As we approach the solemnity and joy of the Easter weekend, it is a fitting time to reflect on its significance to our Catholic Church and community at St. Patrick’s College. From Good Friday through to Easter Sunday, we are invited to journey through the sorrow, silence, and jubilation that these holy days encapsulate. Good Friday marks the day when Jesus Christ offered the ultimate sacrifice of his own life for the salvation of humanity. On this day, we remember and celebrate his passion, crucifixion, and death. It is a time for us to contemplate the weight of sacrifice and the depth of his love for us. We encourage our students to attend the Good Friday service, where the story of Christ’s passion is retold, helping them understand the magnitude of this selfless act.

Holy Saturday is a day of quiet reflection and anticipation. This is a time for prayer and reflection, awaiting the Resurrection. It serves as a reminder of the importance of patience and faith during times of uncertainty and waiting. It is an opportunity for families and communities to come together in prayer, reflecting on the virtues of hope and trust in God’s plan. Easter Sunday is the pinnacle of the Easter Triduum, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This miraculous event is the cornerstone of our faith, symbolizing the victory of life over death, light over darkness, and love over sin. The Easter Mass is a festive and joyous and we rejoice in the promise of eternal life and the renewal of our faith.

At St. Patrick’s College, we embrace the Easter message as a central part of our mission to nurture the spiritual growth of our students. We integrate the teachings of these holy days emphasizing the values of sacrifice, redemption, and new beginnings. Our school community started our prayer journey on Ash Wednesday and were together again this morning celebrating our Easter liturgy. It is my hope that many of the students also join their families in the celebrations and rituals throughout the Easter weekend.

These sacred days also afford us all the opportunity to look outward, putting our faith into action. We encourage our students to engage in acts of charity, kindness, and service. Whether it is through our own Easter appeal, visiting the elderly, or participating in community clean-ups, it is a chance to embody the spirit of Easter by spreading love and compassion. The Easter weekend is not only a time to celebrate with the giving of Easter eggs and gifts, but more importantly a time to reflect on the transformative power of Christ’s resurrection. It is a time to renew our commitment to living out the Gospel values and to instil in our children the hope and joy that Easter brings with the opportunity of new beginnings.

I would like to thank the St Patrick’s community for the love and support that we have offered one another during this term. There have been some difficult times but also great examples of resilience and determination. It is a great reminder that good schools are that way because of the people within them.

Last week, Mr Chris Woolley announced that I would be retiring as College Principal at the end of this year. During this week, Mr Peter Fullagar has been leading a process of discernment to support EREA Colleges in selecting the new College Principal for St Patrick’s starting in 2025. Firstly, I would like to thank the many parents, staff, and students for your well wishes. I will certainly miss this community when the time finally arrives. I would also like to thank the many staff and parents who completed the survey or met with Mr Fullagar as well as the many students who met with him over the last two days. This is an important process for the new leader to understand what the community wants of them and it is good to see so many people being involved. It is envisaged that the new principal will be announced towards the middle of June.

Unfortunately, due to the inclement weather, we had to postpone our Interhouse Cross-Country Championships. The Championships will now be held on Wednesday (17 April) in the first week of next term. There will be classes in the morning followed by the Cross Country Championships after morning tea.

Our Junior Musical cast will continue their rehearsals over the holiday break and the performances will take place from Wednesday in the first week of next term. There is great talent amongst the students involved and it will be a show not to be missed. If you have not secured a ticket, I would suggest that you do so as soon as possible as the shows are filling up. Our ANZAC Ceremony will take place on the foreshore in front of the College again this year (weather permitting) on the morning of Wednesday 24 April, the day before the ANZAC Day holiday.

The sports of Football and Rugby will start with trial fixtures against Padua College on the first Saturday (20 April) of Term 2. I would also like to thank, in advance, all the staff and students who will spend some of their holiday breaks involved in camps and clinics preparing for the new season. Likewise, our Cross Country team will also continue to train over this time.

Uniform
All students will be expected to wear their school tie starting on the first day of Term 2. Likewise, this is a time when the weather starts to cool, and students will need to wear a jumper to school. Please remind your son that he can only wear the school jumper to and from school with his uniform. This includes the grey jumper or the new green jumper that is now available in limited sizes at the School Locker store at North Lakes. Senior students will be required to wear their school blazers.

