Principal's Message
Tercentenary
Preparations for this significant event continue as we seek to honour the work of our Founder, St John Baptist de la Salle. Discussions between the Melbourne based Lasallian schools have been frequent. We will be having co-shared Liturgies for students and staff, combined retreats and several other activities. Given below is a summary of the year to come. This is taken from the website of the De La Salle brothers in Australia.
During 2019, the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and the Lasallian Family will celebrate the 300th anniversary of the death of their founder, Saint John Baptist de La Salle, Patron Saint of Teachers. The Institute has designated 2019 as the Year of Lasallian Vocations.
Throughout the world, events and celebrations are being planned to honour our common heritage of providing a human and Christian education to the young, and the poor, and to promote the vocation of the educational ministry. The accompanying video announces the celebration.
Pope Francis once said, "We are pilgrims from death to the fullness of life." With this understanding, the theme of the Tercentenary, One Heart, One Commitment, One Life represents the fullness of De La Salle's life and the continued vitality of the Lasallian Mission and vocation in 80 countries around the world.
"You can perform miracles in regard both yourselves and your work by an entire fidelity to grace, not letting any movement of grace go by without corresponding with it; and by touching the hearts of children entrusted to your care," (J.B. De La Salle, Meditation 180.3).
Debating and Public Speaking
We have been conducting the “Brother Quentin Speak Off’s”, over the past weeks. The quality of the talks has been outstanding and we look forward to the evening function where the successful students from each level will speak. We have a strong culture of public speaking and debating in the College, which is a feature that is to be encouraged in a boy’s only school. Our debaters have also excelled with our C2 team into the final 8 in the State from 800 starting teams in that division. The College has also recently won the ACC Public Speaking Championship.
Music
The ACC Accent on Music Concert is being held this week. St Bede’s College has 60 musicians and vocalists who will combine with a further 640 students from across the ACC schools network in a large scale production being held at Hamer Hall. We are proud of our young men who are so passionate about their music. For so many boys, music is the vehicle they use to express themselves in such a wholehearted and creative way.
Year 9 Social
Congratulations to our young men from Year 9 who attended the recent Social held at Kilbreda. They were a credit to the College and their families. They dressed well, spoke well, danced well and were certainly polite to our hosts. It is unusual for such a large group (over 300) of young people to be able to gather in a socially and physically safe way. We also thank Kilbreda for holding the event onsite.
Local Primary School
I was delighted to be able to attend the recent musical evening of St Patrick’s Primary School, Mentone held at Robert Blackwell Hall. St Bede’s College is fortunate to be a part of the Bayside Community and to be connected to our Parish schools in such collegial ways.
Thailand
Our second team for 2018 have just arrived in Thailand and have begun their work in assisting with practical projects in the schools. We are pleased to be able to work with our Lasallian sisters and brothers for a common ground around educational advantage for all young people. Our staff and students are the beneficiaries of generous Thai hospitality.
Year 12 Family Breakfast
There was a very large gathering of Year 12 students and families held recently in the Hall. This was a wonderful opportunity for us to recognise the latter stages of the school journey for this cohort. Our guest speaker, AFL Umpire Ray Chamberlin, spoke passionately about his role and the work he undertakes in Youth Suicide Prevention. Thank you to the Parents and Friends Association for hosting the event.
We wish all of our Year 12 students every blessing as they participate in their final classes over the coming weeks. Our VCAL students complete their classwork on Thursday and finish with a liturgy on that day.
Sport
We have had multiple success on the sporting front in the past few weeks.
The College won the ACC Cross Country Championship last week. This is a challenging event that requires a great deal of unseen dedication. Well done to the team on a fantastic effort. We have also recently won ACC Championships in the following:
Year 8 A Basketball, Year 8 Hockey, Year 9 A and B Basketball with numerous other teams making finals. Well done to all students and coaching staff.
Term Break
The College staff wish all families a safe and happy term break and look forward to welcoming the boys back to fourth term.
Per Vias Rectas
John Finn
Principal