Dear McAuley Families

I thought it would be good to share the Opening Mass speech I presented last week as part of this week’s Newsletter. Due to COVID regulations we could not have as many family and community members attend as we would have liked. Thanks to those who were able to come along and enjoy a beautiful and prayerful start to the year.

“It seems unbelievable that I stand here for my second year as Principal of this fine school as so much has happened in the last 12 or 13 months.

As last year was coming to an end I often heard people say things like “… 2021 will be better…” “I hope that next year won’t be same…“We hope that things will get back to normal…”  Common to those thoughts was the word “hope”.  I know all of us sitting here feel the same way about the year to come.

What is “hope…?” In 1991 a researcher called Snyder wrote a definition for hope calling it a “goal directed determination and planning to get there…” So, hope means doing something.  Hope involves a commitment and a plan… “I hope I’m going to get good marks this semester…” means that we plan to work hard to get there and achieve our goals. 

As people of faith that also means that we believe in ourselves and in our God. Catherine McAuley herself said “… put all your faith in God.”  In our prayers and petitions we believe that God will support us in our struggles and provide us with the strength we need. We need to believe in others…because when we show trust in other people they will show trust in us. These are our hopes for the year. These are core foundations that I want us to build in our school in 2021.

We hope to make efforts not only to improve in the areas we set goals, in but to hone and sharpen the skills we have already. Catherine McAuley says “… resolve to be good today but better tomorrow…” and “… we can never say it is enough…”  Our motto says we “strive” so we build in ourselves lifelong habits.  We build on courage, strength and confidence. We have already proven in 2020 that we are people of resilience who can overcome amazing adversity. We did that together which was a remarkable achievement.

I quote “…the truth is that teamwork is at the heart of great success…” As I have said to many of you, let’s make the mark of this place the way we are seen to treat each other.  Let’s show the local community that we are a team and a school who supports, challenges, encourages, believes and strives for one another to achieve.  A team who shows the Mercy values to every student, every family and every visitor. Let’s believe and strive and achieve what Catherine McAuley prayed for establishing the Sisters of Mercy.  She hoped and dreamed and worked so that Mercy convents and schools would be welcoming places… “places that were cordial…places that renewed, invigorated and warmed others…”. This year we hope to focus on strengthening and building relationships, to show gratitude to those who work to serve us and most importantly to listen and be present for one another.

The Mercy sisters last year released a document about “hope in the time of the pandemic” (www.mercyworld.org) modelled on the persistence and resilience of Catherine McAuley who worked to achieve her goals against great opposition and challenge.  A Mercy sister from Ireland gives us a foundation for our year of hope in 2021 when she says “… we need precious time to listen to heal and to comfort… never before has this world and the peoples who live on it been in more need of an experience of Mercy…”

May we all work to believe, strive and achieve that goal as we begin the twenty first year of the twenty first century as a year of hope and expectation.”

Staffing News:  We are now fully staffed and have covered all vacancies on both campuses for the year. We welcome Ms Cat Dawson (Miss D) to the staff of the Primary Campus.  Cat will work with Year 1B on Monday and Tuesday to relieve Ms Boxall for her Coordinator and coaching roles. She will also teach Religious Education lessons to Kinder. I know you will make Cat very welcome to our community and will enjoy her flair and flexibility as a teacher.

Congratulations:  Best wishes to our swim teams from Primary and Secondary School who are competing at various carnivals in the coming days and weeks. Our carnival saw a few records broken – well done. Please see elsewhere in our Newsletter for more specific details.

School Fees:  Term 1 Fee accounts have been sent home. Please always remember that a portion of our fees are retained by the school for various resource and capital works programs. With supplementation from Community Council fundraising we aim to be able to continue with improvements to our grounds and facilities.  A higher payment rate simply means we have more funds to allocate for the benefit of all students.

Never hesitate to contact me confidentially should fee payments become a problem for your family.

Community Council AGM: Reminder about our Council AGM and election of office bearers to be held on Thursday 18 March at 5.00pm.

COVID Update:  An email was sent on Monday this week notifying families of the need to let us know if school students had returned from Victoria after 11.59pm on Friday 12 February. Please ensure compliance with these restrictions and encourage higher level hygiene practices in your family and home.

Building Update:  We are still awaiting final sign off on the BGA project and are ‘ready to go’ for the works in the Primary School. We are also extremely hopeful that the Administration building will have extensive external and internal roofing repairs over the holiday break thanks to Catholic Education.

Student Safety:  We are lucky to have the services of a Crossing Officer in the morning and afternoons on the busy Capper Street. All students and carers are to obey the instructions of the officer (Ron).

Please do not ignore his requests to stop and wait. It is very dangerous to call children across the road against the flow of traffic and gives a bad message. Sadly we have received a couple of complaints and concerns in the last few weeks.

We have also noticed some parents are parking on the nature-strip in and around Carey Street. This is illegal and the Police will issue infringement notices. 

Mary our Mother… Look after us.

Eamonn Moore, Principal.