From the College Principal 

Dear Parents, Carers, Students and Friends of the St Gregory’s College Community,

As we near the end of Term 3, it is important to look in the rear vision mirror and to acknowledge the commitment and dedication shown by our staff, students and families over the past eight weeks, needless to say, in very difficult conditions. As I say on a regular basis within our community at St Gregory’s College, we are living with the pandemic and with God’s grace and blessings we are currently being able to keep our students, staff and families as safe as possible. Whilst we have not been able this term to meet face to face at the College, the online learning program, the events we have run online for students and parents, and the ongoing communications have enabled us to adjust to a new way of doing things - in a COVID safe way. Of course, we all yearn for the opportunity to be able to join together at the College as a community again. It will happen, but we want to ensure that when it does happen, the members of our community, staff, students and families, feel safe to do so and health advice supports the return to school in our context here at St Gregory’s. 

Next week we begin the final five days of the term – Year 11 students will be commencing their End of Preliminary course assessments during the week; Year 12 will begin to receive feedback on their recently completed end of HSC Course assessments and they will continue preparing for their HSC exams which will begin on Tuesday 9 November; Year 10 students have now finalised their Stage 6 course selections for 2021; Year 8 have been participating in their Stage 5 elective subject choices; Years 7 – 10 will be reaching the mid-point of their Semester 2 studies and preparing for their final term, and our wonderful Kindergarten to Year 6 students continue to grow in their learning under the watchful eyes (online!) of our talented Junior School staff. We are blessed to be members of this great community at St Gregory’s!  

THE FEAST OF THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY – Earlier this week on Wednesday 8 September, as a College and Catholic community we celebrated The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As a Marist community at St Gregory’s, Mary plays a significant role in the charism in which the College is immersed.

On Wednesday, my Regional Director of Marist Schools Australia, Dr John Robinson sent me a beautiful reflection on Mary’s life. I have included the link to the full article at the bottom of this section of my Newsletter.

The section of the reflection I wanted to share with you here in the Newsletter reflects her ‘ordinariness.’ The strong minds and gentle hearts of our students at St Gregory’s reflects what Mary was like – faith-filled, accepting, dedicated, hardworking, and ordinary. It is great to be extraordinary at times, but it is equally as good for others to consistently see all the qualities that we possess which are ordinary.

“Mary had a birthday, just like you and I have birthdays. When we think of Mary’s life, we tend to think of two things: the Annunciation, when Gabriel came to ask her to be the Mother of God, and the Crucifixion, when she stood at the foot of the Cross to watch her Son give His life for us.

Two moments.  Two life-changing, earth-shattering, history-will-never-be-the-same moments.

But what about the rest of her life? Sure, there’s the birth of Jesus, the wedding at Cana, or the Presentation in the Temple. Or that little incident of losing Jesus when he was twelve. But these are just a few moments in a whole lifetime.  If we look at Mary’s life as a whole, we realize that most of her life was not spent receiving messages from angels.  It was spent: -

Doing laundry.

Making dinner.

Preparing for the Sabbath.

Praying.

Sweeping the floor.

For as extraordinary her vocation was, most of her day-to-day life was, presumably, quite… ordinary.

Just because Mary was sinless, perfect, and the model of our holiness does not mean life wasn’t ordinary. Rather, it is what she did with the ordinariness that made the extraordinary events possible.  It was because she was faithful in the ordinary that she was able to be faithful during the extraordinary.

Sometimes holiness is about life-changing events or heroic acts.  But far more often, holiness makes the ordinary extraordinary.  It transforms the mundane or the monotonous into life-giving channels of grace.  It makes the normal, everyday acts—our commute to work, our laundry, paying the bills, or carrying for a loved one—acts of love.  They might not feel any different, we might still dread them, or they might still be a little painful. But when we do them out of love, He transforms them, and He transforms us. That’s how we become saints.

Celebrate Mary’s birthday. Sure, with cake and ice cream and treats. But most of all, by living this ordinary day pursuing holiness: completing our daily tasks well, offering up annoyances, and spending a little extra time in prayer.”

Taken from - https://www.integratedcatholiclife.org/2020/09/watson-how-why-do-we-celebrate-marys-birthday/

UPDATE ON REPRESENTATIVE SPORT – Senior School – It is important to update you on the evolving situation with our representative sports program at the College. As many of you would be aware, St Gregory’s College has participated in the Metropolitan Catholic Schools (MCS) competition for over fifty years. The MCS competition has allowed our students to participate in a wide range of sporting competitions on a Thursday afternoon, as well as through MCS Carnivals such as Athletics, Cross Country and Swimming, and through MCS competitions such as Golf, Chess, Tennis, Triathlon, etc.

The MCS has also provided a pathway for our students to represent beyond the College at the MCS representative level, and on to representation at Combined Catholic Colleges (CCC) level, and at the national level, All Schools.

