From the College Principal

Dear Parents, Carers, Students and Friends of the St Gregory’s College Community,

It is quite amazing that we are now in Week 10 of Term 1 and we are heading towards a well-earned holiday break at the end of a very turbulent first term. I look back on the first nine weeks of term and can see continued great growth in our College community, in the majority of our students, enormous contributions by our staff, together with wonderful support and encouragement by our parents. As the College Principal, I am proud of our achievements over the past term and thankful to all who have contributed in any way to this wonderful community at St Gregory’s.

Of course, we are now operating in very different circumstances to where we began the College year. I certainly did not expect nine weeks ago that we would now be operating the College in an online education environment. I did not expect nine weeks ago that we would now have a small number of students present at the College, the majority at home along with most of our teaching staff, ensuring teaching and learning was still being provided to the students in a high expectations environment.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to throw ‘curve balls’ at us each day; however, I feel that we are rising to the challenges and making excellent progress every day. I congratulate the students for their willingness to journey with us and to accept that we are doing our best as educators working in a totally different environment. Our students have lived with technology since they were born and are more adept and able to accept the online education regime. For many of our teachers, it has been a steep learning curve to shift their pedagogies from the normal face to face environment to the online presence they now need to adopt whilst the COVID-19 situation continues.

I would like to acknowledge our parents and carers who are now the most immediate source of support for their children whilst they are learning online at home. Thanks for being there for your child, for keeping them balanced, engaged and focused in the daily lessons, and, for accepting the challenges of learning in a totally new paradigm.

I take this opportunity at the end of the first term of 2020 to congratulate the students in our College who each and every day are making a difference to their life by doing the best they can to improve academically. The ‘core business’ of St Gregory’s College centres on quality teaching and learning and this is enhanced when students work hard to achieve their potential and their goals. We are all fortunate to be part of a great College where learning is highly valued and strong relationships are continually built between the students and the staff.

EASTER – The season of Lent draws to a conclusion on the evening of Holy Thursday (Thursday 9 April). We begin Holy Week (this coming Sunday 5 April) with the triumphal procession of Palm Sunday, when Christ entered Jerusalem and the people laid palms on the road before Him. Five days later, on Good Friday, some of those same people were likely among those who cried, "Crucify Him!"

We can learn a lot from their behaviour. "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak," and even as Lent draws to a close, we realise that, like those who called for Christ's crucifixion, we all too often slip and fall into sin. During these last few days of Lent and over the Easter period, especially during the Holy Triduum, beginning with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday evening, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, we should redouble our efforts with prayer and fasting, so that we may be worthy to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday (Sunday 12 April).

Easter is the greatest feast in the Christian calendar. On Easter Sunday, Christians around the world will pause in prayer to reflect on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. For Catholics, Easter Sunday comes at the end of the Lenten period, a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Through spiritual struggle and self-denial, we have prepared ourselves to die spiritually with Christ on Good Friday, the day of His Crucifixion, so that we can rise again with Him in new life on Easter Sunday.

Easter really is a time to think about our faith. Not the seeing, but the believing. There’s a quote I love: ‘Faith is seeing light with your heart when your eyes see only darkness.’

In this holy and solemn season, we remember that Jesus died and rose for us.We pray that we will always turn to Jesus and follow in His footsteps to happiness. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

We know that the Coronavirus is affecting all aspects of our lives here in Australia, including our faith lives. With public celebrations of liturgy likely to be curtailed for some time, many will be looking for ways to continue to nurture their relationships with God and each other as a community of faith in coming weeks. This new way of living comes at a high point in the Church calendar – Easter. This will be especially difficult for many. Please log on to the St Mary MacKillop Catholic Parish, Oran Park website for more information about livestreamed Masses over the upcoming Easter period - https://marymackillopparish.org.au/

CONGRATULATIONS - To Mr James Gersbach, our HSIE (History) Key Learning Coordinator on being awarded his PhD through the Faculty of Ancient History at Macquarie University. James’ dissertation was entitled “The War Cry in the Ancient Mediterranean World.” We congratulate James on this outstanding achievement!! We are very, very proud of him and commend him on his Doctorate award. We know how much work, commitment and sweat that James has put into his studies and to receive this award is such an honour.

CONGRATULATIONS - Congratulations to Mrs Sandra Hackett, Mathematics Teacher and the students who participated in the Kangourou sans Frontières (KSF) Mathematics Competition. St Gregory’s College participated in the KSF Competition for the first time this year with 18 boys mostly from the after-school Mathematics Enrichment Group completing the online competition.

Awards were presented to the following students:

Max Medich (Year 7) – Distinction; Matthew Fitzgerald (Year 7) – Credit; Declan Devine (Year 7) - Credit; Joshua Ryan (Year 8) – Credit; Dominic Neville (Year 8) – Credit; Declan Byrum (Year 10) – Credit; Dominic Curtin (Year 10) – Credit; Toby Drinnan (Year 9) – Credit; Jake Nash (Year 12) – Credit

ANZAC DAY – Saturday 25 April –

This year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will not have the opportunity to march together as a College community at either the Campbelltown or Camden ANZAC Day Marches. This year we need to find other ways to show our solidarity and our strong support for our fallen war veterans, their families and for our current military personnel who continue to serve and represent Australia, keeping us all safe. Let’s ensure that each of us take the opportunity on the day to pause, reflect, pray and consider those who have defended our lands and continue to keep our country safe.

TERM 1 PROGRESS REPORTS – Parents and carers will be able to access the Years 7 – 11, Term 1 Progress Reports through Sentral Parent Portal on Thursday 9 April after 9am. We will be using the Sentral – Parent Portal for the provision of all academic reports. This will enable you to access reports more quickly and efficiently. It will also mean that students have digital access to their reports if they wish to store or send them to prospective employers digitally. This change also brings the College into line with NESA and other schools in reporting practices.

Before this date, it is recommended you:

Access the Sentral Parent Portal before the reports become available in order to confirm that you are able to log in https://sentral.stgregs.nsw.edu.au/portal2/#!/login
If your code does not work, contact Mrs Kate Stott via phone or email so that your access code can be resent kstott@stgregs.nsw.edu.au or
0246 294 130

If you have any questions of a general nature about reporting, please contact Mr Ric Bombardiere, our Director of Studies.

END OF TERM 1 – 2020 & COMMENCEMENT OF TERM 2 – 2020 – A reminder that Term 1 online classes conclude on Thursday 9 April at 3.00pm for our Kindergarten to Year 6 students; and at 12 noon for our Year 7 – Year 12 students.

At this stage, we cannot confirm when our students will return to the College for Term 2 (for face to face lessons). Term 2 online lessons will commence on Monday 27 April at 8.30am as per the College Calendar.

More information will follow in relation to a number of Term 2 calendar dates which remain uncertain at this stage due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

I wish you God’s blessings always and a happy and Holy Easter.

May Mary, our Good Mother, Saint Marcellin Champagnat and Saint Gregory continue to guide us each day and inspire us on our journey together.