From the Principal
As a College community we began our year with our annual Opening School Mass on 8th February. This provided all members of our community the opportunity to join together and share in liturgy. The opportunity to share in our faith in such a sacred gathering is an important foundation of our College. As we unveiled our theme for 2019, ‘Listen with an open and humble heart’ it was inspiring to listen to Fr Jinjo’s homily that touched on this notion.
While we have witnessed engaging learning opportunities in the classroom, we are now entering the ‘camp season’. On Wednesday our Year 12s returned from their annual retreat to Harrietville. Not surprisingly, I was greeted with many beautiful comments about the retreat and how our students engaged in all facets of the experience. Over the next fortnight, students from the Unit 3 Outdoor and Environmental Studies class will participate in a canoe experience on the Murray River, Units 1 and 2 Outdoor and Environmental Studies students will head off to Torquay for their coastal experience, while our Year 7 students will travel to Harrietville for their annual retreat. I would like to acknowledge the efforts of staff members who attend these wonderful learning experiences for our students. The time away from family, the extra responsibility and the preparation required certainly increases during these times and I thank staff for their commitment to our excursions program.
Over the past week we have been able to celebrate the birth of two little boys for our staff members. Congratulations to:
- Renée Moor - welcoming baby boy, Fraser-Aaron
- Felicity Fitton - welcoming baby boy, Marcus William Lewis
On another exciting note, we congratulate Sophie Dickinson on her engagement to Bruno Robinson on Valentine’s Day.
Loretta Shannon and her family are in our thoughts and prayers after the passing of her father on Saturday afternoon. May she gain strength at this difficult time and remember the many fond memories she and her family shared with their father.
Thank you to the families who attended our first Cuppa & Convo which took place in the new Drama Auditorium. The topic was ‘How to become a tech savvy parent’. I would like to thank Andrew Messenger for leading this session. More Cuppa & Convo sessions will be held throughout the year on a range of different topics.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the large majority of students who each and every day present themselves in the correct school uniform. Our staff have diligently followed our uniform protocol with our students. It has been pleasing that across the College, the standard of uniform has significantly improved. Unfortunately, some students continue to present each day out of uniform. We will continue to work with students and families to rectify this matter. I would like to also make everyone aware that our uniform has not changed over the past few years and that we are only asking families to adhere to our uniform protocols. As you would be aware, a change to our uniform will be finalised towards the end of this year and we hope to commence this roll out at the end of Term 3 or beginning of Term 4. After a few questions from students and families, I would like to confirm that our uniform change does not involve ties and blazers.
Finally, we are excited by the recent meetings that have taken place with our landscape architect. Our strategic plan continues to grow and we look forward to sharing these plans with our College community in the coming weeks.
Brayden Stone
Principal