Dear parents, friends, staff and students,

In last week’s Gospel (Mark 1: 29-39) Jesus visits Simon’s mother and heals her of a fever. The next morning He “departed for a deserted place, and there spent time in prayer”. By healing Simon’s mother, Jesus was carrying out His miraculous works and reaching out to others. He followed this up almost immediately by taking time to Himself to go away and take the opportunity to pray. These actions reinforce our notion that the path to life requires both an outreach to help others and a very personal inward connection to God. Just as if an athlete only focuses and concentrates on developing one set of muscles at the expense of others, their body will become lopsided and not function as effectively. In the same way, if our actions only involve good works, we are not fully open to the message of God and the opportunities that this might present. By taking time in prayer, we allow the influence of the Holy Spirit into our lives and this combined with good works and attitudes to others will help us to bring about a better world. 

Unfortunately, our Opening College Mass scheduled for today needed to be postponed. This is a result of the requirement to adhere to diocesan COVID guidelines for running masses where the 4 square metre rule still applied. It therefore became impossible to gather the entire College together for this. Rather than hold a smaller liturgy, we have postponed the mass until Week 6 in the hope that these rules might be relaxed. If we are able to invite parents, we will communicate this at a later stage. 

Last Wednesday evening we hosted our Year 7 Meet and Greet evening. This was a great opportunity for parents to meet the Pastoral Advisors in small groups and hear information important to clear communication and College expectations.  Thank you to the many parents who attended this important evening and had opportunities to ask questions.

On February 26, We will be holding our scheduled Staff Development Day. For new parents in particular, please be advised that this is a Pupil Free day. The staff will be focussing on how we best meet the needs of individual students and ensure that different approaches might be used to enable all students to reach their potential. I thank parents in advance for your support of this important staff professional development.

At this point in time we still intend on holding our Year 7, 2022 Information Evening on Monday March 1 in some form. The specific format for this evening will be communicated as the date draws nearer, however, I ask anyone who may be considering enrolling children at Mount Carmel in Year 7 next year, to keep this evening free and potentially join us. The final format of this evening will obviously be determined by COVID safety considerations at the time. Please circulate this date to any friends whom you know may also be interested in enrolling. 

An early reminder that the Parents & Friends Annual General Meeting will be held on March 9. At this stage, the meeting will occur on site and parents will need to sign in. At this meeting, the P&F executive for 2021 will be elected. Should anyone wish to stand for these positions, please attend on the evening. P&F meetings are scheduled for the second Tuesday of each month during school terms and are held in room I3 at the College. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. 

Mr Steve Lo Cascio