Principal Message

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A Year to Remember

2021 and all that we have faced has certainly had more of an impact than we could have ever anticipated or prepared for. It is incredible to see that, despite the challenges, the St Mary’s College community has risen to the occasion.

On our final days, our staff came together and engaged with the Mercy tradition; learning about the founder of the order, Catherine McAuley. We delved into our House patrons and learnt about the charism, the connection to Mercy and scripture. 

This will be shared with students on our first day of the school year in 2022.

Middle Leadership

Our staff leaders contribute to the improvement of learning and teaching. 

We thank all our current leaders for their ongoing commitment to our students’ learning and to their teams of expert teachers. As we move forward toward a deeper understanding of what it means to Live Well and Learn Well and what it means to lead, we have reviewed and restructured the Middle Leadership at St Mary’s to support staff in developing and growing in Living Well Learning Well. 

With the change of structure has come some changes in leaders. I would like to thank with the deepest gratitude and appreciation the current middle leadership team for their contribution.

2021 Year Supervisors:

Oliver Neader

Monique Hannaford

Timothy Kennedy

Karen Stanley

Maryanne Grosser

Nikole Brooks

Patsy Howarth

Learning Leaders:

Greg Boyce

Michael Masige

Angelique Langton

Adam Thompson

Danielle Barisa

Shelley Small

Shelley Roseby

The St Mary’s College new Middle Leadership Structure has the following leaders beginning the journey of Living Well Learning Well.

House Leaders:

McAuley: Karen Stanley

Lourdes: Oliver Neader

Mercy: Maryanne Grosser 

Loreto: Nikole Brooks

Leader of Behaviour Support: Danielle Barisa

Leaders of Learning: Sarah Semmler, Shelley Small, Kate Walshe, Genevieve Vickers

We are currently interviewing for our K-12 Learning Community Coordinator position. 

We congratulate Kath Baird on her appointment to Principal of Sacred Heart Primary School, Boggabri. 

We are also currently interviewing for the position of Leader of Inclusion.

Awards

Our Awards Ceremonies were a wonderful acknowledgment of the successes of our students across all year levels in their academic, cultural, spiritual, and sporting success in 2021. We thank all our families for joining us either live or on YouTube to see our students shine. Most importantly, it was a recognition of the grit and dedication all of our students have demonstrated to make it through the challenges to stay true to their goals. It was an honour to have had the opportunity to celebrate the successes.

Year 12 Formal

The Year 12 Formal went ahead. Ironic that the saying ‘come hell or high water' was the reality of the evening. However, the rising floodwaters did not stop the formal from going ahead. 

It was a celebration of a senior year that was unexpected but not lost. The optimism, the joy, and the celebration was certainly a reflection of the determination and grit of a group of students that were not beaten. We thank all our guests for making the night one to remember! We wish all of our Year 12 students the very best on their chosen pathways to a bright future. Thank you to Mr Oliver Neader and his team for their organisation of a wonderful evening.

2022

Information regarding the start of the year will be sent out to families. 

The key dates are:

Thursday 3 February First day back for all students (sports uniform) Living Well

Friday 4 February  Second day back for all students (formal uniform) Learning Well

Community

It was not the ideal year to be meeting for the first time families and community members at the Year 12 Graduation. We as a staff certainly felt the distance of online communication and connection throughout the year and we appreciated all your efforts to remain connected to us. 

Your feedback has been well received and reflected on, and we look forward to the possibility of swinging open the school gates to you all and seeing you regularly here on the grounds learning and celebrating along with us. It is with great anticipation that we end the year with a keen eye on future opportunities for us all.

Student Leadership

We look forward to our opening Mass where we come together to celebrate the Eucharist and to then acknowledge and bring in our new school leaders for 2022. 

The standard of the applications was very high, with a focus on community and Living and Learning Well. 

Thank you to all our applicants and congratulations to our student leaders for 2022. 

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas. May God bless you all as you enter 2022 safely with those that you love.

Thank you and God bless.

Announcing the 2022 St Mary's College Leaders