From the Principal

Dear Parents, Guardians, Students, Staff and Friends of St Norbert College,

Welcome to the first newsletter edition for 2020. In the past three weeks, the College has hosted a range of exciting events to bring in the new academic year, not the least welcoming more than 900 students back from holidays, with nearly 180 new, young faces joining our College community. Welcome to our new students and their families and likewise to our new staff.

At our annual College Staff Mass in January, Fr Peter celebrated the beginning of the 2020 school year and commissioned those staff new to St Norbert College;

We look to the year ahead determined to excite and energise our students about learning.

It is a pleasure to acknowledge and congratulate the Year 12 Class of 2019, staff and families on the following wonderful achievements;

• 94.9% achievement of the WACE Certificate
• 100% of our VET students completed a Cert II or higher in VET programs (68 students)
• St Norbert College Median ATAR 83.4 (ranked 10th across all WA Catholic schools and 29th in secondary schools in WA).
• 25% ATAR students achieved a ranking above 90 (they are in Top 10% in the state)
• 100% of VET students achieving a Certificate II or higher
• 89% of ATAR students received an offer to a public university in the Main Round

It was my special pleasure to attend the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) Exhibition and Awards Ceremony at Government House this week and to witness our very own Kadijah Brown (Class of 2019) being presented with a VET Exhibition for Business and Financial Services, Information and Communications Technology. This award recognises the student who has demonstrated the most outstanding performance in an Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) VET Certificate II or higher in their final WACE year, with Kadijah being the only recipient. It is the first time for many years that a St Nobert College student has achieved such a prestigious award – Congratulations Kadijah.

Our Year 12 Ball was held on Friday 31 January at Fraser’s Function Centre in Kings Park. The venue and surrounds, including the stunning city lights, provided a delightful setting for our students to enjoy each other’s company to gather socially before the commencement of the academic year ahead. An enjoyable night was had by all and enormous thanks must go to Miss Pisconeri, Mr Mecham, Miss MaGee and student members of the Ball committee, for their dedication and organisation of this event and to all in attendance for their conduct. 

This Sunday, 23 February at 6.30pm, the College Community Mass will be held in the College grounds, a wonderful occasion for all in our community to gather in prayer to ask for God’s blessings on our school year. This special celebration is one of the two annual College events that families undertake to support, as part of the enrolment process.

Last week we held the annual Interhouse Swimming Carnival at Challenge Stadium. This event is undoubtedly one of the great sporting highlights for the year and this year was no exception. Heartfelt congratulations to Mr Godfrey, our Director of Canons Sport, for a terrific job in managing his first carnival, and to the many supporting staff for their efforts organising a fantastic day.

Congratulations to the staff and students of Magdeburg for their enthusiasm, dedication and performances in winning this year’s carnival, and to all students and staff for again making our swimming carnival such a wonderful College event. (See a selection of pictures and more information about each of these events further into the newsletter.)

In conclusion, I thank all of our young people for starting this year with a wonderful spirit of community, enthusiasm and joy. It bodes well for an exciting year ahead.

"Lent stimulates us to let the Word of God penetrate our life and in this way to know the fundamental truth: who we are, where we come from, where we must go, what path we must take in life..." (Pope Benedict XVI)

God bless.

Mr S Harvey (Principal)

Ash Wednesday – the beginning of Lent

The beginning of Lent is a very special time on our liturgical calendar, marked with the celebration of Ash Wednesday. It is during this time that we are called to commit ourselves to be more Christ like in all that we do. We are called to prayer, fasting and almsgiving, to examine our hearts and minds, actions that strengthen us spiritually.

Our students and staff will celebrate Ash Wednesday next week with special liturgies in House groups, with the marking of the Ashes as a public expression of our faith and repentance.

2020 Student Residential Address and Other Information collection notice

This notice is from the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment to advise you that the department has requested that your child’s school provide a ‘statement of addresses’, in accordance with the Australian Education Regulation 2013 (Cth) (Regulation).

Parents are requested to ensure that we have the most up-to-date and correct details for your family. Please contact the College if you have any concerns that the information we currently have is not accurate. If you have any further questions regarding the collection, you can contact the department by:

• Email: seshelpdesk@dese.gov.au
• Phone (free call): SES helpdesk on 1800 677 027 (Option 4)

The department’s privacy policy is available on the department’s website at www.dese.gov.au. The privacy policy contains information about:

• how individuals can access and seek correction of the personal information held by the department;
• how complaints about breaches of the Privacy Act 1988 can be made; and
• how the department will deal with these complaints.

Please click on this link for a complete copy of the notice from the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment;