Welcome back to Term 3. We are very mindful of the Year 12 girls as they sit for their Trials at the moment. They have studied and prepared and we all hope that they are able to reap the rewards of their hard earned efforts during this exam block.

I warmly welcome back Mrs Thomas from maternity leave. It is wonderful to have her back with us. Sadly we had to farewell Mrs Breeze at the end of the term. We wish her the very best in her new role. Sadly, we will also farewell Mrs Stalker-Booth at the end of the week. Mrs Stalker-Booth has been the College Librarian for the past five years and has made a wonderful contribution. We wish her the very best in her new position in Canberra. We welcome Mr McGrath, as the new PDHPE teacher whilst Mrs Caffrey is on maternity leave. 

The term has started with great energy with a number of teams representing the College in a number of fields and achieving commendable success. There is more of their achievements in the body of this edition. The girls appear to be well rested and ready for a good term ahead.

The College is a member of the Alliance of Girls Schools. Each month it produces newsletters with the most current research on issues about children, young people and education. In the July edition, it noted a radical research project completed in Iceland which found that increasing young people's involvement with sport and time with their parents has drastically curbed substance abuse by teenagers. The research is available on the website www.agsa.org.au for your consideration. It emerged that there are four factors strongly protective against substance abuse: participation in organised activities (especially sport) three or four times a week, total time spent with parents during the week, feeling cared about at school and not being outdoors late at night. This ground breaking research was then backed by the government so that programs were put in place to engage young people and parent organisations assisted parents to spend quantity time rather than the occasional quality time with their children. It has made a significant difference on the lives of the children and the families in Iceland. I encourage you to read it and reflect on the findings. 

This week, we hosted the Middle School Parent Forum. Thank you to those parents who attended. Thank you also to our psychologist Mrs Sophie Christodoulides who presented on mental wellbeing and health. It was very informative and all middle school parents will receive the PowerPoint. My thanks also to Mrs Wright for attending both sessions. Next week we will hold the Senior School Parent Forum. The focus this time will be on careers. Mr Damien Williams will present to the parents an outline of the changing world of careers and what the College is doing to support and prepare the girls. I thank him and Mrs McGeachie in advance for their attendance at the meetings. I do hope you will be able to attend.

No doubt you will have heard on the news reports on this year's NAPLAN results. We are yet to receive these results to be able to comment on the results for St Patrick’s College. I would like to reassure parents that this is the first point of entry to achieving a HSC. Girls who do not achieve the benchmark in Year 9 will have ample opportunity to achieve this before they finish their HSC in three years time. We will have further to say about this at the Year 8 subject preferences information evening for parents on 16 August. For parents of Year 9, we will communicate further once the results have come through.

We are currently interviewing all the Year 10 girls  for their subject preferences. If you have any questions, concerning your daughter's preferences, please don't hesitate to call the College for clarification.

This Sunday we celebrate the Transfiguration of Jesus. The following is an extract taken from a commentary written by Br Julian McDonald cfc AO

“While his transfiguration on the mountaintop was intended for his disciples and for us to be a reminder not to lose hope, no matter how bleak life may become, Jesus made it clear that lasting transfiguration would come for us and our world through his cross and ultimate resurrection.  In laying aside privilege and special treatment, he reminds us to do the same for the sake of others and the good of our world.  In today’s gospel story, that message is reinforced by the voice of God: “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”

Let’s not forget that there are many other transfiguration moments in our lives as we respond to Jesus’ invitation to reach out to others in love:  “To love another person is to see the face of God.”  (Victor Hugo, Les Miserables)” 

Blessings

Sue Lennox - Principal