Principal's Message

Dear Parents & Friends,

We’ve passed the halfway mark of the term already and the weeks are flying by. Year 7 & 8 Discovery and Adventure expeditions have been completed and the weather cooperated, even though the flies were a bit too friendly. 

Rolland and McKay had their house assembly, and then we had an assembly where we were entertained by some of our talented musicians and singers, and we also saw what our Year 8 cohort have been achieving within their new program.

We had a plethora of activities for Round Square Week in Week 4 both during school and after school hours. After school there was sustainable pizza making and the Junior Leadership team ran a movie session, featuring the animated movie The Lorax. During the school day there was a Dance-a-thon, an Inter-house adventure race, and in Tutor Group there was a Kindness Bingo and International Kahoot created by our German exchange student, Jana. Thanks to our Round Square Captain, Ramona Dooley and our Round Square staff, Alex Pollitt and Tammi Renshaw, for the enormous effort they put into making the week interesting and informative.

Thanks to our Medical Centre staff, Sam Greathead and Deb Page, for facilitating the Year 9 and 10 immunisations in support of the Centre for Disease Control. Also, on the same day we hosted Reach Workshops for all students in Years 11 & 12. These workshops, led by young people are designed to create a sense of social belonging, have breakthrough conversations and build emotional resilience and courage.

In Week 5, we hosted a Q & A Information Session for Year 8 parents on the revamping of our Year 8 curriculum. We received excellent feedback and appreciated the time and effort interested parents gave so we can continue to fine tune this integrated learning program. We also had 25 female students complete a Construction Workshop so they could have hands on learning of the different trades available in our community.

This week the Year 9 Play was a very entertaining and engaging event and we finished this week with the Winter Carnival. Students are participating in lawn bowls, soccer, mixed netball, badminton, OzTag, MTB, engineering and basketball – a wide range of activities to meet the interests of every student. Thanks to our hard-working PE staff, Davey Tudor, Richard Worrall, McKealy Tiller and Kris Wheeler.

Next week we are gearing up for the National Reconciliation Week with the theme “Now more than ever.” At St Philip’s we take pride in our dedication to enhancing cultural responsiveness and nurturing cultural safety. There will be more about our activities in the next newsletter.

Finally, next week every student is expected to be in full winter uniform. The weather has clearly indicated that this is an excellent time to wear more layers and stay as warm as possible.

I’m looking forward to the opening of the Discovery Centre on the 18th June at 2 pm. The fact that we’ve secured Professor Veena Sahajwalla as our guest speaker truly aligns with our emphasis on learning and sustainability. Please let Yvette in Reception know if you wish to join us 8950 4511.

Kind regards,

~ Leslie Tilbrook

Principal