From the College Principal 

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

Welcome back to the final term of the 2020 academic year. It is amazing how time flies by so quickly! As I pointed out to the students and staff earlier this week at our meetings and assemblies, this coming term (Term 4) is a ‘sprint.’ Our Year 12 students have now commenced their Higher School Certificate examinations which will conclude on Tuesday 10 November; our Year 11 students conclude the first term of their Higher School Certificate course on Wednesday 9 December; Years 7, 8, 9 & 10 conclude their term on Friday 4 December, with their final Semester 2 examinations commencing on Friday 27 November; and our Kindergarten to Year 6 students conclude their term on Thursday 10 December. 

In light of these finishing dates, we have so much to achieve as a College community and I ask for your support in ensuring your son/daughter is present at the College for the maximum amount of days possible (every day) with any holidays planned for after these published finishing dates. As you are aware, we have fourteen weeks of school holidays a year – please refrain from using our valuable school terms to take holidays.

BOOK WEEK – 2020 – It has been wonderful this week to witness the array of activities across Kindergarten to Year 11 in relation to Book Week. Our staff, led by Mrs Rachel Cosentino and Mrs Kellie Husband in the Junior School, along with Mrs Lee Ursino, Mr Greg Bond and Mrs Terezija Quinn in the Senior School have done an amazing job pulling together a week of fun, challenge and enjoyable activities. We are blessed to have great educators at St Gregory’s and Book Week is a wonderful platform for highlighting the importance of literacy in education! Please check out the College Facebook page for all the action of Book Week – 2020.

PERSISTENCE – COMMITMENT – RESILIENCE - It was wonderful to witness the enthusiasm of the staff and students as they returned for Term 4 on Monday 12 October.  As I moved around the classrooms during the first few days of Term 4, I witnessed great energy and engagement in the classrooms and wonderful collegiality and friendship in the playgrounds and the staff areas. We are blessed to have an extraordinary College and the contributions of all involved in making it like this can never be understated. Of course, we have students who struggle with the demands of schooling and what we offer at St Gregory’s. To these students, I ask them to give themselves a chance at succeeding and to allow the College to set parameters which they are able to accept without dispute.

As we commenced the term, I reiterated to staff and students about the need for persistence and commitment. One thing I have learned over many years is that if something is worth having, it generally doesn't come easily. When we want something out of the ordinary or something that we've never experienced before, then we are obviously going to have to grow as a person to achieve that, because we must challenge ourselves by taking different actions. Not everything goes to plan, and people don't always support us. We quite possibly will experience some disappointments along the way. We will make mistakes and do things that don't work out as planned.

But the thing is we learn from that and the mistakes we make are often a blessing because 

it helps us find other opportunities to help us achieve what we want. We learn about ourselves and develop ourselves, and with a great mindset, we emerge wiser and more determined than ever. Through all this I have found that persistence and flexibility is the key. If plan A doesn't work, then go to plan B or plan C. Do everything you possibly can to achieve what you want! Always be curious and flexible in your approach and ask yourself questions that will give you the answers to move you forward: - What else is possible? What else can I do? What is it that I'm not seeing yet?

Learn to manage your emotions, because when you do that you are able to keep that motivation and persistence even when the going gets tough! And remember, that wherever you are and wherever you want to be there is always a way to get there! Never give up on your dream!

At every opportunity with the students over the coming weeks I will be speaking to them about their ‘persistence’, their ‘respect for learning’ and their ‘responsibility for learning’. These are such important issues and three of the key foundations of building a College of excellence. 

Persistence is the ‘key to success’ and is so important to our achievements in life. As our students embarked on their journey at the start of this term, persistence and dedication are the keys to their success. Unfortunately, there isn't any magic button students can push for immediate success, this is something we need to continually instil in our students!

There isn't any substitute for being persistent. It can't be replaced by any other quality! We need to remember this, and it will provide us with the strength to carry on, in the beginning, when the heading may seem tough and slow. Our students who have cultivated the behaviour of persistence seem to enjoy insurance coverage against failure. No matter how many occasions they are defeated, they get up and keep going.

As a society we benefit from recognising that some things are worth waiting for - they require our patience, persistence and hard work to fully actualize. Great results, complex ideas and change are typically not accomplished overnight. In fact, the waiting can have a positive effect on a person by increasing one's humility in that we can't control everything. It also feels good to know that one’s hard work paid off. Toiling in the right areas creates grit, and gritty people often enjoy the satisfaction that they've earned the rewards from sweating over a project.

Respect for learning comes from within each student – it is intrinsic and is further developed in students by a range of external forces such 

as the development of quality listening skills, the development of emotional intelligence, and the setting of learning targets / goals. It is easy for students to drift through school without understating the reasons for learning. We all have to ‘learn how to learn’ and this is such a powerful revelation once the ‘penny drops.’ My conversations with students over the last week centred on this point – we must stop, listen and be willing and ready to learn each day. It is easy to construct barriers against learning – in the long run these barriers are detrimental to our capacity to take on new challenges and function in an ever-changing world. 

Two important questions I asked the teachers to reflect on (and answer) as they commenced the final term: - 

1. What does learning (not teaching) look like in my classroom?
2. How do I really know that the students are engaged and learning?