In 2020, Sydney Catholic Schools began planning for an Archdiocesan program of sport inclusive of the schools within their Diocesan boundaries. All Sydney Catholic Schools were invited to participate in the new program, and they were informed that they could not play regular weekly sport in any other competitions, such as the MCS. Three schools within the MCS are impacted by this directive – Patrician Brothers College, Fairfield; Marist College, Eastwood; and Trinity Catholic College, Auburn. 

The Sydney Catholic Schools Sporting Competition begins in February 2022.

The remaining MCS schools were unsure of the next steps for our association for 2022. Originally plans were considered to run the MCS in 2022 with a reduced set of schools competing, or to invite other schools into the MCS competition.

At play in the background of this matter were discussions taking place in the Parramatta Diocese for their schools to join together in a similar manner to the Sydney Catholic Schools to form a viable competition. The majority of the schools we currently compete with on Thursday afternoons are drawn from the Parramatta Diocese.

The Parramatta Diocesan schools had been informed (like the Sydney Catholic Schools), that from 2022, that they would be expected to compete in the Parramatta Diocesan Schools Sports Council competition. 

With no certainty for the future of the MCS competition for 2022 and onwards, I reached out to the Executive Director of Catholic Education, Diocese of Parramatta, Mr Greg Whitby, to see if St Gregory’s could join the Parramatta Diocesan competition from the commencement of 2022. Mr Whitby has welcomed our College with open arms to their competition and the sporting pathways offered by their organisation. In a further show of support for schools within the MCS competition, St Dominic’s College Penrith has also been welcomed into the Parramatta Diocesan competition from next year. 

With the schools from the MCS now included in either the Sydney Catholic Schools or Parramatta Diocesan sporting competitions for 2022 and onwards, the MCS will conclude at the end of 2021 after fifty-five years of operation and service to a large number of participating schools.

St Gregory’s College has enjoyed great success in the varied MCS competitions over the years and is able to look back through the record books to find many, many entries indicating the prowess of the students and teams from the College.

From the commencement of 2022, St Gregory’s will enter teams in the Parramatta Diocesan Sport Tier 1 Boy’s competitions for Thursday afternoon inter-school sport. The Tier 1 competition will be reflective of the previous MCS competition. 

The Parramatta Diocesan Sport model (Tier 1 Boys) has three seasons in the year: – 

• Season 1 – Running from early February 2022 to the end of Term 1, 2022 – Basketball & Cricket
• Season 2 – Running from early May 2022 to mid-August 2022 – Football (Soccer) & Rugby League
• Season 3 – Running from early September 2022 to late November 2022 – AFL & Touch Football

As a member school of Parramatta Diocesan Sport, our students will also compete in the Diocesan carnivals for Athletics, Swimming and Cross Country. In addition, our students will be invited to compete as teams and individuals in a range of other sports – Tennis, Golf, Triathlon, etc.

Importantly and where applicable, our talented sporting students and sporting teams will use Parramatta Diocesan Sport as their pathway for further representation to Diocesan teams, Combined Catholic Colleges teams, etc. In some sports, the pathway to state and national representation differs.

During Term 4, Mr Jamie Cook, our Leader of Sport and Cocurricular will work closely with Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta staff members to shape and organise the 2022 seasons. As progress is made, with draws and calendars being made available, I will again provide updates.

I take this opportunity to sincerely thank the organisers of the MCS competition for their commitment and dedication to student sport over the past fifty years. St Gregory’s College has thoroughly enjoyed our involvement, and now we look forward to our new beginnings in the Parramatta Diocesan Sport program over the coming years. 

WE NEED TO TEACH HOPE – Sadly, not all our students are hopeful. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have severely impacted our student’s resilience and their capacity to be hope-filled. Hopeful students believe their future will be better than their present and think they have the power to shape a better future. As educators, we need to do a better job teaching young people how to hope because hopeful thinking combines future thinking with a sense of agency or efficacy. Studies have shown that a person’s positive expectations for the future are tightly correlated with academic and life success. Researchers have found that hope can boost a student’s school achievement by 12%.

Let’s look at a number of misconceptions: -

1. Misconception #1: ‘Daydreaming’ is bad for students. When teachers see students with that dreamy gaze, they usually assume the student is off task and needs to be brought back to reality. But students’ daydreaming is often about what is going on in class and how it relates to the future. Daydreaming gives a child a chance to take a future for a test drive. It is where imagination sparks creativity and where plans and designs for the future are developed.
2. Misconception #2: All goals are created equal. Not so. Students’ daydreams may wander all over the place, but two fundamental life goals are the most powerful: having a good job and a happy family. These expectations, the foundation of a good life, are what draw students forward.
3. Misconception #3: Wishing is the same as hoping. Wishes are mental fast food. They are mind candy that satisfies the moment but do nothing to nourish us for the long haul. Wishing is future thinking that sparks no action.

