From our Principal

Dear Parents, Students and Friends,

Welcome to the final edition of the College Newsletter for 2020

The True Meaning of Christmas

I ventured out to the shops on the weekend and couldn’t help but be struck by two things. Firstly the amount of people. It would appear that people in Melbourne have put COVID behind them. The second is the single-minded focus on Christmas presents. I was left wondering, is this the true meaning of Christmas?

Within a Catholic, Christian context clearly the meaning of Christmas is much more significant than presents. In what has been the most tumultuous of years, Christmas and the Advent season provides us with an opportunity to pause, reflect and wait in anticipation for the birth of Jesus. The four candles of the Advent wreath are a reminder of our mission as Catholic, Christian people. Each represents the four weeks leading up to Christmas and each has a specific focus. Week 1, the Angel’s candle represents hope. In Week 2 the candle symbolizes faith, the third joy and the fourth represents faith.

The question I ask myself and encourage others to do likewise is, how can we bring hope, faith, joy and peace into the lives of others we are close to as well as those that we continue to meet on life’s journey?

Presentation Night

This year’s Presentation Night has taken on a new format. With COVID restrictions limiting attendance numbers the event was converted to a pre-recorded affair. Reduced in length, with an absence of performance pieces and audience as well as campus based, the event took on a very different look but a highly successful event nonetheless. Presentation Night is always about recognizing those that have shown excellence and perseverance, be it academically, on the sporting field, in service to others or outstanding contribution to the community. Each of the awards has a criteria attached to it, a marker of success. In 2020 we had to consider different markers of success. Those markers of success had to be considered within a learning and school environment which saw a significant portion of the year with students learning in a remote setting. To that end the markers of success in 2020 find no peer. Our award recipients have risen above the challenges of the year to excel, to succeed, to be chosen above all others for their contributions. For this they are to be congratulated.

Below you will find a list containing students awarded as dux of their year level, together with a number of other awards and the respective recipient. These awards are in the main for significant contribution to the college over the course of 2020.

Year Level Dux – Combined Campus Award

Recipients of the Kwong Lee Dow Scholarship. Congratulations to the following:

      Clyde North Campus – Bellington Besa

      Cranbourne Campus – Patrick Natoli, Hivin Singappulige

Recipients of the Monash Scholars Program

      Annalise Galojilic, Giovanna Lorenzin, Alexander Rickard

College Awards

Emergent VCE Graduate Showcase

Every year Casey Council invites two students from the region to co-curate Emergent VCE Graduate Showcase. As a co-curator, students gain insight into the exhibition development process. They work closely with the Emergent curatorial panel reviewing and assessing applications and assisting with exhibition design. 

One of our students has been selected to co-curators for Emergent 2020, congratulations to Jermaine Ibarra from the Clyde North Campus. 

This is a great achievement and will be a very valuable experience for him. 

Thank-you

As this is the last newsletter for this year I’d like to end by saying thank-you. 2020 has been a year of challenges. I wish to pay tribute to the leadership team for their dedicated and hard-working approach in ensuring the college not only met our core responsibility of leading learning and teaching but thrived under the model of schooling designed out of necessity. 

I wish to pay tribute to staff, teaching and non-teaching. This year we have witnessed teamwork and collaboration meet new levels. Their commitment to ensuring students experience engaging learning under extraordinary circumstances has been inspirational. 

I wish to pay tribute to our students who have risen above any challenge presented to them in 2020, embraced the learning circumstances and achieved positive learning outcomes.

Finally I wish to pay tribute to you our parents who have worked in partnership with the college like never before. You have supported us and together we have ensured your children and our students have been engaged and have experienced success in their learning. My thanks is extended to you all.

I wish everyone a peace-filled Christmas and a prosperous beginning to 2021.

Mr Chris Black

Principal