Voices of Reason
By Mrs Liz Illingworth, Principal
SAINT MARY OF THE CROSS MACKILLOP
We have eight Values at St Patrick’s College. Catholic Identity, Compassion, Stewardship, Excellence and Endeavour, Individuality, Leadership, Relationships and Social Justice. If each of us strived to live out these values on a daily basis, I think we would then demonstrate the qualities of a good person. St Mary of the Cross MacKillop certainly held these values close.
A particular value that comes to mind when thinking about St Mary of the Cross, is that of Social Justice. Mary devoted her life to ensuring that children, particularly from poor and rural families, were able to access a holistic Catholic education. Mary was an advocate for young people, a trailblazer of her time and a leader who continually advocated so that underprivileged children had fair access to education.
On Tuesday August 8, we celebrated the feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. This day is an opportunity to celebrate the important role that she played in bringing education to children in our country. MacKillop House also celebrated Mass to acknowledge the Feast Day.
St Mary MacKillop, along with Fr Julian Tenison Woods, founded the Sisters of St Joseph. We recognise Mary of the Cross MacKillop as one of the charisms we follow at St Patrick’s College.
As a College, we continue to follow in the footsteps of St Mary MacKillop and our other founding order charisms, Blessed Edmund Rice, Nano Nagle, and Fr Julian Tenison Woods. They had a desire to help others and to enrich the lives of young people through education.
Imagine our local community and the broader world if each of us followed the mantra of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop:
'Never see a need without doing something about it.'
Within the College, we continue to demonstrate our concerns for social justice through our outreach programs of Ascent and Edmund Rice Camps, as well as through the numerous House days, activities and fundraisers that each House consistently engages in and strives to educate us on.
Our students repeatedly remind us of the needs of the world around us and we see them striving to make a difference in the lives of those who are marginalised, and in the local and broader community.
In just a few weeks, our Year 12 students will be participating in the annual Lap It Up (LIU) challenge where they will run, swim and ride for 24 hours. LIU provides the opportunity for our College community to put our Mission and Values into action by raising funds, generating awareness, and reminding us why it is important to support others and how this makes a significant and meaningful impact. 2023 marks the 15th year of this event. I hope you may be able to support our students in their endeavour to continue in the footsteps of our Founders as they participate in this fantastic occasion.
FUTURE PATHWAYS
Over the last several weeks, a large percentage of our Year 10 and 11 students and their parents/guardians have taken the opportunity to sit down with a member from our Senior School staff or Future Pathways team and map out their subject choices and career pathways for the next few years.
Furthermore, Subject Selection Evenings across the Senior School, Croagh Patrick and Middle School have proved to be a massive success this week. These nights provide valuable information to students and families to assist and support them in selecting subjects for 2024.
Our Future Pathways team does an exceptional job in guiding and supporting our young people. Several of our students who have been seeking Traineeships have recently been assisted by the team in gaining full time Apprenticeships or School-based Apprenticeships. Congratulations to these students and thank you to our staff for supporting our students with their career choices.
I am grateful to all our staff who provide our community with such fantastic support and knowledge in order to allow our students to make informed decisions about their futures.
STUDENT VOICE
Hearing the voice of our students is extremely important. This year we have allowed students across the College to wear their PE uniform. Middle School and Senior School can now wear this uniform on Thursday, and at Croagh on Tuesday and Thursday. Students should wear their formal uniform on all other days.
Furthermore, many of our students have communicated that they dislike wearing stockings during the winter months. In response to this, we are allowing students to wear the College lemon socks (or white for Year 12) with their winter skirt. In addition to this, we are adding a transition period to change over from the winter uniform to the summer uniform. This will occur in Week 7 of Term 3, and at this time, students may wear either their summer or winter uniform.
A reminder that the College blazer is to be worn to and from the College every day when in formal uniform, and that the soft-shell jacket is only to be worn with the PE uniform.
Thank you for supporting your child in meeting our College uniform expectations.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Mrs Liz Illingworth