During the Term 1, some students have fallen into the habit of just using their laptop bag to carry their laptop and books. This is causing damage to the laptop bags as they are not designed for other books to be crammed into them alongside the laptop, which in turn, is causing damage to the laptop and the bag that is meant to be securing them. Students are required to bring their school bag for books and laptop bag (solely for laptop) to school. I ask all parents and carers to ensure that this habit starts again from the first day of next term.

The usual haircut and grooming rules apply to all students except for those in Year 12 who have raised over $300 for Mullets for Mental Health. These students will be able to sport their mullets for the first three weeks of Term 2, until Edmund Rice Day. During this time, they will also spread the message about mental health and what can be done to support one another. During our fun activities on Edmund Rice Day, we will have awards for those who raised significant amounts of money and the best hairstyles. After the awards, they will all be “shaved” on stage by barbers. So far, they have raised within the vicinity of $10,000 and are looking to double that if they can. Please help any of the students if you can. This is a worthy cause to them.


Staffing
As always, the end of a school term brings some staffing changes whether for leave, completion of contracts or new opportunities. I would like to thank Mr Sam Ducasse, Miss Lauren Vayro and Mr David Gardiner for their work with us on contract during Term 1. Mr Aaron Kerr and Mr Troy Schultz will return from their long service leave. With Mr Schultz’s return, I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Mr Jonathan Brough (Acting Dean of Teaching and Learning), Mrs Chelsea Parakas (Acting Director of Senior School), Ms Melanie Steven (Acting Head of Faculty-English) and Ms Eloise Svendsen (Acting Program Leader – Literacy) who have all acted in different roles due to the long service leave taken by Troy. Each has ensured that there has been a smooth transition into their new roles and have done outstanding jobs in supporting the students and their colleagues. They will return to their usual roles in Term 2.

Mrs Manju Prasad resigned from the role of Head of Faculty Science during Term 1 and Ms Veronica Bannan is acting in the role for the rest of this year. Next term we will welcome Miss Jenna Pleash to the role of senior biology and science teacher. Mr Aaron Lee is also taking parental leave and will be replaced by Ms Kerrie Petersen for the first three weeks of Term 2. We look forward to welcoming Miss Pleash to our staff on a full-time basis and Mr Schultz and Mr Kerr back from their leave.

May this Easter be a time of blessing, reflection, and joy for you and your loved ones.


Live Jesus in our Hearts!

Chris Mayes
College Principal

Watch Mr Chris Mayes End of Term 1, Principal's Address.

Parent Teacher Interviews – Parent Survey

Parent Teacher Interviews seem like a distant memory... Many thanks to the parents, students and teachers for their commitment to this process. It is just one of the many ways we can connect and work in partnership to get the best outcomes for your son.

To ensure we are meeting your needs we regularly ask for feedback at the end of the PTI season. This information informs our processes, protocols and gives us some insights into the value you place on the evening and the quality of the feedback from teachers.

• This year we had 118 responses of which 25% were first time users.
• 92% of students attended the interviews. We would like to see this get closer to 100%.

Your response to the survey indicates:

• The majority of users were very confident using Microsoft Teams to participate in meetings with no technical issues encountered by the majority of parents.
• Communication with the teacher regarding student progress and areas in need of improvement was positive with 91% of parents choosing Effective or Very Effective.
• 70% of the conversations referenced discussions regarding your son’s academic goals. These goals can be found on Analytics by accessing Parent Lounge.

Conducting PTIs through Microsoft Teams Meetings was received very positively/ positively by 79% of the respondents.

Comments from parents:

"The meetings are more manageable to fit around working parents or with parents in two different locations being able to access the same interview."

"Very constructive feedback from teachers."

"Excellent advice on how students can achieve their academic goals."

"Impressed with the preparedness of the teachers."

"Easy to navigate the links on the REALM page."


As we head into the holidays, I pray that your sons are prepared for a term of assessment and studying for exams, and that this term they have celebrating successes in sport or cultural activities, and embraced all the opportunities on offer at SPC.


