Principal's Message

Advent.

The four weeks of Advent, the Christian preparation time for Christmas, allow us time to ponder how Jesus came into this world in such a stunningly humble way. As we contemplate His birth in a bed of straw in a messy stable, perhaps, we see our own life as being a little messy too. Our life is often distracted, self-centred and sometimes leaves us wishing we were better people. But if we can slow down and refocus our attention, we might realise that God is there, waiting to love us even though we have so many unfulfilled good intentions and so many unfulfilled desires about our spirituality.

The bumper sticker that reads, “Be patient; God isn’t finished with me yet” is a reminder that, in God’s eyes, we are a work in progress. Our faith is not a vaccine that prevents bad things from happening to good people. Rather, our faith is the new seed that brings forth new life and hope out of a life that contains struggle, difficulty, conflict and maybe misunderstanding. Christians, during Advent, are like the shepherds from the Bethlehem hills; we are called from our everyday activities to allow God to re-enter our lives, even when we are feeling least “religious” or “ready” for His coming, for His arrival within us.

I trust that we will all make time this Advent to be still and allow God to continue to work on us.

Student Leaders 2018

The staff House Leaders have concluded the discernment process and have recommended the following students as Junior and Middle School Student House Leaders and Beacon Leaders for 2018.

I am delighted to announce that we will be commissioning the following Student House & Beacon Leaders at the start of next year.

Thank you to the House Leaders for the considerable effort and time that has gone into this selection process.

Staffing 2018

At the time of writing this newsletter the known staffing changes for 2018 are:-

Staff leaving for reasons such as retirement, relocation, parental leave etc., include Michael Harrison, Scott Jackson, Dominic Corsi, Lavinia Setini, Aidan and Christy McLindon, Ali Farrell, Ellie Armstrong, and Elle Henderson.

Anna Gorman  and  Krysten Rogers will both be returning from parental leave and the following new appointments have been made:-

Teacher appointments

Jarrod O’Brien - St Mary’s, Echuca

Sarah Richardson – Genazzano , Melbourne

Cameron Byrne – St Theresa’s, QLD

Jaqueline Freeman – UK, formerly St Augustine’s, Kyabram

Bianca Fleming – Echuca Regional Health

Adam Brady – UK, formerly Warringa Park School

Bree Gilmour – Grad – Federation University, Ballarat

Trainee appointments

Jessie Hancock

Eesha Clark

Ben Chatfield

Brady Trotman

Thank you

As the 2017 academic year draws to a close I would like to say thank you to each and every member of the College community for your contribution to such a wonderful year. There has been much to celebrate and will be much to celebrate as we wind up the year, especially at our Awards Night on Monday 11 December. It would be great to see as many students, parents and guardians as possible attend this event to celebrate the exceptional performance of our students, as well as to acknowledge their hard work and achievement throughout the year.

Our school is as good as it is because so many people make such a positive effort. Thank you to all students, staff, parents and guardians.

I would like to finish by wishing everyone a Holy, Happy and Safe Christmas season and holiday break.

God bless.

Michael Delaney

Principal