Dear parents, friends, staff and students,

Welcome to 2023.

“No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub…. Your light must shine”. (Matt 5: 13-16).

This Sunday’s readings refer to the importance of using our talents and goodness to shed ‘light’ on the world. This light becomes the message of Christ to help to guide those around us and assist in the realisation of the Kingdom of God alive in our world. When we each strive to be the best we can be, with an aim of improvement rather than competition, the people with whom we come into contact will also be improved. Today we held our High Achiever’s assembly where we recognised the headline achievements of our HSC class of 2022. We were honoured for many of the students who achieved high ATARs or band 6 results, to return to the College to celebrate with us and to speak with our current HSC students. It is important that we celebrate these successes with the whole college community but equally important that we recognise the hard work of many other students who achieved great personal results. It was lovely to have parents join us for this, given the restrictions of the past few years. The celebration of these students and the recognition of the work of all those who achieved in the HSC is an active and tangible example of how we might be a light for the world. Using our talents, ensures that our lamp is not put under a tub, and we shine for those around us.

The week before students returned to school, I sent a welcome letter to all families where I introduced our new staff. We welcomed them and our new students at our short first College assembly on Tuesday morning. Since that letter, we also welcome our new sport Coordinator, Mr Braydon Webb who joined us at the start of the year. Over the next few weeks, I hope to also introduce a few more staff that we hope to appoint to some leave positions as a few of our current staff take family and health breaks.

The students were excited to see the changes that occurred over the holidays to our Mathematics block. The refurbishments are mostly completed and small finishes such as painting and the installation of openable walls to two rooms are due soon. We will then instal new blinds and place new chairs into the classrooms when they arrive over the next few weeks. This refurbishment is similar to those which will occur in our English and TAS blocks over the next year and will complement the new STEM block which will start to rise out of the ground over the next few weeks.

Next Wednesday evening we will be hosting the Year 11 commencement evening. Each year, this is an opportunity to remind the students of expectations of the Preliminary year and encourage them to build routines and a mindset that sets them for success. The evening ensures students are aware of their responsibilities and the supports that are in place. I encourage all Year 11 students and parents to attend.

Following the Year 7 first day, parents were invited to attend a short introductory talk on literacy at Mount Carmel. It was exciting to see over 100 people took this opportunity to understand some of the important aspects of literacy. Congratulations to Mrs Murphy who ran this short introduction and we look forward to providing more opportunities for this in the near future. On Wednesday (Feb 15) we will invite our Year 7 parents for an evening to meet and greet their teachers. More information on this will be forthcoming.

A reminder that our P&F AGM and our Year 7, 2024 information evenings are scheduled in a few weeks’ time. More information on these will follow in the next few newsletters.

Ite in Veritate

Mr Steve Lo Cascio