Fight the good fight!

Term 1 Sport summary

Last weekend St Patrick’s finished the Term 1 AIC season with the final round being played against Iona College. It has been a very busy start to the year with over 700 students registered to play across the three codes of AFL, Cricket and Volleyball, and a further 100 students involved in Swimming.

With many teams going into the final round in contention for Premierships there were some big matches to be played out.


Cricket
Our Cricketers made history this season as they became only the third school to win the much-coveted AIC Cricket Aggregate trophy. This was a significant achievement and is a just reward for 5 years of hard work to get the programme to this point. You cannot have strong teams at the top without having good players and teams to support. A strong A team needs a strong B team, and a strong B team needs a strong C team to support them. This has been the theme for our SPC Cricket teams this year as they have all pulled together to win games each weekend.

At the start of the final round, we were 2.5 aggregate points behind Iona. We knew that it would be very tight and would potentially go down to the wire. As it turned out, the St Pat’s boys were not in the mood to lose games and Iona found themselves on the receiving end of some fantastic team and individual performances. Out of the 20 matches played, St Patrick’s won 12 and drew one. Of the games that counted towards the overall aggregate championship SPC won an unassailable 8 matches out of 10 (7A,7B,8A,8B,9A,9B,10A,10B).

It was a very proud day for the Cricketing community and for St Patrick’s sport as a whole. Special mention to Cricket Co-Ordinator Mr Dan Nethery, whose tireless efforts over the past few years have been the main reason behind the meteoric rise of SPC Cricket.

At the final count we had 4 unbeaten sides (7A, 8A, 9A, 9C) and a further 4 sides that won their respective competitions (8B, 8C, 9B, 10B). This was a phenomenal effort. With a large contingent of a young 1st XI squad returning, and an embarrassment of riches in the Junior ranks, the future of Pat’s Cricket is looking good for the next few years.


Volleyball
Volleyball has also seen a sharp upturn in performance this season. The final round was a tough one against Iona (the overall Volleyball Aggregate Champion) with wins hard to come by. Once again though, I watched many teams keep their opponents very close in games, only going down by narrow margins. There has been a very clear lift in performance and game play and understanding and this bodes well for next year. The 7As won a three-set cliffhanger in the final round to go through the season unbeaten. The Year 7 cohort, were very strong, with the 7Cs and 7Bs both finishing in the top three of their respective competitions. The Year 8 and 9 cohorts were also competitive and the 11A team won 4 matches to finish 3rd in their competition.

Our 1st team broke a two-year streak of no wins and were competitive throughout the season – the final round match against the previously unbeaten Iona team giving the perfect illustration of this as the team went toe to toe, point for point with the eventual Champion side.


AFL
It would be fair to say that it has been a tough season for the AFL teams, but there was definitely some development and progression. With most of the players being in either Year 10 or 11, it was always going to be a development year for the 1st team. The boys tried hard but were outmuscled as the size and strength differential of their opponents was just too much each week. However, the young players have learnt a lot about playing at 1st team level and they will be better for the experience when they return next year.

The Year 8 and 9 teams both had a couple of good wins over the course of the term. Both of these age groups have significant potential, they just need to learn how to train and play a little more consistently.

The Year 6 and 7 teams battled hard, but as with our Opens, they were also outsized and out muscled each week. The Year 7s got within a whisker of their first win at the weekend. Despite playing much of the final quarter a man down, they matched it with their Iona opponents to fall just 2 points short of a win. Unfortunately, in the end they could not quite get there.

With limited preparation and training time, our Year 5 teams did well this season and suggested that they will be a strong cohort as they move through the age groups and gain some much-needed experience.


Well done to all students who took the field and the courts during Term 1.


Term 2 Sport – Football, Rugby and Cross Country
Our focus now turns to Football, Rugby and Cross Country for the Term 2 season. This is our busiest sporting term of the year and at the last count we had over 850 students signed up to take part.

For 2024 we will have 5 full school rounds played at Curlew. This will provide a great opportunity for the St Patrick’s community to pull together and get behind our teams. I look forward to seeing you on the sidelines.

Mr Jim Potts

Head of Sport