Deputy Principal

Our Expectations Must Remain High

At the Assembly last week, I took the opportunity to remind our students that we are the current custodians of St Patrick’s College, and we are blessed to be part of a strong and vibrant community due to Edmund Rice starting the Christian Brothers. I reminded our students of the numerous things they do well. They support each other, they have a strong sense of camaraderie. Visitors to the College often remark on how welcome they feel. You see their spirit at College Supporters’ Days and at our Swimming and Athletics carnivals. They have a sense of occasion which I bore witness to at the Football Presentation Evening last term.

I reminded them also that there are areas that they need to improve. This is not their school. As a collective it is our school. Unfortunately, we still have students who sit in class and think they have a right to disrupt the learning of others. We have students who jump the barriers at Strathfield station as they do not have an Opal card. We have students who do not stand up for adults on public transport, who block doorways of trains, who sit on the floor of buses so the general public cannot get through. These are all true stories as I receive complaints from teachers and the public. 

We even have some students who post pictures of staff on social media with terrible captions and defamatory comments. I reminded our student body that our staff are human as well. We are sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, sisters, and brothers. We have feelings too, and I will not stand for students targeting our staff. While it is a small minority, it is happening, and it is real.

At the end of last term, I took the opportunity to meet with our new Student Leadership Team. I wanted to get their feedback on how we can improve. Their comments were that some of the behaviour needs to be addressed by the parents, as there is no place for this behaviour at our school and parents need to support the College. 

Last week again I had a staff member abused at Kiss and Ride in the morning. I have some staff members who refuse to do this duty due to the intimidation they have faced. As adults we must set the example for our children. As a community we can do better than what we are doing now. 

This is a great College. At the moment though we are not at our best and I along with the staff will continue to challenge the poor behaviour. We are an inclusive community, however, that does not mean we are a community for everyone. We provide a holistic education; parents and students cannot choose to take what they want from the smorgasbord of opportunities that we offer they must choose to take all of what we offer. 

For us to get the best outcomes for your children and our community we must work together. Pope Francis says ‘It is not enough to say we are Christians. We must live the faith, not only in our words, but with our actions.’ He also says, ‘The family is a community of love where each of us learns to relate to others and to the world around us.’ This is true of our community. Our mission statement says, ‘We are preparing faithful and inclusive men for a dynamic world.’ This is coherent with the words of Pope Francis.

Our College Captain for 2024, Michael Sakr spoke to the student body about the strength he has drawn from them with his own personal challenges. He said he gains strength from the students standing behind him and supporting him. My hope is that we can all stand behind each other and draw strength from each other. We need to work together to produce better outcomes for our community. If we work together then this community will remain strong.

Adrian Byrne

Deputy Principal