Principal’s Message
Welcome to the start of the 2024 school year. I am delighted to be the Principal of this vibrant community and I thank you all for your lovely welcome.
I extend a warm welcome to our new students and families joining us and we look forward to journeying with you and your daughter throughout her high school years.
We are excited to be welcoming new staff to our College. Later in this newsletter there is an introduction to each of them.
Welcome to Year 7 students and parents
It was wonderful to see so many parents at the Year 7 Meet and Greet Evening last Tuesday. Thank you to our St Ursula’s Representative Council for setting up and cooking the sausages so our students and parents could enjoy some time getting to know each other before heading off to meet their daughter’s Pastoral Care teachers.
Opening Mass and Investiture of New Principal
On Friday 9 February we celebrated our College Opening Mass and my commissioning as new Principal. I was delighted that our Ursuline sisters, Sr Kari Hatherell, Provincial of the Australian Ursulines; Sr Leone Pallisier and Sr Mary O’Neill who are both ex-principals of the College; and Sr Fran Milledge, Sr Patty Andrews and Sr Venera Nicolosi, were able to attend. Sr Leone Pallisier was my Principal when I was a student at St Ursula’s so it was extra special for me to have her there.
I would also like to thank special guests, Mr Anthony Cleary, Director of Mission and Identity, Sydney Catholic Schools; ex-students and archivists Elizabeth Steinlein and Peta Geldard; and ex-staff member and teacher Joy Short, for joining our community for this event.
High Achievers Assembly
On 7 February we celebrated our annual High Achievers Assembly and the success of the Class of 2023. It was a delight to have so many family members and friends join us to celebrate this event and to rightly take pride in the wonderful achievements of our high achievers.
St Ursula’s is widely acknowledged as developing graduating students who make a difference in the world in a variety of fields of endeavour and two of the highlights of this celebration were hearing from our 2023 Dux Jacqueline and our 2020 College ex-student Bianca.
You will find a separate article later in this newsletter but I wanted to share with you Jacqueline’s and Bianca’s speech which they kindly agreed to share with us. It is evident that both these girls understand the meaning of being Serviam girls and true change agents following in the footsteps of St Angela Merici and ready to change the world.
College Theme Launch
Congratulations to our student leaders on their successful theme launch. The whole community was very excited with the idea of “Our Flight to the Stars”.
I look forward to getting to know our students and families this year and I wish everyone a personally rewarding 2024.
