Faith and Wellbeing Assistant Principal's Report

Reflection

As we look back over the year we have many fond memories of generous students serving our community, sharing their gifts and talents and looking after each other.  It is a blessing to be in a community and we have such fantastic people that make up this Nazareth community, who it is a joy to share each day with.  We give thanks to all the students for their fantastic contribution to Nazareth College and also for the staff who so often go above and beyond their role descriptions to care for our students. 

Thanksgiving Mass

Our Mass on Friday 8 December 2017 was a great opportunity to come together and give thanks to God as a community for all we have received this year.  As we commence 2018 we will be blessed to come together once again before Our Lord in the Mass and ask for God’s blessing and protection on the 2018 school year.

Holidays

Holidays can be a great time for recreation and some well needed rest for all.  As we are away for such an extended time if there are issues or events over the holidays that cause some concern for your child and you think this may have an impact on their return to school, please contact your child’s Pastoral Teacher or Head of House before the students return (staff return on Monday 29 January 2018)  so we can be ready to support them as best as we can in the new year.

Thank you and Merry Christmas

As the year comes to an end, on behalf of all of the Heads of House and the Pastoral Teachers we thank all the parents and families for their support throughout the year.  It is indeed a privilege we are given when we are entrusted with your most precious gift, your child, to share with you in the incredible task of their education and Christian formation. Thank you very much for trusting us.  It has been a joy for us and we look forward to working with all the students and their families in 2018 and improving further our partnership and the work we do.

We hope and pray all families have a fantastic break and enjoy some blessed family time together.  We also pray for a blessed, joy filled, happy and holy Christmas for all of our community.

Holy Family of Nazareth – Be our inspiration and our guide

Jesus of Nazareth – Help us to grow in faith, wisdom and knowledge

Justin Duckett

Assistant Principal - Faith & Wellbeing

Wellbeing Matters

Over the course of this year during morning pastoral time, we have had a focus on virtues – character qualities we can all strive for to create more productive, happy and meaningful lives. This term we have focused on the virtues of gratitude, patience, hope self-regulation, thoughtfulness, presence and joy. Our aim has been to build character strengths through an explicit focus on how these virtues can impact our lives, our environment and our relationships, and the benefits which can come from being more virtuous. These virtues are also a great help for our formation to live a Christian life.

Next year we will build upon these ideas by having an explicit focus on encouraging positive behaviour. By having clearly written expectations as to the types of positive behaviour we desire from our school community, we aim to create a preventative, proactive environment which encourages the specific behaviour to become the norm - ‘how we do things at Naz’! A working party has been meeting throughout the year, consulting the community and taking part in professional development in preparation for the roll out next year of Positive Behaviour Support. We look forward to sharing more with you next year, where we will continue to strive to foster a positive, safe and supportive learning environment for all, which help form students to live the Christian life in the world.

Wishing you a safe, joyous Christmas and holiday period with your family and friends.

Jackie Kol

On behalf of the wellbeing team.