This week there are two things of note that give us some clear direction on how to live our lives and improve those around us. The first was last Sunday’s Gospel which told the story of the Loaves and Fishes (Matthew 14: 13 – 21). In this story, Jesus was preaching to the masses when his disciples explained to him that the crowd was hungry. Over the course of the Gospel, Jesus takes 5 loaves and two fish and feeds the 5000 people who are present listening to His message. Whilst there are many discussions of what this means, one simple interpretation may be around how many different people from many different cultures came together that day in community listening to this special Teacher. In a land that was disjointed and oppressed, these people took the time to stop and listen to a simple but valuable message. 

In the same way, the second thing of note is the feast of St Mary of the Cross Mackillop (Saturday August 8). Australia’s first saint, Mary was a teacher who devoted her time and effort to the poor and needy. St Mary built a school from nothing and against many odds. She trusted in the message of God and brought calmness and stillness to those around her so that they could hear the message of God. One of St Mary’s favourite quotes was; “never see a need without doing something about it”.  

In both these messages, it is clear that there is a benefit to stopping and listening to God’s message and then helping those around us. 

This week, our Year 9 students are beginning their subject selection process. These students will be presented with a range of information about the subjects available and the method in which they can make their choices. I thank Mrs Tolomeo and the KLA Coordinators for their work in preparing these students to make wise choices.

Over the next week, many of our teachers will be beginning Pivot surveys. This is a program that enables students to provide anonymous feedback to some of our teachers about the way that they teach and how this is received by the students. As one of our School Improvement Priorities this year is around using feedback to promote a culture of learning, I congratulate and thank those staff for asking for this feedback. I also thank the students in advance for giving this feedback in a positive and appropriate way. 

As you would be aware, we were unable to hold our Staff Development Day in term 2 due to remote learning and COVID restrictions. This Staff Development Day will now be held on  Friday November 13 (Term 4 Week 5). The staff will be focussing on our School Improvement Plan around vision and mission and wellbeing. As this will now be a Pupil Free Day, I ask parents to be aware of this addition to the College calendar and mark it in your own planning

Our next P & F meeting was scheduled for this coming Tuesday evening (August 11). As there  are  still restrictions around gatherings, we have decided to conduct this meeting via zoom. The meeting will begin at 7pm. You can access the zoom meeting using the following details: 

Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android:

https://dowcatholic.zoom.us/j/94526373031?pwd=KzRqT09qVERwOVJJb0ZpZzJIVmxwZz09

Password: 522630

If you are unsure how to access this, please ask your child as they will be familiar with zoom from their remote learning period.

For the past two weeks I included a link in the newsletters for parents to provide feedback to the College with regard to our Semester 1 reports and Parent/Teacher/Student meetings. Thank you to the parents who have given this feedback. There is one more opportunity for you to have your say on these by completing the survey through the link here. I encourage you to complete the survey if you have not yet had the chance.

Mr Steve Lo Cascio