Principal’s blog – 10 December 2022

Dear parents, students and staff

The end of school draws nigh and how 2022 has flown. The 2022 year will go into the history books due to the lingering worldwide pandemic, the devastating floods, the war in Ukraine, the change of Government in Australia and the shortage of staff especially teachers. The College Yearbook, distributed to Years 7-9 on Friday and available for collection from the front office to Years 10-12 from Monday, will capture the many highlights of the school year. I commend it to you.

The Year 12 Formal was held at the Arboretum last Friday evening and what a wonderful night of celebration. The students enjoyed a great night together with their classmates, family and staff. The students all look splendid in their formal attire. A big thank you to staff members, Sue Carroll, Sam Loy Wilson, their pastoral advisors and Kristie McFarlane in making the Year 12 Formal a major success. We hope the Year 12 results that will be released next week will reflect the hard work and commitment by the students and their teachers during their learning journey.

One further reminder to parents of current Year 9 students that Year 10 students will be moving to the Bring Your own Device (BYOD) program in 2023. There is a lead time to purchase such devices and we are now moving into the period where it may occur that students will not be beginning the new school year without a device. Please refer to the SFX website for the latest information. https://sfx.act.edu.au/byod/

Alumni notoriety! Brett Robinson competed in the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan on Sunday and finished in fourth place with a time of 2:07:31. That time is a new Australian National Marathon record, 20 seconds faster than the previous record held by Rob De Castella (that has stood for 36 years). Brett is a former student of the college and deserving of acknowledgement of this amazing achievement. He now holds the Australian records for both the half marathon and the marathon. Congratulations to proud father and SFX teacher, Tony Robinson, too. This is a major achievement.

The staff and students should be very proud of the opportunities, success and achievements realised this year. SFX continues to build upon its wonderful reputation. We say farewell and best wishes to those staff and students leaving us at the end of the school year.

On a personal note, thank you for your support of me in my role as Principal. It has been an honour to have the responsibility of being Principal of such a prestigious College. I acknowledge the professionalism, dedication and commitment of all the staff in my time here. This community should be very proud of the staff that choose to be at SFX. Incoming Principal, Sandra Darley, is looking forward to the role and we have been meeting to ensure a smooth transition. No doubt you will welcome her when school resumes.

I wish you all the joys and blessings that Christmas brings. The birth of Jesus renews our hope in realising God’s plan for each of us. It is a special time as family and friends get together. Thankfully the shops will be shut so we can be focussed on being together. Hopefully, our students will be focussing on the quality of the giving not the quality of the gift, as we also remember those who are less fortunate and will have not family or friends to share the Christmas spirit. The students have already made a start on this approach with their generous donations towards the Vinnies Christmas Appeal food hampers that will be delivered to Vinnies this week.

I hope your travels over the holidays will be safe. Thank you for your support of SFX this year.

Best wishes, Happy Christmas and may you have a happy, healthy and successful New Year.

Paul Carroll

Principal