From the Head of College

Mr Michael Newman

Silence in the Noise and Busyness

Our society today is often referred to as a society of distractions. From one work commitment to another, from one school event to another, from one TV to another, one IT device to another, one advertisement to another – these are the increasingly busy, demanding and sometimes overwhelming expectations that life surrounds us with. So many of us wake in the morning and head straight to our commitments or the distractions of our IT devices.

In stark contrast to this, is the sense of the spiritual, modelled to us by the founding teachers who have graced our College over many decades. These men pray daily. In fact, silence in prayer is a daily commitment. Religious life in the Catholic Church has always modelled the importance of prayer and silence to us. On Sunday, my wife and I were privileged to join the Marist Brothers for their jubilee and sesquicentenary celebrations. On this day, the Brothers celebrated those who have devoted 25, 50, 60 and even 70 years to religious life and essentially their service to others. The day commenced with Mass and finished with a meal and speeches outlining each Brother’s committed and most generous service over many years. Marist College Ashgrove has been so blessed by the fruits of their labour and foresight, as we enjoy all that is Marist Ashgrove today from the beautiful and expansive grounds, its tradition and wonderful reputation, resources, skilled teachers, ethos and spirit.

In contrast to this, are our own lives that are driven by busyness, distractions and ever-increasing expectations. An outcome of this is many businesses and schools becoming more aware of the need for mindfulness activities and well-being opportunities such as retreats as a way of managing life and recharging those batteries. Busyness and distractions in all walks of life, are, at times, overwhelming and all of us are searching for ways to slow down, to refocus and to smell the roses again. Yet, religious life has always offered us this guidance.

Dr Sally Longley, an author, university lecturer, spiritual director and retreat leader, talks about the importance of silence from a Christian Catholic perspective. She believes, silence is the beginning of a new creation. Silence is to a musician what a blank canvas is to an artist. Silence speaks to our nuances, memories, affection and hearts. God is in silence and he communicates to us through this medium. It is just by sitting still, breathing deeply and letting the noises be with you so that they no longer become a distraction you, that silence begins to resonate. And what happens when you sit in silence and prayer – nothing – God just takes over. We need to relearn the language of silence. Breathe, be silent and be nudged by God and as the theme for the sesquicentenary of Marist Education says – be silent, still, breathe out the toxins and allow us to be known and loved by a God who formed us and transforms us.

God of the journey, may all the young men of Marist College Ashgrove and their families learn to embrace silence in a way that opens them to the communication that God personally provides for each one of us. Amen.

Cyprian Pavilion Refurbishments

I am pleased to announce the planned Cyprian Pavilion refurbishments that make up part of our Masterplan for the Future. These refurbishments will commence over the Christmas holidays. The Cyprian Pavilion will be expanded, redecked, redesigned and refurbished for College events, student activities and exams and external functions undertaken at the College. Along with the College Chapel and the beautiful College grounds, it is our hope that this space will again be pursued as a function centre of choice, to be hired by families and associates, during the holidays and on weekends.

Below are some architectural renders of the final refurbishment.

COVID-19 Update

As communicated in previous updates, from Friday, 14th October 2022 mandatory COVID-19 isolation periods end in Queensland.

Notwithstanding this significant change, Queensland Health strongly recommends people who are sick or who have tested positive to COVID-19 to continue to take action to reduce the risk of transmission.

Updated advice has today been published around management of COVID-19 moving forward. The advice includes links to the Guidelines for a person diagnosed with COVID-19 or symptoms of an acute respiratory infection in Queensland. The information issued by Queensland authorities includes the following advice:

First steps if you have COVID-19

From 14th October 2022, it is no longer mandatory to self-isolate at home if you test positive to COVID-19. If you have symptoms or have tested positive to COVID-19, Queensland Health strongly recommends you:

stay home to isolate until you no longer have acute respiratory symptoms
avoid entering hospitals, residential aged care facilities and disability accommodation services for at least 7 days and only when you no longer have any symptoms
wear a face mask in an indoor setting and if you are unable to physically distance outside for at least 7 days after testing positive to COVID-19.

