WHAT’S TO CELEBRATE AS WE START 2022

Wellspring for Women

The participants at Wellsprings for Women are overjoyed to be back learning face-to-face. Once again, our dilemmas are beginning to revolve around limitations of physical space to place women and their children, which is an issue we have not had to deal with for a while– a very welcome change and definitely one to celebrate. 

As our staff trickled back to work in January to prepare for the year ahead, we were very fortunate to invite a busload of women and children to celebrate diversity in Balnarring. Our inaugural Multicultural Encounters Festival, a collaboration with our partners, Saltbush Balnarring Beach (formerly Presentation Family Centre), was a great success! This event was a true celebration of diversity, and coming together again with food, dancing and activities held on a sunny day in the picturesque surrounds of Saltbush. It lifted our spirits and was a reminder that there is much to look forward to! 

You can view the festival video here:

Marian College, Sunshine West

There is much to look forward to and celebrate in 2022 at Marian College. Using the outcomes of a very successful whole school review in 2021 we have launched new Vision and Mission Statements and a new School Improvement Plan 2022 - 2024 will be presented to the College community shortly. With a focus on connecting with our Brigidine and Kildare Ministries tradition, developing authentic community partnerships and supporting the growth of all members of the school, the Plan is a significant platform for future developments at Marian. Moreover, the foundation of our year will be supported and underpinned through a commitment to the core value “Compassion – walking with and having empathy for all” and the Living Justice Living Peace charter.

Killester College, Springvale

At Killester College, we have commenced our new program for all Years 7-9 students called WONDER. Every Thursday students are involved in active learning that is purposeful, informed, engaging and just. It is based around a blend of instructional strategies, high impact teaching and design thinking. The core purpose of the program is to empower students to create, innovate and solve real world problems, learning new content and new skills as they need them, while also utilizing the enormous capacity they already have.

WONDER has commenced with all students working in teams in week 1 to invent an engaging game using ‘found objects’, their ingenuity and an empathy for game users. Students were engaged cognitively, behaviourally and emotionally with elements of challenge, competition, controversy, creativity, choice, collaboration and connection being added to the lesson design by their enthusiastic and informed teachers. The buzz across Years 7, 8 and 9 was a testimony to the students willingness to take a risk and the teachers' careful and astute planning. 

Star of the Sea College, Brighton

2021 Star of the Sea College Academic Awards Ceremony

On Thursday 3 February, the College welcomed students from the Class of 2021 and their guests, for the annual Academic Awards Ceremony.

The College Dux, Erin Fullard achieved an ATAR of 99.75 (with studies in Biology, Chemistry, English, Mathematical Methods, Physical Education, Specialist Mathematics) and will commence her tertiary studies at The University of Melbourne, having enrolled in a Bachelor of Biomedicine.  We are immensely proud of our overall results at an individual and collective level and congratulate all students their families and teachers who have supported them throughout the years. 

St. Joseph's College, Echuca

There is always a lot to look forward to at the start of a new school year, but after two years of interrupted learning and a feeling of disconnection, there is a real sense of excitement for a fresh start as we gather onsite at St Joseph's College in 2022. We welcomed with joy, our Year 7 students, 32 new students across the other year levels and some new staff. All of them adding energy to our community.  

Whilst we continue to navigate the impacts of the pandemic, we have transitioned smoothly into the academic year thanks to the hard work, preparation and commitment of our staff.   Work is well underway on our new Campus (Still pondering on the naming of our Campuses) which will see us become the first KEM school to transition to a multi campus school in 2023. 

Brigidine College, Indooroopilly

The academic year started a little differently again in 2022 with a delayed start date and our students Learning from Home for the first week of school. 

During our Staff Professional Development week, we launched our 2022-2024 Strategic Plan, the College’s Leadership Framework and the Kildare Ministries theme of Compassion, reflecting on the past and looking ahead to the future and how we can all incorporate compassion into our teaching, learning and everyday life.

We celebrated the return of face-to-face learning on 7 February with our Opening Liturgy later that week.  Fr Pan officiated and reflected on the positivity for the year ahead, and about how we can walk together with empathy for all in this year of compassion.  The ministry team worked closely with the young men from ATC to create a vibrant liturgical experience for the commissioning of our Year 12 cohort.

Our students have already had the opportunity to join together at a number of functions – Academic Award Assembly where we had a record number of students receive awards for their 2021 results, our Opening Liturgy, the Interhouse Swimming Carnival – with much excitement, competitiveness and enthusiasm, and our 2021 Graduates Awards Ceremony where we announced our Dux and Sr Patricia Whitby award recipients. 

Looking to the future there is much to celebrate – the shared experiences, the opportunities to walk with and have empathy for all, and the exciting future our Strategic Plan highlights for Brigidine College, Indooroopilly.

Marian College, Ararat

It was an exciting return to school in late January for our students after what has been a long period of uncertainty.  The new Year 7 students have settled in well. In the first week our Year 12s enjoyed a very productive reflective three days of Retreat at Cave Hill Creek.    I know this time together in thoughtful prayer and reflection helps to build their confidence and creative ideas of what our community needs.  We wish them well.  After a delay of a few weeks, our Year 7 students will travel to Lorne for the Induction Camp.  This is a time when they learn a little about their peers, the College and the values and beliefs that underpin our work. They are a delightful group who appear to have settled in well.  

We celebrated our opening mass with restricted numbers in the hall, but it was a special occasion to welcome back the parents of our College leaders to witness the commissioning of their children. We look forward to reconnecting with all our families this year with restrictions further easing and we welcome visitors back onsite.    

Clonard College, Geelong

With the return of students and staff to school in 2022, there are many examples of what we have to celebrate as a community.  The smiling faces of students in the school yard, the energy that teachers are able to bring to classes now that we are face to face and the support and encouragement that teachers are able to offer to students in numerous short incidental chats. In 2022, Clonard College was able to gather online and to a lesser extent in person to celebrate our High Achievers from 2021 as well as conducting our Opening School Mass within the College grounds. To be able to meet and come together as a community is truly something to celebrate in 2022. This year our KM theme is compassion, a human quality that will drive and enhance much of our thinking for 2022. Putting ourselves in the shoes of others is something to celebrate in 2022.