From the Principal

MANRESA

St Ignatius of Loyola gained most of his spiritual insights in the small village of Manresa in Northern Spain. In some European countries ‘to make a Manresa’ means to go on Retreat. It is within this context that our Year 12 students have attended their ‘Manresa Retreat’ this week. It is a Retreat designed to enable our students to think more carefully about their relationship with themselves, their family and with God.

Next week is Holy Week and it is appropriate that our senior students spend some time on reflection and prayer in the approach to Easter. In a change from tradition, all our Year 12s have attended the one Retreat site this year providing an opportunity for a wonderful and shared experience.

The death and resurrection of Christ is the cornerstone of our Catholic faith. I encourage families to attend Religious services next week to enable reflection on the true meaning of Easter. I also congratulate our students and staff involved in this week’s beautiful and reflective Holy Week Concert.

IT IS ROCKET SCIENCE

This week we were honoured with the presence of former NASA astronaut, Dr Scott Parazynski. A veteran of five Shuttle flights and seven spacewalks, Dr Parazynski was a guest of former students Julian Coyne (class of 1997) and his wife Adele Coyne (class of 2001) as he joined students and staff for breakfast during his busy commitments in Perth. We were thrilled that Mr and Mrs Coyne were also able to provide tickets for some of our students to meet with Dr Parazynski at SciTech later that day. As well as inspiring our students with stories of his space adventures, Dr Parazynski’s showed genuine interest in meeting and interacting with our students. It was a fleeting visit but very memorable for all involved.

STUDENT AND STAFF DEPARTURES

The end of each term results in some students and staff moving on to other educational opportunities. We wish them all well for the future and particularly acknowledge our staff leaving the College or commencing periods of leave:

Claire Peirce (Primary), Clare Magee (Primary) and Emma Terranova (Mary Ward Secondary) will be leaving the College.

Dirk Gleghorn, Ronald Lloyd, Mary-Anne Lumley, Jodie Tesoriero and Yagan Williams will be taking periods of Long Service Leave during Term Two.

Together, let us seek justice.

Yours sincerely

Robert Henderson

Principal