From The Principal

Dear parents, students, families and friends,

Yesterday we gathered to celebrate the Feast of St. Mary MacKillop, we are reminded of the extraordinary life and legacy of Australia’s first canonized saint. This special day is an opportunity to reflect on her unwavering commitment to education, social justice, and the care of the poor and marginalized.

St. Mary MacKillop's vision and dedication transformed the educational landscape in Australia. Founding the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, she overcame numerous challenges to provide education to children in remote and underserved areas. Her innovative spirit and determination to serve the needs of the community continue to inspire us.

Let us take this time to reflect on St. Mary MacKillop’s teachings and how we can incorporate her values into our daily lives. We encourage students, staff, and families to engage in personal and communal prayer, asking for St. Mary MacKillop’s intercession and guidance to carry forward her legacy by striving to make a positive difference in the lives of others.

We come to the end of two weeks of the Olympic Games, however there is another two weeks to go with the Paralympics. It is amazing and inspiring to witness what the human body and human spirit are capable of achieving. Personal Bests, World Records and Olympic Records have been achieved and broken. Australia has had its best Olympics ever. If any of our students have Olympic dreams, I encourage them to pursue them as anything is possible if you are prepared to work hard and not give up.

Special Announcement and Fantastic News for our School Community

On the afternoon of Friday 26th July I received a phone call from the Honourable Katie Hall, MP to inform me that St. Augustine’s application for School Capital Grant Funding was successful. This was further confirmed with the official letter I received from the Honourable Ben Carroll, MP on Monday afternoon. The Grant of $2.3 million will be for the refurbishment of the ground and first floor general learning areas and student amenities, including theinstallation of a lift in the main classroom building. We have submitted applications for Capital Grant Funding for the last 5 years, so it is wonderful to see the result of all that hard work. No majorwork has been done to this part of the school since it was built in 1946 andno refurbishments since the 1980s. I told Katie Hall that this project willmean so much to our community and she responded that we have such a beautiful school community that it is well deserved. I will provide more details about timelines and project specifics when they become available.

Somerville Road and Birmingham Street Intersection

A reminder and a very strong request that the area maked by the red arrows in the image below is not to be used as a drop off and pick area. To the right of this area is the drop off and pick up area (where the black car is). It has enough space for about 3 cars. The restricted area can't be used for two reasons:

This is the crossing point for cyclists, especially students, our students on bikes.
It is a narrow point and creates congestion.

We don't want to have council parking officers or police on patrol during drop off and pick up times issuing fines. We all need to request the road rules and be considerate of the safety of others.