Our term concluded with a walk along the beautiful Shorncliffe and Sandgate foreshore as a part of our annual Shore2gate fundraising activity. Before our walk, we started the day with a whole school liturgy that emphasized the importance of solidarity, compassion, and love for others. We used a passage from Matthew’s Gospel (22:34-40) titled 'The Greatest Commandment' to emphasize this point. In today's world, it is essential that we all understand that we need one another, because we have a shared responsibility for others and the world itself. In the Gospel reading, we are told '...to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbour as ourselves'. These commandments are a call for mutual responsibility and the importance of solidarity. When we truly embrace the idea that being good and decent human is worth every effort, we begin to live out the essence of these teachings. During the liturgy, we were all invited to reflect on how we can embody these values in our daily lives. How do we support our neighbours? How do we contribute to the well-being of our community and the world?

Acting with kindness, compassion, and a sense of shared responsibility, I believe, is the best way that we can address the challenges we face together, creating a world that reflects God's love and grace. I am sure that many people may suggest that this thought is more a dream than reality. However, a dream can only become reality if one is prepared to act themselves. Our vision speaks of forming people who will be beacons of hope and possibility; working to create a world that reflects God’s love and grace certainly aligns with such a vision.

Two weeks ago, our College Leadership Team invited the leadership team members from St John Fisher College and Mary McKillop College to meet with us to discuss ways that we can collaborate to consider possibilities for our students, staff, and families to connect and share ideas and information. This may happen in a variety of ways and across different cohorts depending on the activities. We will communicate the events with the relevant students and families once they are organized. It is our plan that these events grow further into next year and beyond.

Social Media

In our recent school assembly, we discussed critical issues related to students’ usage of social media. Unfortunately, from my recent dealings within our own school community, I believe that many students have normalized risky online behaviours without understanding or consideration of the legal and social consequences. Some actions even required police intervention. While there is broader community talk of raising the legal age for social media, enforcing limits by parents, and having a good understanding of the dangers that exist, remain crucial. During the assembly I spoke of dangerous online behaviours that I have encountered and will cause adverse effects on the students including:

• Grooming.
• Distributing inappropriate and/or illegal materials.
• Catfishing.
• Sextortion and
• Coercive behaviours.

To support this, we will publish an article each week for the first five weeks of next term. The article will be in an infographic format and include information and support materials for parents and carers about the matters that I have listed so that you have better understanding of the dangers which are, sadly, very much on the rise within social media platforms. We will also pose a question for parents and carers to discuss with their children each week, so that they can understand their child’s position and behaviours in this space. We hope these sessions prompt meaningful and nonjudgemental conversation between families whilst providing support information to our parents and carers. I cannot stress enough the importance of having such conversations, based on the regret and pain that has been caused to students and families when we discuss past events in my office. It is also important that these conversations are done in such a way that there is no judgment or blame involved. Your children need to feel safe in talking about their actions and some of the situations they may be in now, to you, or encourage them to turn to a trusted adult.

I would like us to be able to partner with one another to be proactive and ensure that our young people make good and right decisions when using social media. Can I stress that if your child comments that everyone is doing it, and all their parents know… from my experience this is NOT the case!

In the meantime, I would urge all parents and carers to peruse the links below and be mindful of student social media interactions over the holiday break. 

How to help a young person experiencing sextortion | headspace 

Dealing with sexual extortion | eSafety Commissioner

From my experiences, many of you may be surprised about what is happening in your son’s social media footprint.

Last weekend marked the last round of AIC sport and chess. Each year, we are getting more students involved in our cocurricular sporting programs and this term was no different. I would like to thank all students who accepted our invitation to represent the College in fixtures, and to the many staff and volunteers who supported us including coaching roles and assistance at home games and other events throughout the term. I would also particularly like to thank all the parents and carers who not only supported their sons, but also transported them to and from the many training sessions and matches around Brisbane. I hope that you enjoyed the time with your son and watching him and his teammates improve across the season.

Our cultural programs run across the year and during this term we had many students and staff involved in musical performances, debating, Theatresports competitions and chess matches. Once again, I would like to thank the staff, students and parents who are involved in these programs, and I look forward to more performances in the remaining two terms.

Staffing Changes for Term 3

At the end of this term, we farewell Mr Luke Vanney, Mr Dennis Clough, Mrs Sharon Carr, Mrs Rachael Trolan, and Mrs Karen Clarey from the teaching staff and Mrs Anne-Marie Percival, and Mrs Margaret Webb from our café staff. Mrs Sharon Carr, Mr Luke Vanney and Mr Dennis Clough have been members of the teaching staff for significant periods of time. I am sure that students and families join with me in wishing them well in their future endeavours. Margaret Webb has also been employed at the College for many years in varying roles and her caring and kind character will be missed by the students. Anne-Marie Percival was the first convenor at our New Street café and has done a wonderful job in setting up the café to offer the services and menu that it does. Anne-Maree is returning to her other love of nursing.

Mr Ken Loftus and Mrs Kelsie Duke will be taking leave for the second semester and return in 2025. We welcome Mr Darcy Price (Senior Maths), Mrs Kim Murray (Visual Art), and Mrs Rachael Koop (HASS and English) to our staff starting next term. We have not completed all our recruitment at this stage, and I will introduce the new staff when the appointments are finalized.

Holiday Happenings

During the holidays, we have groups of students involved in school trips to Melbourne and Indonesia. I hope that everyone has a safe and enjoyable trip and thank Mr Greg Sikich (Melbourne) and Mrs Heather Kopp (Indonesia) for organizing these opportunities for the students.

Several students and staff will be heading to Townsville to participate in the Confraternity Rugby League carnival. The carnival commences with Mass on Sunday 23 June and fixtures are played through until the afternoon of Friday 28 June. The trip has been organized by Mr Brian Polich and we wish them well in their games.

There will be several coaching clinics and trial fixtures for students across all grades in rugby league, basketball, and tennis over the holiday period as well. Again, thank you to Mr Jim Potts and the staff and volunteers for giving their time to allow these opportunities to be available to our students.


As the term concludes, on behalf of the SPC staff, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks for the support given to us by the student and parent bodies. The term offered many opportunities within and outside of the classroom for our students. I am pleased that so many students took the chance to participate in them, and acknowledge that this was possible because of the planning, organization, and participation of many staff members. I would like to recognize and thank them for their efforts and support. I am sure that all students and families who were a part of the many activities have taken time to thank them for all that they did to support them.

I hope that all our staff and students have the chance for a refreshing break from normal school routine and will return with renewed energy for the third term. I also hope that many of our parents get some opportunity to have a break from their work and spend some quality time with your families. I am sure that each of our young men will do their best to make the next three weeks a stress-free time for you.

Live Jesus in our hearts!

Chris Mayes

College Principal