From the College Principal

Newsletter 5 2023

Dear Members of the St Andrews College Community,

What a wonderful two weeks it has been since our last Newsletter. We have had many learning opportunities made available to our students both inside and outside of the classroom. The Student Leaders have organised Leadership Week. We have had finals in both Football and Volleyball, our Diving Team who participated in the CCC Diving Championships today, the visit concluded from our Japanese students from Seiun Gakuin, Nagasaki , excursions across a variety of KLA’s have been conducted, and we are busily preparing for our Easter Liturgy. As this will be our last Newsletter for the Term I thank the community for your support and wish you all a Holy, restful, safe and happy Easter. Looking forward to seeing you all in Term 2.

‘It’s All About Learning’

Family Gospel Reflection:
So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!" And Jesus found a young ass and sat upon it; as it is written, "Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on an ass's colt (Jn 12:13-15)!"

Today is Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion during which we commemorate Christ's entry into Jerusalem for the completion of the Paschal Mystery. In the Liturgical Calendar preceding Vatican II, the Church celebrated Passion Sunday two Sundays before Easter, and then Palm Sunday was the beginning of Holy Week. The Church has combined the two to reinforce the solemnity of Holy Week.

The Palm Sunday procession is formed of Christians who, in the "fullness of faith," make their own the gesture of the Jews and endow it with its full significance. Following the Jews' example we proclaim Christ as a Victor... Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord. But by our faith we know, as they did not, all that His triumph stands for. He is the Messiah, the Son of David and the Son of God. He is the sign of contradiction, acclaimed by some and reviled by others. Sent into this world to wrest us from sin and the power of Satan, He underwent His Passion, the punishment for our sins, but issues forth triumphant from the tomb, the victor over death, making our peace with God and taking us with Him into the kingdom of His Father in heaven.

Congratulations to our Sporting Teams:

Thank you to all the students and their coaches for the dedication shown throughout the past sports season. We had outstanding results in the Boys Basketball with all teams going through to the semi-finals and the Senior Team losing in the Final. The Volleyball teams made it through to the final which was due to be played yesterday but weather closed the fields. We hope the Final will be rescheduled. It makes such a difference to the performance of the team when we train regularly and know each other's game. Congratulations once again to all teams and thank you for your commitment.

Japanese School Visit:

Thank you to all the families who hosted the Japanese students from Seiun Gakuin High School, Nagasaki. Judging by the letters of thanks that I received and shared with staff, they all had a wonderful time and appreciated the efforts made by the host families as well as our school to make their stay a memorable one. Thank you to the Japanese staff and teaching staff who organised visits to classes. Special thanks must go to Ms Miho Matsufuji who coordinated the visit in Ms Suzuki’s absence.

Travelling to Japan and Vietnam:

Both staff and students are looking forward to the trips to Japan and Vietnam in the Term 2 School Holidays. We have over 70 students attending the trips and nine staff. They are both great opportunities to learn. I look forward to announcing more opportunities like this in the near future. Thank you to Mrs Suzuki and Mr Camilleri for leading the planning of the trips and to Mrs Welch for all the work associated with Risk Assessments and administration.

Jazz Night:

Congratulations to the students and staff who put on a memorable night last Wednesday on the Senior Campus. The Drama performances were intriguing to commence the evening and were followed up with excellent performances by our students. Thank you to the Music teachers who facilitated the evening. Thank you to Mr Chiapetta, Mr Alata, Ms Breeze, Ms Le, Mrs Cooper and Mr Lewandowski for their dedication.

Aviation Course Graduation:

Congratulations to Stephanie Kwiatkowski, Nyanbuot Deng and Venus Koko for their Graduation from this course. It sets them up to move into the industry in a variety of positions.

Building Works:

At present the new portable classrooms on the Junior Campus are almost complete. They look great and the feedback I am getting from staff and students is that they are great for learning. Once all six are online we will take offline the last three and fully renovate them as well. Hopefully this is next week.

Year 7 2024 Interviews:

We interviewed almost 300 students on March 20 and have sent out our First Round Offers now to families. Both myself and the leaders who interviewed our potential students were impressed by the quality of applicants we are receiving. We have been inundated with further enrolments and will conduct more interviews next Wednesday. We have requested an eighth stream for 2024 and that is being considered as we speak. I will keep you all informed of progress.

Enrolment for Year 2024 NOW OPEN

We have already accepted many applications for 2024 so please get them in soon.

Fidem in Christo

Dr Stephen Kennaugh
Principal