Principal’s Log

The nurturing of empathy, self-awareness, care and compassionate responsibility flows through all of the activities of the College from Early Learning to Year 12.  These capabilities are important elements within our Four Pillars. As we interact with each other as staff, students and parents, the naming of moments where empathy, self-awareness and care enrich our thinking and lives can help to shape important ways of being and encourage the growth of compassionate responsibility.

The Calling Ceremony of the Rite Journey is a time where our Year 9 students and their families come together to share reflections and hopes for the year ahead. The Rite Journey provides rich opportunities for growth in empathy, self-awareness and care as students and staff engage in ritual, activity and reflection. Through these activities, Year 9 students are encouraged to grow in their understanding of themselves, their peers, their families, their communities and the world. The year long journey challenges our Year 9s to make a difference through taking compassionate responsibility. We thank our Rite Journey teachers, Year 9 students and parents for taking the time to begin this important journey. We wish our students, staff and families a rich year of growth together.

This week we celebrated the academic achievements of our highest performing 2024 graduates at the Scholars’ Assembly. It was a point of celebration, as we recognised the Duxes of each subject and students who achieved an ATAR above 90 and had given consent for the release of their ATAR. We were pleased to celebrate with Dux Ayanna Nath (97.9) and Proxime Accessit Oliver Grey (96.9).  The 2023 Proxime Accessit Daniel Whittingham and 2023 Dux Ben McCormac shared insightful reflections and encouragement for our 2024 graduates and Middle and Senior College students. The reflections of the morning highlighted the importance of embracing opportunities to grow across the Four Pillars and make a difference whilst at the College and beyond. We celebrate with all graduates of 2024 for their strong engagement with the opportunities for growth during their time at the College and their contribution to our community. We wish them every blessing for the future.

It was great to see the Year 7-12 SCISSA competition get underway this week with students engaged in soccer and volleyball competitions on Wednesday night. There has been a strong uptake of the opportunity to participate in competitive sport this year across Years 7-12 and we wish all our teams the very best. We thank our staff for their willingness to coach and lead these teams.

It was good to be able to connect with our Year 10 students and their families at the Year 10 Information Evening on Tuesday night. Year 10 is a pivotal year as students develop important habits across all dimensions of life that will enable them to flourish as co-creators as senior students and beyond school. We thank parents and students for their attendance, Ms Anne-Marie Gerlach and Mr Nigel Farley for their leadership and our IT, hospitality and grounds team for their support.

The Friends of Pacific play an important role in connecting and supporting our community. The Annual General meeting will be held on Tuesday evening commencing at 6.30 pm. We encourage parents to take the opportunity to connect, have fun and make a difference through being an active member of our Friends of Pacific. 

We pray that God would help us to grow in our ability to act with compassionate responsibility grounded in empathy, self-awareness and care.

Dr Bronwyn Dolling, Principal