From the Principal
Year 12 Farewells
This coming fortnight will witness a number of rites of passage for our Year 12 Class of 2024 as they conclude their final school days as 海角大神 students. For most, it is the culmination of 6 years at 海角大神 and 13 years of schooling. While our VCE students will still have many weeks of preparing for and sitting their final VCE exams, the 海角大神 Year 12 Graduation ceremony takes place on Monday 21 October. Their Graduation Mass the next morning will be their final day together as a cohort. In the final week of Term 3, I urged our Class of 2024 to 鈥榝inish well鈥: to be remembered for the positive impact they have made on so many staff, peers, other students and members of our 海角大神 community across the last 6 years. I thank our Year 12s for the gift of welcome they have shown me across this year, truly embodying our Spirit of 海角大神 values.
As our Year 12s face the choices of where to head in 2025, we pray that they delve into their Year 12 value Spirituality and the power of prayerful discernment, As Pope Francis exhorts:
Discernment 鈥nvolves striving untrammelled for all that is great, better and more beautiful, while at the same time being concerned for the little things, for each day鈥檚 responsibilities and commitments. 鈥e should always remember that discernment is a grace鈥or it seeks a glimpse of that unique and mysterious plan that God has for each of us, which takes shape amid so many varied situations and limitations. 鈥e must remember that prayerful discernment must be born of a readiness to listen: to the Lord and to others, and to reality itself, which always challenges us in new ways.
Wellbeing PL Day
On Monday 7 October, the whole staff joined in professional learning together for our first day of Term 4. The focus of the day was Wellbeing, with the first two sessions focussed on student wellbeing, and the final on staff wellbeing. The first session launched Power to Kids, a MacKillop Institute initiative that provides a suite of evidence-informed programs that promote school and organisational wellbeing and strengthen child safety practices. The second session built on Restorative Practices, a key plank of our positive behaviours framework. The final session on staff wellbeing focussed on connection as a community, including trivia and paper plane competition (pictured above!). I am pleased to report that my table finished a gallant second on the afternoon, both in the trivia and the paper plane section (no, I can鈥檛 take credit for the latter).
David Broadbent
Principal