Principal's Post

Dear Parents,

By necessity we are abandoning many of our community based activities which is of course is understandable and it is encouraging to see people trying to be creative to reach out to others at a time when it is most needed. Rosies volunteers are trying to obtain contact details of the people they can no longer visit as part of the street mission so that can give a call and support people who are already feeling socially isolated. They have also prepared food parcels that contain the essentials of which they may not have access.

The Mazenod Old Collegians Association met on Monday and asked me to communicate the need for all it's members to stay connected and watch out for each other. Please use the network to keep in touch with Old Collegians. MOCA was established for this purpose, a network of support and friendship.

A new sporting dynasty is being created. Last year Mazenod won the ACC Lawn Bowls competition. Mr Lee and the students celebrated for months. No one expected that a new team could match their success. Congratulations to Matthew Girolami, Matthew Hettiarachchi, Thomas Yong, Ronan Fernandez and Vuk Vukovic for winning this year’s championship against St Bernard’s and qualifying for the State Championships in September.

Congratulations also to the Old Collegians and current students who represented the Mazenod Old Collegians Cricket Club in last week’s Grand Finals. Three teams were victorious. Many thanks to John Raymond and his committee for all the work they do managing this very successful sporting club.

Congratulations to Ryan Dean of Year 11 who raised over $3000 to support the World’s Greatest Shave Programme and honouring his family connections that have been affected by cancer. Thanks also to Mr Josh Rajasingham who lost his hair and beard in support of Ryan’s campaign.

The Year 8 students are studying poetry at the moment and we were delighted to have acclaimed Australian Poet and Novelist, Steven Herrick visit the college. Steven’s books have twice won the NSW Premier’s Literary Award and have been shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year Award on eight occasions. His book, Slice, has been very popular recently with the Year 8 and 9 cohorts. Steven writes about growing up as well as social issues such as bullying and family relationships. You can see more of his books here.

Congratulations to Nick Burgos for his Studio Arts piece being exhibited in Top Arts at Fed Square. Nick completed his piece as part of his VCE portfolio last year. The photo was taken at the official opening last week. Nick is photographed with his sister, who is the subject of the piece entitled The Cosseter. Congratulations also to Ms Marjolyn Willis who was Nick’s Studio Arts teacher last year.

NGV Educator and Top Arts Curator, David Menzies spent quite some time chatting with Nick and his family, and expressed his admiration of the work and Mazenod in general.

Thank you once again for your support of the college during challenging times. Every effort is being made to keep to routines. We are very conscious of maintaining a vibrant and positive learning environment that also addresses the pastoral and spiritual needs of our students.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Tony Coghlan

Principal