Principal's Report

Communications and Publications

Families should have received a Communications Update form the College. This includes the staff email addresses so that families know how to contact all staff. While families often call the College and ask to speak to me, it is very difficult to speak with over 900 families and manage the many and varied matters that families wish to raise. The details provided outlines staff in positions of leadership including Learning Area Convenors and Cluster Coordinators. We hope this will provide some additional support so that families might be able to liaise with the most appropriate staff member when seeking information or wishing to raise a matter that requires further action.

Families should have received the Term 3 2017 and Term 4 2017 copies of The Rock. The Term 3 issue was late as there were issues with some of the layout and delivery of the issue. We are working with the printers to try to remedy these matters so that they will not occur again. The Rock is issued each term as a term in review publication and includes photos as well as stories of the life of the College from that Term. It is hoped that families might gain a greater insight into the community of CRC Sydenham as we journey with students and aim to provide more than merely lessons in classrooms that will see students complete their VCE or VCAL.

The 2017 Yearbook for those attending the College in 2017 (Class of 2017 and Year 11 that year) was distributed recently. This provides a snapshot of the year and is full of memories that we hope will be treasured for decades to come. Thank you to the team who were responsible for putting this publication together.

Harmony Day

Harmony Day is a day to celebrate Australian multiculturalism, based on the successful integration of migrants into our community. Australia is on of the most successful multicultural country on earth and we should celebrate this and work to maintain it. Harmony Day is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values. Held every year on 21 March, the Day coincides with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

On the day at CRC Sydenham, we like many other schools including across the Federation, celebrated and recognised this day. It is our diversity that is our strength, each of the members of our community brings with them gifts and talents that make us richer as a community and as individuals within the community. Our student leadership group took up the cause and committed to building our community, to ensuring that, in line with the theme of this year’s Harmony Day – EVERYONE BELONGS.

To celebrate Harmony Day, our Student Leaders arranged a Harmony Day Festival under the roof of the new outdoor recreation space. While this space is still to have the courts finished and the surface installed, we can now use the facility for many other purposes. The Student Leaders also seized upon the opportunity of gathering the school in one space during the Pastoral Period to ask students to gather on the soccer pitch in a specific formation. The photo taken by a drone from above depicts a human sign with students forming the letters of the day – HARMONY DAY.

Easter

Easter is a time of hope, of renewal and rebirth. Lent, the period in our Liturgical Calendar that precedes Easter is a period of preparation for the hope that Jesus resurrection brings to the faithful. As a people of the Eucharist we profess our belief that Jesus was crucified, died and rose again. The miracle of this is beyond our comprehension but is divine in nature, a part of God’s plan that he would sacrifice the Son so that God, who made us in His own image, could come closer to humankind. Such is God’s love for humanity. It is easy to have the real meaning of Easter lost in the commercialisation of the days that mark this sacred time for Christians. Chocolate, stuffed bunny rabbits, bilby shaped confectionary and eggs as well as chickens have taken over the imagery but are not the reason for Easter. Our Faith, our shared understandings and beliefs of the Gospel accounts are the reason for the holiday period, not the chocolate or the spiced bread buns with fruit. It is the sacrifice made for each of us that is at the heart of the entire Easter period. Please take a moment to remind our young people why we have holidays and why these days are so important to our Faith. I invite all families this Easter period to gather and give thanks for not only the food to be shared but to also delve into the mystery of the resurrection. After the breaking of bread, having shared a meal, why not make time for a family discussion? From discussing, encouraging questions, reflecting on what Easter means to you individually and as a family, students can grow and mature in their relationship with God, a part of their Faith journey. This is the journey where family and school work in partnership and are the guides supported by the Holy Spirit.

May you and your family have the opportunity to spend some quality time together over the Easter period and may the hope of the resurrection be a light for all.

Thank you

Brendan J Watson

Principal