From the Principal

Open Day

This afternoon we had over 300 students staying back to assist with Open Day in the roles of tour guiding, subject demonstrations, music performance, sporting demonstrations and car park attendance. What a wonderful demonstration of the Mazenod spirit! Thank you to our students, all staff (teaching and support), parents and volunteers for their generous support of Open Day. 

It is difficult to acknowledge all contributors individually in this space, but special mention must go to Mr Brett Scarey for his co-ordination of the event and the Grounds and Maintenance and ICT teams for their hard work behind the scenes. As always Mazza Mums and parents on barbeques were behind-the-scenes-heroes. The amount of beautiful food baked and provided by Mazenod parents for the Parents Association stall was amazing and reflects the strong sense of community and involvement of our families.

Easter

Holy Week is the most important week in the Church, and it is this week. Families celebrate Easter in many ways. For some it is the thrill of an Easter egg hunt, for others it is the sharing of hot cross buns, or a meal together. As Christians, we celebrate the life, death and resurrection of Jesus by joining in prayer during Holy Week. Family is central to all the traditions of Easter, and over the Easter break I encourage all in our community to:

• Make time for family, enjoy activities together and show each other how much they are appreciated;
• Re-connect with God’s creation by being a part of our natural environment, stop and appreciate the beauty if you are travelling as we live in such a privileged place, and
• Build your relationship with Jesus by being a part of services in yours or another parish.

Reports and Holidays

Interim Reports will be released shortly and the opportunity for upcoming Three-way Consultation meetings will be available to you through Deputy Principal, Liana Angove. The holidays are a great opportunity for our students to have a change of scenery and a rest; however, for Year 12 students there should also be time set aside for study and/or completion of assessments.

Farewell

As this is my last Newsletter at Mazenod I wish to say thank you to the whole Mazenod community for your support over the past 7 years. I take up my role at Newman College from Term 2. I have felt and experienced the wonderful Mazenod Spirit, the generosity and genuine care Mazenod extends to everyone. I feel extremely blessed to have been the first ongoing lay principal of the College and to share in the lives of Mazenod families, staff, old boys and past families.

Recently, I wrote to Fr Christian Fini, Provincial of the Oblates to express my thanks and gratitude for their confidence in me to undertake the role. This is a wonderful community filled with great boys and young men and I wish everyone at Mazenod all the best for the future. St Eugene De Mazenod urged his fellow Oblates, collaborators and all who were open to the news of the Gospel to leave nothing undared for the Kingdom of God. I hope our students, staff and families continue their work to be daring in the pursuit of living the College values. I look forward to viewing from a distance Mazenod’s continued growth and development under Simon Harvey as Principal.

Stay safe during the break, thank you to the whole Mazenod community for their support of the College over the term.

“A father’s communication with his many children…that is one of the most agreeable occupations of my life.” – St Eugene De Mazenod

Andrew Watson

Principal