Principal’s Message
Preparation is an undervalued necessity
This morning on my way to work I heard on the radio that we had hit the 39 days until Christmas mark. I must admit it jolted me a little to realise that we are so close and I thought to myself I have so much to do.
The countdown has truly begun and the preparations in some homes for Christmas are underway. Certainly, the major stores began their preparations for Christmas back in July (if not earlier) and even Australia Post is advertising their dates for parcel delivery deadlines. Parishes too are already preparing for Christmas as you would have read in yesterday’s Compass announcement to all families regarding Our Lady of Fatima’s Christmas Carols.
I am conscious that many staff are preparing 2024 for new syllabi in English and Maths, writing programmes and gathering resources to ensure that the teachers begin a new school year ready to go.
Our Pastoral Care Coordinators and Assistant Coordinators have been allocated their 2024 year groups and along with their pastoral care teams are reviewing this year’s programmes to prepare for their work in 2024.
Studies Coordinators are making preparations for their courses that will be running next year and of course our IB staff will be preparing for their first set of formal international examinations.
We can’t leave any of these things to chance.
The students too are preparing. Year 12 2024 students and their parents and carers recently attended an information evening to discuss the HSC rules and regulations, of which there are many, and if there were any first-time HSC parents present on that evening, I know it can seem a bit daunting. A Zoom meeting was also held for students who are doing a major work in Art, Music, Design & Technology, Textiles, English, and History as these require extensive preparation and pre-organisation to ensure they are completed to the best of each girl’s ability.
We are also preparing to welcome 200 new Year 7 students and our newest families to this community.
We are preparing our budget at a time of increasing costs and trying to make sure that as a College we can cover all of our bills too.
Perhaps the most important thing we are preparing for is our annual Christmas hampers that we provide to our local St Vincent De Paul. As you know, each girl is asked to be as generous as they can be as the need has increased in our local area.
As a College, we will be teaching and learning each day until the end of the term. It was wonderful to witness the great teaching and inspired learning at our recent Newman Symposium and of course, we are preparing and looking forward to celebrating with our students at the end-of-year Assemblies.
I too am preparing to farewell a school that I have grown to love, to farewell a community of generosity and compassion, to farewell a staff who are second to none and to farewell students who are inspirational. I am taking stock of what went well in my 8 years as Principal and especially of what did not go so well. I will learn from those things and aim to be better next time.
Preparation I think is often undervalued, sometimes we just rush in and do, but preparation requires stopping and taking stock before you “do”.
As we approach the season of Advent in the Church, which is a season of preparation too, we might begin the process of taking stock of the direction of our lives. What’s going well and how could I be better?
I pray that at this time when there is so much turmoil, grief and despair in our world we take the time to stop and prepare our lives and our hearts for Advent so that as we approach Christmas we will be well prepared to welcome Christ into our lives more fully.
May God abundantly bless each and every one of you so that you in turn can be a blessing to all those whom you meet.
