Principal's Post

Dear Parents,

On Thursday morning, the College Captain and Vice-Captains, Anthony Yong, Josh Hicks, Anthony Vassiliadis and James Russell were invited to Avila College’s International Women’s Day Breakfast. Avila’s student leaders led the discussion and conducted an amazing interview with a former student of the College, Patricia Nayna Schwerdtle (Alumnae 1995) who is Vice President of Médecins Sans Frontières Australia. Her experiences and insight in areas of global health and climate change had a profound impact on everyone who attended the breakfast.

Our student leaders were presented to their peers at our Senior School Assembly on Friday. Student voice is an essential component of college life and has a significant impact on student culture. A student leader will be representing their peers at a Board level in 2021. Student leaders in Years 10, 11 and 12 will form the Senior Student Council and have considerable influence on our Social Justice endeavours, including Mission Action Day and our whole school programmes including Visible Wellbeing, Respectful Relationships and Sustainability. All our leaders have been introduced and feature in this and last week's newsletters. The new initiative of electing two Middle School Leaders adds to our intention of developing student voice across the College and I congratulate Ryan Peiris and Kai Russell on their appointments.

I would like to thank the student leaders and staff who managed and directed the Open Day Tours last Tuesday. Our usual format was modified to accommodate COVID restrictions but it was very pleasing to see so many people attend the College who may have missed a tour in 2020 or are planning for their son to attend in 2023. There are scheduled tours throughout the year to accommodate prospective families.

The House Athletics was postponed from earlier in the year. On Thursday students and staff converged on the Knox Athletics Track for a day of competition. Gerard House has won the Athletics for the last six years. Anthony House won the title for the first time ever, to the delight of their constituents. MacKillop House came a creditable second. All the results, including individual champions and record holders, will be acknowledged at the next school assembly.

All families would have received an invitation to the launch of the Parents' and Friends' Association. The evening scheduled for 7pm on Wednesday March 10, in the Peter Le Grand Room (Provence Centre), is not a recruitment drive but an opportunity to share our vision for the Parents' and Friends' Association which incorporates so many groups in the Mazenod College Community, including the Mothers’ Association, the Fathers’ Association, MOCA, the Old Collegians Sporting Clubs, the Past Parents’ Association and the Past Staff Association.  Come along and hear our plans, but more importantly gather and socialise with parents and friends of the Mazenod Community.

This week a group of Principals were acknowledging the silver linings of 2020. There have been many. Our Parent-Teacher Interviews were stated as the preferred format when parents were surveyed last year. Our Parent-Teacher Interviews scheduled at the end of Term 1 will be conducted online.

An opportunity presented itself for our Year 8 Year Level Coordinator and Old Collegian Mr Chris Lee because of an online format. Chris is a trombonist and he won the State Champion of Champions title again last year at the Victorian Band Championships. His performance was online and consequently, he was spotted by an adjudicator who is the bass player for the MSO (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra). He has been asked to perform in a couple of shows as part of a full orchestra, supporting a funk/soul band called The Bamboos. https://www.mso.com.au/whats-on/2021/the-bamboos/

This is clearly a wonderful opportunity for him but it also reminds us of the amazing talent that comprises our Music Department. Congratulations Chris. 

Yours sincerely,

Mr Tony Coghlan

Principal