It was a joy to see the students and staff in their sporting gear today. It is so good to have fun and to be able to laugh together and raise money for a good cause. Thank you to our Year 12 leaders for organising this.

When our young people look at the news and social media feeds they are seeing some very dark times.  I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the main news story at the moment and pay particular attention to our own country. Over many years many people have been working for equality for the first Australians, this is not a new argument. The Australian and American story and culture are different - we need to acknowledge and look for solutions, not only around policing issues of the number of Indigenous Australians in custody, or the number of deaths in custody, but also the health crisis for Indigenous Australians and then the educational disadvantage. These all need to be addressed, but at the bottom of it all is a fundamental acknowledgement of the dignity of the human person.

In the eyes of God we are all equal. Racism takes many forms, it is the bias viewpoint that doesn’t change, it is the judgement of a whole group of people of having particular characteristics, rather than focus on an individual. It is the subtle name calling in terms of put downs. It is acknowledging that there are other ways to learn and it is all about what we value as individuals and what is important to us. We need a true Reconciliation. Our young people need to have a voice and if they feel strongly about something, to act in a productive way to make change - but it starts with them not being racist and to acknowledge their personal bias and work to overcome that, to write to politicians, to write to the media, to access the correct and true information in government reports rather than relying on a media interpretation of events. to do your fact checking, to support causes in a peaceful and positive way and to show older generations another way of doing things. COVID19 has not gone away - everyone has a responsibility to make it safe for others and there are many ways to have your voice heard. 

Our young people need to be educated in history - to understand the past is to be able to plan a positive future and not make the same mistakes, our young people need to be educated in mathematics and sciences to develop medical solutions for a range of issues, to be engineers and inventors to create sustainable change, Our young people need to be educated in all aspects to be ethical business people of the future,  our young people need to be educated in spirituality to develop compassion and understanding of others and tolerance of difference. Our young people need to be beacons of hope as we move forward through the challenging times as there are some wonderful things that are in our world - friendship, love and laughter. Our young people need to be the leaders that bring hope, peace and understanding for all people. 

Ms Amanda Wilson
Principal