Student Wellbeing

Kerrie Williams

Assistant to the Principal - Student Wellbeing

Brigidine Celebration Day - 2020

A celebration of who we are and where we may be heading even if that is a little unclear for all of us…

Each year, at the beginning of September, Marian College celebrates our Founders Day where we look back at our tradition and the work of the Brigidine Sisters who started our community 63 years ago. We also look at all that they have achieved from very humble beginnings in Ireland. The legacy that we now have is to honour and live out their core values in all that we do each day. We live out their vision of working together as a community to respect the dignity of all as well as the world around us.

This year we have focused on the value of Justice and given all that we have been through in 2020 we decided to also incorporate the value of Hope. We aimed to celebrate our heritage and at the same time look for hope on the journey ahead not knowing exactly what that may look like.

Traditionally we would start the day with a School Mass, have Year level gatherings to focus on the theme and then a carnival in the afternoon. The day would include sharing of information of our tradition, an extensive number of different food options and carnival rides to enjoy together.

However, in a COVID world we had to imagine a different way of how this day look like.

We felt that it was important to ensure that our milestones, or key calendar dates, did not just go by because it seemed too hard to do something. We had to look and find different ways to celebrate. 

So we did, and this is what we came up with. 

We started with an opening celebration digitally presented that consisted of key aspects of our normal school gatherings, for example a liturgy. Then we received messages of hope from our sister schools from all over the country. The presentation also included greetings from a number of people including the Executive Officer of Catholic Education Melbourne, Mr Jim Miles, and guest musical appearances by Father Rob Galea and Shane Howard from the band Goanna fame.

Then all our students were invited to engage in a range of different activities linked to our heritage and theme. These involved a level of creativity, design, construction, cooking, performing music and even acting out some of the stories that link to our history. All the while, we hoped that this part of the day would take our students away from their laptops, work with their friends, and even go and do some of the activities outside. While not overtly stated in the theme it was clear that this day was also a time to focus on our own wellbeing and do something a little different to the current daily life of remote learning. At the conclusion of the day students submitted their achievements and we will acknowledge and celebrate their efforts at the end of the term.

In organising this day, and in celebrating what it means to be a member of Marian College, we have accepted that COVID-19 has provided us with many challenges as individuals and as a community. However, in the end it has also presented us with the chance to think differently and reshape what the road ahead may be for all of us. That has to be a good thing.

BCD Winners

We have had over 400 entries in the BCD activities folder and many students have submitted multiple entries in different categories. The winners at each Year Level will be announced at the end of term assembly on Friday. We will publish these in the next edition of the Marian.

Student View of BCD from one of our Lamp Bearers – Farah Besisou

Annually in September, Marian College gathers as a school community to celebrate our Catholic heritage and history rooted in the Brigidine story. Regardless of the current unexpected circumstances this year, it was essential that we assembled to commemorate the significance of Brigidine Celebration Day and escape from the current environment. To do so, Mr Leo McInerney, Assistant to the Principal - Faith and Mission, collaborated with Senior leaders, particularly the Lamp Bearers, Year 12 SRCs, JDF captains, LEO team, Liturgy team and the gospel choir to plan a Brigidine Celebration Day, different to the customary, but one that encompasses its essence, spirit and ambience.

With weekly meetings, and close communication, Brigidine Celebration Day was recreated, with students engaging with the video and subsequent activities. Each student leader participated in the creation of the pre-recorded video, taking responsibility for certain sections. Additionally, Mr. McInerney further guaranteed the appeal of the video by contacting various individuals to guest in the Celebration video. These included Bishop Mark Edwards, Sr. Louise Cleary, Sr. Brigid Arthur, Mr Jim Miles, Ms. Juliette Cox, Mr. John Mills, Mr. Gerard Broadfoot, Ms. Katie Hall, Ms. Cindy Raccolini, Mr. Arop Monykuer, Father Rob Galea, Father Barry Hughes, and Mr. Shane Howard. We want to thank each and every one of them individually for their cooperation and partnership. Moreover, students from Brigidine schools across Australia came together to deliver us messages of support, hope, strength and faith. Again, we give thanks for their encouragement and moral support during such difficult times.

Likewise, the activities provided to students was a hit! With over 300 hundred entries, we hope that students enjoyed engaging in activities that differed from the usual remote learning routine. Students who participated should also anticipate the wonderful prizes, which will be handed to them once school begins in term 4.

Overall, we are proud to say that our very first remote Brigidine Celebration Day was a huge success! It is imperative to acknowledge all contributions made by senior student leaders and Mr. McInerney. Finally, we hope that students remotely experienced the spirit of Brigidine Celebration Day, and engaged in the meaning and importance of this significant day. 

From now, till we all meet again in term 4, we hope that you stay safe and continue working-hard,

On behalf of the Lamp Bearers, and Student Senior Leaders,

Farah Besisou

Student Leadership Day

Given the new information from the Government regarding the return to school plan for our Year 11/12 we were hoping that we would be able to have our Student Leadership Day with our Year 11’s as we begin the process of planning for the election of our Student Leaders for 2021.

This will now take place at the beginning of Term 4 when our students have returned to the campus after the 12th October.

In future editions of the Marian we will bring you updates of where things are at in the process.

RU Okay Day?

Thursday 10th September was the annual RU OKAY? Day. While we should be looking out for each other everyday and following up if any of our friends say that they are not okay our student leaders decided that they would focus on this day with all of us.

They asked students and staff to wear YELLOW and to take a photo of themselves or their pets with a message of HOPE. 

Below is our Student Leaders thoughts of the day

Our Student Leaders have come up with the following messages for all of us in the poster below: