West Campus News

Head Start Campus Assembly

Thank you to the parents who came to our final Campus Assembly of the year to celebrate the induction of our 2019 student leaders. It is always appreciated when parents make the effort to join us and we have enjoyed increasing numbers at these events over the year. We will endeavour to keep parents informed of our assemblies throughout 2019 to ensure you can gain an insight into what is happening at the College, particularly if your child is receiving an award or showcasing their talent.

This assembly was also the first of the new academic year and so it was appropriate that we induct our 2019 College & House Captains and our Student Representative Council. Other noteworthy items included the presentation of debating badges, listening to some of the song writing success of our students and learning of the Kimbe Project Environment Competition and Vinnies Appeal for Term 4.

Year 12 Retreat

Our Year 12 students have headed off to Pallotti College in Millgrove for a 3 day/2 night retreat. This is an important opportunity for some quiet time before our Year 12’s dive into their Year 12. The retreat is also an important time to reflect on their families, friends, faith and their school experience, particularly within the house structure. We appreciate the good work of all our staff attending and Mr Matt Williams, Deputy Principal in Mission & Catholic Identity and Mr Mark Sinclair for their organisation of the retreat.

New Classes

With Head Start we have the beginning of a new academic year. One of the things I have noticed, is that increasingly students (and their parents) are much more anxious or concerned about the class to which they have been allocated. Whether it is because of their new teacher or certain other students in the class or the lack of a friend, there is a reluctance in some students to embrace this new opportunity. One of our important goals must be to develop resilience in our students. We want them to choose subjects based on their interests and passion - because we want them to choose occupations on the same basis. We want them to choose a subject regardless of the teacher or other students - because we want them to be able to enter a workforce where they can work in a team despite the fact that they will not like every co-worker or supervisor. We want them to persevere in a subject -because we know that in the future there will be days that they will not want to go to work. However, to choose to avoid work will only mean quitting before giving it a genuine go or losing their job.

We urge parents to join us in building resilience in their children.

Read the poem once through first…

Our generation will be known for nothing.

Never will anybody say,

We were the peak of mankind.

That is wrong, the truth is

Our generation was a failure.

Thinking that

We actually succeeded

Is a waste. And we know

Living only for money and power

Is the way to go.

Being loving, respectful, and kind

Is a dumb thing to do.

Forgetting about that time,

Will not be easy, but we will try.

Changing our world for the better

Is something we never did.

Giving up

Was how we handled our problems.

Working hard

Was a joke.

We knew that

People thought we couldn’t come back

That might be true,

Unless we turn things around

Now read the poem again… backwards.