Deputy Principal

A Culture of Care, Connection and Growth

Mount Alvernia College’s commitment to student wellbeing is not a slogan; it is a sustained, mission-driven practice that asks us to keep learning, keep noticing, and keep showing up for our young people. Over recent weeks, I have felt a deep gratitude for the way our staff across different roles and levels have leaned into professional learning so that our care for students remains both pastoral and evidence-based.

On Wednesday this week, a team from our Student Development and Wellbeing area attended the Catholic Education Queensland Wellbeing Conference in Toowoomba. Being in the room with colleagues who work closest to student support sharpened a shared conviction: academic wellbeing and personal wellbeing are not competing priorities. They are interconnected. When students feel safe, known, and supported, they are better able to engage, take healthy risks in learning, persevere through challenge, and build the self-understanding that strengthens them for life beyond school.

Last Saturday, I was thrilled to join colleagues at Project Zero’s professional learning on “Nurturing Belonging and Agency in a Culture of Thinking”, keynoted by Ron Ritchhart. The message was both simple and profound: belonging is not a program we run; it is a culture we build, shaped by what we value, what we notice, and how we respond. Agency grows when students are invited into meaningful thinking, when their voices are taken seriously, and when they are explicitly taught the skills to reflect, collaborate, and make wise choices. This aligns strongly with our Gradual Release of Responsibility: we model and name what matters (“I Do”), we practise it together (“We Do”), and we empower students to carry it with increasing independence (“You Do”). In a secondary setting, that approach is not just about learning tasks; it is about forming confident, capable young women.

At the commencement of this term, we also had staff attend the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools Symposium, with a clear emphasis on the wellbeing of girls and on designing environments in which they can truly thrive. It was a timely reminder that girls’ schooling is most powerful when it addresses the whole person through identity, belonging, learning, relationships, and hope for the future. All of this within a community that consistently communicates: you matter here.

These experiences have stayed with me as we continue our Human Edge focus, particularly through reflections on Samantha Jensen’s work on the “Discipline of Presence”. The phrase captures something we intuitively know but can easily lose in the busyness of school life: the things that matter most are often right in front of us. Presence is not simply being nearby; it is attentive, compassionate, and intentional. It is listening without rushing. It is noticing what is said and what is not said. It is helping a student feel seen, valued, and capable of growth. And, for us, it is ultimately about our girls.

I am thankful for a College community that invests in learning so we can keep strengthening our collective capacity to understand our learners, provide spaces where they can nurture their future, and support them pastorally, academically, socially, and spiritually. This is Franciscan charism in action: a hopeful, practical commitment to the dignity of each person and to building a community where young women can flourish.

As we close the semester, may we continue to be a community marked by thoughtful presence and steady encouragement, so that our students are not only functioning but thriving as the hope-filled, resilient adults our world needs.

Every blessing,

Michelle Licina

Deputy Principal Student Development & Wellbeing