From the Principal
Welcome back to a busy Term 4. I hope you had a restful holiday break.
We are returning to school at a time of unrest in the world and in our country. The Hamas-Israel conflict is very complex, but we cannot condone the killing of civilians in any context. The public nature of the conflict with postings on social media is distressing. Please make use of the resources and advice already provided if this is affecting your young person.
In our own country the referendum of the Voice outcome does not negate the aspect that we all need to work to close the gaps in education and health care for our first nations people. Over the last week there were many people who were grieving the outcome. Our catholic teachings tell us that we can hold different points of view and still be tolerant of each other. I encourage families to have discussions and healthy arguments over important issues so that your young person can also do this in a broader context without destroying relationships with peers.
The month of October is Mental Health Month - so take steps to look after yours! It is also a devotion to the Rosary as part of our Catholic Tradition. Prayers for our mother Mary to intercede on our behalf, it is a mindful way of praying and is a good step towards Christian meditation.
Our Year 12 2023 students started their HSC exams well and I hope they keep up their study routine right till the end of the exams. Our congratulations also to Joshua Memmo whose Industrial Technology Timber project has been selected for consideration for Shape - the showcase event for TAS.
To our Year 12 2024 - welcome to your last year of schooling. It is a time of settling in as some students have left for a trade, friendships change, and some students are reaching their strides and starting to focus on their studies. I would remind parents that our young people’s first responsibility is to their studies not to their part time employment. Short term money versus being well educated to earn high incomes is always better than not doing the work and being locked into low paying jobs in the future. I would ask parents and cares to please support our young person to do their best in all aspects of their studies.
This term we welcome our new Year 7’s for 2024 on their orientation day coming up quickly on 14 November. We will be training our Year 9 students to be Peer Support Leaders for 2024. They will have the responsibility to run a small group and assist them with their transition to high school. This is a very privileged position to assist others, we will be looking at the suitability of students during the training and not all students will get to participate. I would encourage all year 9 to be on their best behaviour if you wish to be part of this activity.
Ms Amanda Wilson
Principal