From the Principal

Today, for our final newsletter of 2024, I would like to share with you Sophie Rowe’s Captain’s Address from our Secondary Awards Evening on Wednesday. I was both touched and inspired by Sophie’s words.

Good evening students, teachers, parents, and friends.

Another incredible year is coming to a close and as we celebrate this we look at where we have come from, where we are now, and where we will be going.

As this year comes to an end, I think about some highlights from this year.

This year I have been one of the College school captains and part of the leadership team. It has been a joy to work with the rest of the Leadership team and the school community.

Each class has had camps, excursions and carnivals. The stories and memories are joyous, and there are many of them.

There are many more, but as I think about why they are all highlights, I realised it was because of the connections, and more importantly, the community.

I have been at SCC since early learning - 14 years; and I cannot remember a time when I didn’t feel supported or encouraged and seen by someone. The community between students and their peers, and the teachers and aids in the classroom is beautiful, everyone is always seen.

This last year has been a year of growth.

Each of the students has grown academically, socially, and spiritually.

The journey we have had has brought us together.

We have created a strong sense of community, and it's what makes SCC stand out.

I want to say thank you.

Thanks to all the teachers that played along with the practical jokes.

Like Mt Wellington’s volcanic history, or long games of tag.

Thank you for answering our questions, and repeating things 100 times. Thank you for being flexible, because we weren’t. Thank you for letting us go on tangents, even if it wasn’t necessarily in the direction you wanted the class to go. Thank you for teaching us about things that you are passionate about, to share that passion with us, and teaching us everything we could possibly ask questions about.

Thank you to all the teachers’ aides who saw our hand was up when the teachers couldn’t. Thank you for feeding our creativity and nudging us towards revelations. Thank you for answering questions, even if you didn’t know the whole answer. Thank you for working with each of us individually, changing how you came up with ideas according to who we are.

Thank you to leadership, staff and students. Thank you for putting our ideas as requests forward. Thank you for listening to our complaints and bringing them to the table so that we would see the changes that we wanted, thank you for leading us in new directions, with better plans.

Thank you to my fellow students. We have journeyed a long way, and we still have a lot to learn. We all supported each other, and at the end of the day that is why we pulled through. We asked questions when others are too scared, we helped each other when we didn’t understand and kept an eye out for each other. We supported each other when we weren’t having good days, and that made all the difference.

One thing that communities do well is celebrate. This evening, we celebrate students who stand out for their character and determination. This week we have celebrated academics and attitudes. We all have different skills, that is what creates such a strong community.

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For our last newsletter of the year, we recognise staff who are moving on at the end of this year. Thank you to Mrs Ashton King who has been teaching for most of the year in Year 3 this year, and to Mr Paul Matthews who has been teaching in Humanities this term. Thank you to Angel Go and Melissa Venables, two of our Teacher’s Aides who have made the decision to pursue other priorities. We also farewell Emily Overton who has been on maternity leave. Emily has taught for many years at SCC and has made the difficult decision to expand her horizons as a teacher.

The staff at SCC wish all our families a safe and blessed Christmas.

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord."

~ Luke 2:11

Jodie Bennett

Principal