Principal's Report

Dear Parents and Carers,

Last Friday, we farewelled our Year 12 students with our annual Graduation Assembly. Our Year 12 students have shown resilience and strength as together, we have navigated the challenges and opportunities COVID has provided. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Mark Fulloon, Year 12 Leader of Learning, for his care and support of our Year 12 students. My newsletter article for this week is a copy of my Graduation Address where I discussed the notion of service, something I wrote about in an earlier newsletter.

2021 NOW 

Parents, Friends, Staff, Students and our Graduating Class -  Year 12 2021

Year 12 2021 have completed their last two years of formal schooling in a time like no other. At the end of 2020, we thought that lockdowns were over and it was just a matter of time before life returned to days past. For the first half of the year, that was pretty much what we saw, a great swimming carnival, cross country and athletics carnival. As we headed towards Founders Day some rumblings from Sydney started to occur. Lockdown occurred in Sydney but it could not happen here surely? Well it did and when it came, it was without much warning. 

Year 12 2021 took on the changes with strength and resilience (and a few tears and meltdowns). COVID-19 has really changed your final two years at school. The Trial exams were just one example, held online which posed some challenges for all of us, how would we administer it, would the internet work, how do we type really fast and throw in a little flood to really affect some students! Everyone commented on how well our class of 2021 coped with all these changes. You should all be very proud of yourselves on your maturity and studious approach to these assessments. 

There were many things you ‘missed’, this did not change your approach to this final year. You didn’t whinge or moan but just got on with making the best of each moment, truly living the ‘NOW’ motto. 

One of the areas that sets our Catholic faith apart is our service for others. We are called to not only have faith in God but also to serve. The motto of the Ursulines, one of our founding orders at O’Connor is ‘Serviam’ meaning ‘I will serve’.  We often talk about the concept of ‘servant leadership’ epitomised by Jesus Christ. In the second letter of St James, he says;

If good works do not go with it, faith is quite dead

If one of the brothers or one of the sisters is in need of clothes and has not enough food to live on, and one of you says to them, ‘I wish you well; keep yourself warm and eat plenty’, without giving them these bare necessities of life, then what good is that? Faith is like that: if good works do not go with it, it is quite dead.

Our Class of 2021 embodies this notion of service, of looking after each other and working together for the common good of all. This was particularly shown in the Year 12 Fundraiser. The Year 12 Leaders chose as their charity ‘Rural Kidney Association’. The Rural Kidney Association has a strong connection with O’Connor. Nikki Scholes-Robertson who runs Rural Kidney Association is an ex-parent and her children Hannah and Micah attended O’Connor. 

Year 12 ran a breakfast club three times a week throughout Term 2, the coldest term of the year! They then didn’t just have a Founders Day, but a Founders Week, getting the whole school involved in the fundraising efforts. Their efforts paid huge rewards raising over $4300 for Rural Kidney Association. 

Year 12 2021 I challenge you to continue to serve people as you leave O’Connor. Sometimes in our day to day life, we might forget what a simple act of kindness has the power to do. A smile, a friendly wave, a kind word, a thankyou, all have the power to change a person’s day. This is something you can do as we continue to live in a world of much uncertainty. Many people are feeling vulnerable and scared, many are missing loved ones and are worried about friends and family. I encourage you to take this message of service and spread some joy in our community.

Even though we are saying farewell to you today, do not forget about the upcoming HSC exams. Study hard and try your best. In such a disrupted year, when the results come out be pleased with all you have achieved. Don’t be defined by your results or your ATAR, recognise that there are many different pathways and no pathway is better than another. Be proud of all you have achieved in your thirteen years of schooling.

Year 12 when you look back at your time at O’Connor I hope you look back with great memories and remember that you will always be part of the O’Connor community . A community founded on faith and focused on learning. 

I wish you well, O’Connor Community I present to you Year 12, 2021.

What new learning will you undertake this week?

Regina Menz