Principal's Report

Dear parents and carers,

I hope you have had a restful Christmas, where you have been able to connect with family and friends and were nourished by the Spirit of the Holy Season. Christmas is a time to celebrate our families, friends and loved ones. May you be blessed with a year filled with much joy, growth and sustainable relationships.

2024 holds the key to unlocking our individual potential, discovering new passions, and overcoming challenges that will shape each individuals academic and personal growth. I encourage each of us to embrace the opportunities that lie ahead, whether it's diving into a fascinating subject, joining a club that sparks our interest, or forging connections with our peers. 

I particularly welcome the many new families, from Years 7 to 12 who have joined our Monivae and MSC community this year. 

It brings me great pleasure to introduce our inspiring 2024 College theme, “Be a part of the MSC Heart”. It is an invitation to all of us to live out our MSC Ethos. Spirituality of the Heart has its foundation in, and grows out of, the vision of Jules Chevalier. This is a vision about a way of living the Gospel that has a particular emphasis on the compassionate heart of Jesus. It is an ethos grounded in love for one another, care for others and compassion for the less fortunate. To possess an MSC heart we must not give lip service to these values. I am sure our students and staff will be actively living an MSC Heart this year.

Staff

We also welcome to Monivae, our new staff and those staff returning. I am excited they are joining our MSC community and am confident they have much to contribute.

Marnie Jones – Health/Physical Education and Outdoor Education

Britney McInnes - Health/Physical Education

Alison Read – Science

Joachim Rymarz – Humanities/Religious Education

Phil Wheaton (Returning) – English/Humanities

Harrison Price – Learning Support Officer

Molly O’Brien - Learning Support Officer

Nat Templeton – Student Counsellor 

Student survey for Respectful Relationships initiative evaluation.

Monivae has a Respectful Relationships initiative which discusses with students building gender equity in relationships and the challenging of gender stereotypes. The initiative aims to tackle family violence and promote healthy relationships. 

As part of an evaluation of the initiative, students are invited to complete a short survey in class. The purpose of the survey is to test the impact of the Respectful Relationships initiative and allow students to provide feedback on the initiative. 

Further information on the survey, and an opt-out consent form, will be sent to all parents/carers next week. If you would not like your child to participate in the survey, please complete and return the opt-out consent form to the school. Regardless of whether you return the form, your child will be able to choose to not participate in the survey and can choose to stop participating in the survey at any time. 

If you have any questions, you can contact Katee Mitchell via email. kmitchell@monivae.vic.edu.au 

Lent

Lent is a time when we are asked to consider how we can make God’s love visible to others. On Wednesday, in our opening Mass, we began our journey towards our observance and celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus at Easter by placing a sign of the cross on our foreheads. We are particularly grateful to Fr Bob Irwin msc who celebrated the Mass for us. Fr Bob has been at Monivae for the past three weeks joining the Year 12 cohort on retreat.

Lenten Prayer

God did not invent “hurry”

-It is a human made construct

Perhaps this Lent we can slow down,

Pause – even stop –

To think about why we do what we do,

Not simply habit,

But as a thoughtful response

To the love that sets us free.

Amen

I look forward to an exciting year ahead.

Kind regards,

Mr Jonathan Rowe

Principal