Year 8

So God created humankind in his image, 

in the image of God he created them; 

male and female he created them.

Gen 1:27

Since the last time I wrote, several significant events have happened in the lives of our Year 8 students and in the life of Kilbreda College. We have celebrated Easter and ANZAC Day and spent a couple of weeks recharging our batteries during the Term 1 break. We have also mourned the loss of so much life to war in Ukraine. It is a sad irony that the freedom that Australian men and women have fought for in wars around the world can be so gratuitously undermined at the same time that it is celebrated.

Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge’s beautiful words in his ANZAC Day homily try to make sense of all this loss of life and the sense of nihilism that can easily accompany it:

“Wars do end; the numbness of heart and soul passes; 

hope rises from the ash-heaps. 

On this ANZAC Day we look the misery in the face; 

we look back, sobered and grateful. 

There is a past and there is a future. 

There is something left in the world, 

something of inestimable value: 

the peace won through self-sacrifice. 

That peace is at the heart of this Easter season.”

The hope that the Archbishop speaks about is ever present at Kilbreda. Hope in a future that welcomes all, especially the stranger, makes paramount the needs of the most vulnerable and brings a sense of purpose.

This hope manifests itself in a variety of ways in the Year 8 community. One is the Foreshore Program, where students spend a series of Tuesday afternoons working with leaders from Kingston City Council to tidy and maintain the area surrounding Mentone Beach. 

The following girls have committed to the Foreshore Program in Semester 1:

• Mia Bardis
• Isla Busuttil
• Elyssya Buyck
• Sienna Davis
• Indiana Dickson
• Indiana Foggie
• Elizabeth Jones
• Georgette Lamb
• Rhiannan Marie-Jeanne
• Isla Morgan
• Lucia Robb
• Leila Timms
• Ella Wall

Congratulations to the following girls who were presented at the College on Thursday 19 May as the Year 8 Leaders for 2022: 

Health and Wellbeing Leaders:                                 

• Jacinta Crowley
• Indiana Dickson

Student Representative Council (SRC) Leaders:

• Cleo Ruthven
• Chloe Veneris

Living Justice Leaders:

• Amelia Hudson
• Eve Jurdukian

Sustainability Leaders:

• Mia Bardis
• Savithma Perera

Community Action Leaders:

• Lily Mealor
• Blainee Sanford

We ask for God’s blessing upon these members of our Year 8 community as they undertake their leadership roles throughout 2022.

Bill Fitzsimons

Level Leader: Year 8