From the Principal – 12 March 2024

Dear parents and carers,

The academic year which began with great gusto is well underway and our students have been engaged in their classes and very positive about the year ahead. We welcomed 288 Year 7 students from 37 feeder primary schools this year and they too have been very impressive in their efforts to settle into the routines of College life.

At our Opening Assembly earlier in the term I welcomed all of our students and spoke to them about my aspirations for the College and for them as 21st century learners and citizens, how proud I am of them and how impressed I am by them. They are certainly a credit to themselves and to you!

This year’s College Opening Mass was an exceptional occasion and we were very blessed to have had Fr Simon Falk lead our celebration for us. We were joined by the ACT Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry, MLAs Peter Cain and David Smith, our Director of Catholic Education Ross Fox, Performance Improvement Leader Mr Dominic Braybon, Principals and student representatives from ACT Secondary and Primary schools, and importantly the parents of our 2024 student leaders who were commissioned at the Mass. I wish to thank and pay special tribute to Fr Simon for his generous and prayerful investment in the staff and students of our College which is deeply appreciated by all. I also wish to acknowledge and thank Mr Ryan Lenarcic for his contribution to the planning of our Mass and to our staff and students who made it such a powerful expression of all that is precious to us as a community.

Congratulations to our 2024 College Leadership team who were commissioned at our Mass. I am very impressed with the maturity and leadership of these young people and have absolute confidence that they will be outstanding leaders of the College in 2024. They are a credit to their parents and teachers!

I am very keen for the College to invest in parent community engagement with our Year 7 -12 learning agenda. This term we invited parents of Year 12 to a Progress Interview evening, our Year 7 parents to an Introduction to Year 7 Evening and our Year 11 parents to an Introduction to Senior Studies evening. I am very grateful to those parents who joined us for these events. Your feedback about the events and interest and investment in your daughters and sons is very much appreciated by my staff and I. Next term we will be inviting our parents to a number of events including an Electives Information Evening for Years 9 and 10, a Year 11 Information Evening and Careers Expo, and Course Counselling Interviews for our Year 10 students as we prepare them are for their senior studies at the College.

We are currently preparing for our Year 7 Information Evening on 26 March which will be from 5 pm onwards. This is a key event in the College calendar to which we invite families not yet enrolled to view our facilities and hear from staff and students about what St Francis Xavier has to offer. You are also most welcome to join us! We will be advertising the event but please let your friends and families know about the College and our Information Evening.

I am writing to you though the medium of a letter following the unexpected resignation of our Communications Officer. I am very hopeful that we will have the recruitment for this position finalised by the end of next week so that we can once again capture and share the wonderful and vibrant life and news of St Francis Xavier through our Newsletters and on our Website. In the meantime, thank you for your patience and understanding.

Sandra Darley
College Principal