Dear parents, friends, staff and students,

This Sunday’s Gospel (John 13:31-35) has one of the most widely quoted and understood statements that sums up the direction of Christianity.

“I give you a new commandment: love one another; just as I have loved you”.

The modelling of Jesus in His love for us was all encompassing and ultimately led to the sacrifice of His death and the joy of His resurrection. Our challenge is to consider how we might live this message out in our lives on a daily basis. How do we think of others, talk about others, or behave with others? Do our activities show a respect and a love for those around us even if we might not be their friends? Our community values the Marist characteristic of Family Spirit and this is essentially caring for and looking after those around us – or more simply – loving one another as Jesus loved us.

Last Monday, the College hosted our Mother’s Day Liturgy. We do this on the Monday to avoid any conflict with potential events at local primary schools. We had about 80 people attend including mums, grandparents, aunties and students. Our Hospitality students supplied a wonderful breakfast and then the Youth Mission Team ran a lovely liturgy. Thank you to all the students who assisted and to our staff for their thoughtful welcome and ceremony.

Earlier this week, I sent out a letter via Compass informing parents of a change in our uniform supplier. This was the result of a formal tender process that occurred involving the Catholic Education Office and a parent representative. Our new supplier will be Midford who replace Rainier. I welcome Midford to our community and sincerely thank Rainer for their 10-year association with the College supplying everything uniform. Our expectation is that there will not be any immediate changes to uniform supply or design. This does, however, give us an opportunity to review the current uniforms for appropriateness and design. At some point moving forward, we may begin a discussion and possible consultation around uniforms and I ask you to keep an eye out for this.

From today for the next six weeks, Mrs Meharg will be on leave. During her absence, Mrs Kristina Borg has been appointed as the Acting REC with Ms Jenny Nguyen as the Acting Assistant REC. Ms Macri will take up the role of Youth Ministry Coordinator. I congratulate each of these staff and thank them for accepting these important roles.

I will be away from the College next week at two principals’ conferences (Marist and Catholic Schools). Later this term (From Thursday Week 8 – June 19) until the start of week 2 next term (Monday July 28) I will also be on a short leave break. During these periods, Ms Giles will be Acting Principal and Mr Huntly Acting Assistant Principal. Please feel free to contact them with any concerns or congratulations that you feel worth noting. Again, I thank them for accepting these roles during my absence.

As stated in the last newsletter, in the next few weeks, the College will be undergoing some self-review and will be sending out a few surveys to ensure we get meaningful feedback. The students have been asked to complete PIVOT surveys on their classes and will be asked to complete Tell Them From Me (TTFM) on Monday. Parents have been invited to contribute via the TTFM platform and a reminder will be forwarded again this week. Thank you to those who have contributed as this is a fantastic way to get valuable feedback and evaluate whether we are fulfilling your expectations or need to review processes. I encourage you to participate in this anonymous survey if you have not already done so.

Advance notice that the next P&F meeting will be held on Tuesday May 27 (Week 5). These meetings start at 7pm in room I3 (at the front of the College). All parents are welcome and encouraged to attend to hear what is happening in the school and to provide feedback and discussion on the College direction.