This morning, we held a special Mass to honour our College patron saint, St Patrick. Once again, we were fortunate to have Bishop Tim Norton celebrate the Mass. I am proud to say that this College has developed values over the past 72 years that are very much aligned to those of St Patrick. He was a humble and compassionate person who was true to his beliefs and those that he served. I often wonder about how, in this current world of celebrity worship, St Patrick would be able to speak of serving others and placing the common good above ourselves.

At the completion of the Mass, we unveiled our new Strategic Plan (2024-2026) to the students. A copy and explanation of the plan was sent to all parents on REALM and a copy can be found here. I explained to the students that strategic plans are important to schools because they set out our vision for the school during this time and what we plan to do to achieve this vision. These documents are aspirational, and the pragmatic planning is done through annual action plans that align to the document. Our research and data collection clearly showed that a significant majority of people who responded to surveys and participated in reviews from parents, students, and staff, believed that St Patrick’s is a good school because it is a safe and inclusive community for all. This new plan sets out what our values are as such a community and the priorities that we will undertake because of these values. It will ensure that no matter what changes happen in the next three years, the direction is clear and based on evidence from our key stakeholders.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I was in Adelaide to participate in a gathering of all EREA Principals across Australia, including those from mainstream and flexi schools. The purpose of the gathering was to participate in a review and renewal process for the EREA Charter and Mission direction. EREA has over fifty-five schools from across every jurisdiction in Australia ranging from kindergarten through to Year Twelve students and flexi schools that also offer education to students over 18 years of age. It is the only educational organization that spans across all educational jurisdictions. The Charter for Catholic Schools in the Edmund Rice Tradition (EREA Charter) sets out the story of Edmund Rice and his schools and the Touchstones that articulate what we value as schools.

The Charter is considered the “glue” that binds all our schools and entities together as one organization. The four Touchstones that are the foundation stones to the communities that we build and the (liberating) education that we all offer. The first EREA Charter was launched in 2007 and has had some changes since that time so that it is kept contemporary and relevant to the people within our communities.

The process will continue across most of this year with input from staff, students, and families across our schools. Once all the feedback is collected a new charter will be drafted to be attentive to the times that we ae in. As this process happens every six years, the incremental steps like this do not necessarily bring about a great deal of change. However, when you compare the Charter from 2007 to now these steps added together have yielded quite a lot of change from the original.

The second area of feedback was focussed on the Mission of EREA. Those of you in business would understand that the Mission of the company is what we always refer to when considering important decisions or ensuring that the company is still on track to the purposes of its intention. It is now time for EREA to consider its Mission for the next five years and beyond, especially given the significant changes that occurred in governance structures and systems over the past two years. I will continue to keep you updated as the process progresses across the year.

During this week and early next week our Years 5, 7 and 9 students will be involved in NAPLAN testing. This time usually brings out many media commentaries on the purpose and use of such tests. It is the view of this school that the tests provide useful information to us so that we can gauge the position and progression of individual students and cohorts over time. This information, along with other measures of student outcomes also allow us to plan curriculum and cater for student needs. All that we ask of our students is that they give it their best efforts so that we have relevant data to consider. Thank you for your support with this as it is valuable to us.

All our students will soon be undertaking their internal school assessments. The simplest and best advice that I can give to them is to be prepared. Preparation should have started some time ago and now is the time to be revising and questioning their teachers about things that they need further explained or they may have forgotten. If the preparation has not been started yet, then now is a suitable time to start. As a wise teacher told me when I was a student, “no one fails because they were over prepared.”

This weekend heralds the last round of AIC sporting fixtures with our final games being played against Iona College. I would like to thank all our staff and students for your support of the programs and particularly thank the students for the way in which you have committed to your teams and the way in which you have played. On Saturday 23 March we have some rounds of Rugby and Football against St Edmund’s College, Ipswich. This year the games are in Ipswich. Whilst some transport will be available, I encourage all parents to ensure that your son undertakes the commitment to the school and his team and is present at these trials. St Edmund’s College deserves us to be there in numbers to play against their teams.

Live Jesus in our Hearts!



Mr Chris Mayes College Principal

This weekend we celebrate the life of St Patrick with his Feast Day on March 17. For the Church, this event is an opportunity to look at and understand our own call to holiness. When we name someone as a Saint, like Patrick or Mary Mackillop, or any of the thousands of other saints, we are recognising that the life of God is evident in that person and the way they have lived. They are models for us of how the Christian life should be lived. Because of this, the truth of the stories about the person is not so much in the historical authenticity of whether or not they happened but instead how the stories reflect and remind us of the experience of God.

What do we see in Patrick of the life of God? What do the stories about Patrick show us? A child taken from his family and his culture. Someone who overcomes enormous disadvantage. A young man who found freedom from slavery and committed himself to God. A passionate man of faith who let that faith define all aspects of his life. A crazy man who held to what he believed with courage and conviction regardless of what those around him said. An adventurer who set out in spite of his fears. Does this tell us about God?

We have very little of Patrick in his own words, a few documents remain that are ascribed to him. One of the most famous is a long prayer that is often called “St Patrick’s Breastplate” or “The Deer’s Call”. Part of that text reads –

Christ with me, 

Christ before me, 

Christ behind me, 

Christ in me, 

Christ beneath me, 

Christ above me, 

Christ on my right, 

Christ on my left, 

Christ when I lie down, 

Christ when I sit down, 

Christ when I arise, 

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, 

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, 

Christ in every eye that sees me, 

Christ in every ear that hears me.

We use this text as part of the Farewell Assembly for our Year 12’s. When I read these words, I hear Patrick speaking about love. Seeing and being love. Knowing that for Christ to be everywhere, love must be in every part of his life.

As we celebrate Patrick we see a face of God that is strong and passionate. A face of God that has a heart for those who are excluded or enslaved. Someone who knows what it means to be the marginalised and the outcast, and still to know that love of God all around him.

Happy Feast Day!!


Over the next two weeks we are asking Houses to bring in Items for Easter Hampers to support organisations helping people in need – St Vinnies, Sandbag, Redcliffe Breakfast Club, etc.

YR 9 Rite Journey have already begun bringing these in and are working with their Rite Journey Mentors on this. Yr 7 Waterford Waiters will collect items each morning from TG.

The items we are asking people to donate are to help create Emergency kits such as:

• Up and go (shakes)
• Long life milk
• Sugar
• Teabags
• Small tins of Coffee
• Tins of Chunky soup
• Tins of Spaghetti or Baked beans
• Toothpaste
• Toothbrushes
• Disposable Razors
• Soap
• Shampoo and Conditioner
• Deodorant (Mens/Womens)
• New clothing items Kmart - kids, ladies, men
• Socks
• Easter colouring activity books with pens
• Packets of Tampons/pads