Assistant Principal

Mission

Tim CHAPMAN

Assistant Principal  | Mission

Greetings Friends, 

On the 15th August, the St Mary’s community came together to celebrate St Mary’s Day – one of the most important dates on our calendar. This year’s celebrations were extra special as we officially opened and blessed our newly renovated Hugh O’Brien Centre. 

The Feast of the Assumption is centred around a key Catholic belief that “the immaculate Mother of God, Mary ever virgin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven,” (Pope Pius XII). Our College embraces this day to celebrate our patron saint and all the lessons that we learn from her bravery and courage. We celebrate Mass as a community, engage in fun activities, and support our friends in the annual concert. 

With the opening of the redeveloped HOB, we were given the unique opportunity to incorporate some key elements into our Mass. Before the Mass, Gimuy Walubara Yidinji Senior Elder, Uncle Neville Reys welcomed us to country. Following this, Carl Fourmile and the Minjil cultural group performed a traditional smoking ceremony to cleanse our College. During Mass, Father Nathan blessed the building. We were able to build strong connections that will endure into the future.

The annual St Mary’s Day Spirit Awards recognised one student in each pastoral group who consistently upholds the values of our College. A special congratulations must go to Spirit Medallion recipients Ava Fitzgerald (junior) and Kiana Hardcastle (senior). These students strive to live out our College mission and make a difference in our world through faith, hope, and love. I also congratulate Robyn Dubbins and Vicky Bremner who were recognised for twenty five and twenty years of service to Catholic Education respectively. Parent, Lisa Doherty received the Jean Hay Award which recognises those who go above and beyond in their voluntary service to our College. Congratulations to all award recipients and thank you for your tireless efforts to make our College a better place. 

A huge amount of effort and planning goes into making St Mary’s Day a success and whilst it is risky to thank too many people individually (and leave some out) there a some key staff that deserve enormous gratitude. St Mary’s Day is driven year after year by Janet Ross, Jacqui Brophy, and Andrea O’Grady. Their tireless enterprise is what makes this day possible for our College. Our Campus Minister, Helena Tutoe puts in countless hours behind the scenes to coordinate our Mass so that it runs effortlessly. First Nations Education Officer, Natalia Oberleuter has been instrumental in our collaboration with our local traditional owners. One of the highlights of the day is always our concert and Chris Oxford shines under pressure to ensure students are able to embrace the opportunity to perform. Finally, Jenny Coates, our Events and Communications Manager has leapt head first into her new role this year and has been an invaluable asset to the team, coordinating special guests, caterers and picking up the myriad of loose ends that appear around such a monumental event. 

Peace and blessings