Next week we celebrate the graduation of our Year 12 students. These girls have come to the end of their 13 years of school and are ready to move out into various paths that will create the rest of their lives. It is always a time of excitement, tinged with sadness and relief. They still have the HSC to finish, of course, but it marks the end of their time as a full time student at St Patrick's College. It also marks the end of a partnership with many families as well. The week ahead will have a number of ceremonies and rituals that mark their transition. This year group have been a delightful group of young women. We will miss them very much and we wish them the best. We hope their results in the upcoming exams will reflect their level of work and effort over the years and that they will demonstrate the values of this community in all of their future contributions.

Last weekend we celebrated Polynite. What an uplifting and truly joyous snapshot of what is St Patrick's College.  The audience could see the excitement in the girls as they performed and the pride they held in their culture and their school. It was wonderful to see the inclusive nature of the dances so that girls from several cultures were participating with their friends in their cultural dances. The parents were very proud, as were all the staff who could be there. Thank you to Mr Stevens, Mrs Samyia and all the staff who supported the girls. We host this event once every two years and it never fails to entertain. We raised $3,000 for the ministries of the sisters, which will be very much appreciated.

We were recently delighted to hear that Mrs Caffrey gave birth to a little boy this term and Mr David’s wife recently gave birth to a little girl. We extend our best wishes to both families as they welcome these new additions.

This will be the last edition of the Inside Out for this term. I wish you a very restful term break. I know the girls tend to tire at this time of the term and I am sure they will appreciate the change in routine for the two weeks. When we return, Term 4 is a shorter term than the others, so the pace is much faster. The girls need to be present for all their lessons and I urge you to minimise the time away from school, as it does impact on their learning.

Please ensure you have in your diary the evening with Madonna King and the End of Year Mass and awards ceremonies.

I leave you with a quote I recently came across credited to Eleanor Roosevelt.

“great minds discuss events, small minds discuss people”. Let's keep this in mind in our future discussions.

Blessings

Sue Lennox - Principal 

SAVE THE DATE - EMERALD DINNER DANCE - 17 MARCH 2018