Principal
Lifelong Benefits of Attending a Catholic School
Innovative research using data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey has revealed that attending a Catholic school can lead to significant lifelong benefits. Here are some key findings:
Employment and Earnings: Graduates of Catholic schools are more likely to be employed and earn higher wages compared to those who attended government schools. The wage difference ranges from 4% to 11%.
Public Service and Charity: Catholic school attendees are more likely to work in industries that benefit the public and are more inclined to donate to charity.
Health and Wellbeing: Attending a Catholic school positively impacts personal health and life satisfaction.
This research, conducted by the Centre for International Research on Education Systems at Victoria University, highlights the personal and community benefits of Catholic education.
The statistics in NSW and across Australia supports the growth in Catholic enrolments:
In 2024, 19.9% of students in Australia were enrolled in Catholic schools.
Catholic schools in NSW have seen increased enrolments for the fourth consecutive year, with a growth rate of 1.3%.
Nearly 794,000 students attend Catholic schools across Australia.
For more details, you can read the full report on the Victorian Catholic Education Authority's website.
A great number of our parents are on the WhatsApp year groups. These groups set up by the Parents’ and Friends’ Committee are designed to assist you if you are unsure of a school event or class activity. They are not designed for comment or opinions. If you have a concern, contact the Homeroom Teacher or the Year Coordinator or read the Especean where most information is communicated. If it is a major incident, you need to contact our Deputy Principal at deputyprincipal@spc.nsw.edu.au.
Under no circumstances should any student's name, staff member’s name or any incident be brought up in these group chats. Nor should the app be used to raise funds or sell goods.
1. Guidelines
Parents and carers should always act respectfully and responsibly when using Group Online Communication within the school environment. Parents and carers using any app that is used for group messaging and is related to St Patrick’s College, Strathfield content, events, and activities, are asked to adhere to the following set of guidelines:
Please be respectful and positive.
Content and information shared should be relevant, confidential, and free from judgement.
Only respond if necessary – there is no need for multiple and repetitive sentiments/emojis.
No spam.
Switch to private message for individual chats and personal messages.
Do not use this forum for posting contentious personal and/or political opinions.
Private message Group Admin for complaints and negative feedback.
Educational concerns need to be directed to the school admin team.
There should be no fund-raising links nor any posting of anything commercial. The College has an online Parent Business Directory for this purpose.
Avoid posting in the group between 9:00 PM – 6:00 AM unless it is an emergency.
Only the class represetatives are to have Group Admin rights and can choose to switch to activate one-way communication mode.
Group Admin have the right to warn or remove any group member who does not adhere to these guidelines.
2. Grievances
Like any means of communication, issues and misunderstandings can arise from time to time. If you have an issue with another parent member or the school, please refer to the ‘Code of Conduct for Parents Policy,’ and always keep the general principles of respect, courtesy, and confidentiality in mind. The policy can be found on the College’s website, and the link is below: SPC-Parent-Code-of-Conduct.pdf.
3. Helpful Hints - User Management of Privacy and Other Settings
When using a tool such as WhatsApp, you can manage your settings to suit how you receive messages and what others can see of your profile.
Messages: You can ‘mute’ conversations and adjust notifications so that you manage when you view the messages. Do this by going to WhatsApp>Settings>Notifications>Group Notifications.
Photos: You can turn off the default autosave function for any photos posted to the group that are automatically saved to your phone’s camera roll. Do this by going to WhatsApp>Settings>Data and Storage Use>Photos (select “never”).
Privacy settings: be aware that WhatsApp’s default privacy setting allows any other WhatsApp user to view your profile photo, status and when you were last using the app. You can specify that your account can be seen by ‘Everyone,’ ‘My Contacts’ or ‘Nobody.’ Adjust the privacy setting to ‘My Contacts’ by accessing WhatsApp>Settings>Account>Privacy.
Staff Changes
We have secured an inaugural Head of Athletic Development, Mr Jack McCann, who will commence in the role on Monday 31 March 2025. Mr McCann will work out of the PDHPE Department area in the Dean Gymnasium. He is currently the Athletic Development Coach at Sydney Grammar School and has also had previous experience as a strength and conditioning coach for the St George Illawarra Dragons and Randwick Rugby Club. It is hoped that this focus on strengthening and conditioning will prevent serious injuries and ensure our boys are better equipped in sports competitions.
The Visual Arts department has engaged Ms Chelsea Fyffe as a full-time temporary teacher of Visual Arts, replacing Mr Nicholas Phillipson’s teaching position. Ms Fyffe will commence on 31 March 2025. She has had some experience as a Visual Arts and relief teacher at St Dominic’s Penrith and Elderslie High.
Ms Julianna Libro has been appointed to replace Ms Michaela Marshall in the English Department as she commences her parental leave. She has experience teaching English and History and supporting EAL/D learners.
Ms Mia Folli will replace Ms Demi Arenas as a class teacher when Ms Arenas commences her parental leave on 31 March 2025. Ms Folli has had a valuable internship at Trinity Grammar and Learning Support Officer roles as well.
Mr Anthony Calavassy has resigned from the College to pursue other interests. Mr Adrian Byrne will continue in his role as Interim Director of Cocurricular until we have made a suitable replacement. The College is engaging the services of ANZUK to find a suitable replacement for this Leadership Team position. Mr Calavassy has made a tremendous and lasting contribution to the College as a student, teacher and leader, and we wish him well in his future endeavours.
Heartfelt Community Inaugural Gala Fundraiser at Le Montage, Lilyfield - Thursday 15 May 6:30 PM
I would like to advise an important event to help raise community awareness and financial support for Heartfelt Community Limited, a registered charity that is faith-based and accompanies people in their grief journey to navigate life after loss.
As you are aware, through faith and with the love, prayers and support of family, friends, church and school communities, the Sakr family (Michael, Calss of 2024) have been inspired to create a greater purpose from the tragedy of losing Veronique by giving back to the community through the establishment of Heartfelt.
Heartfelt is underpinned by our Catholic tradition and seeks to create a safe space in a trusted community for those who have lost a loved one. Scaffolded by scripture, people are supported to lean into faith as a means to meaning-making and meaning-finding in their grief journey. We offer both a virtual and physical space where people can openly share their lived experience and build trusting relationships, where one’s grief is acknowledged, and people’s loved ones are spoken about and honoured, all with Christ at the centre of our work.
The tragic death of Veronique Sakr, alongside her cousins Antony, Angelina and Sienna Abdallah in Oatlands in 2020, shattered both families’ personal worlds as well as communities across Australia and beyond. The months and years following this devastating incident taught the families the importance of having a supportive community that accompanied them as they embarked on the most difficult of challenges - trying to continue their lives after the loss of the children.
You can learn more about Heartfelt at www.heartfelt.community.
The funds on the evening will go towards:
funding one on one pastoral care support for people who are navigating grief and loss leveraging the resources of Grief Care, Catholic Cemeteries and Crematoria
holding retreats and community gatherings with leading professionals in the field to help people navigate grief
increasing Heartfelt’s reach, making Heartfelt more accessible to a wider and diverse audience with a greater online presence.
Vittoria Lavorato
Principal
SPC boys can do anything!
**except divide by zero