Principal's Update 

Welcome to 2024

Welcome to the new academic year at St Bede’s College. It is the 87th year of operation since the De La Salle Brothers opened the College on our Mentone site and the anniversary of our Foundation Day, 8 February. 

It is a pleasure to welcome our Year 7 students and their families to our Community at both Bentleigh East and Mentone campuses. It is always a delight when a Year 7 cohort joins us, with its mix of emotions - excitement, trepidation – and fresh new uniforms. College photos have already been taken and camps are under way! We look forward to their development and contributions to the College as they each pave their way in the coming years. 

These students and their families are the future of our College, and tomorrow we celebrate them joining our Community at the Welcome Picnic for new families. We are also pleased to welcome 15 additional students and their families across Years 8 to 11 to our St Bede’s College Community.

One school year is never like another.  Every year, we live the College Mission and move a little further along the continuum of improvement and positive impact. Each year, the College experience is richer and more diverse because of our new students, families and staff. By its very nature, our College is a wonderful, ever-evolving environment.   

The students who graduated with distinction in the Class of 2023 are soon to make their mark as Lasallian graduates. And the cycle begins once again as we energise ourselves for our students of 2024.  I offer my prayerful best wishes for a wonderful, safe and positive year ahead. 

We have the great honour of being able to enrich the Catholic story through our Lasallian charism by including others in the story of John Baptist de La Salle. Such a beautiful story taken on by many since the late 1600s. We are proud of our Lasallian heritage at St Bede’s College. It gives our Community a distinct and well-articulated view of education, allowing our students to feel connected, empowered and able to make a clear difference in the world. 

I also welcome our new staff members to the College and look forward to the talents that each will bring to the students, to their peers and to our Community as a whole. My best wishes to all for an enjoyable and professionally rewarding experience as part of our team. 

College Welcome and Investiture Assembly

Our Opening College Assembly held today was especially meaningful for our 2024 College Leaders. It was a pleasure to host their families as they received their new College Leaders blazer and badge. These young men have accepted the honour of being elected by their peers and have embraced the role and responsibility of a College Leader. They now stand before us as ambassadors of all that is good about St Bede’s College.  

Also present with us today were the high achievers of the Class of 2023 and their parents as we acknowledged their outstanding achievement in their VCE studies.  

I would like to thank everyone for a wonderful showcase of our College this morning. 

To all staff for your support, to our students for their remarkable respect and participation throughout - thank you. Our guests have spoken incredibly favorably of the experience, our students and our community. Archie has also officially started his College leadership with a wonderful message to us all. Bravo. 

2023 Senior Cricket Team

As the ACC champions, our senior cricket team participated in a state-wide competition against nine other schools’ premiers. After finishing the pool games in second position, the team lost its semi-final to Ballarat and Clarendon College on the second last ball of the match. The team eventually placed third in the State. Well done to coach, Lis Burn and to all players on an excellent year. 

St Miguel Patron Saint Feast Day

Today is the Feast Day of McCristal House's Patron Saint. 

On November 7, 1854, Francisco Cordero, was born in Ecuador into a family that had always been prominent in Ecuadorian politics. Born with deformed feet, early life was very difficult—very little play and mixing with other children. Not until the age of five did he take his first faltering steps. 

Francisco was tutored at home until the age of nine, but had the opportunity to attend a newly-opened Lasallian school in his home town of Cuenca. He loved and respected the Brothers so much that he indicated a wish to become one of them. His parents preferred that he become a priest, rather than a teacher. He was sent to the Seminary, but was homesick and depressed. Finally, and very reluctantly, his parents allowed him to join the Brothers, which he did on March 24, 1868.

When he was not quite twenty years old, Francisco published the first of his many books, a Spanish grammar that soon became a standard text. Despite high academic honours, teaching remained his priority, especially his classes in religion and for the young men he prepared for first communion. His students admired his simplicity, his directness, his concern for them, and the intensity of his devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Virgin Mary.  In time, he became famous throughout South America as a saintly religious poet, author, and linguist.  He was called by the Brothers to Belgium to revise his text books and to write new ones. 

In his later years, he became very ill and died on February 9, 1910. Brother Miguel was beatified on October 30, 1977 and canonised a Saint on October 21, 1984. 

Educating and Understanding Boys

We were pleased to share late last year that St Bede’s College is now a member of The International Boys’ Schools Coalition (IBSC).

“A single-sex school allows boys a safe space to explore subjects and activities that they may never have considered at a co-ed school. Boys are expected to fill all the roles within the school, from class officers and student leaders to actors and artists, there is no room for gender stereotypes in an all-boys' school.  One area that some boys may feel hesitant to explore includes the arts. Visual art, drama, and music are instead made available to students, without fear of judgment from their peers. A boys' school develops a boy's uniqueness and individuality.”

Each day, I am blessed to observe our boys at play or interacting with one another, and obviously enjoying their time at school. I see our boys in teams on the sporting field, on a hike whilst on camp, in a music ensemble, debating and auditioning for a role in our College Production. Consistently, I witness the evidence that there is no better place for boys than a purposely crafted, all boys’ school. 

In educating boys, understanding the features of male adolescent brain development is essential to better  understanding boys in general. Scientists have used Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to watch the rate at which the pre-frontal cortex matures, and discovered that the male brain does not fully develop until age 27. Boys’ brains are wired to require movement, space, action, and rest. They also learn better when material is presented in smaller portions. 

I share with you some facts about boys and how their brains develop, to aid in deeper understanding of meanings behind actions. 

• The adolescent brain relies more on the amygdala rather than frontal lobes setting the stage for emotional outbursts.
• The burst of growth in the frontal lobes means that adolescents overcomplicate problems, idealise the world, and say one thing while doing another.
• Adolescents climb the moral ladder only as their frontal lobes develop.
• The brains of male adolescents need more rest times during learning.
• Boys are hardwired to be single-task focused whereas girls’ hardwiring demonstrates strength in multitasking.
• Less oxytocin in the brain of boys leads to more aggression and playful rough-housing.
• No responsibility for actions: Boys often have difficulty in anticipating the consequences of their behaviour because they rely more on the emotional amygdala than the rational frontal lobes.
• Adolescent boys require a sense of belonging.  As they move away from family, there is need to belong to a peer group/friend.
• Adolescents are more vulnerable to stress than adults.
• Adolescents experience emotions before they can verbally articulate them.
• The adolescent brain is fascinated by novelty and emotion.

It is our honour to teach your boys and we remain committed to supporting and understanding them along their journey. 

Per vias rectas

Deb Frizza

Principal 

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Bunurong people of the Kulin Nation, whose ancient wisdom nurtured these lands and waters for millennia.