Dear parents, friends, staff and students,

Welcome back to all members of our community for the start of 2021. I would like to extend a special welcome to our Year 7 students (the class of 2026), our new students in Years 8 – 11 and the families who are joining our community for the first time.

The Gospel from Last Sunday’s Mass was from Mark 1: 14-20. In this reading, we are told of Jesus’ calling of Simon and Andrew, James and John. His calling of them to Him is literal and practical and He asks them to join Him to be fishers of men. “At once they left their boats and followed Him”. These four men, saw an opportunity to follow someone who had a message that was powerful and meaningful. Each of us is also called to Follow Jesus and His message is as important today as it was 2000 years ago. We are asked to Love God above all others and to love our neighbour as ourselves. In these two messages, we are given the ability to become better people and make for a better world. We are challenged to act in a way that follows the message and teachings of Christ.

The start of 2021 has seen us witness the great exhilaration of the academic and leadership success of our students and the deep sadness associated with the loss of a member of our community.

As many of you would be aware, Riing Doar, a member of our Year 10 cohort tragically died following an accident during the holidays. Over the past week, we have grieved as a community and come together to support not only Riing’s family but also his many friends who are deeply feeling his loss. Many of you would be aware of the fundraiser initiated by the Parish of Mary Immaculate at Eagle Vale, who aimed to assist in the cost of the funeral arrangements. The goal was achieved within a week and we have been proud to be a small part of a very caring community. As I requested in my letter of last week, please keep an eye on your own children and their reactions and as always, please support each other and keep the College informed should your child need any assistance. May the perpetual light of Christ be upon Riing and may he rest in peace - Amen.

At the end of last year, we received the HSC results for our cohort of 2020 and were extremely proud of the efforts and achievements of our students and the supports that they had received from their teachers. Further into this newsletter, we will publish a more in depth list of these results however as a snapshot, these students received 90 band 6 results (a mark above 90), achieved 6 all-rounders, achieved 15 students with an ATAR above 90, 10 of which were above 95 and the College improved from being ranked 162 in 2019 to 132 in 2020. This improvement was the latest in a trend which has seen the College improve by over 100 positions over the last 5 years. As a community we are very proud of the students and staff and look forward to continued improvements from up-coming students.

As an addition to this, we were informed at the start of this week that Emma Jones (Dux, ATAR 99.05, College Captain 2020) has had her English Extension 2 major work nominated for NESA's Young Writers Annual Showcase anthology for 'extraordinary' Ext 2. Major Works. This is a first for a student for Mount Carmel and we wish Emma the best.

On Australia Day, Jaden Legaspi (College Captain, 2020) was named as the Campbelltown Australia Day Young Australian of the Year. This is an exceptional achievement for a young man who displayed leadership throughout his time at the College. Again we are very proud of Jaden and his efforts and congratulate him for this achievement.

At the opening College Assembly today, I briefly introduced the overall College theme for 2021 – ‘Build your resilience – bounce back’. This theme follows from the themes of the past few years; ‘push past your limits’ (2018), ‘make routines habits’ (2019), ‘set your goals’ (2020) and is appropriate following our COVID experience. At intervals over the next 12 months, I will be asking students to develop ways to bounce back and grow from experiences. Please have these discussions at home to assist us in building resilient and thoughtful young women and men.

At the end of last year we farewelled 5 staff who had moved into new roles elsewhere. I would like to welcome a number of new staff to the College in 2021;

Mr. Shane Blanksby (Science), Mr. Anthony Burden (TAS/Hosp), Mrs. Nicole Hulme (Science), Mr. Robert Kawa (Maths) Ms. Mikayla Lilli (Maths), Mr. Bernard O’Connell  (PDHPE), Ms. Elizabeth Varde (English) Ms. Tanya White (HSIE), Ms. Cassandra Whitworth (Science). In addition to these, a number of staff are returning to either permanent positions or renewed contracts; Mr. Roj Dalisay (Maths), Mr. Andre Daniels (PDHPE), Mr. Jason Follett (Music), Ms. Jo Jefferies (RE/HSIE), Ms. Victoria Zullo (English). On behalf of the community I welcome all our new staff.

As you would be aware many COVID restrictions have been eased over the past few days. We will continue to monitor and take advice from Catholic Education, Diocese of Wollongong, Catholic Schools NSW and the relevant health authorities. One of the main impacts of the current directives are the requirement for people above the age of 12 to wear masks on public transport and hired coaches. This means that students above 12 are expected to wear masks on buses to and from school and on any school chartered bus (sport, excursions etc). Please support this health advice by ensuring your child has a mask if they are travelling on a bus (including on a Tuesday sport bus).

Mr Steve Lo Cascio