Principal's Log

There was tremendous spirit and energy at the Year 7-12 Swimming Carnival early this week. High levels of participation provided opportunity for everyone to contribute to their house. It also enabled us to celebrate many best efforts from our swimmers and witness some outstanding performances from our elite swimmers. Similar positive energy and capacity was evident at the Junior College Carnival last week, despite the much more trying conditions.

We congratulate our young people on their spirited participation and thank staff and parents for their support and leadership. Both carnivals catered very well for the diversity of talent, enabling all swimmers the opportunity to perform at their best. We congratulate Wira House for their win and thank the Physical Education staff very capably led by Mr Mark Hauser, Mr Darren Hooper and Mrs Natalie Campbell for their organisation and leadership.

We thank parents for their attendance at the Middle College Information Evening this week. The strong learning partnership between young people, parents and teachers is core to optimising student learning across all dimensions of life. This is a strength of the Pacific learning community and I thank parents, staff and students for their commitment to enhance this capacity. We appreciate the professional input of our staff and thank them for the way they have supported our young people and for their attendance and presentations on Wednesday night.

Our Year 7 students enjoyed the opportunity to get to know one another very well at their camp last week. The range of activities enabled the young people to grow in self-confidence through overcoming physical challenges, grow in their connections to each other as they engaged in trust and group building activities and to learn the pleasure of engaging in a range of outdoor pursuits. We thank Dr Peter McMahon for his organisation of this important experience and he and Mr Brendan Delaney, Mrs Leah Croke, Mr Damien Evans, Mr Andrew Block and Mrs Rowena Marshall for their leadership.

Year 9 parents and students grew through their participation in the calling ceremony of the Rite Journey on Wednesday. Following an afternoon of reflection, young people met with their parents after school to present them with a letter that expressed their appreciation for all their parents had given. The letter was also symbolic of them leaving their childhood behind as they move through the Rite Journey this year. We thank our Rite Journey leaders of Ms Michelle McMillan, Mrs Toni Fisher, Mr Duncan McNee and Dr Peter McMahon. 

We pray that God would give us a sense of joy and possibility as we take responsibility to live in the best possible way for the good of all creation.

Dr Bronwyn Dolling, Principal