Week 2 Term 2
1 May 2026
Dear Parents/Carers
Intent
“Intent” is somewhat of a buzzword in the social media world with influencers using the term frequently. Whether it be in regard to your mental health, increasing personal wealth or on your fitness journey, it seems doing this with intent is really important. But I think the word ‘intent’ is regularly used out of context or incorrectly.
A simple Google definition for ‘intent’ is the purpose, aim, or mental determination to achieve a specific goal, acting as the driving force behind an action. In basic terms, it’s your thoughts!
I shared a story with the boys this week about an experience at a previous school I worked at. A young boy (Year 9) was playing handball with his mates and when he lost a point, he kicked the ball. He wasn’t trying to hurt anyone and it was just a silly outburst whilst he was having fun with his friends. The ball went flying across the yard and hit a female member of staff (who was heavily pregnant) in the stomach. Panic ensued and the staff member had to go to hospital in considerable distress.
The following day a rather tall and stern looking police officer attended the school and asked to speak to me (I was the Assistant Principal at the time). He wanted to speak to the student. I questioned whether it was about the incident that occurred the day prior. It’s been my role in a number of schools to advocate for the students and staff in equal measure, so I went on to explain he was a lovely student and the incident was an accident and he didn’t mean to hurt the teacher.
The Police officer moved towards me with a very stern demeanour and pointed his finger in my chest and responded with ‘Intent doesn’t matter! Whether he meant to hurt her or not, his actions put her in danger and she was hurt as a result’.
We all have made silly choices in our life and made plenty of mistakes. And in this moment where I went to advocate for a student, I was put firmly in my place with the hard truth.
Doing things with intent is a great way to live. By extension, doing things with positive intent is even better. But it’s the actions that are most important.
I talked to the boys about their actions and outcomes i.e. thinking before we act. Accidents can always happen and no one is perfect on this side of heaven, so I expect that we will all make mistakes (teenage boys possibly more often than others). And if our boys are going to make a mistake, I hope it is at school so they can course correct and learn from their mistakes as a dress rehearsal for their adult lives. At school we try to teach our young men that once is a mistake, twice is a decision.
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“If someone tells you that you hurt them, you don’t get to decide that you didn’t. Our intent doesn’t erase the impact. You might not have meant to cause harm, but that doesn’t mean that harm wasn’t done.” Quote: John Cenerazzo |
Doing things with positive intent is important. But the actions that reflect the positive intent are even more important. We are a part of an amazing school community, And I see on a daily basis the boys actions that are the result of doing this with positive intent. I am very proud of them and enjoy watching them succeed in so many parts of their lives. I am grateful to the parents and carers who are raising our students to be good men who in turn are making our school a great place to come and learn every day.
MCE in the community
Thank you to the students and their families who attended our local ANZAC Day services (Saturday 25 April) and the mass we hosted at St Kevin’s (Sunday 26 April). Our students continue to shine when the opportunity arises and represent themselves, their families and the College community with distinction.
Respice Finem
Mr David Sullivan
Principal