In line with this advice, some high-risk settings or other businesses may put in place additional requirements or conditions for staff, visitors and residents to reduce risk of COVID-19 transmission in these settings. You should comply with any additional requirements or conditions put in place by an operator or business to reduce the risks of community transmission. There are no additional requirements for Marist College Ashgrove at this time.

Marist College Ashgrove will continue to monitor COVID-19 symptoms and its responses into the future with the assistance of Queensland Health.

Year 5 2023 Student Academic Study Transition Afternoons

Last Thursday, Marist College Ashgrove commenced its transition afternoons for the incoming students into Year 5, 2023. The boys met at 3:30pm with activities going until 4:45pm in the Primary classroom area. During the afternoon, the boys worked on their maths problem-solving skills and developed an understanding of sentence patterning to improve their writing. They will continue to work on similar academic activities over the remaining two weeks – same time and place. My thanks are extended to Kylie Tippins and Jen Little who are coordinating the program, and the following staff who are volunteering their time on these transition afternoons: Bas Pelly, Cath Geraghty, Liam Beatty, Michael Connolly, John Lambourne, Richard Coles, Meaghan Round and James Trebbin. We welcome our new boys for 2023 to these academic study transition afternoons.

French Dinner

This evening, Tuesday 18th October, the Year 9 French students are attending a French dinner at Le Coin restaurant in Red Hill. They will be joined by the Year 9 French students from Stuartholme College. The aim of the evening is to share French learned experiences with other students, exchange the language of French and for the boys to try some snails! The dinner is being held from 6:00pm – 8:30pm. I thank Lucia Del Vecchio for arranging and accompanying the boys. This is a good practical language learning experience for the boys.

Year 12 External Examinations Commence

The all-important Year 12 ATAR External Examinations commence from next Monday 24th October. The first examination is English. A full timetable of exams can be found at the following link – https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/downloads/senior/snr_ext_assess_timetable_2022.pdf

Today, the Year 12 boys complete their final masterclasses - Tuesday 18th October. This is followed by their final and important personal study each day, up to, and during the examination block. Tomorrow (Wednesday), the boys are invited to final farewells with their House groups followed by a final assembly with the whole school. We wish every boy the best of luck with their studies leading up to these examinations and then the actual ATAR examinations which commence next Monday, 24th October. Good luck, gentlemen and do study hard.

Safe on Social Media Online Webinar

Marist College Ashgrove welcomes to the College ‘Safe on Social Media’. Kirra Pendergast is the CEO of Safe on Social Media TM Pty Ltd and will be presenting to the Years 6, 8 and 10 boys during the day. Parents are invited to a presentation by Kirra in the evening, Thursday 20th October. The parent evening will be held from 6:30pm-7:30pm for all parents via Zoom. Kirra's frank, no fear-mongering approach is backed by 30 years of experience in IT business consulting, cyber-security, and cyber-safety. Her purpose is to educate the boys and you as parents in the best way possible on how to use social media safely. This is such an important message today. I highly recommend Kirra who visited our College last year. Remember parents – this Thursday, 20th October – 6.30pm.

To register for this free event (for all our parents) and to receive the Zoom invite (an access link will be delivered via email one day prior to the event), please follow this link: https://events.humanitix.com/2022-safe-on-social-media-presentation-parent-session

Year 11 Social

This Thursday, 20th October, the Year 11 Social will be enjoyed by our boys at Victoria Park from 6:00pm – 9:00pm. The boys are invited to accompany a partner for a night of socialising and enjoyment over a three-hour function. Our boarders will also enjoy a pre-social gathering at the Tower Courtyard, an opportunity to welcome their partner and enjoy each others company prior to the event. Thank you to the following staff for their organisation and supervision of this evening: Peter Serone, Kelly Byrnes, Bruce McPhee, David Meehan, Tony Byrne, Stan Kosiek, Brett Gillett, Brendan Kiernan, Terry Quain, Scott Minogue, Megan Wandell, Jorge Ruiz, Jim Noble and Renae Lewis. My thanks are also extended to all families for your preparation.

