Principal's Update 

Meet our 2024 College Leaders

The College has recently announced its new College Student Leaders for 2024. Thank you to all students who offered their talents in nominating for these positions. The range of strengths demonstrated by all who sought leadership positions bodes well for the College and its student body in 2024. The beauty is that leadership is not defined by a badge and all our Year 12 students will be called upon to support our nominated leaders in guiding the College through the year.

The College Student Leaders of 2024 are: 

Archie Lamb College Captain

Tom Gregory College Vice-Captain

Hugo Risvanis College Vice-Captain

Lucas Shaw -College Vice-Captain

Leadership is the art of guiding, uplifting, and empowering others, even in the face of adversity. It is about standing up for what is right, even when it is challenging, and leading by example with integrity, compassion, and a relentless drive to improve the lives of others.

We want our Student Leaders and all Year 12s to demonstrate the power of dedication and the enduring spirit of our Lasallian charism: Faith in Action, Service to Others, Inclusive Community and Pursuit of Excellence.

We look ahead with excitement and anticipation to the contribution of our incoming student leaders. While they have big shoes to fill, I have no doubt they will rise to the occasion with the same wonderful spirit of servant leadership that has defined our community.

You can read more about our 2024 Leaders from the leaders themselves here. 

The Strength of our Old Collegians Community

Our students have now completed a very successful competition in the F1 in Schools competition, putting their skills in STEM and beyond to the test. 

Our Old Collegians have been crucial with their support of our students by passing on their skills and guiding the training sessions. It is pleasing to note that our Year 9 F1 in Schools team, Aiolos, has now advanced to the National Finals to be held in Adelaide next March.  Well done to Nick Shipham, Luca Sullivan, T’zario Lay, Matt Donnelly and Roháhn Marie-Jeanne for their stellar team effort. 

Thanks to our Old Collegians who have guided our F1 in Schools students across this process. To Paul Steinfort (1966), Joel Bright (2018), Angus O’Toole (2019), Rhys Bennett (2019) and Tom Skehan (2019), thank you for your patience and support of students. 

Peter Russell (2018) has been the driving force behind the F1 in Schools program at St Bede’s College. It means so much to our students to have this support from former College students. 

The strength of the Old Collegians Community is something of great pride. We recently held a 30-year reunion for the Old Collegians of 1993. This concluded the 2023 calendar of Old Collegian reunions, including 1-, 10-, 20-, 30-, 40- and 50+ year get togethers. 

Attendances were a very pleasing indication of the continuing ties between old school mates and their Almer Mater. 

Thank you to the St Bede's Old Collegians Association, Lucy Noonan and David Cracknell who have been responsible for the organisation and conduct of these reunions.

Kids Helpline Secondary Schools Launch

St Bede’s College recently hosted the national launch of Kids Helpline into secondary schools.

At an assembly attended by our Year 7 students, together with the Federal Member for Holt, Cassandra Fernando, MP; Tracey Adams, CEO of yourtown; Mr Roger Sharp from the Bupa Foundation and sponsor of Kids Helpline, Kids Helpline staff, Theresa Lincoln from MACS and representatives from Kilbreda College and Mentone Park Primary School, St Bede’s College was able to join with fellow-Lasallian organisation, yourtown, in another expansion of the welfare work it has provided for so many years, particularly for children, young people and families. 

In true Lasallian spirit, yourtown works to enable young people, especially those marginalised and without voice to improve their quality of life. The services of yourtown, including Kids Helpline, tackle some of the toughest issues facing children, young people and families in Australia: homelessness, family violence, mental health and wellbeing, and youth unemployment. 

The magnitude of the mental health needs in the Australian general population, and particularly for young people, has been increasingly recognised by society and Governments, but also by schools. Kids Helpline in primary schools has been a very significant aspect of this increased consciousness. Kids Helpline is a national free 24/7 telephone and online counselling and support service helps 5- to 25-year-olds, with special capacity for young people experiencing mental health issues. 

In 2020, there were 2,147,759 unique visitors to the Kids Helpline website - a staggering 974% increase over the 10 years since 2010. Nearly 70% of all young people who contact the service are high school-aged, with their top concerns being mental health, emotional wellbeing, relationships with family and friends, bullying, and suicide and self-harm concerns.

To support Kids Helpline's ability to assist high school students, the Bupa Foundation has invested an additional $300,000 to bring the service into Secondary Schools.  

In many ways, schools have moved well beyond mere statements about attending to the mental health and development of students to now deliberately providing special programs at each level of the school curriculum and to providing increased counselling services and support. 

Improving student mental health literacy, coping, and resilience skills and promoting help-seeking behaviours is now embedded in the core business of schooling. Thankfully, young people in schools - but not all - are increasingly prepared to speak up, but also to provide support to one another. 

More information on this service is available here.

International Boys’ Schools Coalition

I am pleased to announce that St Bede’s College is now a member of the International Boys’ Schools Coalition (IBSC). 

The IBSC is dedicated to the education and development of all students at boys’ schools across the world, the professional growth of those who work with them, and the advocacy and the advancement of institutions—primarily schools for boys—that serve them. 

As members, our teachers and support staff have access to a wealth of  global resources and research centred on educating boys, the most valuable of which will be considered in our Learning and Teaching approach. 

As an official member of the ISBC global community, this further recognises St Bede's College championing of boys’ education, and our commitment and passion for advancing the learning experiences of our students. 

For more information, please visit  ISBC. 

Advent 2023

The four Sundays that lead up to Christmas mark the liturgical season of Advent and the commencement of a new liturgical year for the Church. In Advent, we are renewed with anticipation of the birth of Jesus - Christ the King; Light of the World; Son of God; Prince of Peace; King of Kings. As St (Pope) John Paul II said one First Sunday of Advent, “In Advent, we await an event which occurs in history and at the same time transcends it.”

Both Lent and Advent are seasons of waiting, preparation, and penance. During Lent, we await Christ’s return from 40 days in the desert, His loving sacrifice for us, and Resurrection. In Advent, we prepare for His birth. Yet, these seasons of waiting look different for us – Advent is a uniquely joyous and hopeful season in the Church. We prepare our homes and hearts for four weeks before Christmas. 

The season of Advent was likely first celebrated in the fifth century, originating from the tradition of fasting several times a week. As it is the winter season in the northern hemisphere, we light candles amidst the darkness.  We find warmth and we come together as friends and family to celebrate the coming of our Savior. Though it is never explicitly mentioned in the Bible, Advent is inspired by scripture. Isaiah, a prophet, foretold Jesus’s birth centuries before it took place: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

The Advent candles are lit as follows:

First candle / 1st Sunday: HOPE (The Prophecy Candle)

Second candle / 2nd Sunday: PEACE (The Bethlehem Candle)

Third candle / 3rd Sunday: JOY (The Shepherd’s Candle)

Fourth candle / 4th Sunday: LOVE (The Angel’s Candle)

Per vias rectas

Deb Frizza

Principal 

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Bunurong people of the Kulin Nation, whose ancient wisdom nurtured these lands and waters for millennia.