Welcome Back to Term Four | Principal’s Report

Welcome to Term 4.  I hope it was an enjoyable break for students, staff and families.

We welcome back our Year 10 Coordinator, Anthony Telford, from his Long Service Leave in Term 3 and Martin Mullin from his month’s leave at the end of Term 3. This term Lee Dwyer is on leave and Kate Rhodes will be acting in the role of Year 8 Coordinator. This has definitely been the ‘acting year!’. We are lucky to have such skilled staff, so willing and able to step up and take on extra responsibilities when we need them. This has ensured smooth transitions and the continued care of students and staff and the effective delivery of programs.

During the holidays our Performing Arts students and their accompanying teachers returned from their very successful US tour.  Highlights included: drama and music workshops (with a professional Broadway producer), a hip-hop walking tour of Harlem, walking the Brooklyn Bridge, going backstage at ‘Anastasia’, meeting cast members from ‘Wicked’ at the Stage Door, seeing a rehearsal of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and being treated to a sneak peak of the New York Philharmonic rehearsal at the Lincoln Centre.

In the middle weekend of the holidays Kathryn Black, Graham Stock, Peter Crane and Andrew Mackerras accompanied 15 SFX Robotics Students to Melbourne for the National RoboCup Competition. We were excited to learn that our ABCDE FC soccer team were placed third at the competition!  With this placing they have successfully qualified for RoboCup International 2019, to be held in Sydney at the end of Term 1 next year.

Although students were on a break over the last couple of weeks, members of the College support staff were busy at school ensuring that things were ready for the students and staff return, supervising upgrades and refurbishments and making sure that the school looks great for the start of Term 4.  Here are some of the things that happened over the holidays:

• The Middle School was repainted, and new carpet was laid
• An evaporative cooling system was installed in the Gym
• The student toilets were repainted
• The oval was resurfaced
• New Nutanix backup hardware was installed
• A new phone system was installed with a dedicated internet connection

The process for choosing our College Leadership Team for 2019 is well underway.  The discernment process for the College Captains and Vice Captains has seen some wonderful young students put themselves forward to be considered for these important roles. I am pleased to announce that our college captains for 2019 are Batseba Bereket Araya and Charlie Mellick and our Vice Captains are Grace Braybon and Joachim Neville. Our speciality and house captains will be chosen by students and staff over the coming weeks.

The Catholic Education Recognition Awards were held on Friday 21 September celebrating exemplary practice, dedication, and innovation by individuals and groups contributing to the system of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn. The SFX staff members attending the Awards Ceremony and Mass were very proud to applaud our two members of staff who were recognised.  Kelly Candy was affirmed for achieving Highly Accomplished Teacher status in the ACT.  As a Highly Accomplished teacher Kelly is acknowledged to be a highly effective and skilled classroom practitioner who routinely works independently and collaboratively to improve her teaching practice and the practice of her colleagues.

Michael Brown, our Business Manager, won a Service Award.  Michael is retiring this week and will be sorely missed as an excellent business manager, wonderful colleague and friend.  Here is the citation for Michael from the ‘awards booklet’

Michael is a person of integrity, wisdom and compassion.  He has an incredible eye for detail and has helped facilitate an extensive review of the College budget and support staff structures during his time at SFX.  Michael has always placed student learning at the forefront of his thinking and aligns all decisions with the College’s Mission and Vision.  He has very strong sense of social justice and has advocated strongly for programs to support disadvantaged families such as support for Indigenous and Refugee families.

We wish Michael joy, happiness and good health in the next stage of his life journey.

I hope the last term of the year is a great one for our students and families.

Colleen Rowe, Acting Principal.