Welcome back to term 3 . I hope you had a good break and that you and your family are feeling refreshed. It was great to welcome the girls back and hear of their experiences over their break.

We also welcome back Mrs Caffrey from her parental leave and Mrs Nicolaou who had some leave for family reasons. We have a number of new families joining our community this term. I extend a very warm welcome to you and encourage you to connect in ways that you feel comfortable.

Thank you for your support of our staff PD week this term. We have had multiple configurations of PD over the last decade and we have found this formation the most beneficial for staff engagement and productivity. After the two weeks leave, staff are often refreshed and ready to engage in professional learning with energy and vigour. We used the time to work on new programs, a student and staff wellbeing workshop delivered by the staff from AIS and our staff spirituality day. Whilst it was a very busy week, the content and skills covered were very well received.

Over the break, five Year 11 girls participated in the Ministry Outreach program. The girls joined students from other Good Samaritan Colleges for a week as they participated in various outreach organisations. I am sure we will hear more about their stay in the boarding house and their work at the centres. Thank you to Mrs Parker for spending this time with them on her break.

Congratulations to the debating girls across the College. Every girl did an admirable job in debating, representing their school and arguing their case throughout the term. The Year 9 girls became the runners up at the grand final, which was an exceptional result. Thank you to Mrs Pulham for her support and coaching of all the teams over the years to get the College to this point.

We also hosted the Japanese students from Shonan Shirayuri Gakuen over the last fortnight. Thank you to those families who hosted and the girls for showing such hospitality. The girls even visited the children at St Thomas More Catholic Primary School during the PD week of this term. This proved to be a very positive experience for all involved.

During the break, I attended the Catholic Secondary Principals Conference. It was a very good event, with exceptional speakers and much food for thought. One of the speakers spoke of her difficult life journey and the need for her to have been resilient to have survived. She likened resilience to a muscle. She spoke of the need for resilience to be exercised regularly and with that exercise it becomes stronger and better able to keep a young person healthy. I found this to be a great take home message.

As parents we can try to protect our children from facing consequences, experiencing disappointment or dealing with pressure. This can result in them not developing the skills to manage these feelings when they are older. This level of overprotection, which has good intention, can deny children important opportunities to exercise this capacity to be resilient. Whilst it pains us to see our children in grief or struggling, the ability for them to ride the tide and come through the difficulty to the other side is the greatest contributor to their growth in self-confidence and self-belief. Young people shouldn’t be denied these opportunities. So when you hear the moans and groans of your daughter because this won’t work or that isn’t right and you aren’t jumping up to fix it all for her, just remind her that you are doing her a favour as you are helping her to grow her resilience.

Finally, I will leave you with a short reflection used by Pat O’Gorman, Mission Director for Good Samaritan Education on communio.

Blessings

Sue Lennox - Principal 

By the guidance of the Gospel
Let us set out on
His path,
that we may
obtain to see Him,
who has called us 
to His Kingdom.
Under God's protection
we will arrive.