paradigm in their writings, that included teaching as a service to the truth, and education as a refuge for periods of adversity. As you embark on life beyond Oxley, I hope you will look back with the knowledge that you were well prepared for seeking the truth, having an education that made you ready for the times of both prosperity and difficulty.

It will be a great joy to welcome children back to onsite learning over the next few weeks. We have missed them. Some families have been asking about the mandatory vaccination of our staff in the light of the latest health regulations. May I assure our community that we have been, and will continue, to follow all the advice and mandates of the government, including those on the vaccination of staff. The College receives regular Operations Guides from the Department of Education and we do our best to follow the many pages of details they contain. Our response to the ever-growing list of requirements is a considered one, as we keep the safety of our community in mind. And to those among us who have very specific and difficult circumstances of life to deal with, please be assured of our prayerful concern and support. 

Finally, here, despite pauses in the building project, the Middle Years building is progressing. Students will see the earthworks and concrete foundations well under way. We will keep our community updated with the progress and the management of access to various parts of the site as the term unfolds. We are grateful to have a project like this to focus on for the benefit of our current and future College communities. 

Warm regards,

Dr Douglas Peck