In Our Community

Saved by the bus!

Parents of primary pupils in Moora - 190km north of Perth - are grateful after St Norbert College came to the rescue when their school bus played up during a Year 6 camp to the city.

Last Wednesday,  Kaye Savage-Morton, the principal of St Joseph's in Moora and formerly Head of RE at St Joseph's in Queens Park, was driving the school bus near their camp accommodation at Woodman Point when she sensed a burning smell.

"I couldn't continue to drive it with 12 students on board - and we had all these activities planned,'' she explained.

With a full schedule on Thursday and Friday too, Mrs Savage-Morton decided to contact the College for advice or assistance. SNC Business Manager John O'Sullivan and Principal Simon Harvey immediately offered the use of the Elf.

"This enabled our children who were on camp to participate in their final surf lesson at Trigg Beach, go into Fremantle for a ferris wheel ride, have fish and chips for dinner and most importantly, get home safely,'' Mrs Morton-Savage said.

"If you ask any Year 6 student they will tell you that Mrs Morton broke the bus. I didn’t really. The bus just gave us clear signs that the clutch was not going to last. 

"When I asked Mr O’Sullivan if we could borrow the bus for a day he quickly assured me that yes we could. Realising I needed it longer I asked again if we could keep it till Monday and without hesitation this wish was granted. 

"This is a great example of what being in the Catholic System is all about – and as Mary MacKillop always said “Never see a need without doing something about it”. 

"St Norbert College showed this in their generosity. We are a Sisters’ of St Joseph school and Mary MacKillop was certainly watching over us when I rang Mr O’Sullivan.''  

Grateful parents wrote the following letters to Mr Harvey and Mr O'Sullivan: "It is with much delight I have my chatty little Year 6 student back safely from her camp in Perth. It was a fantastic camp filled to the brim with activities my daughter doesn’t often get a chance to do. Thanks to your generosity her camp went ahead without disruption, when the school bus broke. Both my husband and I can’t thank you enough for allowing Mrs Savage-Morton to borrow the St Nortbert College bus for the remainder of the camp and the trip back to Moora.''

Another parent wrote: "I wanted to take a minute to thank you for your generosity in lending your school bus to the stranded St Joseph's staff and students last Friday.  I hope it wasn't too inconvenient for you, and everyone certainly did appreciate being able to get to planned events and, of course, to get home after a long (fun!) week away at camp.  It's lovely stories like these that show the kids how much goodness there is in the world, despite what they are inundated with in the news.''

Student Robert told St Norbert College News: “Without the bus we wouldn’t have got to  our second surfing lesson, where most of us stood up on the board”.

Lilly added: “Thank you for letting us borrow the bus otherwise we wouldn’t have got home!”

Mrs L Quartermain 

(Community Relations and Marketing)

City of Canning teamwork

St Norbert College has been involved in the City of Canning’s new Wanju Welcome Queens Park project.

The City is aiming to create a neighbourhood in which "everyone feels like they belong, can be themselves and take ownership for shaping the neighbourhood story''.  The action plan seeks to welcome  (“Wanju”) everyone to Queens Park and to celebrate the diversity of the community and nurture connections between people.  The plan is to "breathe new life and vitality into the neighbourhood to ensure it is safe, vibrant and accessible". 

This week students from several of Ms Marsh's art classes trekked across to Queens Park Reserve to keenly observe and analyse the progress of a giant indigenous art mural being created by local artists Brenton Seeand and Deanne Tann (pictured above). The City is exploring an idea to display our own students' artwork on the side of buildings via projection.  

Meanwhile, Principal Simon Harvey was invited to feature in a video campaign promoting the area and spoke about his longtime connection to Treasure Rd, having attended the College as a student in the 1980s along with his brothers.

The video compilation features interviews with several local identities: https://www.canning.wa.gov.au/about-us/our-future/major-projects/wanju-welcome-queens-park

Last term St Norbert College students and Mrs Silva took part in a planting project, helping the City’s streetscape team design the layout of a "living" roundabout on Centre St and Treasure Rd. With all the rain we've had, it's thriving.

Mrs L Quartermain 

(Community Relations and Marketing)