Message From the Principal

This week our College community has made the decision to celebrate and acknowledge NAIDOC Week. Due to COVID-19, the national NAIDOC Week 2020 celebrations will be held from the 8 to 15 November. However, this timing for our College prevents Year 12 students from being actively involved due to their external exams. For this reason, we sought special permission from the National Indigenous Australians Agency to hold our celebrations early to ensure full and active participation, and engagement for our College community.

The 2020 theme for NAIDOC Week is Always Was, Always Will Be, which recognises that First Nations people have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years. NAIDOC Week invites all Australians to embrace the history of this country dating back thousands of generations.

Sadly, COVID-19 prevents us from inviting guests and families onto our campus to share in these celebrations and activities and I thank you for your understanding in this regard. I would like to acknowledge and thank all of the staff and students involved in planning this week’s activities as we journey together in Reconciliation. Special mention goes to Hayley Mazzoni who works in our Boarding House and Lauren Newman who works in our day school for their significant contribution and preparation.

I have been reading widely on the continued impacts of the global pandemic on education across the globe. The dynamic and uncertain nature of this pandemic is providing significant challenges for young people of all ages. What I have noticed this term in working with both staff and students, is a desperate wish for a return to normality. Unfortunately, the current environment is simply not normal, so a sense of normality seems out of reach and is making people feel at times, disheartened.

Routines and healthy life habits are however well within reach, attainable and heartening to one and all. As our students face the next few weeks towards assessment, never has there been a more important time to focus on exercise and healthy food habits. Hours of studying and revision undoubtedly burns mental energy, however, your body and mind need physical exercise to function at their absolute best. A strong body helps build a strong mind. Research consistently shows that exercise helps with concentration and focus and improves overall mental health in young people. Brain research has revealed that exercise helps stimulate the release of ‘growth factors’ which are chemicals in the brain that affect the health of brain cells, the growth of new blood vessels in the brain, and even the abundance and survival of new brain cells.

By encouraging our young people to challenge themselves physically, we are actually helping them develop greater confidence in their own strength and physical capacity in order to form healthy and sustainable habits leading to improved learning outcomes.

May God bless you all and your families

Amber Hauff

College Principal