Principal
Dear Parents, Students, Staff and Friends of St Patrick’s College,
As I wrote this first article for this important publication, I was watching the inauguration of President Biden in the USA. Feeling the same way about starting my journey at St Patrick’s College, a moment on the livestream captured my attention.
"For there is always light," poet Amanda Gorman recited at the inauguration of the USA’s second Catholic president, "if only we're brave enough to see it / if only we're brave enough to be it."
Earlier that day, while attending Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Joe Biden heard from the prophet Isaiah that "the light shall break forth like the dawn." He would echo that theme in his hope-filled inaugural address, urging Americans to write an American story of unity, healing and decency. He even quoted Psalm 30 that "weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning."
As someone who has drawn on her Catholic faith throughout her personal and professional life, this reflected my belief in what is possible in an EREA College such as ours and in a God of resurrection. The students and teachers will inevitably err; make mistakes; make bad choices. The significance in our school is that we are Resurrection people. We believe in a new tomorrow, a tomorrow where we learn from our mistakes. As I commence the school year, in a COVID-19 impacted world, we turn to pray and the unity necessary to educate our boys in the most loving and caring way so that their lights shine through!
Prayer for a New School Year
Lord, please bless all our teachers, friends and relatives as
they make their way back to their classrooms for another year.
Help them to feel excitement and joy in the promise of a new start.
Give them everything they need to start their classes.
Give them all they need all year.
Give them imagination and creativity to make wonders out of
what they do have.
Help them stretch their budgets and their supplies.
Give them wisdom all year.
Help them quickly spot the little souls who are going to need
something extra from them this year.
Help them have just the right words of encouragement for each student.
Give them loads of love.
Help the love in their hearts just overflow so they always have
plenty to spare.
We can’t conjure it up Lord, but you give in abundance... please
supply all the love teachers need.
Please supply them energy too, Lord.
Please let them sleep well at night so they are rested and
refreshed each morning.
Don’t let them take their problems and worries to bed with
them at night.
Give them patience with students, with parents, and with their
administration.
Again, Lord, it’s you who supplies in abundance.
Please keep the students and teachers safe this year.
Keep them safe from accidents or evil intent.
Let the students be excited about this wonderful world and all
there is to learn about it.
Help them to be interested in each other, for there’s a wealth to
learn about and from each other, and this is true for teachers
and parents as well.
Give the parents willing hearts, both to help in the classroom if
they can, and certainly to be involved in their children’s
homework and in their stories as the year goes on.
Let this be a truly wonderful year for everyone involved in
education.
Let everyone feel, at the end of the year, that they learned all
they could and gave the best they had. Amen
Staffing Changes
It is with pleasure that we welcome the following new staff, including myself, who join us this year in various capacities either in parental leave and temporary roles or as permanent staff. Regardless, I know that you will make them all warmly welcome:
Constance Apostolou (HSIE B), Samantha Donnelly (P/T Counsellor), Miray El-Hachem (job-share partner of Ms Angeli), Dena Fayad (RE, job-share partner of Ms Burgess), Liam Heffernan (Music), Peter Maxwell (PDHPE for T1), Luke Newbury (Science), Cristina Polito (Executive Assistant), Steve Saliba (Science), James Shore (Year 5 teacher), Hannah Smith (Mathematics), Grace Wu (Mathematics), Nicholas Tsoukatos (Science), Abigail Turner Jensen (Learning Support Coordinator), Joshua Youssef (RE), Sarah Cristanelli (Languages/RE), Emile Gad (Maths part-time), Alicia Toogood (Enrolments Officer) and David Taylor (Ensemble Coordinator).
We congratulate three members of staff who were married in the holidays, having managed ceremonies and receptions adapted around COVID-19. We wish many happy years ahead to Holly Davidson (Junior School), Adriana Bakija (Visual Arts) and Katherine Nikiforos (HSIE).
HSC Results
As you would by now be aware, our HSC results for 2020 were solid and reflected the hard work of teachers and students. In a cohort of 147 students, there were 115 Distinguished Achievers recorded (B6 or E4), 2 All-Rounders (Jeremy Short and Thomas Winters) and two Top Achievers (in the Top 10 in the State) in Construction (Connor Barry) and Studies of Religion I (Jeremy Short). As far as we know, there are 30 boys who have received an ATAR above 90. The Dux of the College is Anthony Sukkar and Proxime Accessit is Lemuel Fernandez. These results are something to really celebrate. Congratulations to our students and to all staff for the excellence in learning and teaching. After a COVID-19 impacted year, our Year 12 students have done us proud. We should not lose sight of the fact that we are an inclusive, comprehensive school with very moderately priced fees in comparison to other boys’ schools to which we are inevitably compared.
Goals for 2021
Those who have worked with me know that I have an unrelenting passion for school improvement. To this end, our learning focus for this year will continue to be centred on three main areas: writing, gifted education and student wellbeing. I cannot impress upon boys (and parents) enough, the need to be competent and coherent writers. This is hard to achieve if our boys are not good readers. Please encourage your sons to engage in sustained reading (i.e. novels or larger works of non-fiction). Your modelling of this particularly as parents, is also important.
Improvement to Facilities
We have had builders on site for most of the holiday period, refurbishing all the classrooms and offices in the Coghlan Building. I inspected these today; they look marvellous and I know the boys will find them very comfortable. The rooms have been re-painted, new carpet installed, new desks and chairs purchased with the added bonus of air conditioning and ceiling fans in each classroom. With the additional technology in each room, this beautiful heritage building now houses very contemporary learning spaces. Our students deserve the best spaces we can offer, and I trust they will care for them as have past generations of SPC students.
COVID-19 Restrictions
At the time of this Especean’s publication, the College is required to operate under strict public health advice. We have things in hand at the College and are registered with NSW Health as an approved site. How will this impact on parents?
- Boys with even mild symptoms of COVID-19 must stay at home and seek immediate testing. The College needs to be notified of this. Parents will need to provide evidence of a negative result prior to returning to school.
- All students 12 years of age or older, who travel on public transport, must wear a face mask. They will not be able to alight a bus without a mask so please ensure your son carries one with him.
- Parents cannot enter the College site unless they have a scheduled appointment with a staff member or visiting the uniform shop.
- Parents who are invited to attend a COVID-19 registered event, the first one being the Year 5 first day of school, will need to register at the College gate using the QR function of the Service NSW app. Upon receiving a green tick, they can enter whilst wearing a face mask. You will then be restricted to certain pre-arranged areas of the College and exit directly at the conclusion.
Condolences
Please pray for Alessio Aguirre (Year 9) on the death of his grandmother who passed away on 26 December. Please also pray for Cate Sinnadurai (RE teacher) whose parents passed away within weeks of each other, her father in December and her mother in January. We also offer our condolences and prayers to Ingrid Viney (Events Manager) whose father passed away in December, Laurel Coorey (Library Assistant) who lost her mother in early January and to Cosimo Caldarola whose mother passed away in December. Paul O’Donoghue has also had a tough time with two bereavements: his brother-in-law and niece, daughter of the late brother-in-law. Supporting his sister has been Paul’s sad duty. May they all rest in perpetual peace.
Dr Vittoria Lavorato
Principal
SPC boys can do anything! *
*except divide by zero