Deputy Head of College News

Perfect Privilege

Horse races, final exams, elections. Wins, losses, could-of-done-betters and  will-do-betters (as is the case with the Broncos into heavy preseason training!) The past few weeks have had it all.

In each of these happenings there has been a focus on the outcome or result. But what about the path to each of these culminating moments? The relentless cold dark morning training runs that end in an injury, the mock exam result that knocked confidence, the trail of knock-backs before getting a chance to run for office. This week's Year 12 Graduation is our time to celebrate not just the final days, results or standings, rather, to celebrate the good, the bad and the ugly along the way!

The profession and vocation of a teacher has many wonderful moments of privilege. Sharing a student's graduation with their family is up there as one of the best in my humble view. The rockier the road to graduation to greater the privilege. The privilege accumulates over the years as waves of joy and struggle are shared with compassion, the times of frustrations and miss-turns are shared with patience and the times of uncertainty shared with hope. As we shake hands with each student on Friday night, all the perfect and imperfect moments coalesce into a magic milestone - a marker along the way to the next milestone waiting somewhere ahead.

Each graduating student is, has been and will always be perfect to our Marist Family. In congratulating each of our students and each of our families with the Graduation milestone, may we share together in celebrating a core purpose of a Catholic Marist education, wonderfully expressed by highly-renowned Contemplative Franciscan Priest Richard Rohr:

Once we stop expecting, needing, or demanding that something or someone be perfect, we’re much happier.

We’re doing ourselves and the world a favour….divine love includes imperfection, which is what makes it divine love. Without that daily flow, we get trapped in the negatives. We all do. We all will, unless we tap into the love of God flowing through us.

Our New Parent 'Orbit' App

The renewal of the College App across to Orbit is another strategic step in the College's drive to optimise communication for College stakeholders. Although this will take a little time to adjust our information sharing and retrieval practices, already parents and students are experiencing many benefits with the Orbit app. Specifically, targeted information to each individual student through each individual parent is being presented in a highly efficient, accurate and easy-to-use interface. For example, a training session is cancelled for the 8C Rugby team the notice will only go to the 8C Rugby parents. This means notifications parents receive will only be information specific to you. 

A significant benefit for parents is the 'all-in-one-place' idea. Further to co-curricular activities, Orbit enables access to student absentees, academic information, events and payments in the one place. Being a software 'application', Orbit is accessible on the go via mobile devices. No more logging into portals on web browsers.

Please find below some FAQs and tips to assist you and your family with the shift across to Orbit.

Tips for Students

• All students who are interested in playing a sport in these terms need to ensure they are registered as soon as possible. Instructions for registration are attached. This is the only way to gain access to information such as handbooks, calendars and notifications as we release them.
• When staff post a notification on Parent Lounge, they will email the students directly as well. Students are encouraged to have their college email address on their mobile device with notifications enabled as this is how they access information.
• Representative sport opportunities will be published each term in the College newsletter and in the daily notices for students to be aware of.

Tips for Parents

• In order to obtain the necessary information for each co-curricular activity, register your son  as soon as possible.
• Registration for all Term 1 and Term 2 sport activities are now open.

Safe and Considerate Parking

We need to ensure we all are considerate and careful when parking on and around College grounds. Although we aren’t able to completely line-mark carp parking spaces, newly installed parking markers are becoming a feature in the pool carpark to assist suitable spacing is provided for car parking. Your support with using these parking markers will be greatly appreciated by fellow car parkers.

Additionally, being courteous to our neighbours is important when parking nearby the College.  Our Frasers Rd neighbours have recently experienced issues with people parking across driveways, making it difficult and dangerous to enter and exit. Our neighbours would appreciate considerate and courteous parking and driving behaviours.

A reminder, access across the Glenlyon Bridge is only available to staff and patrons of our swimming club. Similarly, the nearby drop-off bay is for swimming club patrons only. Parking in the swimming pool carpark (from the east end of the pool to the bridge) is for staff and swimming pool patrons. Parking alongside and behind the pool is for staff only.

These arrangements are to mitigate on-site traffic to promote the safety of students staff and community members. Your attention, cooperation and support of these arrangements is greatly appreciated.