Last Friday I had the pleasure in spending time with the young men and women of our College who will graduate on 15 October.  Many of these students I have known since Prep, and most are now taller than me.  We explored the book “Oh The Place You’ll Go!” and used Dr Suess’ words of wisdom and their own knowledge they developed some of their own.  So, from our Year 12 2024 students to you here is their school advice:

• Be Brave
• Don’t stop before you start
• Resilience can bring about positive self-growth
• Don’t give up
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help!
• God’s timing is perfect timing
• Don’t be like everyone, be different, be yourself
• There will be times where you might lose your way but it’s the journey not the destination that matters
• Smaller the circle – better the people
• Always be prepared for anything that comes to you
• Follow your goals, not people
• Take things on, one at a time
• Learn to be independent and resilient
• You’ll be as successful as you make yourself
• You will come across many choices in life and some you will choose not to accomplish
• You gotta take life as it comes
• Stop sooking and just get on with it
• Believe in yourself even when no one else will, you will always have yourself
• Life is life – learn to adapt to what is happening within and around you
• Pick others up as they will do the same for you

COLLEGE HOUSE LEADERS 2025

On Friday we announced our College House Leaders for 2025.

 Congratulations to these wonderful young students who step into this role from now until term 4 2025.

 SACRAMENTS AT ST JOSEPH’S PARISH – RECONCILIATION

Our local parish, St Joseph’s runs the Sacrament Program for local children.  As a strong member of the Parish, our College supports this program where we can, and we encourage students who are baptised Catholic to take part in these as they reach these milestones (year level based).  Reconciliation is usually conducted in November each year and is open to children in Year 2 or above who have already received the Sacrament of Baptism.  Communion and Confirmation follows then in the next year, usually in May celebrated in the same week, with the Bishop presiding at Confirmation and Fr Jim presiding at Communion.  These sacraments are open to students who have received the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  If your child is ready to receive the Sacraments contact St Joseph’s Parish so they can be added to the list.  Communication about the programs and all that they entails comes from the wonderful staff at the Parish. 

World Teacher’s Day

This Friday we celebrate World Teacher’s Day with our staff.  We are blessed with the amazing staff we have at our College both teaching and support staff.  Our teachers are invested in our students and work to ensure all have a place and feel at home at our College.  I thank our teachers for their dedication and hard work, I truly appreciate all that they do for our College both inside and outside the classroom.

REPEATED ARTICLES – From Week 2

Reminder - SAFETY OF STUDENTS AT PICK UP

As the summer storm season begins, we have commenced a new process at the College to ensure the safety of our staff and students at pick up time at the end of the school day.  We enacted this process on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.  We all know by ‘murphy’s law’ that these rain events and storms seem to always hit right at 3:10pm, at pick up time, when we are trying to depart our 650 (approx.) students.  To ensure the safety of all when departing the school day on occasions when BOM issues a ‘severe thunderstorm warning’ – involving lightning, storms and wild weather – we will send a text message to all families and staff notifying them that we will not be using Cooper Street as a pickup location.  Please note this is to ensure the safety of our students and staff, who would need to cross this open area with large metal structures.  We will direct students to the area for pick up in front of the Prep classrooms.  On these occasions we do not need parents to contact students or the office to confirm these plans, we will communicate this process directly with our students.  We will maintain supervision until all students are collected to ensure there is adequate time for adjustments to be made by parents for pickup.  We will not stop students who are travelling on foot or by bike from leaving the college but be aware that in the event of extreme storm activity, we will delay students leaving the campus or classrooms until it is safe. Parents should talk to their children (of all ages) about sensible behaviour in storms to ensure personal safety and what alternate arrangements are in place for your family in the event of storms and rains at school departure time.   

CLASS LISTS

Class allocations for the year ahead will be communicated to the students in advance of ‘Up Day’ each year.  They will be released in next week via Parent Portal and displayed at the College for students.  Class lists are final on publication to students and parents. There will be no changes to the Year 9-11 class lists from 2024.  This decision has been made as Year 9 lists were changed mid-year due to timetable restructure and as students move into Year 11 and Year 12 their core class is only used for a Year Level Connect lesson each week. 

‘Up Day’ will be held on Wednesday 4 December for Year 1-10 2025 students.  This is the day where all students enrolled for the following year spend time in their future classes. 

This practice means that:

• Students will experience a day in their future class, with future teacher/s;
• Students will engage in transitional activities that include orientation of new features, structures, areas and facilities;
• Students begin to build relationships with their teacher/s for following year;
• Students will know which other students will be in their class; and
• Parents and carers will have time to talk positively to their children about the class experiences they may have the following year.

Our process for allocating and releasing class lists is explained on our College Website – Enrolment & Back to School – Class Allocation.

COLLEGE AWARDS – what are they?

If you are new to our College family in 2024 you may not be aware of a big occasion we have in Term 4, our College Awards of Excellence Ceremony. Held during the Year 12’s last days here at the College, it celebrates and acknowledges excellence in all four domains of our College; Academia, Spirituality, Sport and Arts. Awards are presented to students in all year levels as we celebrate our rich College life. As part of the Awards Ceremony, we farewell our Year 12 students as a P-12 community and they exit and ring the journey bell. This ceremony will be on 13 November beginning at 9:15am. Parents have been notified via Parent Portal at the commencement of Term 4 if your child is receiving an award. If your child is listed in an Activity called Awards of Excellence 2024 this means they are receiving an award at this ceremony. 

Details for each of these awards can be found on our College Website – About Us – College Awards of Excellence.

DATE CLAIMERS – Term 4

25 October – World Teacher’s Day

13 November – College Awards of Excellence Ceremony

15 November – Year 12 Graduation Mass

22 November – Year 11 and Year 10 final day of school

2 December – College Christmas Carols (twilight)

5 December – Early Years Nativity Play (during school day)

6 December – last day of Term 4 (10-week term)

Cate Brennan

Deputy Principal Religious Education