The theme from the Gospel two weeks ago was continued last Sunday with the story from Luke (19: 1-10) about Zacchaeus the tax collector. In this story, Jesus is moving through the crowd when Zacchaeus sees him and climbs a tree to get a better view. In seeing him, Jesus asks him to come down and then goes with him to share a meal. This angers many in the crowd as they believe that Jesus is ‘deserting good people’ in order to eat with sinners. Jesus’ reply is that “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost”. In meeting Jesus, Zacchaeus recognises his past transgressions and vows to make amends by paying four times what he had cheated others. Once again, the message of looking out for those who need help comes through in this Gospel. There is also the parallel message that to receive forgiveness, we must be truly sorry and make amends for our wrongs. In looking to be a Christ-centred community, it is important that we are constantly evaluating our own actions and how we can improve, but at the same time looking to how we can support those around us who may need it.

These messages that we constantly pick up through the Gospels were once again brought to life through the Live event that occurred at the College last Friday. The concert on the lawns at lunchtime kicked off an opportunity for fun and spiritual reflection that ran into the early evening. The students, as always, participated with vigour and energy and all that were present spoke of the great opportunity that they get to socialise and take time to consider their focus. Once again I thank the staff (especially Ms Toogood) for their work in preparing and running these events, and the students for their enthusiasm and attendance.

On Monday, the KLA coordinators spent the day in discussion and planning for our strategic priorities over the next few years. These priorities will be based around the three areas developed by Catholic Education in the Diocese of Wollongong in their ‘Lighting the Way’ document. The three areas centre around ‘Mission and Catholicity’, ‘Learning and Teaching’ and ‘People and Culture’. Over the next few months we will be articulating these areas and developing strategies for improvement. There will be opportunities for parents and students to input into these as they develop. The KLA Coordinators built on the framework that was developed by the College Leadership Team and this will be further enhanced in meetings with staff around these priorities.

Today (Friday) we ran our Year 11 Academic Assembly for 2019. This is a shift from previous years where these awards were distributed at an evening event and formed part of a graduation ceremony. The shift this year was a result of two main concerns. The first was around the implementation of the RoSA where there is no formal end point prior to the HSC. Students can receive the RoSA in one form or another at any stage after they have completed Year 10. This means that Year 11 completion is not an end point in itself and therefore there is nothing for the students to graduate from. The second concern is that most of our junior students have never witnessed senior students being recognised for their academic success as the two major senior events were both held in the evening. If we are a culture that promotes excellence, students need to see role models achieving this and be part of the celebration of this success. The ceremony on Friday was a great way to do this and also gave us the opportunity to ‘badge’ our new College leaders, again, in the presence of the rest of the school. Congratulations to all our Year 11 award winners and to our new College student leaders.

Last Sunday we held our final Working Bee for 2019. Although the day threatened storms, we still had around 35 people turn up to help around the College. We were able to do a great deal of work on landscaping and cleaning as well as furniture repair and maintenance. These jobs are essential in the good running of the College but having a parent and friends group run them, also saves money that can be better spent on student learning. Thank you to all the parents who turned up to assist on the day. Your attendance and effort is greatly appreciated. Thank you to the P&F for paying for supplies and providing the BBQ at the end of the day. Thanks also to the staff who turned up to assist, especially Ms Donnellan who was roped in to coordinate the day at the last minute.

Today we said farewell to Mr Sligar who is our current Science Coordinator and has held various positions around the College including Acting Assistant Principal. Mr Sligar has accepted an appointment as Assistant Principal at St Francis Catholic College at Edmondson Park and will commence there next week. We thank Mr Sligar for his work within the College especially for his contribution to the leadership team over a number of years. Good luck and thank you.