Dear parents, friends, staff and students,

In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus told the Parable of the talents (Matthew 25: 14-30). In this parable, a wealthy man entrusted three of his servants with talents (a unit of money) whilst he went on a journey. Two of the servants took the talents and invested them to reap a profit for their master. The third was fearful of his master and took his talent and buried it so that it would not be stolen. When the master returned, he congratulated the two wise servants and condemned the one who had buried his talent.

In our translation, we see a clear connection between the gifts that God has given us to use (our talents) and the expectation that we use those gifts in a productive way. As with many of the Gospel readings, we do not have to look far to find the relevance of these in our everyday lives. For students at Mount Carmel, this story might very easily be reflected in the fact that as we approach the end of the year, they will each be completing assessment tasks and exams that might reflect how well they have used the talents they have been given by God. Have these talents been used wisely to reap productive rewards, or squandered and hidden? Given that one of our Marist characteristics is ‘love of work’, I encourage all students to adopt the idea that using your talents appropriately is one of the greatest ways that we can honour the gifts given to us by God.

Last Friday, our staff completed a Staff Development Day on wellbeing. Staff undertook an on-line training session rather than a face to face professional development (thanks to COVID). This session provided them with an opportunity to stop and reflect on what wellbeing is and what strategies might be used to enhance it. Many of these tools are also appropriate for students and might be used in a Pastoral way over the coming months. I thank all parents and students for your support in enabling staff to take time to look after such an important aspect of their lives.

On Friday December 4 (week 8), our Year 7 2021 students will be attending an Orientation Day at the College. This date was moved to allow us to hold a day where the students could come together onsite and complete some activities. The students will be kept separate from the rest of the College on the day and activities will be conducted in alignment with COVID directives. Each Year 7, 2021 parent has been sent an email and orientation pack outlining the details. For the rest of our students, the day will proceed as normal.

On Tuesday evening we were able to hold our final Parents and Friend’s meeting for 2020. via Zoom. Unfortunately, we received a few apologies and were not able to make a quorum to hold a regular meeting. This was the last opportunity for 2020 for the P&F to meet as our next meeting will not be until term 1 next year. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank the P&F executive Ms Stephanie Jenkins (President), Mrs Kelly Calderbank (treasurer), Mr Damian Calderbank (Vice President) and Mr Alex Dziubinski (Diocesan Rep) for their continued support and efforts during 2020. This year has been frustrating in terms of what we were unable to do but I have appreciated the ability to discuss ideas and unveil ideas to our committed group of parents. I encourage all parents to consider joining us for the P&F meetings next year.

You may be aware that over the previous two weeks we have conducted an evacuation drill and a lockdown drill. For safety, these events must be practiced each 12 months and were scheduled for earlier in the year but were unable to be carried out due to COVID and weather. They were very successful drills and have been evaluated with the intent to implement slight adjustments to improve them. We hope to conduct these again at the start of 2021 and appreciate the efforts of the staff and the cooperation of the students.

Over the past few months, Bishop Brian has been celebrating Sunday Mass and livestreaming it. These Masses each Sunday and can be accessed here.

Mr Steve Lo Cascio