From the Principal

Dear Parents, Guardians, Students, Staff and Friends of St Norbert College

Benvenuti alla Settimana delle lingue – this week we celebrated Languages Week with a host of wonderful events supported by our languages teachers. I’m sure all students thoroughly enjoyed the Gelato cart, the bocce games, the pizza, the homeroom quizzes and engaging with the variety of cultures celebrated at the College this week. Many thanks to Ms Tersigni for all her efforts making the week so enjoyable.

With a week of wild and woolly weather, we also hosted the annual and much anticipated Interhouse Athletics Carnival, thankfully the rain held off and the carnival proceeded in windy but relatively dry conditions. Well done to all students who participated on the day, either athletically or in support of their peers. Many thanks to our families and friends who supported our students on Friday and to all staff who worked tirelessly to make the event so special. Of special note, we acknowledge the efforts of Mr Price, our Head of Sport and his team, for all their hard work in the preparation and smooth running of this year’s carnival.

It is my pleasure to announce and congratulate today’s overall winning House - Magdeburg. Congratulations to Mr Ah Fong and all students from Magdeburg House on their success today. Results and individual accolades will be published at a later date.

On Tuesday 3 August, our Year 11 students gathered at Tompkins on Swan Function Centre for the Year 11 Dinner Dance. It was a lovely evening, in a beautiful setting with lots of glamour and class. Many thanks to Miss Humphry and Mrs

Ghani for their organisation and to the staff in attendance. It was a wonderful opportunity for students to exhibit the ballroom dancing skills they had learnt under the guidance of Miss Alban. Of very special note was the exhibition of traditional and contemporary ballroom dancing by Kade Best and his dancing partner, Miss Isabella King from Mercedes College, who performed for all at the start of the evening.

As we cast our eyes towards next week it is with interest that we celebrate Science Week with a host of wonderful activities, including the Sensational Science Visits. This is one of the highlights of Science Week and sees a number of our Primary Schools bringing students along to participate in many of the activities.

Our Parent Committee has been working very hard behind the scenes organising a special event for our fathers and male guardians in the lead up to Father’s Day in early September. The first ever “Bring your Dad Lazer-Blaze Night” will be held on Friday 1 September and we hope that as many of our fathers/guardians as possible can make some time to enjoy the company of their children in this community event. Further details are included in this newsletter. We hope this is the start of something special and the Parent Committee are looking at events next year in a similar vein for our mums and female guardians.

Congratulations must be extended to our Head of Physical Education, Mrs Melanie Robinson. Mrs Robinson was this week awarded the highly acclaimed AFL Ambassador for Multicultural Programs in 2017, recognising all her work with the development of Australian Rules Football in our College. Mrs Robinson was selected from a number of highly accomplished nominees and we congratulate and thank her for the work she is doing with our students.

It is my pleasure to repeat an announcement made last week of the appointment of Mrs Natasha Quinn to the Vice Principal position at Chisholm Catholic College commencing in 2018. We congratulate Mrs Quinn and will farewell her appropriately at the end of the year. In the interim, we also wish her well as she embarks on long service leave this Friday until the end of term and welcome Mr Donald Nield back to our community for the short term in the Deputy Principal role, commencing in Week 6.

Sadly, prior to the next newsletter, we will farewell Mrs Bridget Murphy, our much loved Head of Mathematics. Mrs Murphy and her family are returning to Ireland, with Thursday 17 August being her last day here at the College. Our love, best wishes and thanks go to Mrs Murphy for the wonderful contributions she has made to our College community and we hope she returns to us again someday in the future.

We prepare ourselves for the Feast of the Assumption on Tuesday 15 August, where according to our faith, we believe that our Holy Mother, "having completed her course of earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory”. There will be Masses celebrated for our students and staff, but we also extend a warm welcome to parents and families who wish to join us. Masses will be celebrated at 12.00pm (Years 7-9) and 1.35pm (Years 10-12). As we prepare ourselves for this special time, we are called to reflect on the love, goodness and grace with which we should live our lives, in the spirit of our Holy Mother.

Dio vi Benedica!!

Mr S Harvey (Principal)