With Christmas only a few weeks away, we are asked as part of our Advent Season to prepare for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. His birth two millennia ago gave us an opportunity to develop a personal relationship with God. Jesus coming to earth in human form changed the way that we understood the God of the Old Testament and enabled us to build a connection with a creator who cares for us. As we look to the celebration of Christmas, let us not forget the love and care that God has shown us and look to reflect that for those around us. On behalf of the Mount Carmel College staff, I wish you all a very happy and holy Christmas and holiday break.

As this is the last newsletter for 2019, I would like to take the opportunity to thank the parents and students for your participation and support of our community over the past 12 months. Mount Carmel has continued to go from strength to strength and this is a result of students setting clear goals which are supported by professional staff who have high expectations. Thank you.

Ten of our Year 10 students and two staff attended the ACYF in Perth during this week. Their experience was once in a lifetime and will hopefully help to develop the depth of their spirituality for years to come. Congratulations to these students who volunteered for this experience and to the staff who gave of their time to supervise students both day and night.

On Tuesday afternoon, the College held our annual Sports Awards Assembly. Once again, I was proud of the many student achievements and the number of competitions our students won or were placed highly in. Congratulations to these students and also to the staff who have assisted them throughout the year. A special thanks to Mrs Pontin who works tirelessly to provide numerous and varied sporting opportunities for our representatives and our non-competitive sportspeople.

Toward the end of January, the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux and her parents St. Marie-Azélie Guérin Martin and St. Louis Martin will be visiting Our Lady of Mount Carmel and surrounding parishes. It is not often that we get an opportunity to venerate the physical presence of a saint and they will form part of our start of year College Mass in 2020. Prior to that date, the relics will be in OLMC church for adoration. I encourage students and their families to visit the parishes where the relics will be visiting to take the opportunity to pray.

In the last newsletter, we said farewell to a number of staff who are leaving Mount Carmel at the end of the year. Their contribution to the College over many years (especially Mrs Payne and Mrs McIntosh) have been an invaluable asset that has helped our community to thrive and grow. We are blessed to have had them as members of our community. We are now in a position to announce a number of new staff who will be joining us or moving into permanent roles in 2020. Appointed to permanent roles at Mount Carmel are Miss Breanna Donnellan (PDHPE) and Mr Joseph Estephan (Maths). Returning into temporary appointments are Mr Roj Dalisay (Maths) and Mr Marco Barbera (HSIE/RE). Our new appointments for 2020 include Ms Shiela Antal (English), Ms Jenny Nguyen (English), Ms Josephine Jefferies (RE/HSIE), Mrs Ingy Mikhail (SSO-Finance), Mrs Belinda Brooks (Canteen) and Mrs Samantha Cook (SSSO – job share). There will be two further staff announced at the start of 2020. I welcome all of these new staff to the Mount Carmel family and look forward to working with them in 2020.

Once again, I wish you all a holy and restful Christmas break.