From the Head of College

Mr Michael Newman

Is He With Us Or Not?

“Is the Lord with us or not?” This could certainly be the cry of many people throughout our world today. Abroad, the devastation from the Syria-Turkey earthquake continues and UN aid has taken so long to materialise. The Russian-Ukranian war, where an estimated 43 000 people have died and at least 59,000 are missing, continues. The Horn of Africa Hunger crisis has seen more than 900,000 people fighting to survive in famine-like conditions and there has been the 2023 US tornadoes, the 2023 Sao Paulo (Brazil) floods and Cyclone Gabrielle in NZ. In these disasters, many have lost their lives whilst others have been left displaced and in financial ruin. There has been more flooding in Australia, this time in Burketown, and struggling Australians are still trying to get back on their feet after various devasting natural disasters. The rising cost of living and housing crisis is affecting so many Australians and notwithstanding the grief, struggles and pain facing so many people with the loss of a loved one, pain of depression, hardship, and addiction and those faced with medical challenges. Where is our Lord in all this?

Despite the affliction, tribulations and struggles that life presents, God is there with us, through it all. There are many scripture readings that reassure us of this. In this week’s readings, God’s presence is symbolised by life-giving water. In the first reading on Sunday – Exodus (17:3-7), the Israelites ask Moses this exact question as they lack basic food and water provisions, having just escaped Egypt. They cry for help – “Is the Lord with us, or not?” It is in Sunday’s subsequent story of Jesus meeting the woman at the well (John 4:5-42) that hope is reimagined. Jesus gave the Samaritan woman, who is rejected in her own time, not only life-giving water but so much more – empowering her to excitedly run back to her town to tell all whom would listen about this wonderful person she had met. Jesus promises spiritual nourishment as shown in the story of the Samaritan woman, who is despised and without hope but is energised, accepted, loved, and filled with joy and excitement. So, “Is he with us or not?” Our scriptures say it is in the suffering and overwhelming struggles of life all around us, that our loving God is present, but we must be open to his life-giving water.

God of the journey, we pray for all who struggle this day as they cry out, “Where is the Lord in all this?” We pray for the ability to be open to spiritual nourishment as we stagger and stumble. Amen.

St Patrick’s and St Joseph’s Day

Marist recognises both St Patrick’s Day this Friday 17 March, and St Joseph’s Day this Sunday 19 March. History recalls St. Patrick, a brave man who returned to Ireland, where he had been kept as a slave, to help convert the people of Ireland to Christianity from paganism. He lived with constant danger to his life. Legend has it, that he drove away the snakes of Ireland and used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity. The Irish Sisters, Brothers and Priests were significant contributors to the Catholic faith in Australia. St Joseph, the husband of Mary and father to Jesus is a significant figure in Mary’s story whom we celebrate as Marists. Joseph is an important Christian role model to our boys. For these reasons we celebrate St Patrick’s Day and St Joseph’s Day this Friday and Sunday.

NAPLAN Tests

A reminder that the Literacy and Numeracy NAPLAN tests at Marist College Ashgrove, in Years 5, 7 and 9, will be undertaken from Wednesday 15 March. The Year 5 and 7 boys will complete their NAPLAN exams in their classrooms and the Year 9 boys in the Champagnat Centre. The timetable of these examinations are as follows:

Wednesday 15.03.2023 - AM Session Year 5 and Year 7 Writing, PM Session Y9 Writing.

Thursday 16.03.2023 - AM Session Year 5 and Year 9 Reading, PM Session Year 5 Conventions of Learning and Year 7 Reading

Friday 17.03.2023 - AM Session Year 5 Numeracy and Year 7 Conventions of Learning, PM Session Year 9 Conventions of Learning

Monday 20.03.2023 - AM Session Year 9 Numeracy, PM Session Year 7 Numeracy

Catchup sessions will start as on Tuesday 21 March will continue for the next few days, until all catchups have been completed.

Goodluck, gentlemen.

