From our Principal 

Dear Parents, Students and Friends,

The Year 11 Leadership training day was held this week. It prompted me to reflect in the lead-up to this event on why we place so much emphasis and importance on the role of student leadership. The overall theme of the day and indeed a central tenet of leadership at St. Peter’s College is to develop an understanding of servant leadership and the important role this style of leadership plays, and how this can be demonstrate in daily practical ways.  There are few better examples of a servant leader than our own patron Peter, who dedicated his life to serving Jesus and subsequently the Church. 

Spears (2010) derived a set of ten characteristics of a servant leader. Each of these are the traits we hope to see and/or develop in our student leaders. A servant Leader is:

1. An effective listener
2. Displays empathy  
3. Heals rifts and assists in restoring relationships
4. Show awareness of the needs and environment around them
5. Displays persuasion which enables consensus to be achieved 
6. Displays vision and who has great dreams 
7. Demonstrates foresight
8. Displays stewardship - a steward who is committed to serving the needs of others 
9. Committed to the growth of people
10. Builds Community 

It’s important for students to experience leadership opportunities at St. Peter’s College, to learn the art of building relationships within teams, defining identities, and achieving tasks effectively. It also provides an opportunity to learn to identify and display effective communication and interpersonal skills. The Leadership training day is the beginning of our student leadership election process for 2023. We look forward to working with our future leaders throughout the remainder of this year.

Building Update

St. Peter’s College is committed to providing the best resources and facilities for our students. It is an exciting time at St Peter’s with some recently completed projects, some nearly at the practical completion stage and another part way through. The recently completed Administration Building on the Cranbourne Campus has ensured the Leadership team, Finance team and parent services are all contained within the one modern setting providing the community with an exceptional facility to serve the needs of our College. 

The Performing Arts Centre on the Clyde North Campus is going to provide outstanding facilities for both campuses. It will provide exceptional learning facilities and enable the integration of many subject areas into performance opportunities. This facility will also be a centre for the community, providing the college with an important income stream. We are hoping that the centre will be handed over shortly.                                                                           

The Applied Centre Learning Pods have recently arrived on the Clyde North campus and have been located on-site. These facilities will service our VCE Vocational Major students from 2023.

Recently the School Advisory Committee have approved some amendments to our current master plans on both the Clyde North and Cranbourne campus. Further information will be presented once costings have been finalised.

Finally

Vaping has become a significant health risk for teenagers. All schools are being challenged by the prevalence of young people exposing themselves to this risk-taking behaviour. A combination of education and consequences for offenders continues to be our approach. I have included information on the risks of vaping in this edition of the newsletter. Please take the time to read the information and discuss the issue with your child/ren. We will continue to work at stamping this anti-social and at-risk behaviour but we need your support.

Enjoy the week ahead.

Mr Chris Black

Principal