Welcome to Semester Two
A warm, if belated, welcome back to school for Semester 2 and I hope that you had an enjoyable break as a family, and that Semester Two has started positively despite the cold Melbourne weather we have endured. A special welcome to students joining the St Mary’s College community to commence Term 3 – Zoe, Thais and Georgia in Year 11; Lizabeth, Vincent, Molly and Jahrielle in Year 10; Callum, Joss and Nash in Year 9; Arianna and Zainah in Year 8. I trust that you will find a home at St Mary’s where you feel like you belong and can flourish.
School Improvement Plan
We are sharing each of the priorities of our School Improvement Plan in Lumina and in this edition, it is our third of four:
SIP Priority 3 – Inclusivity
Goal: We strive for St Mary’s to be a place of inclusion and equity.
Intended Outcomes:
1. The college is fully co-educational and is seen as a place where all students can flourish.
2. There is a culture of respectful relationships and a well-developed learning program that specifically addresses gender equity.
3. Student agency is visible through involvement in the decision-making processes.
4. There are safe spaces for students outside of the classroom.
5. We have a well-articulated Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP)
Working Bee – ERC relocation stage 1
A huge thank you to those parents and friends who were able to join us for our working bee during the last holiday break. Across two very productive days we were able to dispose of a lot of excess and damaged furniture, old clothing, and outdated teaching resources. We achieved more than we expected and, in the process, we greatly reduced removalist costs. Our building project continues to progress on schedule, and we look forward to informing you about the next stage of our relocation project in coming weeks. There will be some inevitable disruption when we move in September, which we will endeavour to minimise.
The capital works on the McCartney Building remain on schedule and information will be shared with families in coming weeks about the plan to decant from the Presentation Campus and moving to the Edmund Rice Campus for Term 4.
PCW Open Day
We opened the doors of the Presentation Campus to old collegians last Sunday and nearly 500 took the opportunity to walk the halls and relive memories of their time as a student or staff member at Presentation College Windsor. A number expressed gratitude at the opportunity, and I congratulate the organising committee on staging another successful event. We hope to be able to continue an association with the PCW old collegians, as they are part of the founding story of St Mary’s College, and hope that there is ongoing interest in our future.
CaSPA Conference
Last week of the holidays I attended the national Catholic Secondary Principals Conference in Perth which was called Dreaming the Future of Catholic Education. Keynote presenters spoke on topics such as the future of faith education in an increasingly secular world; the challenges facing education systems in preparing our young people for life beyond school; mental health and the rise in anxiety being experienced in our society and especially amongst our youth. Schools also presented workshops on how they are harnessing the rapidly accelerating power of AI and the influence of social media. While these are challenging issues, there is a strong sense of reassurance that Catholic schools, as places of justice, belonging and compassion are especially well placed to address these concerns and support our young people.
Darren Atkinson
College Principal
