Principal's Update 

Welcome to Semester 2

After a restful break from the routines of the school day, we have settled back into the rhythm of school life for Term 3.  We now look forward to a positive and productive second half of the year.  

This is an important time as students make choices regarding their Elective subjects and choose Senior Courses for next year. Our VCE Class of 2024 is now challenged to gather pace and make study their major focus as they move towards completing their course, finalising SACS, work projects and portfolios, completing Certificate competencies and/or preparing for those important examinations later in the year. There are only about 40 classes remaining for each subject until those final examinations! 

Regardless of which pathway our Year 12 students have chosen, Term 3 should be viewed as the six-year culmination of endeavour and application. As they progress towards their graduation, we pray that each student can reflect upon their journey at St Bede’s College with accomplishment, satisfaction and pride. Work hard and support one another, to achieve that “personal best” in all areas! 

Shrek The Musical

Our College’s 2024 production of Shrek the Musical was performed in front of our biggest audiences yet; our students performing in collaboration with girls from Kilbreda College and Mentone Girls’ Grammar School. The teamwork between our three schools adds to the quality of the production and promotes the social and educational connections for our students and the schools. 

Throughout the year, I enjoy the privilege and great pleasure of getting around to see our students showcase their talents in the classroom, on the playing fields and courts, onstage, in service of community and in various competitions. I continue to be thrilled and filled with a sense of pride observing their talent and willingness to share these talents so generously with our community. I am sure parents of all students involved share in this sense of pride and I thank them again for their support of their children and their support of the College. 

What is particularly impressive about the students in our College Production is their dedication and commitment. While we admire the quality of performance on the night, such quality is the result of endless hours of practice, rehearsals and individual work. Further, as our students, staff and parents are very aware, much of this happens very early before school, after a long day at school, on weekends and in holidays. 

The dedication to improving personal performance and seeking excellence, presents some important values to which we can all aspire. The values of commitment, teamwork, supporting others and appreciating the whole, while respecting the individual parts - onstage and backstage. It is a joy to see each of the students in the finale, full of pride, joy, and enthusiasm - that sense of self and team that comes from hard work, particularly when it requires one to stretch oneself and move outside the comfort zone.

The learning offered by Performing Arts has wide-reaching benefits for students, providing them with tools to think creatively, innovate, understand teamwork, and appreciate diverse cultures and backgrounds. Performing Arts are an essential method of communication and learning, and are strongly linked to use of language. We perceive the world through our senses, and the arts allows us to understand, observe, explore, experiment and express ourselves.

Of course, the performances we enjoy need support, direction and development. The College is blessed to have very dedicated staff. In this production - led by Jamie Parton, Bridget Day and Drew Downing - this team has worked with the students to nurture their skills and encourage a love of the arts. We sincerely thank them for their dedication and their ability to inspire our students and our collaborators. 

Thank you to the vast team of volunteers - staff, students and many mums and dads. Your support provides all involved in the production with an enduring educational experience. 

Community Celebrations

VCE Premier's Award Winners Congratulations to our VCE Premier's Award Recipients from the Class of 2023 - Matthew Billings and Austin Warfe (Dux) - for their perfect scores of 50 in Geography. We are all so proud of their achievements, and none more so than their teacher, Owen Lalor. To our Class of 2024 - this is possible for you too!

National Cybersecurity Competition Our student team came away from the National Finals in Brisbane with a third placing. Well done team and assisting staff, Tom Hubeek, Stephen Anderton and David Cracknell.

Indigenous Immersion Service Program Our group of Year 10 students and 3 staff members took part in the Kimberley outreach program in Broome and Derby. As well as a small amount of sightseeing, the party were guests of a Catholic primary school, where they assisted students and teachers with a variety of tasks, including working with children in the classroom and in the yard, with maintenance of the grounds and building. 

Father Peter Mathieson Regular priest to our College, Fr Peter was recently presented with the Letters of Affiliation to the Institute of the Brothers of Christian Schools. Our College hosted this Mass and celebration in the Chapel of Saint John Baptist De La Salle to honour Fr Peter for his tenured service and connection with the Brothers.

AFL Hall of Fame The inauguration held on June 26 with Luke Beveridge as the guest speaker.  A committee of Old Collegians, chose 29 former St Bede’s students who had been successful players or umpires with the VFL/AFL.

50 Year Reunion We were very happy to host 60 Old Collegians recently. The look of joy on these men’s faces when they catch up with longstanding mates is one of the highlights of the St Bede’s College year.

Fundraising for Mental Health $3,692 was raised for Lifeline, Headspace and The Push for Better Foundation in the annual Push-Up Challenge, led by Year 11 students Flynn H and Joseph H. Thank you to all involved. 

Praise For Our Students Wayne Holdsworth of SmackTalkspoke to our Years 9 to 11 students about online safety and mental health at a series of powerful, personal and moving Wellbeing assemblies. Wayne took the time to write to me with praise for our students.

"The respect and attentiveness shown by every student that I presented to was impeccable, and Deb I am sure you are already very proud of those beautiful and caring young men. Know from me Deb that Australia is in good hands if your students are any indication."

