From the Principal
Our calendar continues to tick over and last week, we moved into one of the more significant times in our year.
Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of our Lenten journey which will culminate with our Easter celebrations. Each member of our community took the opportunity to be involved in a Liturgy that signified the journey that is to be undertaken. Students were encouraged to turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel and to understand that Jesus lives in their heart, and He loves them.
During this Lenten season our focus will continue the journey that Jesus takes in the 40 days as He prepares to make the ultimate sacrifice for us on the cross. Each student in the Liturgy was encouraged to look into how they could make some sacrifice during this period, and we explored donations to Project Compassion, Caritas Australia's annual fundraising campaign, as one of the options.
Our community is part of the greater global community, and our students will explore how they can help support those less fortunate than ourselves.
International Women's Day
Tuesday 8 March was International Women's Day and as a College we took the opportunity to acknowledge the day and discuss its significance. We welcomed three of our alumni back to their alma mater—Kelsie Raspin (class of 2010), Holly Andrée (class of 2017) and Lucy Eade (class of 2020) to attend two separate events on the day.
All three young women spoke of their St Mary's journey and reflected on their school experience. The common theme of their discussions was the importance of finding something that you're passionate about by making the most of every opportunity presented to you. Kelsie, Holly and Lucy all agreed that they sweated the little things at school, which caused them and their families much stress at times. They encouraged the students to be kinder to themselves and to embrace challenge and failure by focusing on the outcomes.
A big thank you to all three alumni who had an impact on our students.
Co-curricular
Our co-curricular activities continue to take a prominent part of our students' time, with many teams, bands, activity groups all continuing to represent St Mary’s with great success. In the bigger team events, our rowing crew have their state championships and the Head of the River in the coming weeks, and our junior and senior swimming teams will compete in their upcoming carnivals.
We take this opportunity to thank all who have supported our students either as a coach, volunteer, spectator or cheer leader. None of these activities are possible without the generous time given in supporting our students.
COVID-19 update
In the time since our last Fountain, the COVID-19 details continue to change and, as a school, we have had a number of class outbreaks but have been fortunate to not have reached 'school outbreak' status.
We have worked closely with Tasmania Public Health and Catholic Education Tasmania as we report daily the number of cases we have in our community and then act on the advice given to us.
In the coming weeks the Premier will start to explore and evaluate the guidelines by which we need to operate, and we will keep you informed as details come to hand. The link on our website here will provide you with all the updated information.
Tasmanian Catholic Schools Parent Council
Expressions of interest are sought for a St Mary’s College representative for the Tasmanian Catholic Schools Parent Council (TCSPC). Given the council plays a vital role in being a voice for parents and carers, which in turn assists the TCSPC with a strong and vibrant voice for parents and carers at a local and national level, I would encourage you to put your name forward by emailing me by the end of Term 1.
I take this opportunity to thank retiring St Mary’s College representative, Lisa Norris for her contribution to the council.
Damian Messer
Principal