Carroll House Report

What a year it has been. There is some amazing talent within this House, some very kind souls and lots of happy faces that I have had the pleasure to greet each morning. Carroll House are fortunate to have an amazing team of Homegroup Teacher’s who each day go above and beyond to care for each of the students in their group. I would like to take this opportunity to thank these staff member’s for their ongoing dedication throughout 2014. I would also like to farewell Ms Bernadette Cromarty as she leaves Mater Dei and moves into retirement. Bernadette has been part of Carroll 1 since starting at Mater Dei in 2011. Her positive and proactive approach within her Homegroup will be dearly missed by both students and colleagues. We wish her well in this next stage and know she will always be welcome back for a visit to the ‘Purple House.’

It has been a busy term in Carroll House with our Year 11 students and Carroll House Leaders, Kathleen McLaughlin and Dylan Male, taking on their new roles as Leaders extremely well. They have led the House this term through organising a Carroll House Dodgeball competition that ran over 3 weeks during Tuesday morning extended Homegroup. The competition allowed 3 Homegroups to form a team and ‘Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive and Dodge’ their way to finals play-offs.

The Final saw Carroll 5 and Carroll 3 verse each other for the Carroll House Dodgeball Championship. The underdogs Carroll 3 came away with a brilliant win and enjoyed a lunch together in the final week of term to celebrate.

Year 11 continued to display their initiative and leadership this week as they took part in training Year 10 students to be Peer Support Leaders. Jacob McMullen, Dylan Male and Sharnah Deveraux demonstrated their maturity and capabilities as leaders over two full days of this training. They showed Year 10 Carroll House students examples of activities and lessons and modelled ways to run successful Peer Support sessions. It was a pleasure to observe these students in action.

Also in the final week of term, we acknowledged as a House the addition of two new Homegroups that will be added to each House in 2015. Two new Mater Dei staff members will take on the roles as Homegroup teachers of the new Carroll 7 and 8. We look forward to seeing this new growth in the College as well as in Carroll House.

Congratulations to Bailey McKay who, at the school end of year Liturgy and Awards night, was awarded the ADF Teamwork and Leadership Award. Bailey has displayed fine attributes through his involvement in the Mater Dei Community including: Club Red Youth Ambassador, member of the Social Justice Camp, Group Leader and the Year 9 Reflection Day as well as his involvement in the Student Mentor Program, to name a few. His positive attitude is a fantastic example for other students to follow.

Again, thank you to all staff, students, and parents for continuing to exceed your responsibilities and duties throughout the year. Your support and patronage for Carroll House is always appreciated. 

Ms Emily Paul 

Carroll House Leader