Exam Blocks

Best wishes to all students as they undertake their Term 1 examinations. From -

Friday 17 March to Friday 24 March - Years 10 and 12.
Monday 20 March to Friday 24 March – Years 8 and 9.

The exam timetables, including subject exams, dates and times have been sent out via email and can also be found on the Parent Portal. I wish all boys the best of luck with their final studies and preparation for these exams in the days ahead. Thank you to all parents as you encourage and prepare your son each day for these exams and to their teachers who have prepared them.

Final Details of 2022 Data Breach

The latest advice regarding the 2022 Data Breach can be found on the college website. In summary, fortunately, only one drive was obtained by an illegitimate third-party. In the hours after we discovered the breach, we took swift and decisive action to ensure we had a best-practice approach to guide our actions without delay. We engaged an independent cyber incident response team to work closely with us. That team included, but was not limited to, cybersecurity and forensic IT experts. This ensured all initial critical steps were taken as quickly as possible, aligned to cybercrime incidents such as these. It meant we were able to restore and safeguard our IT environment quickly, which was vital to ensure school operations resumed without delay for the start of Term 4.

As you know, we kept our school community as updated as possible while our experts worked hard to better understand the nature and extent of the breach. It is important to understand that all those individuals whose personal information could have been possibly compromised as a result of this unfortunate incident were notified directly last year. Following this, we contacted those individuals, as soon as reasonably possible, once we knew for sure that their information was implicated to ensure they had a chance to take personal mitigative action to protect themselves as much as possible.

The College has invested significantly into services, tools, and resources to bolster our IT security. For example, we have taken the following measures: 1. Reset all passwords across our systems. 2. Installed a Fortinet firewall appliance to inspect and filter internet traffic. 3. Removal of virtual desktop systems from being directly internet accessible. 4. Engaged in regular dark web monitoring. 5. Established a data retention analysis group.

Again, we unreservedly apologise to our school community (and beyond) that this breach has occurred. We take the protection of data and personal information very seriously and are deeply regretful that this happened. We remain committed to assisting anyone who has been personally impacted in any way we can.

Extension Maths: Primary

This term, a lively group of Year 6 students have participated in weekly Maths extension activities. These sessions have introduced the boys to "ideas" they may have heard of, but not explored. Boys have looked at Pascal's Triangle and the many numerical patterns that can be identified in it. Following this, the boys looked at the Fibonacci Sequence, what it means and where we can find it in both constructed and natural environments. The boys also continued exploring and applying problem-solving strategies to unknown problems - identifying the many ways you can solve a single problem, using an identified strategy. I thank Mrs Kylie Tippins and Ms Jen Little who organise and lead our boys in these extension Maths activities.

National Day against Bullying and Violence

This Friday 17 March is the National Day Against Bullying and Violence. On this day, educational institutions work with school-based communities and students, to find easy and workable solutions to address and prevent bullying. Begun by a major Australian bullying prevention initiative, ‘Bullying. No Way!’ the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence hopes to build lasting solutions to bullying in schools around Australia. At Marist, we remind the boys regularly of our systems and policies regarding bullying. The College Bullying Policy includes the expectation of students reporting bullying to a teacher so that it can be addressed. Marist says NO to any forms of bullying and violence. For more information, refer to our Bullying Policy pamphlet below.

Marist College Ashgrove Bullying Policy

Marist College Ashgrove - Bullying Brochure.pdf

Autumn Concert

This Thursday, 16th March will see our music students performing at the annual Autumn

Concert. You will hear performances from the Performance Choir, Wind Orchestra 2, Guitar Orchestra 2, Senior Strings and the Percussion Ensemble.

I thank the following dedicated and professional music staff who have prepared and instructed the boys, namely: Andrew Butt, Catherine Wasserman, Janelle Lee Long, Megan Harmston, Melanie Stewart, Alex Hides, Vanessa Mitchell, Sean Flynn, Owen Tilbury and Tony Vandermeer.

The Autumn Concert will be held in the Draney Theatre from 6:30pm. Enjoy the performances and good luck, gentlemen.

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