From the Principal

Finishing Well – Joy as an Act of Resistance!

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we reach the end of another vibrant and full semester at Mt A, I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to all of our students for their participation, tenacity, and joyfulness over the past months. They should feel deeply proud of their efforts, their contributions, and the spirit with which they have engaged in every facet of college life - and so should we. It is a true joy each day to bear witness to this exchange.

This year, our guiding value of JOY has been ever-present – in classrooms, on the sporting fields, on stage, and in the countless small interactions that shape our community each day. Our students have brought joy to their learning, to each other, and to us as staff.  As we continue into the second half of the year, let us hold fast to this joy – as both a source of strength and a guiding light. It is with great responsibility and privilege that we, together (school and family) are beacons of this light and hope for our students.

Joy does not simply happen to us – we must actively choose joy and keep choosing it every day. Joy is an act of resistance. It is this choice, that keeps us sustained and motivated. It is this choice that allows us to be our best selves and ultimately, to finish well and to realise our goals, our hopes, and aspirations.

Our recent College Athletics Carnival was a true celebration of this joyful spirit! Congratulations to all students for your outstanding participation – the day was filled with high energy, generous sportswomanship, House Spirit, and thrilling competition. A special and heartfelt thank you to our Head of Sport – Charmaine Ferguson and her team Katharine McMain and Emma Boswood along with our effervescent Heads of House and supervising staff, for orchestrating such a magnificent event. A wonderful day was had by us all!

Equally, to all our students who represented Mt A in the final CaSSSA sports fixtures on Wednesday afternoon – thank you. It was a delight for me and the College Leadership Team to witness your skill, commitment, and determination in action.

As the semester draws to a close, I also want to take this moment to sincerely acknowledge and thank our incredible academic and support staff. Their passion, care, and expertise drive the success of our students and the growth of our college.  We are blessed to have such a dedicated team at Mt A – no school on the exciting trajectory we are on could achieve what we have without them. I look forward to joining them in next week’s staff professional learning and training week as we continue our commitment to excellence and innovation in education.

To our Year 12 students, we send our encouragement and admiration. May this upcoming winter vacation offer time for rest, reflection, and readiness as you prepare for the final and most important chapter of your schooling. Your leadership and application this year has been simply, outstanding.

And, as Ms Licina shared this week in her Newsletter entry, I am truly looking forward to beginning the process of interviewing and onboarding our emerging student leaders for 2026 – it is always such an exciting step for both our students and for our future. It is also very difficult to believe we are at that point in the year!

To our ever-supportive parent partners, thank you for the trust you place in us and for the many ways you contribute to the life of our college. Your ongoing partnership and support mean the world to us.

As we enter the mid-year break, I invite our entire community to find moments of stillness and gratitude – and to hold in our hearts a prayer for peace and healing in the Middle East. May this be a time of gentle quiet, connection with loved ones, hobbies, nature, and renewed hope.

To sign off, I offer this beautiful excerpt from Dr Barbara Holmes “Joy and Embodied Presence” (Franciscan Centre for Contemplation and Action) 2024.

“Brothers and sisters, true joy is a limitless, life-defining, transformative reservoir waiting to be tapped. It requires only the utmost surrender and like love, it’s a choice to be made that ultimately transcends time. True joy is not circumstantial. It doesn’t require that things be going well. You can have joy during imprisonment as Nelson Mandela did, or while impoverished, as many do in Haiti. Joy is even available in war-torn parts of the globe today.  

 

Make no mistake about it, there’s a real difference between happiness and joy. The sources of happiness are very fleeting. Buy something new and see how fleeting it is. That new car, that new house, they lose their luster in a mere few weeks. True joy is foundational. It’s a basis of God’s love for us, sealed with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Could there be any firmer foundation?”