As I move about the classrooms this term, I am looking at a range of learning observations - how students are engaged in their learning, what is motivating students to learn, how learning is consistently built on, how learning enables students, and how learning is a collaborative process. My aim is not to ‘check up on the teaching taking place’ in the classroom. This is about witnessing what learning is taking place. 

The answers to these two questions should be each teacher’s impetus throughout the term to get the most out of the students they are teaching and are responsible for.

WORLD TEACHERS’ DAY - On Friday 30 October, the College will join schools from all over Australia to celebrate World Teachers’ Day. The last Friday of October has been selected by Australian education authorities to celebrate this internal day of saying thank you to the teachers in our schools who inspire students to develop lifelong knowledge, skills and learning attitudes.

Next Friday is a celebration of the amazing work done by our teachers each and every day. It is an acknowledgement of the differences you make in each student’s life.

The official theme for World Teachers’ Day in 2020 is ‘Teaching – A Bright Future.’  Through their work, our teachers sow the seeds of knowledge and faith. Teachers plant hope for the future. The Gospel Reading from Mark sums up a great deal about our profession as educators: - 

Jesus said: God's kingdom is like what happens when a farmer scatters seed in a field.  The farmer sleeps at night and is up and around during the day. Yet the seeds keep sprouting and growing, and he doesn't understand how.  It is the ground that makes the seeds sprout and grow into plants that produce grain.  Then when harvest season comes and the grain is ripe, the farmer gathers it in.

A number of parents continue to request information about how to show their appreciation to their child’s teacher/s. One simple way is to drop the teacher/s a short email. Another good way to show your appreciation to your child’s teacher/s is to present them with a gift card for World Teachers’ Day on Friday 30 October. Log on to https://www.aitsl.edu.au/world-teachers-day/2020for further details.

As we know, education is about building the future and there are many who spend their lives to make this happen. They consume themselves to light the way for others. They are popularly known as “Teachers.” I have chosen a number of powerful and inspiring quotes that say so much about the wonderful educators we have at St Gregory’s: -

• The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires – William Arthur Ward
• A hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in the bank but the world may be a better place because I made a difference in the life of a child – Forest Witcraft
• The true aim of everyone who aspires to be a teacher should be, not to impart his own opinions, but to kindle minds – F. W. Robertson
• Most of us end up with no more than five or six people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives – Andy Rooney
• Teachers don’t impact for a year, but for a lifetime – Anonymous
• The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book – Anonymous
• Teachers who love teaching, teach children to love learning - Robert John Meehan

SENIOR SCHOOL - SPORTS UNIFORM UPDATE – Over the past four weeks (Weeks 9 & 10 – Term 3 & Weeks 1 & 2 – Term 4), we have been running a trial with our Year 9 and Year 10 students in relation to them wearing their sports uniform to and from the College on days in their timetable when they have practical classes in PDHPE and PASS. We have evaluated and reflected on the trial period and will be extending the trial for Year 9 and Year 10 until the end of Term 4, 2020. 

From the commencement of Term 1, 2021, students in Years 7 – 10 will be permitted to wear their sports uniform to and from the College on days in their timetable when they have practical PDHPE classes (Year 7 & Year 8), and when they practical classes in PDHPE and PASS (Year 9 & Year 10).

Students in Sport, Lifestyle & Recreation and Fitness classes in Year 11 and Year 12 will continue to bring their sports uniform to the College and change for their classes on practical days.

Parents and carers may require the purchase of an additional sports uniform and socks for their son in Years 7 – 10 as a result of this new protocol.

MARIST CHARISM SURVEY – Next week I will be writing to our parents and carers to seek their support in completing a very important survey. Recently I received a letter from the Regional Director of Marist Schools Australia seeking the involvement of our College community – staff, students and parents, in this survey – “I am writing to you to thank you for your participation in the trial of the Charism Scale being developed by Marist Schools Australia and KU Leuven Catholic University in Belgium. The involvement of St Gregory’s College in this trial is a significant contribution to the enhancement of Marist Life and Spirituality, and I am most grateful for your willingness to participate.”

I hope you will be able to find 30 – 40 minutes over the next few weeks to respond to the survey. I will be in touch early next week.

TERM DATES – 2021 – A further reminder about the 2021 Term dates – see below for detail. The St Gregory’s College Parent Calendar for 2021 will be available for all families at the conclusion of Term 4 this year.

• Term 1 – 2021 – Thursday 28 January (Year 1 to Year 12 students) to Thursday 1 April (10-week term)
  • Please note: New Year 7 – Year 11 Boarding Students arrive @ 11am on Wednesday 27 January; and, Returning Boarding students (Year 8 – Year 12) arrive at 2pm on Wednesday 27 January.
• Term 2 – 2021 – Monday 19 April to Friday 25 June (10-week term)
• Term 3 – 2021 - Monday 19 July to Friday 17 September (9-week term)
• Term 4 - 2021 – Tuesday 5 October to Thursday 9 December (10-week term) – Staff conclude on Friday 10 December

Thank you for your ongoing support and friendship and the respect you have for what we try to do here at St Gregory’s. Our work is always in partnership. 

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.

Lee MacMaster 

College Principal (K-12)