From the Principal

As our community is aware, a key pillar of our new Strategic Plan is Sustainability which encapsulates both environmental and financial sustainability. With this in mind, I am pleased to report that our College’s culture on innovation and focus on ‘acting locally and thinking globally’ continues with our plan to significantly shift to solar energy with the planned installation of a new solar Photovoltaic (PV) system, which will be housed on the roof of the St Louis Sports Centre. Our new PV system will offset some of the College’s carbon emissions through reduced reliance on fossil-based fuel energy, whilst also providing substantial energy savings.

In addition, our new solar system will also serve as an important educational opportunity. Part of the installer’s contractual obligations will be the commitment to explaining the technology, design and installation of our new PV system with interested students across both the Primary and Secondary Schools. The new PV system will also include data screens supporting students in their understanding of the significant impact solar energy can make to protecting our ‘common home’. 

I extend my deep appreciation on behalf of the College to the Parents’ Association for embracing the College’s efforts to reduce our carbon footprint and provide our students with an opportunity to better understand the importance and impact of acting locally. The Parents’ Association contribution of $100,000 to this project is significant and demonstrates our community’s environmental commitment.

As way of background, in 2015 Pope Francis issued the encyclical Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, which serves as a heartfelt plea for environmental stewardship and ethical responsibility as a response to the global threat of climate change. As a follow up in 2023, Pope Francis wrote Laudate Deum, highlighting that representatives from 190 countries have met annually since Laudato Si was published to address the issue of climate change. While there has been some progress, the principles agreed on have not yet been implemented, and national interests are too often placed before the common good.

It is important to note that the issue of climate change has not escaped our students’ keen sense of societal critique.  As adults, we can often underestimate the depth and breadth of this critique, failing to recognise the old saying that ‘still waters run deep’.  This is particularly the case in a College like ours where our students’ keen sense of justice is so real and where our students are also so attuned to situations of injustice.

For the benefit of our new parents, our College has a long tradition of ‘acting locally and thinking globally’ in relation to environmental sustainability. In 2004, the College partnered with the Western Australian Sports Centre Trust to install a geothermal water heating system at (the then) Challenge Stadium tapping into warm water to heat their pools. The cooled water from the Stadium and is then pumped to the College and stored in the onsite lake for irrigation. Some key benefits that still exist almost over 20 years on are reduced consumption of fossil-based fuel and significant cost savings. 

By adopting more sustainable practices our College continues to reduce our ecological footprint, promote responsible consumption and help to safeguard our precious environment for future generations.  

Daniel Mahon

Principal