This week we hosted interviews of girls seeking enrolment to the College. What an absolute delight it is to see them chatting with staff about their hopes and dreams and imagining themselves at St Patrick’s for high school. We will continue the interviews on Saturday and I thank the girls and their parents for their preparation and conversation. I also appreciate our staff who have stayed back for interviews or will be attending on Saturday to support this very important activity.

The College hosted its Annual General Meeting last Tuesday. Our very dedicated Company Members and a number of our Directors were able to attend. The reports associated with the meeting were very well received and the College received some very affirming feedback from the Members. I would like to thank and acknowledge Mrs Anne-Maree Creenaune who attended the AGM in her last official duty as Chair of the Board. Anne-Maree has been a Director and then Chair for over ten years. She has been enormously supportive of the College and has been courageous and innovative in her leadership. She has been active in building up the governance structures of the Board and enabled the College to grow and improve over the decade. She has left the College in a very good position. I wish to express my thanks to Anne-Maree for her leadership.

Recently I read an article on “How to Parent Teenagers” by Dr Arne Rubinstein. It was very interesting in that he provided five main points that would assist parents in enabling them to nurture their relationship with their children and still provide the boundaries and expectations that would assist them in their development into responsible and accountable young people. I have listed them below:

1. Spend regular one-on-one time with your child. Turing off your mobile phone and doing something that you both enjoy is a great way to increase emotional attachment and build their sense of security.
2. Acknowledge and encourage your child for their individual gifts and qualities and ensure they know you see them.
3. Share stories with your children. Really listen to their stories and share stories of when you were their age.
4. Connect privileges with responsibility. Create a list of tasks with your child that they are responsible for and decide on appropriate rewards for doing the tasks properly. This will encourage a teenager to understand personal responsibility.
5. When discipline is required, separate the person from the behaviour. Be gentle on your child and firm on the behaviour. While certain behaviours are not acceptable, your child is always loved and can learn from the experience.  (ritesofpassageinstitute.org)

Raising children is not easy and it has become increasingly difficult and complex over the years. We all need to be supportive and encouraging of each other as we do the best we can. Guidance such as this and information from other experts in the field are there to provide information and some options for our parents in this very important responsibility.

Finally, this Sunday is Mother’s day. We wish all of our mothers and mother figures the very best on that day. My hope is that your sacrifice, kindness and the unconditional love you extend to your family will be acknowledged in some way during this time. I will leave you with a prayer “In Gratitude for our Mothers” taken from Jesuit resources.

Blessings

Sue Lennox - Principal

Good and Gentle God,
we pray in gratitude for our mothers and for all the women of theory who have joined with you in the wonder of bringing forth new life. You who became human through a woman, grant to all mothers the courage they need to face the uncertain future that life with children always brings.
Give them the strength to live and to be loved in return, not perfectly, but humanly.