Primary News

“Serve God with a great heart and willing hands.” - Mother Mary Aikenhead

I write my View article from the busy, welcoming and surprisingly warm and muggy streets of Dublin, four days into a pilgrimage that is already proving to be far more than a journey between historic sites. I, along with Mr Gerard McNulty and 10 other people from across Australia are walking, quite literally, in the footsteps of Mary Aikenhead, the founder of the Sisters of Charity, whose charism gave life to Mount Carmel College and continues to shape who we are as a community today.

At Sandymount Caritas Convent, we visited the Sisters of Charity themselves, a chance to sit with the living continuation of Mary Aikenhead's vision, not just its history. To be able to share our story of Mount Carmel College and then to hear the sisters story was pure joy and a highlight of the trip. You could not come away without a smile and a sense of pure admiration for these amazing strong and dedicated women. 

At the Mary Aikenhead Heritage Centre, we heard Mary’s story told in full, a young woman who, against the expectations of her time, gave her life to serving "the poor, the sick, and the dying" words that still anchor everything the Sisters do.  

At Kilmainham Jail, we encountered the harder chapters of Irish history, the suffering, the injustice, the weight of what these walls have witnessed. But even here, there was light as the story of how the Sisters of Charity walked alongside prisoners, bringing dignity and compassion into the darkest of places. It is one thing to read about that ministry but it is another to stand in the very cell blocks where it happened.

And intertwined in all we have done so far has been seeing the Sisters' legacy alive in their hospital ministry, the practical, hands on care that Mary Aikenhead insisted must sit alongside prayer and reflection.

It would be easy to visit these places as a tourist, to take photographs and move on. But a pilgrimage asks something different of you. It asks you to slow down, to stand where someone stood, and to let their story ask something of your own life. Mary Aikenhead did not simply find an institution, she founded a way of being in the world, and that way of being still runs through our school, our staff, our students, and our families.  To walk this path is a genuine privilege. Not everyone gets the chance to trace a founder's footsteps so directly, and I nor Gerard do not take a single day of it for granted.

The Sisters of Charity ask something specific of those who carry their mission to lead with head, heart, and hands, to think with clarity, to love with compassion, and to act with purpose. That is not just a motto from history. It is a call felt strongly with each place visited.  

A Primary To Be Proud Of

What an extraordinary stretch it's been for our Primary. Even from a distance of being in Ireland, the energy and achievement coming out of every corner of the school has been impossible to miss.

Our Primary students dazzled with their Arts Festival and then backed it up when performing in our Year 1 - 5 musical, Beauty and the Beast, both being a genuine showcase of creativity, confidence and hard work. Pulling off a production of that scale takes months of rehearsals, costumes, set design and patience, and the result was, by every account, wonderful. Congratulations to every student who stepped on stage and every teacher who guided them there.

Meanwhile, our Year 6 students and staff are right now making the most of their trip to Canberra, exploring our nation's capital, its history and its institutions firsthand. There's no substitute for this kind of hands-on learning, and I know they're soaking up every moment.

And we can't let the week pass without celebrating our Tournament of Minds team, who represented the Primary brilliantly last weekend. Their creativity, teamwork and problem-solving under pressure reflect everything we hope to instill in our students.

I'll be honest, it's been strange not being there in person to see our first ever musical, to wander around and be in awe of the art at last week’s Arts Festival, walk and guide the Year 6’s in Canberra, or watch our Tournament of Minds team think on their feet. But that's exactly what makes this week so special to reflect on, it happened because of the depth of talent, dedication and generosity of our staff and parent community. Teachers gave up evenings and weekends, parents drove, supervised and cheered, and students rose to every occasion.