PRINCIPAL'S PEN 

Our Mother’s Day assemblies are always popular, and last week's was no exception with over 400 mothers or mother figures attending. A highlight was the address from Stephanie Dowdle who replied to her son, Noah’s, beautiful tribute to mothers. Stephanie spoke from her heart, about the true love of a mother for her son. She spoke of being “overwhelmed in the best possible way, by love, joy, responsibility and selflessness” and challenged our young men to “always treat others how you would like to be treated in return”. These are characteristics that we know our mothers always exhibit. They are typified by the saying, “There is no love like a mother's love”.  

Why then, is there such a contradiction when it comes to men demonstrating the same love?  We are currently plagued by many stories of men being violent towards women, or men treating women with disrespect. So far this year, 28 women in Australia have died as a result of gender-based violence. At the same time last year the figure was half that. Why do men feel that violence is an answer or feel there is a need to act this way? And in light of this, what can we do to make our boys better men? 

The answers are not easy, but the first step is to recognise that this is an issue and, as men, it is our responsibility to do something about it. We need to step up and collectively call out not only violent behaviour, but behaviours that are sexist and derogatory. We must challenge any comments that are abusive, contain sexual innuendo or put women down. 

Ultimately our goal as Marist educators is to realise St Marcellin’s vision aiming to lead young people to become “good Christians and virtuous citizens”. And we cannot claim we are "good" unless we step up, challenge poor behaviour and model how to be loving and respectful men. 

Our Mother’s Day Assembly is one part of this modelling. We are fortunate to have courageous young men showing tremendous character who are not afraid to get up in front of 1300 people and tell their mothers that they love them. 

As a school we continue to work hard in this space and have embedded relationship education into our curriculum. Last Monday, our Year 9s spent the day with Collective Shout workshopping issues around sexuality and masculinity. On Monday night we had a Parent-in-Touch evening - where Daniel Principe and Melinda Tankard-Reist from Collective Shout spoke to parents about the same issues. My own feeling is that, while all these programs are valuable, what is most impactful is the strong teaching role models that our young men interact with daily. Click on the link below to view the Mother's Day Assembly. All the Mother's Day photos are on the Parent Portal.

National Boarding Week 

National Boarding Week is being held this week until 18 May. This is an opportunity to highlight the wonderful work of boarding schools. The theme this year is: What makes boarding tick? 

Our boarders have been hard at work creating a video for the National Boarding Week competition which will be shown at our next assembly. To celebrate the week, there was a boarders' afternoon tea on Tuesday and a visit from St Monica’s staff on Thursday.

Many thanks are extended to Mr Brett Toombs our Head of Boarding, heads of residence and all staff involved in the special and committed care of your sons and daughters. 

Sacramental program

The mission of our school is to make Jesus Christ known and loved and to form good Christians and good citizens. Often it is hard to quantify if we are achieving this. However, one indication that we may be on the right path is that 24 members of our St Augustine’s family will be receiving their sacraments next week. 

On Sunday 26 May, 22 students and 2 staff will be receiving their sacraments. As a result of increased numbers in the congregation our regular boarding Mass will be held in Lennon Hall at 7pm. Everyone is most welcome to attend and support these members of our community who are committing to their faith.