12 September 2019

From the Principal

Article by Mr Michael Exton

From the Principal

On behalf of the Principal

I write on behalf of our Principal Michael Exton for this Newsletter edition.

There have been an incredible number of wonderful events and activities in our College in the last fortnight and I thank the staff who have given so generously of their time to support all these activities. Congratulations and thank you to the hundreds of students who have put themselves forward and been involved in so many activities, and where the opportunity arose for some, they have represented our College with distinction.

I would especially highlight three events:

1. “PREMIERS” Herald Sun Shield – First XVIII Football (boys)
Congratulations to the Senior Boys Football team who are the first Saint Ignatius Team to win the Senior Herald Sun Shield Competition (Division Two). They played extremely well to win the Grand Final against Westbourne Grammar by 100 points. The First XVIII Coach, Joe Mc Lean, has done a tremendous job with the team to get them through all the lead-up games and to then perform so well in the Grand Final. Well done boys – we are so proud.

For further information see the College Facebook page and the Geelong Advertiser (12th September).


2. College Musical Production - “The School of Rock”
This week is PRODUCTION WEEK at the College and there are several performances across a number of days of “The School of Rock” at the GPAC.

Throughout the whole of this term the staff and students have been rehearsing every Sunday, every Monday after school and there have been other times each week when various groups of the cast have been doing extra practice.

I sincerely hope you have the opportunity to see the show and marvel at the talents of the students.

Thank you so much to all the staff who have been involved and given such an enormous amount of time to support the students and ensure the show was ready for this week of performances.

The main roles undertaken by staff for “The School of Rock” are as follows:
Producer: Marina Brown
Director: Rhea Walker, assisted by student Noah Gullan.
Assistant Producer: Sam Windmill
Musical Director: Linda Pape
Conductor: Veronica Marrie
Choreographer: Kate Lehmann, supported by student William Palmer.
Costume Coordinator: Kerry Horbowsky
Production Manager: Attel Martschinke

The Director, Marina Brown, also acknowledges the invaluable assistance of staff members: Ben Zanghi, Paul James, Alex Simpson, Laura Taylor-Payne, and Tony Berryman-Long; Parent: Christine Johnston and Student: Billy Souflas.

Thank you very much to many other staff who also support the Production by giving up their time for duties like helping out backstage, in the Green room, selling programs etc during the performances.

We are also extremely grateful for the support of many parents as well as the Parents and Friends Association.

It truly is a whole College event.


3. RUOkDay
The College recognized the National Day of Action for RUOK? By holding a range of activities on RUOkDay on Thursday 12th September.

Staff and students were encouraged to wear a splash of yellow in support. Students wore items such as yellow shoelaces, ribbons, ties, beanies etc and many staff wore the official
RUOkDay yellow T-shirt and a yellow RUOkDay wrist band.

The Wellbeing Captain, Nikita Page, and the Student Wellbeing Team (Olivia Whitehead, Sally Barnard and Sarah Somerset) organised a range of events including a BBQ, a Staff v. Student game of dodgeball and a tattoo stand.

Mental health is an incredibly important issue in our modern society, not only for the young people in our care here at the College but also for many adults as well. We are all encouraged to start a conversation by simply asking someone RUOk?
How to start a conversation:



• One in five (20%) Australians aged 16-85 experience a mental illness in any year
• Almost half (45%) of Australians will experience a mental illness in their lifetime
• The onset of mental illness is typically around mid-to-late adolescence and Australian youth (18- 24 years old) have the highest prevalence of mental illness than any other age group
• 54% of people with mental illness do not access any treatment
• Every day, at least six Australians die from suicide and a further thirty people will attempt to take their own life

If this information raises issues for you help can be found at:

RUOk? https://www.ruok.org.au
Beyond Blue https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/get-immediate-support
Lifeline https://www.lifeline.org.au Lifeline Helpline: 13 11 14



Staffing
We have had a staffing change this week as we farewell Mr Ben Collyer who has taken up a position at St Bernard’s Essendon as the Camp Manager for their site on the Great Ocean Rd. Mr Collyer has been a Science and PE teacher as well as the previous Year 9 Year Level Coordinator at our College and he was instrumental in the transition to a whole new style of camp for Year 9s by establishing a partnership for the College with OEG.
We thank Mr Collyer for his years at St Ignatius and we wish him and his family all the best as he takes on his new and exciting role at St Bernard’s.
We welcome onto the staff Mr Cameron Fennell who will be taking Mr Collyer’s classes for the remainder of this year. Mr Fennell has been teaching at Emmanuel College Point Cook for several years and he has recently enjoyed some overseas travel.


Thoughts and prayers
A few staff members have suffered family bereavements in recent weeks and as a College community we offer them our thoughts and prayers at this very sad and tragic time for them and their families.


Blessings and best wishes,
Paul Lewis
Deputy Principal.

Feature

Events