Deputy Principal - Identity

Saint Vincent de Paul Christmas Hampers

During Term 4 each year, each Homeroom group is asked to prepare a grocery hamper and purchase a modest Christmas gift for families in our local area who are doing it tough. This charitable venture has been a special part of the Mount Alvernia College community for many years and we value the partnership that we have built with the Saint Vincent de Paul Kedron Conference during this time. 

Each Homeroom has received some generic information (gender and age) about each family member they are supporting and a list of items required for each hamper. By now, all students should know what item(s) they need to contribute. Students may be asked to contribute a small sum of money towards the purchase of gifts for the family. 

Students can contribute these items to the cardboard box in their Homeroom up until Wednesday 22 November. The hampers will be formally presented to representatives from Saint Vincent de Paul at our Christmas liturgy on Thursday 23 November. Thank you for your generous support. 

Young Environmental Leaders Network

Each year, secondary schools across Brisbane are invited to participate in the Lord Mayor’s Young Environmental Leadership Network (LMYELN). This program run by Brisbane City Council’s Green Heart Schools team, supports student representatives to select, plan, implement and report on an environmental project in their school. 

This year, our 2023 student representative, Martina Vitale, has identified energy consumption as an issue for our College community. 

On any given day, we can observe empty classrooms with lights, fans and TV screens on and, in warmer months, air conditioning running. While some rooms have automatic power off systems, this is not true for all classroom spaces or TV screens. Martina identified that a clear procedure for switching off at the end of each lesson was needed.

The advice from experts in energy conservation in a school environment is to switch off when leaving a classroom before a break or when there is clearly no class using the room for the next lesson. The benefit of doing so reduces the College’s energy consumption, the electricity costs and carbon footprint. 

To assist staff and students to remember this simple process, Martina has placed signs near the room switches in each classroom. 

I congratulate Martina on her commitment to the program this year. Next Wednesday, Martina and other student participants in this year’s program, will showcase their projects to their families and school representatives. I am sure Martina will represent us well. 

Z Club

At our Z Club meeting this week, we conferred the nominations for the leadership committee for 2024. Congratulations to:

Piper Gledhill, President 

Emmy Carswell, Vice President  

Samira Belhag, Secretary 

Lottie Lacanau, Treasurer 

Alyx Jakovich, Advocacy Committee Chair 

Lara Vico, Fundraising Committee Chair 

Ciara Fenton, Service Committee Chair 

We will have an opportunity to recognise these students at our assembly next Thursday 9 November.

As we welcome our new committee, I would like to acknowledge the leadership of the 2023 Z Club Committee that has supported and encouraged our Club to give more and do more: 

Dominique Van Zyl, President 

Piper Gledhill, Vice President  

Ella Falzon, Secretary 

Girisha Baliyan, Treasurer 

Ciara Fenton, Advocacy Committee Chair 

Lottie Lacanau, Fundraising Committee Chair 

Bridie McKinlay, Service Committee Chair 

Thank you to all members of Z Club for their attendance at our fortnightly meetings, contributions to our bake sales and their time and energy at our packing events in 2023.

Remembrance Day

Observed on the 11 November each year, Remembrance Day commemorates the end of First World War hostilities on the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month in 1918. It allows us to not only acknowledge the loss of life in the Great War and in all wars in which Australians have fought, but to also commit ourselves to the cause of peace in our world today.

This year, the Kedron-Wavell Sub Branch RSL will hold a commemorative service at 10.30am on Saturday 11 November at the cenotaph, Kedron-Wavell Services Club, Kittyhawk Drive, Chermside. All students and families are welcome to attend. Please refer to the information and permission letter sent to all families via email, MyMtA and the College App. 

Collection for Stationery Aid

As we approach the end of the academic year, please remember that we are a collection site for Stationery Aid. This organisation collects donations of new or unused stationery and used stationery in good condition. These donations are packaged up for students whose families struggle to provide the educational resources needed for school. Stationery Aid is seeking donations of the following items:

- all types of pencils

- crayons

- pencil cases

- rulers

- erasers

- sharpeners

- unused exercise books/note pads/scrapbooks

- highlighters

- pens

- glue

- paints and paint brushes

- maths equipment (protractors, compass, etc.)

- staplers and staples

Donations can be placed in the small blue wheelie bin located on the Ground floor of the Anthony Building (near Reception and the lift). Thank you for your generous support. 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas 

Our Christmas liturgy and final assembly will take place from 2.00pm on Thursday 23 November in the San Damiano Centre. To celebrate this occasion, we invite students to wear to school with their College uniform, Christmas socks and/or accessories. Accessories can include: Santa/elf hats, reindeer antlers headbands, Christmas leis, badges and/or novelty glasses, Christmas themed earrings, bracelets and necklaces, etc. We look forward to seeing everyone showing their festive spirit.