Principal

I wish everyone a safe happy and holy Christmas break.

I hope it is a time of joy, a time to replenish and to be with those you love.

Advent and Christmas

We are now in the season of Advent, that time which the Church sets aside to mark a new liturgical year, a time of preparation for the coming of the Lord at Christmas and a time in which to focus on the many ways in which the Lord breaks into our lives. Advent is a time of joyful waiting, a time of preparation, a time of longing, a time of expectation and hope. However, this should not be a time for being passive. God does not always provide obvious signs and actions. We need to be attuned to what is occurring around us and how that can provide opportunities to engage with God and each other. It is easy to despair in times of challenge, but it is also an opportunity to pray and reflect on what we can do to be God’s love in action.

Theme for next year

Each year our student leaders are asked to recommend a theme for the coming year. I met with our 2023 College Captains, Grace Berryman and Alessi Green, and they presented three options to me. Out of the three choices, one quote from St Mary of the Cross spoke was recommended ahead of the others and should be our theme for 2023, to which I also agreed. Accordingly, our theme for next year will be:

Be eager in your desires, but patient in their accomplishments – 2nd June 1867

There is much to consider with this statement from St Mary of the Cross. It reminds us that it is important to have plans and purpose in life, without them we can drift and not achieve our potential. However, a worthwhile goal takes effort and time to complete, therefore we must persevere to realise them.

Thank you to our student leaders, supported by Nicole Dudman, Scott Blencowe, and John Ryan, for making this recommendation.

End of Year Mass and College Awards

Yesterday we celebrated the end of the year with Mass and then our Awards Assembly.

Mass was celebrated by Fr Peter Bickley and Fr Darren Howie. It was a joyful experience that was enhanced by the music provided by our choir and band. Thank you to Beth Winterhalter and David Robinson for their work and rehearsal of the students. At the end of Mass, we had the opportunity to first congratulate Fr Darren on 25 years of ordination as a priest and present him with a gift from the College. We also thanked Fr Peter Bickley for his time with us. Fr Peter is concluding his tenure in the Parishes of Leongatha and Korumburra very soon. Whilst he is retiring as a Parish Priest, Fr Peter will no doubt continue to be busy for many years to come with the pastoral work he so enjoys doing. Fr Peter also, in his farewell announced, on behalf of Bishop Greg Bennet DD, that our new Parish Priest will be Fr Stanly Devasia, currently Assistant Priest at Cranbourne, who commences on 15 February 2023. Thank you to all who assisted in the organisation of the Mass, notably John Ryan, Nicole Dudman, and Scott Blencowe.

Following the Mass, we had a small break and then commenced our Awards Assembly, with well over 100 family members attending. Details of the award recipients are in the Newsletter. This was a great way to end the year and all students in attendance were attentive and demonstrated wonderful support for their peers being recognised. These events take an enormous amount of planning and I particularly want to thank I would like to thank Scott Blencowe, Dianna Malloy, Laura Kew, and Edson Letendrie for assisting the organisation, collation of data, and co-ordinating the audio visual for today’s Assembly. I also thank all staff who were part of the Awards organising group. There was a myriad of people assisting both on the day and throughout the process. Thank you to Jodie Connell for her work with regard to the assembly as well as the determination of awards and finally, thank you to John Ryan for his overall leadership of both the Mass and Awards assembly.

Year 7 2023

On Tuesday, 6 December, we welcomed our Year 7 students for 2023 to the College. I had the opportunity to speak to each class and personally welcome them. It was clear from those interactions that they all will be great members of our community. A large number of the students have siblings at the College and every class had several students whose parents attended Mary MacKillop Catholic Regional College. Therefore, thank you to all those families who are continuing their longstanding family connections.

Additionally, about a third of the students are the eldest child, and so I thank those families for trusting us to educate their children during the next six years of their lives.

Thank you to Claire Cassidy for all her work in organising the day and thank you to all the staff, including the 2023 Year 7 Homeroom Teachers – Jonathan Bowman, Julia Leslie, Lloyd Pendergast, and Jackie Van Dillen – as well as all the other staff who worked with students on the day.

VCE 2022 Results

Please note that VCE Results will be available to students on the morning of Monday, 12 December and all Year 12s are invited to attend a morning tea which will be held in the cafeteria space in the Senior School Building commencing at 10.30 am until 11.30 am to celebrate and if they wish to obtain any further career advice.

Farewell to staff

The following staff will complete their time with us at the end of the year:

Fran Backman – Fran was on leave this year and was acknowledged for her enormous contribution to the school over many years at the end of 2021. However, I again thank Fran for all that she has done for this community and wish her and her family all the best in the future.
Adeline Collins – will be taking up another secondary teaching appointment;
Elise Dowling – will be teaching at a Secondary College in Melbourne;
Katherine Fitzgerald – will be teaching at another Catholic College in Melbourne;
Dianne Hancock – has completed her contract with us this year;
Joseph McNeil – has completed his contract with us as an education support trainee; and
Natahlia Poli – will be working at another Catholic College in the Diocese of Sale;

Thank you for your work and support.

We also wish Peter Charles well as he takes leave for the first semester of next year.

Sapientia Domini Docet Nos

John M Freeman