Principal's Message
Dear Parent/Carer
‘My mercy and my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield, in whom I trust, who subdues my people under me. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
Psalms 144:1, 2, 9-10
The last fortnight certainly highlighted the many things that we should be proud of as a College community. We completed and released our Year 11 Preliminary Higher School Certificate Final Reports which were an enormous credit to our students and their staff. We commenced our Year 7-10 assessment and reporting period which students have been building towards. Our Year 12, 2024 students engaged in their Senior Retreat at Bonny Hills which was a tremendous celebration. As well as our current Year 12 students completing their final Higher School Certificate examinations.
The theme of the Retreat for our Year 12,2024 students was LEGACY. It explored what the students wish to achieve as individuals and as a year group and the role God plays in our lives and the relationships we have with others. I thank the students for their efforts across the time away and thank our staff who attended this important experience. It is a big ask to have staff attend overnight events, away from home and family - it is very much appreciated. I commend the work of the Mission Team (Mr Geoff Melville, Mr Matthew Mitchell, Mr Maxwell Winn and the Pastoral Care staff) who developed this amazing experience for our students.
The engagement with our Parish continues to be important to us and the presence of Fr James across the Retreat and especially the Mass that was celebrated down at the beach, was a great experience. At the conclusion of our Mass the Captains for 2024 were announced. The appointments of Evie Barton and Jorja Barnett as our College Captains is very exciting and we know they will do an awesome job and lead our College Student Leadership Team with purpose.
This was certainly demonstrated on Saturday when our College Students Leaders attended and laid wreaths in Kempsey and Macksville to honour Remembrance Day. I especially note Ryley Smith who was our lone representative at Macksville, joining students from St Patrick's Catholic Primary for this important acknowledgement.
On Saturday evening we celebrated Year 12’s at their Graduation Dinner. This was an event with students, parents/carers and staff and was a very special evening. The night was filled with enormous pride of what the year group had achieved and appreciation of the work from the many staff across their time at St Paul’s. I thank the parents/carers for trusting us with their children’s education - it has been a pleasure working with them all.
Finally, we continue to be working on our three-year strategic plan and annual school improvement plan for 2024. This has involved re-visiting our School Review and Improvement documentation from last Term, together with input from our Mission/Pastoral Care and Learning and Teaching teams. We hope to have direction, clearly understood by all in our College community, by the end of the year. The ongoing collaboration of College staff and students in the development of these plans has been extremely pleasing.
Kind regards
Mr David JOHNS B.Ed., Cert. Gifted Ed., Grad. Cert. Adol. Health and Welfare, M.Ed. (Ed Lead), M.Ed. (Theol)
Principal