From the Principal
A very Happy New Year and warm welcome to the 2026 school year. I extend a particularly warm welcome to our new families joining our College and hope everyone has enjoyed some well-deserved rest and relaxation, returning to the College feeling refreshed and looking forward to what will no doubt be a very exciting year ahead. Later in the year, we will celebrate the 40th anniversary of our beautiful Mount Claremont campus; there is much to be thankful for.
Lord God, we ask for your guidance as we start our new year.
We pray that you will strengthen us
so that we will be able to embrace the opportunities of College life.
We pray for patience as we relate to people different to us.
We pray for humility as we laugh at ourselves and with others.
We pray for perseverance as we strive to see goals fulfilled.
We pray for hearts warm with encouragement and empathy.
May our community continue to be one where
the hand of love is always reaching out to those in need.
And may your Spirit guide us to that better place.
We ask this in your name and
with the intercession of our founders:
Mary Ward – Pray for Us
St Ignatius of Loyola – Pray for Us
John XXIII – Pray for Us
A warm welcome back to the following returning staff:
Primary - Welcome back to Cayley King and Bernadette Holmes, who are returning from Long Service Leave. In addition, Jodi Joyce takes up the role of Numeracy Support.
Secondary - Welcome back, Ylenia Casadio, Lana Gregory-Turner and Wing Chan, who return from leave. Jo Friel is also returning from parental leave on a part-time basis in the role of Secondary Numeracy Support.
We welcome the following permanent staff who are new to our College community.
STAFF | ROLE |
|---|---|
Laura Rutherford | Deputy Principal - Teaching and Learning |
Donna Kolka | Head of Middle Years (7-9) |
Vanessa Lyon | Religious Education Teacher (Secondary) |
Isabella Anastasio | Mathematics Teacher (Secondary) |
| Meegan Seaborn | Education Assistant (Primary) |
| Liam Fields | Human Resources Manager |
We welcome the following temporary staff who are replacing staff who are on leave in 2026:
| STAFF | ROLE |
|---|---|
| PRIMARY | |
| Suzie Thomas | Teacher – Year 3 Gold |
| Breanna Chapman | Teacher – Year 5 Blue |
| Lori Coenen | Teacher – Year 6 White |
| Stacey Williamson | Teacher – Literacy Support |
| SECONDARY | |
| Peter Kerslake | English Teacher |
| Sarah Williams | HASS Teacher |
| Sean Russell | HASS Teacher |
| Aidan Johnstone | Mathematics Teacher |
| Kate Harding | Science Teacher |
| Anita Harries | Mary Ward Secondary Teacher |
| Jack Rycroft | Health and Physical Education Teacher |
| Isobel Westmerland | Technologies Teacher – Food Specialist |
| Maria Outtrim | Languages Teacher |
| EDUCATION ASSISTANTS | |
| Eliza Brown | Primary |
| Seamus Frawley | Primary |
| Nicole Omodei | Primary |
| Sophie Dipane | Primary |
Congratulations and best wishes to staff who have commenced or re-commenced in leadership roles from Term 1 2026.
| STAFF | LEADERSHIP ROLE |
|---|---|
| Liam Smith | Head of Senior Years (10-12) |
| Chris Morris | Head of Learning Area HASS |
| Kalo Bell | Head of Pathways and Transition |
| Jack Butterworth | Assistant Deputy Principal – Year 7 |
| Janine O’Grady | House Coordinator Loreto |
Many of our staff, including our Grounds and Maintenance, Administration support, ICT, Registrar’s Office and Advancement Office team members, returned to work early in January, preparing for the return of teachers and students. As well as the usual holiday maintenance and grounds work, there has been significant work completed during the holiday period:
- Temporary classrooms – installation and on-site fit out/mobilisation.
- Canteen refurbishment.
- New dust extraction system in Design & Technology.
- Fencing for a new Primary play space outside the Administration building.
- Refit of new offices in Xavier Wing.
- Reupholstering of the Gonzaga Barry Lecture Theatre chairs and upgrade of lighting.
