With the birth of Jesus nearing, the Gospel of Luke 1:39-45 tells us how Mary, the Mother of God, selflessly took time to visit her cousin, Elizabeth:

Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

With Gratitude

Thank you parents, staff and students for a wonderful year. Your kindness, support and resilience as we rode the ups and downs of the year are very much appreciated. I hope, despite the rising COVID case numbers, that you like Mary, get to visit family and spend a beautiful Christmas with those dearest to you.

A special thank you to our teaching and support staff.for the care they show to our students and for their dedication and hard work. Also thank you to the College Leadership Team for another great year: Mrs Harding, Mrs Lowe, Mrs Flanagan, Mr Thomas, Mrs Genovese, Miss Israel, Mr Moore and Mr Andrejev.

Staff Farewells

We farewell and thank members of both our teaching and support staff who are leaving this year: Mrs Webster, Mrs Arapi, Mr Thomas, Mrs Garreffa, Ms Genovese, Mrs Arapi-Nunez, Mr Samuel, Miss Brown, Mr Harski, Mr Nguyen, Mr Zia, Mr Sciberras, Mrs Cochrane, Mrs Downes, Ms Diokno, Miss Toma, Mrs Singh and Mrs Harb. Some will be taking up positions closer to home, others have secured permanent contracts and others are pursuing careers outside of the field of education. We wish them well.

A huge thank you to staff who we also farewell and who have been instrumental in shaping our College during many wonderful years of service:

End of Year

We ended the year with a number of significant events:

• Year 12 completed the year with their HSC Examinations, Graduation Assembly, Graduation Awards and Evening Ceremony, and Formal at Oatlands House. Congratulations to Year 12 on the completion of their schooling. We hope that their HSC results and ATARs will reflect their commitment, and wish them a happy and successful future.
• Congratulations to our Year 9 students who were elected Year 10 Homeroom Leaders for 2022.
• With the restrictions to visitors being onsite, on Wednesday 8 December we ran five small awards ceremonies, one per year group for Years 7 to 11 rather than an Awards Evening Ceremony for the entire college. We congratulate our students who received awards in front of their peers for First Place (Year 10 and 11 only), Academic Excellence, Special Awards, and for Academic Achievement and Academic Application in each subject. A list of awardees is included in this newsletter.

Thank you to the many staff who made these events possible, especially Mrs Harding, Mrs Lowe, Mrs Flanagan, Mr Andrejev, Mrs Messina, Miss Martino, Mrs Varano and Mrs Labbozzetta.

Joyous Christmas

Best wishes to all members of our community for a joyous Christmas and a wonderful new year. I wish the best for all members of our community who are leaving us this year and look forward to seeing most of you again in 2022.