Dear parents, friends, staff and students,

This Sunday, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Ascension. This is the moment where Jesus “was taken up to heaven: there at the right hand of God, he took His place” (Mark 16: 15–20). The Ascension is a fundamental belief of Christianity and confirms Jesus as God. This reading however, is not just about the divine nature of Jesus, it is also about ministry and action. Before Jesus ascends, He commands His disciples to go out into the world and proclaim the good news. This proclamation is not just about telling others about Jesus or what He did, it is asking the disciples to take Jesus out into the world through their actions and good works. In the Marist tradition, we refer to this as ‘love of work’ and in the Carmelite charism, it is called ‘ministry’. Both of these values underpin what we aim for at Mount Carmel and in order for us to live our values, we must be a people of action who help others. 

On Wednesday Peter Hill the Director of Education in the diocese of Wollongong attended the College and spent the day speaking with staff, students and walking around the College. He had the opportunity to meet with the SRC, go into a number of classes, and speak with the students. Mr Hill was able to build a clear contextual picture of Mount Carmel and gained insights into our strengths and challenges. I thank the staff and students for your flexibility in welcoming our visitor and showing him Mount Carmel hospitality.

Last Tuesday evening we held our P&F meeting. The guest speaker was Ms Alison Kripal who presented information on Compass and how parents might use it to enhance communication with the College. Ms Kripal explained the basics of Compass and parents had an opportunity to ask questions and make suggestions as to how it may be used more effectively. The discussion was extremely valuable both for parents and the College and has enabled us to take specific suggestions back to the Compass developers. Thank you to the parents who attended the evening and to Ms Kripal on her presentation.

NAPLAN began this week for our Year 7 and 9 students. These assessments add information for our staff to assist in the correct placement and education of our students in their class groupings. Whilst this is only one small piece of the puzzle, the data gained assists us in determining what our students can do well and in which areas they may need further assistance. Thank you to the staff but especially to Ms Maulguet and Mr Grana in particular for their efforts in running this assessment.

Following the Director’s visit, a number of Mount Carmel staff and staff from the Catholic Education Office and neighbouring schools met at Mount Carmel to feedback on the development of the Wollongong Diocese Strategic Plan for 2023 onwards. This is the next step in the process following the survey that parents and staff were asked to complete at the end of last term. The discussion was very open and valuable in helping to establish a clear and consistent direction for education within the diocese moving forward. As this plan is developed, it will be communicated to parents accordingly.

Finally, I would like to remind parents about the importance of students attending school each day and on time in order to achieve their potential. Whilst I understand that good health needs to be maintained and this sometimes requires students to take time off to recover, please remember that each day away from school means that 5 hours of learning are lost or affected.  For a student who takes one day per fortnight, by the end of the year, they have lost 100 hours. I am sure we would all acknowledge the difficulty in catching this up. In looking at our attendance data, some students would benefit greatly from more consistent and committed attendance. Please encourage your child to attend whenever possible (taking into consideration COVID directives).

Ite in Veritate

Mr Steve Lo Cascio