Good Afternoon All,
I hope this communication finds you well.
- Virtue of the Week
- Thought from Archbishop Lefebvre
- College Walkathon
- NAPLAN
- Bullying Prevention
- Letter from Father Daniel Themann
- Community Engagement Session
This week staff and students explore the Virtue of Loyalty. Loyalty is expressing accepting the bonds implicit in relationships and defending the virtues upheld by Church, family, and country
A thought from Archbishop Lefebvre
We should be extremely interested in the four last things, especially since all of our actions here below are preparing our future eternity. It would be insanity to live in indifference or unawareness of these last things. It is the fundamental motive behind the Incarnation, the Redemption: our return to God through Jesus Christ. It is the essence of the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas, because it is the essence of our reason for existing: to be with God for ever.
Lent is a time of preparation, change and renewal. It allows us to focus on new beginnings and new life. An opportunity to reflect on how we can become better people, to deepen our relationship with God and a time to grow out of the ways that turn us away from our Faith.
We are provided with practical advice on how we might go about this period of preparation and change. Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving are traditionally three ways that we can prepare ourselves for the death and resurrection of Our Lord at Easter.
Furthermore, what a liberating idea Renewal is, to start over, to begin again. I’m sure we have all, at times wished that we could start over. Lent gives us the opportunity to start over with God. We know that through his unconditional love of each of us, it is possible to start again.
As we journey through Lent, we are encouraged to reflect on our lives in the light of the example of Our Lord. Some of the questions I am meditating on are:
- How am I growing my faith?
- How can I Improve my spiritual life and my relationship with God?
- In what ways can I deepen my prayer life, charity and service to others?
It is also my hope and prayer for this period that each of us finds our place here within our College community, that each of us share in the joy of moments of inspiration and aspiration, that we all make new connections and learn new things in an atmosphere of support, encouragement and challenge, and that we know Our Lord walks with us always, but particularly during those more difficult moments.
We wish our students competing in Volleyball and Tennis today all the best for their respective fixtures.
Thank you to the staff, students and families that joined us either at Mass, for the Walkathon or the Celebration on the Feast Day of St Thomas Aquinas. I am sure that you were as proud as I was when returning to the College after Mass to see the way in which the College was presented. The day provided a number of challenges for both staff and students, but all were overcome with great levels of Fortitude, Patience and Perseverance. Our contingent of students who will visit the Society Mission in Fiji later in the year raised in excess of $760 in their first fundraising effort.
Last week, I had the pleasure of joining our Year 3 class on Friday morning. It was a joy to read about Alan Bean, the fifth Astronaut to walk on the moon and renowned Artist, with a small group of students. They displayed great fluency, comprehension, and retention of the story. Parents should be extremely pleased with the work that is being undertaken in the Kolbe Learning Centre. I look forward to reading Food Boats Ahoy! this coming Friday.
You will be aware that our Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students will be completing the NAPLAN Testing between the 13th and 25th March. Should you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact either Miss Murienn Hogan, Mr David Williams or myself.
The NAPLAN results allow parents/carers and schools to evaluate student progress against the national standards. The College uses this data to help appraise and design curriculum programs, and it can be used as part of conversations with students and families about student academic progress and in pathway planning. While no specific study is required, we do urge all students to take the testing seriously and complete them to the best of their ability.
Parents are welcome to visit the NAPLAN information for more information –
https://nap.edu.au/naplan/for-parents-carers
Part of our commitment to Child Safety is ensuring that we provide an environment free from bullying behaviours. Bullying in any form is unacceptable behaviour. Bullying is defined as repeated verbal, physical, social or psychological behaviour that is harmful and involves the misuse of power by an individual or group towards one or more persons. Bullying behaviour has three key features:
- It involves the intentional misuse of power in a relationship.
- It is ongoing and repeated.
- It involves behaviours that can cause harm.
Over the next fortnight students will help the College by completing a confidential/deidentified bullying survey that will help the College Leadership team undertake a systematic evaluation of our anti-bullying interventions. Should you have any questions in relation to this please don’t hesitate to contact me.
You will receive a letter from Father Daniel Themann, the District Superior of Australia and New Zealand, welcoming you to the year and outlining some of the wonderful initiatives that will help continue to build upon the strong foundations of a Traditional Catholic education. Father Themann will be visiting the College this week for the first College Board meeting of the year.
On Friday 22rd March we will hold our second Community Engagement Session for the year. The session will commence at 2.00pm and a light afternoon tea will be provided. We look forward to seeing many of you there.
God Bless,
Mr Kieran O’Dwyer
Principal