Principal 

Welcome

It is a pleasure to welcome all families to a new school year at St Bede’s College.  It is especially exciting to have all students and staff onsite for the beginning of the year.  We hope to be able to invite families back onsite as the rules for larger gatherings are eased.

St Bede’s College very much prides itself on its vibrant sense of community.  In my first weeks here, the strength of that community has been very obvious.  Students, staff, families, the Brothers, the Board, the Parents and Friends, the Old Collegians, Parish Schools and the wider Lasallian Community have extended a warm welcome and St Bede’s College has quickly started to feel like home.

Enrolments continue to be strong at St Bede’s College.  We began Term 1 with 1932 students, including 349 new Year 7 students and 10 new students across other year levels.  We are also joined by a number of new staff members and wish them a professionally-rewarding experience as members of our community:

 Entering a new year is like taking a holiday to some place foreign and unknown.  You never know what quite to expect.  Life is always a trip and it helps if you travel light, that is……don’t carry your past problems…and it helps if you travel with a little trust in your heart…..a belief that everything will be alright and that you have the ability to make things alright. 

We should not enter a new year with fears…..like, this year is going to be so much harder!  Nearly all of our fears turn out to be baseless, anyway.  A new year at school provides opportunities for both teachers and students.  We have the chance to start afresh, we have the chance to learn from last year’s mistakes…..at this stage we have not made any mistakes.  Whether we want them or not, the new school year will bring its new challenges; whether we seize them or not, the new school year will also bring new opportunities. As we start this new school year, could I suggest that you set yourself the relatively simple goal of having a good February.  Determine that at the end of these four school weeks of February you will have settled into your routine of homework and study, you will be up to date with any of the tasks that your teachers have set, you will have made every class count, you will have followed up with your teacher any matters of concern to you.  February will pass very quickly, but I am sure that if at the end of it you can say, “I am on top of everything” I would be very confident that you will go on to have a very good school year….you only have to keep on doing more of the same.   Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.  Make February the first of your short races.

Staff Positions of Leadership

As we begin 2022, we have a number of staff taking on new responsibilities. One of the hallmarks of a healthy organization is the preparedness of staff to apply for leadership roles. I am pleased to say that that at St Bede’s college, many staff have put themselves forward for Position of Leadership (POL) roles to serve our community.

Thank you to staff who made applications for positions of leadership during the process in Terms 2 and 3, 2021. There is significant investment of time and energy that it takes to apply for leadership roles, all the while understanding the uncertainty of the outcome. 

Congratulations to the successful candidates and I wish them all the very best as they take on these important roles.

Staff who will have Positions of Leadership for the next three years include:

Mentone Campus:

Bentleigh East Campus: 

Our College Theme for 2022 - “Creating Pathways to New Horizons”.

The College theme has been derived from a combined reflection of the Book of Psalms, recent writings of Pope Francis and the Lasallian institute theme for 2022 “To Dream is Our Way Forward”

The theme builds on our College Motto of ‘By Right Paths’. New Horizons focuses our place as global citizens as we work on our accreditation to become a member of the Council of International Schools.  We continue to look for ways to build on our teaching and learning program to prepare our students for what lies ahead.

The four colours reflect our four College House Colours, with the green also showing our environmental focus for 2022.  The Star, of course, is a reflection of our De La Salle heritage.

I would like to acknowledge those students and staff who worked on developing both the theme and the logo and look forward to walking the pathway to new horizons with you all.

Annual Action Plan

The key foci for our Annual Action Plan 2022 are:

1. Inspiring responsible global citizens
2. Enhancing resilient leaders
3. Education in Faith

We are looking to continue to strengthen the St Bede’s College Community within the Catholic and Lasallian tradition, through the way we live our lives, our Religious Education classes and our Social Justice and Community Service programs.

We want to focus on student growth – spiritually, academically, socially, emotionally and physically.  Through using the data we have available on our students and utilising best teaching and learning strategies we aim to develop independent and resilient learners who have a global perspective.

We will continue our strong focus on child safety.  In continuing to develop personal resilience and an awareness of our behaviour towards others, we will promote social justice and community service.  In partnership with The Resilience Project, we will look to promote gratitude, empathy and mindfulness.

We will look to build on the already strong sense of community within the College, ensuring that communication is clear and timely, and that our partnerships with families, Old Collegians, The Parents and Friends and Parish Schools remain collaborative and consultative.  We will continue to look at ways to engage with our local and wider community in a pandemic world.

Year 12 2021

I wish to offer my congratulations to the students, parents and staff involved with the class or 2021, a class whose final two years of schooling was very much taken from them….the demands for perseverance on their part, was greater than is typically the case.

Every student has their own story and dream.  We trust that all of our students move on to the next phase of their life with a sense of hope, optimism and “can do”.  In reflecting on the achievements of the class of 2021, the important message for the current student body, is that the success of these students came on the back of the types of experiences that are now presented to you:  their teachers are your teachers; their curriculum is your curriculum; the services they were presented by the support staff we have, are the services available to you.  This should provide all of you with some confidence in facing the new school year.

Council of International Schools

Thank you to all students, staff and families who have participated in surveys or been part of working parties as the College has sought membership of the Council of International Schools.  We will welcome a panel from the Council of International Schools to attend St Bede’s (remotely) in the week beginning March 6 in order to undertake a final review of our submission for membership.

COVID19 update

A reminder that each student will receive a packet of five rapid antigen tests each fortnight for the first four weeks of Term 1 and is encouraged to self-test twice a week. Instructions have already been provided on what to do in the case of a positive test result.  In summary:

1. Report the positive test to the Department of Health (1800675398)
2. Report the positive test result via the Student Services Absences.
3. Remain at home for 7 days isolation.
4. Return to St Bede’s only when asymptomatic.

Any student who has been identified as a household contact is asked to isolate at home for 7 days, undertake the rapid antigen test on day 6 and provided the test is negative and the student does not have any symptoms, they are able to return to the College.

A Final Thought

In this first newsletter for 2022, it is appropriate to recognise someone who was a student of the College from 2002 to 2007  --Scott Boland.  Like so many throughout Australia, you might have been watching the Boxing Day Test Match on the evening of December 27 and morning of December 28 when in his first Test match representing Australia, Scott, in just four overs, took 6-7 to help bundle out the English team and win for himself “man of the match” honours.  This was then followed up with another outstanding performance in both the Sydney and Hobart Tests.  His, is more than just a cricket story—of 463 Australian test players, he is just the second of indigenous background; aged 32 at the time of selection, it is a story of perseverance and resilience, hard work to become the athlete he needed to become, of taking advantage of an unexpected opportunity and amidst it all, retaining a sense of humility.  It is a story that is capable of inspiring all of us and one that I want to expand on at a future assembly.  

Best wishes to all for a happy, rewarding and fruitful school year at St Bede’s College.  I am looking forward to witnessing and hearing of your successes—individually, in groups and as a College!

Per Vias Rectas

Deb Frizza

Principal