Principal's Update 

Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

I leave today on pilgrimage to Israel and Jordan for three weeks, with a few principals of Victorian Catholic Colleges. Our pilgrimage is led by two Franciscan priests from the group charged with looking after many of the holy sites in Jerusalem. I look forward to the experience of these sites, the retreat in the Judean Desert and the time spent with fellow principals as enhancing my capacity to lead St Bede’s College. I thank Rachael Cracknell, Deputy Principal - Staff who will be Acting Principal during this time. 

College Lockdown Drills

As part of Statutory requirements, our College is conducting evacuation drills at both campuses in the next couple of weeks. We conduct a different type of Emergency Drill each term so that students are familiar with what they are required to do in any given scenario. I thank our students, staff and the community for your patience and co-operation with these exercises. 

Staff Congratulations 

To Ria Greene Deputy Principal - Faith and Mission for her appointment to represent our District at the Program for Lasallian Formators, at the Generalate in Rome in January 2024.  

To Brother Lewis Harwood on 13 years as a De La Salle brother. 

Father's Day

It was a pleasure to welcome so many fathers to our annual Father's Day Breakfast. Both campus events were quickly fully booked, which shows the strength of our community and the great relationships our students have with their dads and father figures. 

Attendees were treated to an inspiring talk about resilience and gratitude by wonderful speaker Ben Pettingill. Congratulations to all involved in preparing this very special event.

Ahead of Father's Day this Sunday, I'd like to reflect on the writings of John Baptist de La Salle. He describes God the Father very much as he saw his own father and in his understanding of the ministry of Fatherhood. Fatherhood is an important ministry that we need to respect, show gratitude for and celebrate. Let us pray and care for our fathers always - and especially on Father’s Day.

John Baptist de La Salle speaks of the qualities of God the Father, which are also the qualities that he expected of his teachers and that he believed were regularly exhibited by fathers. He said that God the Father is marked by two qualities: wisdom and gentleness. This God does not condemn. This God knows humankind and loves and accepts its imperfection. This God is the font of all equity and mercy. There is no harshness in this God. This God accompanies each person in each step of life. This God is companion and guide: accompanies, listens, watches, and informs with subtlety and vibrancy. 

I know that we all can see many of these qualities in our fathers and those who are like fathers to us. 

St Bede’s College Strategic Plan 2024-2027

At its July meeting, the St Bede’s College Board approved the College's Strategic Plan for 2024-2027. A vision and plan for the future is integral to our success as a College, a Community and a Not-For-Profit Organisation. 

The Strategic Plan is a result of a consultative exercise carried out during Term 1 and early in Term 2 involving students, parents, staff and the College Board. It is a shared project of clarity and deliberation, with the Strategic Plan showing our intended objectives over these next four years. A four-year timeframe is used so that the College fits in with the 4-year School Improvement Cycle mandated for use by all Melbourne Catholic schools. 

It is essential that this plan is an active, powerful and dynamic way of being. Its intention is to bring our staff, Board and College community together with a shared purpose. During each of these four years, we will set an Annual Action Plan with ambitious objectives and priorities that will incrementally allow us to achieve the broad objectives of this Strategic Plan.

While our strategy aims to inspire, it is also practical and fosters conditions for deep systemic improvement. It will provide the further steps we need to maintain effectiveness as an educational institution, and add value in each of the five spheres of Catholic education. 

I am excited and inspired by what lies ahead, and committed to us achieving our Strategic Plan together.

Per vias rectas

Deb Frizza

Principal 

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Bunurong people of the Kulin Nation, whose ancient wisdom nurtured these lands and waters for millennia.