Principal's Message

Dear Parents & Friends,

Two weeks ago, we had the pleasure of hosting delegates from the Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association (ICPA) conference in town. This gave us the chance to showcase our beautiful campus and talk to parents about St Philip’s many educational opportunities. We gave them a brief tour and some families will be coming back later in the month for a more thorough look. As our boarding facility celebrates its 60th anniversary next year, we can trace our association with ICPA back to 1982 when this organization was founded.

On Monday, I received a phone call from the Honourable Linda Burney, Federal Minister of Indigenous Australians informing me that the Federal government was investing $18 million dollars for improved boarding facilities in Central Australia. We will continue to develop the plans that are already underway on the former RSL site and submit our application later in the year.

Last week, we had a group of cardiologists and other support staff on campus as part of the Deadly Heart Trek. With modern technology they were able to test for and discover if any of our students had rheumatic heart disease. They also provided support and education to participants and families.

The Performing Arts Festival last Friday was an extravaganza of noise, colour and House spirit. I want to congratulate our House captains, Heads of House and House staff on the energy and enthusiasm that was put into the production over several weeks. The level of student participation on the day was outstanding with the fewest absences we have had all year. A special thank you to Steve & Kris Kidd, Edward Evans, Tracy Hurst, Micaela Hull and Tiana Bateman who gave technical assistance to each of the Houses throughout the performances.

Our second annual Giving Day was also successful raising over $54 000+ for playground equipment and landscaping near the Discovery Centre. It is also imperative that I acknowledge the parents who have donated to the building fund over the last two years to enable us to complete the Discovery Centre. We have set the opening date for Friday, 31st May and will be inviting all donors to this celebration. We are grateful to have such generous supporters in our community.

This week the focus is on NAPLAN with Years 7 & 9 participating in this national assessment. It’s a great opportunity to track the individual progress of students over two years in literacy and numeracy.

On Thursday, we held a mini Learning Expo for Year 8 students participating in the fabrications project. I was truly amazed by what the students had developed in such a short time and their ability to explain what they had learned while building their fabrications.

Next week we are trialing Intensive Days for Stage 2 subjects to give students and staff quality time to focus on one subject for the day. We usually don’t hold these until Terms 3 & 4, but the learning benefit is immeasurable, so we will be incorporating them more often this year. Year 12 parents, please ensure you carefully read the email sent to you on Wednesday from Steve Kimber which explains the schedule and if you have any questions, please contact either the subject teacher or Steve directly.

Kind regards,

~ Leslie Tilbrook

Principal