AIC Touch Football Carnival 2022

Good luck to all boys who will be participating in the AIC Touch Football Carnival this Saturday 22nd October hosted by St Laurence’s College at Runcorn. A new carnival to AIC Sport, touch football is organised for every age group in a round-robin format, followed by semi-finals and finals. We wish all boys the best of luck and to their coaches: Year 5/6- James Furminger, Matt Jones and James Trebbins, Year 7 - Angus Sutherland and Patrick Denkes, Years 8/9 - Brett Head and Sharon Davidson, Years 10/11 - Mel Orcher and Harrison Gates. Good luck, gentlemen and enjoy this Touch Football Carnival.

AIC E-Sports and Water Polo

E-Sports are a new addition to the AIC Sports Competition in 2022. We wish the 10 boys competing against Villanova this weekend the best of luck! Thank you to Chris Forster and Justine Natoli who are managing this competition.

We wish our Year 7, Years 8/9, Year 10 and Year 11 teams all the best this Sunday in the AIC Water Polo Competition at Sommerville House. Thank you to their coach and co-ordinator Mr Ryan Apps. Good luck, gentlemen.

Annual Volunteers Thank You Evening

A wonderful tradition at Marist College Ashgrove has been the recognition of our generous and supportive volunteers who are central to life at the College. All volunteers of the College, whether for the tuckshop, P&F, sport canteen, Amity Events (Parent Functions and Grandparents days), boarder support contributors, College events, Walkathon and Card and Games Days, just to name a few, are invited to drinks and nibbles as a means of the College expressing our heartfelt gratitude and thanks for all that our volunteers bring to the College. The ‘College Annual Volunteers Thank You Evening’ will be held this Tuesday 25th October at 7:00pm in the Tower Function Room for all to enjoy. Do come along and let’s share in each other’s company and rejoice in the great place of Marist as volunteers together. Please RSVP by following this link: https://events.humanitix.com/2022-marist-college-ashgrove-volunteer-thank-you-evening

Formula Student Track Day

Last Friday, 7th October, the Year 11 Certificate II Engineering Pathways students participated in the Formula Student Track Day at Lakeside Park as part of their senior course. This is the first year that this particular course has been introduced to Marist College Ashgrove and as such, the first time the students have participated in such an event. A similar event is normally the culmination of two years of hard work, producing and assembling components for the Le Mans race car. This event involves many hours of written and video instruction, interpreting plans, project management, welding, machining, fabricating and assembling at a professional level where accuracy is paramount. After the race car is prepared, the event starts with setting up the pits, driver briefing and last-minute checks on the car. There were 20 schools involved, 35 cars on the track and Marist were as high as 8th on the day but slipped to 13th due to some mechanical issues that emerged. The students worked together as a team and drew upon every aspect of the course. The boys displayed great enthusiasm for the whole 6-hour event. There were many learnings and much experience taken from the day.

Special thanks must go to Andrew Devoy (Head of Technology), Peter Gaiter and Blair Whitlock for their organisation and facilitation of the day.

Day for Daniel

On Friday 21st October, the College is participating in ‘Day for Daniel’. The focus of

the day is to educate children and young people on how to stay safe in physical and online

environments. Students are highly encouraged to wear red in support of the day. A donation of either $2.00 or $5.00 is asked of all students which can be made through the Tuckshop Monitor system using their student ID cards, starting from 8:00am at the podium (no cash). The Year 9 Business students will also be selling fairy floss and sausages in the yard. All money raised will be donated to the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.

Guest speakers have also been organised to address students on the topics of safety - online and beyond the school gates, personal information and digital footprints, respectful relationships and to inform students of the support available to assist victims. We thank the following presenters:

Kirra Pendergast, CEO of Safe on Social, is presenting to the Years 6, 8 and 10;
Kevin Berry, the Head of Information Technology, who is addressing students in Years 7 and 9;
Rob Dupont who is running self-defence sessions for Years 5 and 7.

I look forward to seeing parents on Friday.

May our loving God with Mary our good mother and St Marcellin Champagnat walk with all members of the Marist College Ashgrove Family.