From the College Principal

Newsletter 4 2025

Dear Members of the St Andrews College Community,

As we move into the final weeks of Term 1 our students are engaging in Caritas initiatives for Lent, our Year 12 student group are focusing on their assessment period, Year 11 engaging in their first assessment period of senior school, our Stage 4 and 5 students completing units and projects, Rostrum Public Speaking has started, Debating is starting next week and we are defending State champions, sporting finals in Oz Tag, Basketball and Volleyball, Diving competitions and national qualifications, rehearsal for Unity Day, and a group of history students and staff preparing to depart for Italy and Germany where we will study Pompei and Herculaneum, the Second World War in Germany as well as observe our Easter Masses in Munich. It should be a great experience. It has certainly been a busy Term, but at the same time, it has beene one of many opportunities. 

Bible Reading Reflection Luke 15:1-3, 11-32:

1. The gospel of the day presents before us the parable of the prodigal son. This is very popular and familiar. Three figures stand out, namely, the father, the younger son and the elder son. The younger son is the central figure because of his repentance, which is the key theme of Holy Lent. However, the other two too are very significant. All the three teach us some fundamental life-lessons.
2. Contextually, the father in the story refers to God the Father; the younger son refers to the gentiles and all the despised and the sinners that include the Samaritans, prostitutes, and the tax collectors; the elder son refers to the Jews, the chosen people. The Jews had great contempt toward all the non-Jews and condemned them. But, Jesus elevates them over and above the Jews.
3. Practically and existentially, the parable is not just a historical story. This is a living story. It is our own story, each one’s. The father is God the Father; the elder son represents all the self-righteous, the so-called holy and religious people. The younger son represents all those who are fragile and wayward.
4. From the part of God, His loving mercy is never tired or fed up with us. He never abandons us. He always loves us and waits upon us to repent and return. He is ever ready and eager to receive us into His arms and embrace us. He does not wait to chide us or question us or penalize us. For Him, it is enough that we realize our deviations and repent and return to Him. He celebrates our return and restores us to the original dignity.
5. Most of us may resemble the prodigal son. Like him, our fragility leads us to prodigality. We want to go away from the Father and His house. We reject His love, relationship, counsels and guidance. We have a sense of false freedom, we feel suffocated and restricted. Many times, we want to be totally free to do whatever we like and prefer.
6. Like the prodigal son, we too let ourselves loose. We fall into unnecessary and unworthy interests and pleasures. We squander away our resources, money and energies on vain and harmful aberrations. We lower ourselves into undignified piggy situations
7. While this “falling” takes place in any one’s life, what is important is that we also “rise up” like him. This needs a sincere realization and repentance, return and reconciliation. We need to be anguished over our prodigality, our faltering steps. We must rise, retreat our steps, reunite with the Father, recognize our unworthiness, reconcile with Him and thus regain our lost dignity.
8. In this context, we must consciously guard against the ‘elder son’s syndrome’. He suffers from a self-righteous attitude. He regards himself as a righteous and loyal person. And he disregards his brother as a loose immoral. He disowns his own younger brother and so distances himself. He does not even want to address him as his brother. He protests before his father, “This son of yours has devoured everything” (Note! He does not say, “this brother of mine”). His attitude and relationship with his father is also very wrong. This is evident in his grievance against his father: “all these years I have been working like a slave…”

Year 11 Retreat:

Thank you to all staff and students for engaging in what was an excellent faith experience across both venues. Mr Hoare, Mrs Anthony, Ms Tan and the team provide an excellent program that is full of variety to engage our young people with their faith. Thank you to Mrs Houseman, Mrs Biernat and the facilitators for facilitating this experience as well as the student body for engaging with this opportunity. 

Year 11/12 Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences:

Thank you to the parents, students and staff who made this important communication event a priority. It’s a chance to affirm, rest if required and move forward in our pursuit of growth which is our purpose.

Congratulations to Aaron Geevarghese Year 11:

Congratulations to Aaron for advancing to the final round of the Blacktown Youth Ambassador Awards and the Gala Dinner yesterday. Aaron’s journey started with over 120 applications, progressed through to interview stage and concluded in the dinner and speech night last night where only seven students remained. Aaron represented himself, his family and the College very well and was unfortunate not to be one of the two Awardees. Aaron was the only student to speak of the initiatives he is already initiating to make Blacktown an even better place into the future. Well done Aaron.

Rostrum Voice of Youth Public Speaking:

Thank you to Ms Douglas and Mr Finnerty for taking the team to OLMC yesterday afternoon for this opportunity. Our students performed very well with Courtney Banares progressing through as a reserve to the Finals. Well done to all participants for the work they invested into their speeches.

Positive Sport Reports:

Congratulations on the sportsmanship demonstrated yesterday at Sport in both external and internal Sport. I saw a variety of sports and activities taking place and witnessed the Choir rehearse, Dance group perform and our SPIRE group exercise in our College Gym. Our external Sports teams are doing really well across Volleyball, Basketball and Oz Tag. Well done.

Fidem in Christo

Dr Stephen Kennaugh
Principal