Our Year 12 cohort finished their final formal class lessons yesterday. Today, they participated in a House breakfast with their peers from the House that they have been with throughout their journey with us. This was followed by a Final Mass with their parents and the last stage of their Rite of Passage. From next week, they will take personal responsibility for their study and preparations. We offer a series of subject workshops each day and spaces for individual or collaborative study with classmates and staff. The students will then undertake their external exams starting in the fourth week through until they return for their Graduation Ceremony, Final Assembly and Guard of Honor on Wednesday 15 November. We will speak more of this cohort publicly during these events, but I would like to express my admiration and thanks for their leadership of the student body and example that they have set for others in all areas across the College. We certainly have been a better place because they have been amongst us. I know that everyone will join me in wishing them the very best in their next weeks and for the longer journeys ahead for each of them. 

I recently read the following abstract called Remembering our Hope authored by Franciscan priest Richard Rohr…. 

Memory is very often the key to understanding. 

Memory integrates, reconciles, and puts the individual members into perspective 

as a part of the whole.... For us to recognize what God is doing 

and therefore who God is, 

we must pray like Paul “that your love may more and more abound, 

both in understanding and wealth of experience” (Philippians 1:9).... 

This is a relevant message for both for our Senior students in their present journey and for countries that are currently warring with one another within the world. I hope that our young people fill their hearts with loving memories and those at war that have hatred in their hearts can open them to more understanding and solidarity with each other. 

This has certainly been a week of celebration. On Monday, the Commissioning of Student Leaders Liturgy was held which marks the leadership transition from the Current Year 12’s to the Year 11 Students. This was celebrated as a whole school event. 

On Tuesday night, our Cultural department farewelled the Year 12 performers in their last concert. It was an enjoyable night with the departing students featured in each performance and presented with a farewell memory and individual speeches from their Music teachers. I hope the students and their families felt special on the night as we have benefitted and have grown from their presence and talent within the program.  

On Wednesday night, we welcomed the new Year 5 and 7 students and their parents who will join our community next year. It is always an enjoyable night meeting the new families. It would be fair to say that there were many nervous people there (including the new students). This night allows the new students to meet their House Dean and future “Big Brothers”. It also allows the parents an opportunity to start to digest all the information that they will need to know for the beginning of next year. It was well attended and, I hope, relevant and useful to all attendees. 

On Thursday night, we celebrated our first Sports Awards Evening. This is a new initiative from the Co- Curricular Sports Department so that parents can also come to see their sons receive their sports awards. We were lucky to host special guests, past students Ryan Smith and Tim Ryan along with staff member Doug Locke. They made up a panel interviewed by Jim Potts and spoke about their own sporting achievements and what they gained from school sport. There were some great messages for the students from their collective wisdom. 

In this week’s feedback for the Parent Satisfaction survey, I have covered the area of Teaching and Learning. You may have been reading in the media about the shortage of teachers in the workforce. This is a very real issue and has certainly been noticeable in the past year. This also coincides with staff wanting to take long service leave after COVID and Parental leave etc., which makes it difficult at times. It is good to see that the Federal and State Governments are trying to make our profession more attractive to join. If this situation is not rectified soon, it could cause serious concerns, as well as new and diverse ways to deliver curriculum to students, especially in some of the more specialized areas. The chart below shows the parental satisfaction in our staff. 

We have now started to get enough satisfaction surveys to compare longitudinal data and look for evidence of improvements in some programs we have instigated. Over the past two years we have been working to improve our practices in teaching differentiation. This means that teachers are equipped and resourced to be able to know and understand the learning abilities and styles of their students as well as they can. This allows the teachers to adjust their practices to get better outcomes from individuals or groups of students. The data above has demonstrated that we are improving in this area, especially in that of safe and inclusive learning environments and feedback to students.

Next week we celebrate Men of Learning Week. This will be launched with an action-packed assembly on Monday and other highlighted learning activities and opportunities during the week. We will also run our ACER testing with students in Years 5 –10 next week. The test results allow us further information on individual students and cohorts so that we can know them better and know what areas of curriculum might need more attention. Individually, it also allows us to triangulate this data against NAPLAN results and school reports to give us an idea of students’ abilities and movement over time. We require all students to bring a fully charged laptop to school each day and try their best when doing the tests.

Our new school leaders have also been preparing for the Inter-School Swimming Carnival to be held at the end of Week 4.

My best wishes to all parents and caregivers for Year 12 students as they embark on their final, and significant weeks of formal schooling and time within our community.

Live Jesus in our Hearts!

Mr Chris Mayes
College Principal