St Peter's News

From our Principal 

Dear Parents, Students and Friends,

I cannot believe the term is nearly over! Term 2 is traditionally one with heavy work demands as semester one draws to a close. This results in peak formative and summative assessment periods occurring, particularly for semester length units.

Exam Periods

For years 10-12 the exam periods concluded this week culminating in the running of the General Assessment Task (GAT). All students undertaking a Unit 3/4 subject as well as our year twelve Vocational Major (VM) students are required to undertake the GAT. The GAT has significant meaning as it plays an important role in the quality assurance of VCE assessments and provides students with an opportunity to demonstrate they meet the Victorian Literacy and Numeracy Standards expected at a senior secondary level. Employers can ask for the GAT report as part of the recruitment process. 

Work Experience

I congratulate our Year 10 students as well as our VM students for the manner in which they went about their work experience week. Some very positive reports have surfaced and in speaking to some of the Year 10 students, they have had some wonderful learnings from their experience.

Other events of note that have occurred in the past week include, Year 9 Try a VET day, Year 7 and 8 student well-being events, Year 11 Fit to Drive and Safe Partying, SIS sports, Production rehearsals, VCE Vocational Major project week. For our students the array of offerings is considerable and provides all with the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in a multitude of experiences, increasing their chances of gaining success.

St Peter’s Day

Our annual St Peter’s Day celebrations occurs next week. It is a day we all look forward to. I like to categorize the day by defining it in terms of three F’s: Foundations, Fun and Fund-raising.  Foundations refers to, and is a reminder of, who we are as Catholics and who Peter was as a shining example for us all. The day will commence with a mass, an opportunity to reflect on the man they call the “Rock”. There is much I have grown to love about Peter with one of his most endearing traits the fact that he was not perfect. He made mistakes. 

That he was a reflective man enabled him to own mistakes and set about improving himself as a loving Christian. It is that same trait that Jesus saw and one of the reasons that Peter was called upon to be foundational in the building of the “new Church”. Peter was also characterised as someone who questioned Jesus (often), a trait that Jesus himself displayed throughout his short ministry.   Jesus as master had many messages for both Peter and the disciples, prominent amongst them was our motto, “Be Not Afraid”. This was a message imploring them to trust, believe and go beyond their existing livelihoods to be better people and make the world a better place. So the message to students is clear: be foundational in all you undertake, always strive to move beyond your existing capacities by believing, trusting, making mistakes and learning from them. Life lessons which can begin in the classroom and in the learning which takes place beyond the classroom.

One of the important traditions surrounding our Founder’s Day is to recognise distinguished service by staff to St Peter’s College. I congratulate the following staff members for outstanding service to St Peter’s College:

 

10 Year Service Awards

Mairi-anne Macartney, Chloe Maltar, Thomas Runting, Theodota (Dorothy) Stavrou, Stacey Webb

 

20 Year Service Award

Viv Hayes

 

Staff Movement

Recently we advertised and interviewed for a Deputy Principal – Head of Clyde North Campus. Ms Julie Banda has served and led the Clyde North campus with distinction for the past six years and her tenure was to expire at the end of this year. I am delighted to report that Julie has been reappointed for a further six-year term.

A number of staff are shortly about to take some leave and therefore a number of Acting POL appointments have been made. These are listed below:

  • Mr David Fini (CRA) has been appointed Acting Middle Years Curriculum Leader to replace Ms Natasha McKenzie whilst Natasha is on LSL for Term 3.
  • Mr Patrick Barton (CRA) has been appointed to the position of Acting Learning Adjustment Leader (Exceptional Learners) replacing Mrs Kate O’Hara as she takes on the role of Acting Glowrey House Leader from the beginning of Term 3 for a twelve month period.
  • Acting RE Coach (CRA) – Ms Keziah Melvin will commence in this position from July 10th for Term 3 whilst Mr David Fini takes on the role of Acting Middle Years Curriculum Leader.
  • Acting Glowrey House Leader (CRA) – Mrs Kate O’Hara is to take on this role whilst Mrs Mady Allan is on maternity leave.
  • Acting Languages Coach (CLN) – Ms Brooke Massee has been appointed to this position for the remainder of the 2023 academic year.
  • Acting Glowrey House Leader (CLN) – Mr Ehsan Islami will take on this replacement period from the beginning of Term 3 until August 16th whilst Mr John O’Sullivan takes on the role of Acting Pastoral Care Leader.
  • Acting Marian House Leader (CRA) – Mrs Kate O’Hara has been appointed the Acting Marian House Leader for the remainder of the term. 
  • Acting Maths Coach (CLN) – Ms Keyane Dalton has been appointed to this role for the remainder of 2023.

 

As this is the last newsletter prior to the end of term, I wish all students a safe and restful break.

 

Enjoy the week ahead.

 

 

 

 

Mr Chris Black

Principal