News

Champagnat Week
This week we join with other Catholic school communities internationally who share our Marist tradition, by celebrating Champagnat Week and particularly Champagnat Day, which we celebrated on Tuesday 6 June.

Marcellin grew up in France. He was born in 1789, the year the French Revolution commenced, a year of turmoil. He grew up in a large family and consequently learnt to share life with his brothers and sisters.

Once Marcellin was ordained, the local Bishop appointed him as curate to a small village named La Valla. It was during this time that Marcellin finally believed God was calling him to found a community of Brothers who would help educate young people. In France, after the Revolution, there was a great need for competent teachers and the Church was keenly aware of the equally important need to educate these young people in the Catholic faith.

Marcellin was a man of deep faith, who never ceased to seek the will of God through prayer and dialogue with the religious authorities and with his brothers. His deep humility, and his acute awareness of the presence of God, helped him to live through many severe trials with great inner peace. His motto was, “All to Jesus through Mary, and all to Mary for Jesus”.

Marcellin taught his Marist Brothers to love and respect children, and to give special attention to the poor, the most ungrateful and the most neglected. Today, our College community stands on the shoulders of Marcellin, the many Marist Brothers and many committed staff who have offered their gifts to our young through their service to our and other Catholic schools in the Marist tradition.  

Let us pray.

God our Father, you lead by example,

showing mercy and compassion to all people.

May we be guided by your Spirit,

recognising the dignity and humanness of those in our lives;

our colleagues, our students and our loved ones.

We pray that the spirit of mercy be ever present in our minds,

our hearts, our words and our actions.

Mary our Good Mother …

Pray for us

St Marcellin Champagnat …

Pray for us

St Mary of the Cross...

Pray for us

And let us always remember to ...

Pray for one another.

Harry Kewell – Australia’s Greatest Ever Footballer
The visit of Harry Kewell to our school and local community has certainly left an impact. Thank you to Scott Dickson for his leadership, enthusiasm and persistence in securing Harry Kewell’s presence with us. Special thanks also to the Public Relations and Events Team, the High Performance Sports Program and HPE Staff Team and students, Sugarloaf Café Staff, supporters and Hospitality Students for an awesome team effort that made for a first class, memorable visit. 

I know the efforts of all involved in Harry’s visit left a significant impression on Harry and his manager Helen, both who admired the well-coordinated teamwork with students ‘shining’ through sporting ability, attentiveness and service to others.

Timor-Leste Charity Ball – A Great Success!
The Year 11 and 12 Charity Ball on Friday 2 June was a wonderful success and a significant commitment from our school community to supporting our sisters and brothers in Timor-Leste.  Congratulations to Bernadette Fisher, the student committee, the PR and Events Team and all students, parents and staff who supported the very successful Charity Ball. Special thanks to staff who offered their talents and time to prepare a flash mob dance to ‘JuJu on that beat' to add to the fun of the evening.

Staffing News
We welcome back Sean Quirke following his long service leave. In welcoming Sean, we offer thanks to Dan Stratford for his committed and servant leadership efforts in covering Sean’s load, while at the same time maintaining his High Performance Sports Program role at a very busy time for the program.

We also thank Mary Goulding and Pete Collins for their efforts in covering Sean and Dan’s teaching commitments. We were fortunate to have two very experienced and committed teachers step into the roles to ensure that classes did not ‘miss a beat.’

China Trip - 14 – 29 April 2018
I invite members of our community to express interest in a trip to China in 2018. The trip is being organised by Snowie Aarts in collaboration with Annie Clifford and will be a great chance to reconnect with some of our Chinese sister schools. What a wonderful way to experience China as part of a delegation that is being greeted by our warm and enthusiastic Chinese friends who are keen to repay our hospitality during their recent visits.

Staff Professional Development Days – 8 and 9 June
Staff are looking forward to the staff professional development days on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 June, when they will look at two specific areas:

Wellbeing and Resilience in our Community – Scoping and Sequence of EY-12 Program with the support of SAHMRI
Our Whole School Action Research Project, informed by workshops conducted by Rowena Ulbricht that will consider 21st Century Learning Design – Self-regulation and knowledge.

I trust students and parents will experience the benefits of the days through our service to students and families throughout the College. I remind families that these days are student-free days.  

A Flexible Online Homework Centre
I remind families that students of Tenison Woods College in years 3-12 have access to a free online tutoring service; their own personalised flexible homework centre.  Students are able to connect to expert tutors for live, one-to-one conversations about homework, assignments and exam preparation from 3:00pm – 10:00pm Monday to Friday. Give it a try – I know you will appreciate the service offered by yourtutor!

Pentecost – a community filled with the Spirit
Last Sunday the Church celebrated the Feast of Pentecost, the gift of the spirit given to the disciples of Jesus to live Christ-like lives as a community of Christians. It is in effect a celebration of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church. 

As I reflect on our College community I am delighted to see a Christian community that is strongly committed to those in need and acutely aware of the quality in its relationships. I see teachers who work tirelessly for the benefit of our young, the common values of parents, who want the best for their young, and students who seek out the vast array of opportunities to shine. In this way it is clear to me that the spirit is at work in our community; a spirit that invites us to draw out the good in one another, and a spirit that calls us to serve one another.

I further note that, as we enter the cold winter months, it’s an opportunity to take time to enjoy and nurture our families, friends and community. Once again our world has entered a period of uncertainty with events overseas. I urge you to affirm your child, switch off disturbing news, reflect upon times of happiness, avoid stereotyping community groups based on culture, country of origin or religion, so that we bring peace and a Pentecost enthusiasm to our world, acknowledging that we are all God’s children.

God Bless,

David Mezinec | Principal

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