From the Principal

Dear Parents, Carers, Students, Staff and Friends of St Norbert College

Year 9 Camp

As you are reading this final newsletter for Term 2, our Year 9 campers (students and staff) will be back home probably very exhausted and looking forward to the comforts of home. I would like to acknowledge the hard work undertaken by Mr Corey Houwen in preparing for the camp. Thank you to Miss Katie Woodford, Mr Jacob Aquino, Ms Karen Cassidy, Ms May Dao, Mr Peter Turkich, Mr Rob Gibbon, Mr Nic Roberts, Mrs Laura Marsden and Mr Brendan Lewis for giving up their time and energy to attend the camp.  I also wish to acknowledge Mrs Leon Rogers and Mr Patrick Ah Fong for the work in producing a program for the Monday prior to the camp as well as the post camp activities planned for next term. This program has been named “The Freden Program” to link St Norbert’s journey to Freden when he had his conversion experience. The choice of name is to recognise the ‘journey’ our Year 9s have travelled and the changes in themselves as a result of the camp experiences. 

Semester 1 Reports have been uploaded and I hope that it will be an opportunity for students, with their families to celebrate the successes and revisit goals before next term. Parents/Carers, please take the opportunity to meet teachers at the scheduled Parent-Student-Teacher Interviews scheduled for Tuesday 18 July. The College encourages the three way partnership between students, families and staff. 

Building Update

Much progress has been made on the Building Project in recent months. While the project is slightly behind schedule, the completion date for the O’Reilly Centre upgrades will be August. The changerooms have been significantly extended and the O’Reilly Centre will be connected to the new building comprising of four classrooms and a much needed new staff retreat to cater for the increased number of staff. The second phase of the build is due to be completed by the end of the year. 

Metronet Updates

Upgrades to the Armadale/Thornlie Line are being made as part of three METRONET projects and include the removal of 13 level crossings, building seven new stations and the addition of 5.5 kilometres of elevated rail. The Armadale Line will also be extended to Byford, providing thousands of people living in Perth’s south with access to a public passenger train for the first time.

Work is about to commence at the Queens Park Train Station and surrounds. 

Train Line Upgrade Things to note:

• Road closure for two weeks during the school holidays to enable road modifications
• When students return to school, the school crossing will look different (no median strip) however, will be in the same location and the warden will remain.
• The north most crossing from Queens Park station will remain open, so no long-term redirection will be required.

There is no firm date yet for the closure of the train service from Armadale to Victoria Park. To stay up to date with information on the shutdown, register for e-newsletters on the Victoria Park-Canning Level Crossing Removal, Byford Rail Extension and Thornlie-Cockburn Link projects.

Farewells & Thanks

I would like to farewell and thank the following staff who complete their service at the College:

• Mr Rob Gibbon-Semester 1 in the Mathematics Learning Area
• Ms Anna Greene and Ms Sharon Boyd for short term contracts in the Religious Education Learning Area.

Two of our much love staff members will be taking a well-deserved semester of Long Service Leave. We wish Miss Maureen Smith (Teacher Librarian) and Miss Kerri Hilton (Drama Teacher) a restful break during Semester 2 and look forward to your return in 2024.

Presentation Night 2023

I am pleased to announce that our annual Presentation Night will return to the Perth Concert Hall for 2023! It is always a beautiful evening celebrating awards and enjoying the talents of our students. While we have enjoyed the very professional recording of Presentation Night for the last three years, it will be wonderful to celebrate together on 24 October at 7:00pm - please save the date for this compulsory event. 

God bless and have a restful break.

Ms S Rainford

(Principal)