From the Principal

Benvenuto - Welcome

As we enter week five of the Caritas Project Compassion campaign, we are reminded of the words of Saint Oscar Romero – “Aspire not to have more, but to be more.” We learn of Halima, who was forced to flee the violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in 2017 and ended up in Cox’s Bazar refugee camp. She aspired to ‘be more’ even in the most difficult living circumstances. Watching Halima’s story was a great reminder of how we can ‘be more’ for others. 

Our college theme for 2021, ‘Bearers of Hope’, reminds us that even in the most difficult of circumstances there is hope and we are called to bring that hope to others – to be more. Pope Francis reminds us that “However dark things are, goodness always re-emerges and spreads. Each day in our world, beauty is born anew.” 

As the term races to its end in a couple of weeks' time, our staff and students are working extremely hard. Last week as a staff, we had a ‘fallow week’, a week without meetings as an acknowledgement that we need to stop, take a breath and do something to regenerate and re-energise, just as you do in farming when you rest a paddock, hence the term fallow.

This week we have been working with our Year 9 students, exploring senior secondary pathways. We are fortunate enough to be working closely with Phil Molloy from Catholic Education Sandhurst Ltd to establish our VET (Vocational Education and Training) program and we have been talking about the options of fast tracking VCE or undertaking a VET program in Year 10. We are also lucky to have a Careers Practitioner on board as we establish these pathways. Belinda Gleeson will be working with students and their families to have pathway conversations. It is a very exciting time, but it can also be daunting and overwhelming, so it is important that we all support the students to ask questions and explore their passion areas, to better understand what pathway is best for them.

Over the coming weeks we will be hosting two community open nights, enrolment tours and a general information night for families interested in enrolment. This is in support of our enrolment process. More information can be found on the General Notices page. Some of our Year 9 students have volunteered to host enrolment tours and they will be scheduled to do so throughout the coming weeks. Deputy Principal Ebony Anderson and some of our Year 7 students have been out and about this week visiting the local Catholic primary schools to talk to students about their experience of Year 7 and other information about St Anne’s College. 

It is vitally important that in these last few busy weeks of school, we are taking time out for reflection and prayer, finding ways to be bearers of hope, and looking after each other.

- Sue Carroll, Principal

Happy birthday ...

March

Jorja Ford; Antonio Mercuri; Bella Johnson; Emila Okely;  Alice van Maanenberg; Wendy Emin;  Wryker Briggs; Hope Ryan; Liam Dicinoski; Katelyn Gent; Taigue Mitchell; Crystal Gribbin; Alessandro Turkovic; Janelle Etuale; Jazelle Etuale; Georgia Darby; Sienna Mellington; Amrit Bains; Jasmin Buha 

Shoutouts 

Thanks to the following businesses for supporting St Anne's College:

Adornato's for landscaping supplies and Intercontinental Spares for the 40ft shipping container.