Then, how can we tell the difference between a wish and a hope? Hope starts an individual thinking about ways to make their life better and gets them moving in the right direction.

Students who are hopeful about the future have three characteristics that set them apart from students who are not:

1. They are excited about something in the future. That one thing can be big or small, novel or run-of-the-mill, close at hand or far in the future as long as it teaches them to look forward with positive expectations. It can be a family trip, a sporting event, a College event. This is part of a hopeful mindset that gets young people excited about the future and their future selves. They become more animated and this display of positive emotions attracts attention and support from people who can help them along the way.
2. Hopeful students tend to have good attendance at the College. There is a close correlation between excellent attendance and hope.
3. Hopeful students are engaged. They are truly invested in what is happening around them and eager to get something out of their classes and other activities.

How can parents and teachers work closely together to ensure we are filling our young people with hope. Here are a few suggestions: -

1. Give students goals that really matter to them.
2. Teach students to put hope into action. Help them implement strategies that will get them good grades and to overcome family issues, academic struggles and health problems. Teach them to match their will with their ways, think flexibly, and create alternative strategies to reach their goals.
3. Show students how to make when and where plans. Studies have shown that students who decide when and where they will work on and complete a project are three to four times more likely to follow through than students whose action plans are vague.

R U OK? WEEK – R U OK? week has been an important time to reflect on our own attitudes to mental health, and to help our students do the same. Sometimes all it takes is asking one simple question: R U OK? In 2021, the issue of mental health is high on the agenda for all schools and families around the country. With a global pandemic adding a large dose of extra anxiety into the lives of our students and staff alike, talking about our emotions and asking R U OK? is more vital than ever before.

With more families living, working and learning from home, there’s no denying that the first half of this year has been a struggle for many Australians of all ages.

I congratulate our College for acknowledging this important week and thank both the staff and students for adding to our positive education initiative across the College. Thank you to our wonderful College Counselling Team and Mr Vetrano for their organisation of a great week of R U OK? activities. 

CONGRATULATIONS – As a community, we congratulate our Year 11 students who last week at the online Feast of St Gregory celebrations were inducted as our new student leaders for Term 4 – 2021 and 2022. Congratulations to Lucas Braithwaite (College Captain) and Ben Kelly (Boarding Captain) and their teams for the honour of leading the College over the next twelve months. A full list of our new Student Leaders appears in the Director of Mission section of this Newsletter.

I also congratulate our ‘outgoing’ 2020 / 2021 Student Leaders, led by Lachlan McInerney, Charlie Redman, Bayley Suters and Lachlan McGufficke. These fine young men have led with passion and commitment. They have left a great legacy for our new student leaders to build on over the next year.

YEAR 12 GRADUATION EVENTS – Our normal Year 12 Graduation celebrations need to be placed on hold, unfortunately. At this stage, we have no clear plans for any of the normal Year 12 Graduation events – the Graduation Assembly; the Graduation Mass and, the Graduation Dinner. Until we have received the return to face-to-face advice from NSW Health, we are not able to plan these important celebratory events. We will continue to keep you informed as we receive updated information. Needless to say, the Year 12 Graduation events on the 2021 schedule for Friday 17 September are postponed until further notice.

At this stage, Year 12 online classes will resume on Tuesday 5 October. Further information in relation to Year 12 classes leading up to the HSC Exams on Tuesday 9 November will be provided soon.

THANK YOU – A few important thank you messages to: -

• Our staff and students involved in our 2021 Book Week celebrations. Thank you to our organising team of teachers, led by Rachael Cosentino; Lee Ursino, Greg Bond, Terezija Quinn, Kellie Husband and Michelle Gardiner. A wonderful celebration of reading and literacy across the College.
• Our amazing team of staff and students led by Cathie Clarke, Bernie Malone, Lydia Khoury, Don Perna and Stephen Bullock for our Feast of St Gregory online celebrations.
• Our Science staff led by John Dinnen for the 2021 National Science Week activities.
• Our International Literacy Day team led by Lee Ursino, Alison Buckley, Rachel Cosentino and Melissa Watts.

END OF TERM 3 & START OF TERM 4 REMINDER - A reminder that all classes conclude in Term 3 on Friday 17 September at 2.45pm for our Kindergarten – Year 12 students. All students are expected to attend their online classes until the end of term. We all need to finish each term strongly and work in a sustained fashion until the last period on the final day.

A reminder that online learning recommences for all students (Kindergarten to Year 12) on Tuesday 5 October at 8.30am.

Finally, thank you again for your ongoing support, encouragement, friendship and wise counsel. Please stay healthy and safe.

I wish you God’s blessings always. May Mary, our Good Mother, Saint Marcellin Champagnat and Saint Gregory continue to guide us and inspire us on our journey.

Quae Seminaveris Metes – “You will reap what you sow."

Mr Lee MacMaster 

College Principal (K-12)