From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers,

And another fabulous 2 weeks of Term 1 2024 has concluded. We are incredibly proud of the tremendous start that the students have made so far. Their willingness to ‘try something new’ and join in on the plethora of clubs, activities, and co-curricular opportunities to them has been awesome. We are also seeing our highest rates of participation in many of our sports teams. There is something very good in the air now at Mt A! Long may it continue.

Last week we welcomed back our class of 2023 for their Academic Achievement Assembly and we congratulated a huge number of students who excelled in their studies last year, many of whom had made huge improvements along the way. We really could not be prouder of the hard-work, positivity and ‘can do’ spirit of our students. This was perhaps no more evident than at our recent Student Leadership Seminar, co-ordinated by our Deputy Principal of Student Wellbeing and Development Kathy Dendy last Saturday. To see almost 40 students show up (along with Heads of House and Head of Student Engagement and Activities) on a Saturday to hone their leadership skills and work together, in collaboration for the benefit of the college, was certainly humbling to see. We could not be in better hands, the future is indeed very bright!

A particular highlight of the past fortnight has been our Parent Welcome Soiree, held last Friday evening on our rooftop terrace. With over 170 parents and carers joining us from all year levels, it was so delightful to spend some social time together, building connections and partnership for the years ahead. We hope that our newest parents to our community felt welcomed by us all and made some further connections with others – we look forward to seeing you again very soon. Thank you so much to those families who took the time to express their thanks and gratitude to the College for hosting this event – we are very committed to building a strong and positive community together. I would also like to sincerely thank all members of my College and Extended Leadership Teams and EA, including the coordinator of the event our Head of Engagement, Marketing and Communications, who took the time to be there on the Friday night also. We are so blessed to have such an incredible team of educators and support staff at MtA!

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce our Parent Partnership Panel (many of whom can be seen in the photo below). This group connects every term to focus on a particular aspect of College life and supports many fantastic initiatives fiscally, socially and strategically. 

Last year our PPP, along with the generous support of your Parent Partnership Levies were able to install more solar panels on the San Damiano and St Anthony’s buildings and the installation of a long-awaited rooftop shade awning. These new resources have considerably improved upon our College infrastructure for students and community alike. In 2024, we are looking for a representative from our incoming Year 7 parent cohort to join this panel. If you are interested, please send an EOI email to principal@mta.qld.edu.au 

Our dates for connecting in 2024 are:

Term 1

Tuesday 5 March 2024 

6pm – 7.30pm 

Term 2 

Wednesday 1 May 

4.15pm – 5.15pm

Term 3 

Tuesday 16 July 

5pm – 6pm

Term 4 

Tuesday 29 October 

6pm – 7.30pm 

As we begin the Lenten season and continue in our spirit of kindness as a service, I have savoured in this reflection recently shared by our Mercy Partners.

“Christine Valder Paintner invites us to take a profound moment to truly see others as the beloved beings they truly are. In many traditions, this act of seeing others is a way of acknowledging the divine within them and honouring their unique dignity. By practicing this, we can now see those who were once “invisible” to us and recognize them as precious gifts to the world. Furthermore, this practice nurtures a deeper kindness within ourselves, expanding our capacity to appreciate and value others”(Breath Prayer: An Ancient Practice for the Everyday Sacred, pp165-166)

I hope that you take the time to recognise these ‘invisible’ gifts in the coming weeks.

Peace and all good,

Samantha Jensen

Principal