Principal’s Log

Over the past week parents, staff and students have cheered our teams on as they have participated in Basketball and Water Polo Finals. All teams played with good spirit, skill and determination. We congratulate the Junior B Girls and the Intermediate B Boys on reaching the finals and playing hard right to the end to be runners up. Our Water Polo teams also fought hard with the Junior Boys team narrowly losing their final in a hard fought match to win silver and our Intermediate Girls team showing very good skills and teamwork to win the bronze medal. We thank Mr Burdon, our Basketball coaches and Water Polo coaches Mr Crompton and Mr Sam Irwin for their leadership of our teams and our parents for your support.

It was a pleasure to join the Year 3 and 4 strings concert this week and hear the growth of their talent over the year. The final performance of Jingle Bells which included all Year 3 and 4 students was a wonderful culminating performance that produced many smiles in the audience. Congratulations to all of the students and thank you to our parents for your support. Thank you to our Head of Instrumental Music, Mrs Helen Williams for her very capable leadership of this string program.

Following an incident that impacted our IT environment in 2020, we have been engaging with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) as part of a review of our response. This process has identified a number of areas in which Pacific Lutheran College can strengthen its abilities to prevent or respond to a future data breach. As part of immediate next steps, Pacific Lutheran College is presently developing a comprehensive incident response plan and information security program.  As a College, we are determined to implement this guidance to ensure we are both best prepared for such events and that our approach meets the high standards we place on protecting the personal information of our students, staff and the wider College community. At the time of the 2020 incident, our priority was in supporting those who were impacted. Where members of our community felt let down, we once again apologise and have been working progressively to enhance our systems in consultation with external experts. Now that the OAIC has provided its advice, we have a clear route forward to guide our cyber security provisions. The improvement of cyber awareness and security is one of the intents of our 2023-2026 strategic plan. We will keep the College community updated as this journey progresses.

Mrs Chris Henschke will resign from the position of Personal Assistant to the Principal at the end of the school year. Mrs Henschke has very capably filled the role of College Registrar and Personal Assistant to the Principal. Families new to the College and often the Sunshine Coast have valued Mrs Henschke’s warmth of welcome and professionalism. Mrs Henschke’s attention to detail, highly developed organisational skills and personal qualities have been invaluable to me and this community since she began her role in 2005. We thank Chris for her tremendous service to this community and wish her all the best for the future.

Next week we will welcome Mrs Carly Lovell to the new position of College Registrar. Carly brings with her expertise from within the private not for profit sector and as an educator. As a Chair of the Friends of Pacific, she has built strong relationships and been generous in her service to our community. We look forward to Mrs Lovell continuing to serve this community through this important role.

We give a prayer of thanks for our Year 12s and pray that God would equip them to live abundant lives of good purpose. We pray that God would keep them safe and filled with hope as they make the transition to life beyond school.

Dr Bronwyn Dolling, Principal