Senior School

VCE exams

As Term 3 draws to a close, our Year 12 cohort draw closer to their final exams.  In the last few weeks of the term, they have completed their final SACs and are now preparing themselves for the next stages of their lives, or the final VCE Exams.  

For those going on to the exams, they have been provided with holiday homework for all their subjects that they are required to complete.  This work is structured around the lead up to the exams and putting them in the best position possible to get the best from their abilities.  

We have endeavoured to give them direction on how to organise their time over the holidays to ensure they are able to complete the work, and also recharge their batteries for the final run home.  

Throughout the year, my message has been simple: focus on the process, put in 100 per cent effort and the outcome will be the best of your capacity.  Effort takes people a long way in life and is a fantastic attribute for the boys to take into the next stage of their life and beyond. Their “job is not done yet”, so it’s important they remain focused.

Next week, as part of the preparation for their final exams, we are running a week of Practice Exams for all Unit 3/4 subjects, so there will also be Year 11’s who are accelerating in a subject coming in to complete this task.  All students have been provided with a timetable for the practice exam period which runs from Monday, 16 September to Thursday, 19 September. 

Year 11 Assembly

On Thursday, our Year 11 Assembly focused on R U OK? Day, encouraging students to look out for their friends and providing advice on how to approach a situation where they are concerned about a friend.  It would be great for parents to engage in conversations with their sons in this space. More information can be found here: 

A conversation could change a life | R U OK? 

We also focused on the fact that as a cohort, they will soon be the leaders of the school, and I challenged them to consider what is the legacy they wish to leave behind as a cohort and what is the legacy they wish to leave behind individually.  

The boys were reminded of a quote that I included in a speech I delivered at our Inclusion Assembly earlier in the year:

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamour of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

Martin Luther King

As an example of legacy and an example of good people not remaining silent, I invited Year 12 student Ollie Hannaford to talk about the “Break the Cycle” initiative that he spearheaded this term drawing attention to gender-based violence and raising money for the Raven Collection in the process. Ollie and a team of staff and students made a statement through the Break the Cycle initiative that has contributed significantly to the fabric of St Patrick’s, leaving a legacy to be built.

At this stage of the year, I think it’s important to recognise all the staff that have put in their time and effort in supporting the boys become the best versions of themselves.  It is an exciting time of their lives, either finishing up their time with us or embarking on their final year of their schooling, and the staff remained dedicated and motivated to enabling them to continue to progress toward their desired goals in life, and toward the best version of themselves.

I wish the students, their parents, and all St Patrick’s staff a happy and safe break, and look forward to welcoming the students back on Monday, 7 October for the final term of the year and the celebrations that come with this.