Hockey Stars Congratulations to students Campbell E (Year 8), Luke C,  Stevie O'B and Jack F (Year 9), Matt O'B (Year 10) who scored silver at the Junior State Hockey Championships. Congratulations also to Dante Q who won gold at the National Hockey Championships! 

VCE-VM Students Harvest For Fareshare Well done to students for donating their harvest of winter vegetables to FareShare Australia. Their supplies help to feed thousands of meals daily for people experiencing hardship. Our College has been in partnership with FareShare for five years and counting. This is in wonderful alignment to our College values of Service and Community. 

2024 Lasallian Symposium PNG It was a privilege to represent our College alongside Ria Greene in Papua New Guinea for the Lasallian Symposium. Led by the theme Women in the Lasallian Family, we learned of the educational initiatives taking place in PNG, and in particular for girls. 

Optimising Learning Outcomes via Mid-Year Student Reports

Whilst our ongoing reporting enables parents and carers to stay up to date with student progress, the mid-year reports hold important messages. I encourage you to dedicate time to engage with your son and talk through the story within the data of his Academic Report. The Report gives a snapshot of student progress to date based on completed work, assignments and formal assessments. The Report presents a picture of a student’s performance, application, effort and organisation based on the professional judgement of respective teachers, and guided by class performance.

All aspects of this Report are worthy of analysis and discussion. It can be used to celebrate the areas of positive effort and achievement; and likewise, to highlight the areas in which improvements need to be made. The analysis of Reports should encompass meaningful discussions about maintaining or establishing consistent and genuine levels of application with a view to achieving personal excellence at school during the second-half of the year.  

The Mid-Year Report is partly about achievement - marks and grades - but even more so about presenting a picture around directed effort and attitude to class work, with a view to forming positive and successful approach to studies. The Learning Habits Matrix that accompanies the Report will be of great help in such an honest analysis. Striving for their personal best should be the aim of every student, and fully appreciating what is required to improve in terms of work habits and application will be very helpful in this regard.

As parents, we know you would have the same expectations of your son. It is essential that an organised approach to study, a positive attitude and genuine levels of application and commitment is the foundation for student achievement. The Report is an invaluable tool that informs how the pursuit for success can be made. 

Celebrating St Benildus (Benilde)  

13 August

There are some very important Catholic feast days across August - Mary MacKillop (8 August) and the Assumption of Mary (15 August) - we also celebrate the Feast Day of important College Patrons, St Benildus on 13 August.  

He was born Pierre Romançon, in the village of Thuret in south-central France on 14 June 1805. Though from a farming family, as a small and frail boy, he was physically not cut out to be a farmer. His education in a Christian Brothers School (Lasallian) led him to his vocation as a teacher.  In elementary school, he was so far ahead of his classmates, that at just fourteen years old, he was engaged by the Brothers as a substitute teacher. He then joined the Brothers in 1820, as Brother Benilde, and taught in a number of schools. 

In 1841, he was appointed Director of a school that was opening in Saugues, an isolated village in southern France. For twenty years, he worked quietly and effectively as teacher and principal to educate boys in Saugues and from neighbouring farms, many of whom were teens and had never before been to school. He was known as a strict, but fair, disciplinarian. His little school became the centre of the village's social and intellectual life, with evening classes for adults and tutoring for less gifted students.  

Brother Benilde’s extraordinary religious sense was evident. At Mass with the students in the parish church, teaching catechism, preparing boys for first communion, visiting and praying with the sick. Rumours of near-miraculous cures travelled. He was especially effective in attracting religious vocations. At the time of his death, more than two-hundred Brothers and an impressive number of priests had been his students at Saugues.

Benilde also looked after his students beyond the classroom. He prepared meals for hungry students in the Brothers’ kitchen, converted old robes into coats or pants for those less fortunate, and dedicated countless hours tutoring those who learned more slowly than others.

When working with groups of children, he would often lead songs by playing an accordion, and so is also regarded as a patron of accordionists. 

Benilde died on 13 August 1862 and was beatified on 4 April 41948 by Pope Pius XII.  

At his beatification, Pope Pius XII stressed that his sanctification was attained by enduring “the terrible daily grind” and by “doing common things in an uncommon way.” He was canonised a saint on 29 October 1967 as the first Christian (Lasallian) Brother to be named a saint after St John Baptist de La Salle, founder of the Order. 

Among the people of Saugues, Benilde enjoyed a reputation for holiness. To this day, a Crucifix which belonged to him, is carried to those suffering from illness; they piously kiss it, invoking his intercession. A Chapel of the local Parish Church, where he is buried, has been consecrated in his honour. 

Per vias rectas

Deb Frizza

Principal 

Safeguarding Statement

St Bede’s College strives to be a place of safety, and we believe safeguarding is a shared responsibility of all, for all. We are resolutely committed to our moral, legal, and mission-driven responsibility to ensure that all College staff, including employees, Board members, committee members, contractors, volunteers, and clergy, act in a manner that promotes the inherent dignity of each of our students and their fundamental right to be respected, heard, and nurtured in a safe school environment. All College staff must uphold and demonstrate through their actions and interactions the duty of care we have towards all children, young people, and adults at risk. Accordingly, a zero-tolerance approach to child abuse or safety violations is expected and enforced.

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.