Happy St Patrick’s Day to you. Today we celebrated our feast day at the College with the Blessing and Opening of the new building,  a mass to open the school year and the Challenge. It was a massive day and I am grateful for all the parents and guests that could come to join us for the day.  Thank you to Fr John who celebrated our mass, to Sr Patty Fawkner, Congregational Leader, who conducted the Blessing and Opening, Sr Helen Foley’s family who could join us  and the many friends of St Patrick’s College who came along. Thank you also to all the staff who held a significant role in ensuring the day proceeded well.

Our new building is called the Helen Foley sgs Learning Centre. It is named after Sr Helen Foley who was a director on the board when she sadly passed away. She was a committed advocate for the education of girls and a strong supporter of St Patrick’s College. We are grateful for her vision and wisdom in the years that she served the College.

To the many girls who participated in the Challenge this afternoon, well done. It had a different configuration this year aimed to better support the students and leaders. Once again the skill and commitment of the girls were exceptional. My thanks to all the girls who participated and well done to all the house groups. It was a St Patrick’s Day that will be remembered.

Last week we celebrated International Women’s Day breakfast. Once again it was a wonderful morning aimed at recognising the contributions of women in our community. The two ex-students invited to speak were again inspirational. Michelle Wood (1997) and Soraiya Fuda (2002) provided a great insight into life after school and the benefits of hard work and dedicated effort. Both shared some challenges they had to overcome and the drive they have to make a difference. It was humbling to feel part of a community that has nurtured and encouraged such fabulous role models and good people through adolescence into adulthood. May we continue to provide this to our girls. At the breakfast I was presented a book from Sue Power (grandmother of Emilie Year 7). The book is written by Stephanie Wood who is also a young woman driven to make a difference in the world. It is called “From a Tin Shed to United Nations” and will be available to the girls through the Library.

We have now had all the parent forums for this semester. Thank you to those parents who were able to attend. The minutes of both meetings have been distributed to parents in the respective Middle and Senior schools. One of the benefits of this meeting is that parents get to hear the experiences of the other parents and learn what works in other households. It also helps parents feel less isolated and more connected to others. We will have another forum in term 3 this year. We also hosted the Parents and Friends AGM this week. Denise Egan stepped down as the P&F president. We are very grateful for her work in this role as she balanced a very demanding job with the responsibility of the P&F. I am delighted to inform you of the new P&F executive:

President:  Mr Jeff Pollard 

Vice President: Ms Claire Montgomery

Secretary: Mrs Liz Henson 

Treasurer: Mr George Gatt

I am very appreciative of these people taking on the roles for the College.

I have recently received a number of applications from parents requesting that they take their daughters out of school for extended breaks during term time. I appreciate that sometimes situations arise which necessitates you taking your daughter away. However when your daughter is away for a period of time she misses significant learnings which may have an impact on her understanding and performance in a course. It is not just the content but the opportunity to listen to the discussion in the class about the work and the explanation from the teacher. Some parents have taken holidays during this time as it is cheaper to go during term time. I ask that you consider very carefully the urgency of taking your daughter out when we are still in the school term. Of equal concern is the number of girls who are taking a day here or there through the term. A girl who takes a day off a fortnight will have effectively lost more than three weeks of work in comparison to someone who has not taken any time away. It is hard to expect a child who is three weeks behind to have the same opportunities to perform as the girls who don’t take a random day away. Regular absence without a serious underlying reason is more often an indication of a poor work ethic. I again encourage parents to discuss with us any concerns you have regarding your daughter's attendance so that together we can work to her achieving an excellent attendance record.

Finally, I would like to draw to your attention that Holy Thursday 29 March, is a pupil free day. The College is closed that day.

This Saturday is our Emerald Gala Dinner Dance. I do hope some of you will be able to join us at The Cube for this great night of entertainment and frivolity.

I will close with an Irish Prayer sent to me recently by a dear friend of St Patrick’s College.

Blessings

Sue Lennox - Principal 

An Irish Prayer:
May those that love us,
love us.
And those that don't
love us,
may God turn their hearts,
and if God doesn't 
turn their hearts,
may God turn their ankles
so we'll know them by their limping.