Deputy Principal: Staff Development & Organisation

Welcome back to the final Academic Term of 2020.  It has been an interesting year and students are to be congratulated on their continued commitment to all areas of College life. 

As the year comes to an end, Term 4 is an opportunity to recognise students who have excelled in academic, community, sporting, and cultural areas.  Our evening Awards Night ceremony would usually be the occasion where we celebrate these achievements but, due to current COVID-19 guidelines for gatherings, it has been necessary for the College to make changes to this ceremony for 2020.

The scheduled evening Celebration of Excellence Ceremony will now take place on the afternoon of Monday 19 October from 12.30pm to 3.00pm in the San Damiano Centre. This will allow the full student body to be in attendance to celebrate the achievements of their peers.  Classes will be conducted as usual in the morning and students will be expected to be in full school uniform for this formal college event.  This includes Year 12 students, who are to be in attendance from 12.15pm to 3.00pm, with the option of attending subject tutorials in the morning lessons. 

Due to restrictions, we will unfortunately be unable to have parents and special guests in attendance for this event.  Instead, for parents and community members, we will provide live streaming and a recording of the ceremony.  Details for this will be sent to families next week.  The college photographers have also been invited to the event and will take an individual portrait photo of each award winner with their certificate and award.  These photos will be provided to parents post event. 

We also appreciate that, for our Seniors of 2020, the opportunity for parents to be part of their daughter’s acknowledgement of achievement is an important aspect of the final phase of schooling.  As such, any Year 12 awards presented at the Excellence Ceremony will be re-presented at their Graduation Ceremony at QPAC on Thursday 19 November, where family members will be in attendance. 

This year there will also be some changes to the awards presented.  Throughout 2020, the acknowledgement of students achieving academic excellence has been recognised through the awarding of Gold, Silver, and Bronze Academic Awards.  This will also continue at the beginning of 2021, where students who have achieved excellence in the final semester of this year will be acknowledged.  For our Excellence Ceremony on 19 October, academic excellence in 2020 will be recognised through the awarding of Academic Medals to the top student in each subject in Years 10 to 12 and subject areas in Years 7 to 9.  In addition, some changes to awards in other areas have been made due to COVID-19’s impact on events in 2020.  Award winners’ names will be published in Week 2, with the exception of secret awards that are announced at the ceremony.

You would appreciate that we are living in a different time and we thank you for your understanding as we adjust and manage events as necessary.  We look forward to celebrating the achievements of our 2020 students on 19 October.

Kerry Jell