Last week, we hosted a very informative workshop for Year 8 parents at the College. Mr Baca, Mrs Wright, Dr Bourne and myself presented information specific to Year 8 students across the state and then, more specifically, information we have gathered about our own Year 8 girls. Many of the parents present commented on how informative and helpful it was in understanding the processes at the College, the growing needs of their daughter and how they can better support their daughter for the future. Next year, we will host similar nights for families in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10. The format is less lecture style and more workshop so that parents can share their experiences and concerns and hear what other parents are doing. We will send out the dates early next year so you can include them in your diary.

Staff are busy preparing the final reports for the girls at the moment. In a few weeks, they will be posted and you will be able to see how your daughter has progressed over the semester. I encourage you to sit with your daughter and discuss the material that is included. Go through the comment and the grades. Affirm her for the good work she has achieved and discuss ways that she can improve for the future. If you would like some further explanation of the report, please feel free to contact the College as staff will remain on site until midday Wednesday 7 December.

This week we held Orientation Day for Year 7 2023. What a bundle of energy and excitement these girls were! It was wonderful to again have the girls onsite and watch the older girls demonstrate such leadership and responsibility as they walked the primary girls around. I am confident any nerves the girls may have had about high school will be eased after such a fabulous day.

Likewise, we will again host our primary school Stem Challenge on 25 November. We have had to postpone it for the last few years because of COVID, so it will be great to again have 21 teams from across the region of keen and enthusiastic STEM girls at the College. In fact, we couldn’t accommodate all the interested parties for this event. The engagement and passion for STEM at St Patrick’s certainly defies the research that suggests girls are reluctant to engage in STEM. That is not our experience at St Patrick’s College. 

Sadly, I accepted the resignation of one of our counsellors, Ms Ayesha Jilani. Ayesha has been with the College for several years and has decided to move into a private practice. We wish her well and thank her for the great work she has done over that time with our girls.

In a recent meeting with the Chair of our Members, Sr Elizabeth Delaney gave me a copy of The Sydney Statement. This is an initiative of the Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations. It has been developed by Youth PoWR (Parliament of the World’s religions) which is a coalition of young adults from different religions in Sydney. It took two years of consultation and drafting and the final product has been endorsed by prominent leaders including the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

The Sydney Statement is building bridges between believers and different religions. I feel we are very blessed to have a community that reflects all the values and context of The Sydney Statement. A community that welcomes the stranger and  finds a place for all to belong. Sr Patty Fawkner, congregational leader of the Good Samaritan sisters, wrote in her article in the Good Oil this month:

"As the cultural environment is enriched by diversity and diminished by uniformity, so the glue that binds us is honouring and understanding our differences”.

She wrote about the six specific diversity competence skills we all need to cultivate and grow for it is God who has created difference and it is God who is present in every one of us.

I will leave you with the infographic which they have created.

Blessings

Sue Lennox - Principal