Celebrating a new school year

From the Head of College, Graham Leddie

 

I have been very impressed with the boys transition back to school and classes. The vast majority of boys have not skipped a beat. If you have a son in Years 7-12 the Director of Learning and Teaching has this week sent you a copy of your son’s assessment grid and important dates for the entire year. This is a great point of reference for you to stay connected with his learning journey; it will assist you to be aware of his academic schedule and to keep tabs on how he is coping with his work. All of the research on learning shows improved academic performance is linked with parental involvement in their child’s learning journey, so please keep working to stay connected with your son.

Commencement Mass

Today we celebrated our Commencement Mass at the spiritual home of Sydney’s Catholic community, St Mary’s Cathedral. Our students and school community filled the Cathedral to capacity. In my brief introduction I reminded the boys of a few milestones and the breadth of service undertaken by the Catholic Church to which we belong:

• This year marks the 150th year since St Mary’s foundation stone was put in place
• In Australia there are 75 Catholic hospitals, 550 Catholic residential and community aged care services and 1889 Catholic Schools of which we are one
• Our College is in its 115th year of service
• EREA launched the 3rd edition of the Charter and Touchstones late last year
• Mr Peter Frost, Assistant Head of College, enters his 50th year of teaching at the College
• and Fr Bernie Thomas ofm (our Parish and College Priest) was the head celebrant at St Mary’s for the first time today.

Fr Bernie challenged the boys to be young men of action in their faith and care for others. The first reading from the letter of St James (2:14-17) highlights his point;

“Faith without Works Is Dead. What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you have faith but do not have Works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”

One of the highlights of the Mass was when Fr Bernie asked all the congregation to close their eyes whilst he said a prayer for their academic journey this year. He then proceeded to sing in latin with a beautiful voice. It was quite a moving moment that the boys really appreciated. I witnessed many of the boys take the time to thank Fr Bernie at the end of Mass.

Many thanks also to our Identity Team led by Mr Phil Davis and our Music Faculty staff and students who provided outstanding musical accompaniment for the Mass.

 

Year 7 Camp

Our Year 7 cohort spent the first three days this week at an outdoor education facility overlooking Broken Bay. The boys bonded nicely with their Heads of House and fellow House members along with their expert outdoor education instructors. Our College Nurse also attended the camp, treating any scrapes or bruises acquired from bush walks, zip lines, kayaking or the ropes course. I witnessed first hand the students working together to solve problems and assisting each other to overcome hurdles, which are great examples of building resilience across the cohort.

 

 

Congratulations and good luck

Well done to the following students for their sporting achievements:

• Daniel Gandy who won 2 silver and a bronze at the recent U19 Australian Cycling Track Championships
• Ryan Connolly and Jack Hardwicke-Owen – selected in CAS Cricket XI.

Safe travels and good luck to the following students who are playing in the State Oztag Cup up in Coffs Harbour this weekend:

• Year 7: Jesse Garrat, Keynan Abrahams, James Armstrong, Hussein Sadi, Lachlan Munn, Lenny Joseph, Brent Hawkins, Daniel Smith
• Year 8: Leon Bakis, Harry Boys, Baxter Senior
• Year 9: Josh Algie, James Elfes, Alex Elder, Aaron Dimovitch, Jack Harms
• Year 10: Finn Fillipek, Flynn Wild, Joshua Psarros, James Stewart, Emmanuel Di Bartolo, Blair Kallis
• Year 11: Nicholas Buckingham.