ASME WA Summer School
On 19 and 20 January, the College hosted around 150 music educators from both metropolitan and regional WA, as well as industry and tertiary-aligned organisations from the world of music in WA. All participants converged on our campus for two days of professional learning in the field of music education from Kindy to Year 12 and beyond. I commend James Kros, Catherine Haydon and Peter Johnston for their conference presentations and Jeff Jansen and Ric Del Pizzo for their support of this event.
I also express my deep appreciation to the College staff for our smooth transition into the new school year. As always, our school year commenced with days of important information, spiritual enrichment and professional learning. All staff commenced the year with Mass in the Chapel on 29 January, followed by an update and presentations including WACE analysis, strategic planning, and a variety of staff meetings and collaborative planning sessions.
Our students were expertly transitioned into the new school year throughout the week, and I extend my thanks to all who contributed.
Highlights of 2025 Year 12 Results
| CLASS OF 2025 | RESULTS | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest Performing Student | Bianca Petsos | 99.75 ATAR |
| 99+ ATAR | Bianca Petsos Elizabeth Webster Samuel Hughes | Top 1% in the State |
| 98+ ATAR | Rafael Beer Isabelle Counsel Sofia Lamattina Jennifer Ong Sarah Panetta Luisa Parish Thomas Webster Marco Zammuto | Top 2% in the State |
| 95+ ATAR | 24 students | Top 5% in the State |
| 90+ ATAR | 52 students | Top 10% in the State |
| Number of VET Certificates | 28 | |
| SCSA AWARDS | |
|---|---|
| Subject Exhibition | Bianca Petsos – Religion and Life |
| Subject Certificate of Excellence | Bianca Petsos – Religion and Life |
| Bianca Petsos - Economics | |
| Elizabeth Webster – Religion and Life | |
| Elizabeth Webster – Human Biology | |
| Thomas Webster - Economics | |
| Luisa Parish - Literature | |
| Certificate of Distinction | 21 |
| Indigo Barry | Isabelle Capolingua |
| Isabelle Counsel | Sam Gallagher |
| Matthew Gardner | Olivia Gardner |
| Samuel Hughes | Sofia Lamattina |
| Ella Matthews | Madeleine Nankivell |
| Aditi Nguyen | Jennifer Ong |
| Sarah Panetta | Bianca Petsos |
| Elisabeth Samson | Georgia Teasdale |
| Poppy Thorpe | Austin Vujcich |
| Amelia Watts | Elizabeth Webster |
| Marco Zammuto | |
| Certificate of Merit | 29 |
| Aidan Bourne | Zavier Burns |
| Claudia Cavallaro | Lily Colombera |
| Isabella Desiati | Ciaran Doyle |
| Chloe Fanowrios | Luke Green |
| Erin Griffin | George Griffiths |
| Charlie Haines | Amelia Hennessy |
| Jazmin Kirk | Valentina Kuruc |
| Abigail Lisle | Noah McLernon |
| Joshua Mengler | Lilla Milvain |
| Edward Mulder | Clara North |
| Matilda O'Connell | Chloe Ottobrino |
| Luisa Parish | Ava Pruiti |
| Baxter Robertson | Archie Ryan |
| Sam Stokes | Joshua Tyson |
| Thomas Webster | |
The following courses were recognised, based on the percentage of students at each school who had Year 12 ATAR course combined scores in the top 15% of all students in that course:
- Drama
- Economics
- Politics and Law
- Psychology
- Religion and Life
- Visual Arts
Non-UniDirect Pathways
28 VET certificates were awarded, including three Diplomas of Sport and six Certificate IV’s in:
- Business
- Health and Nursing Studies
- School Based Education Support
- Fitness
Where to from here?
As we do each year, we will continue to undertake careful analysis in the next couple of months of all the data we can acquire. We will look at how individual students performed; we will compare how different subjects performed; which subjects counted towards each individual ATAR and which did not; which options and electives students chose within courses, and how our students performed in each of these. We will use all this information to assess how our students performed and identify areas for ongoing improvement.
Our ideal is always for each student to be engaged, supported and suitably challenged, promoting their love of learning and intellectual, personal and spiritual growth.
Finally, I recognise 30 January was the Feast Day of one of our founders, Mary Ward, and as such, I will have more to say about Mary Ward next week.
Daniel Mahon
Principal