Dear Parents and Friends,
Term 2 has flown by extremely quickly with so many events and activities to engage our families and your sons. We are at the end of Semester 1 and reports and Semester Awards are currently being finalised, with only a handful of assessment tasks still to be completed.
Thank you for all of your support as we have navigated this term and supported your sons on their boarding journey. It has been a few weeks since I have written to you, so there is a lot to cover.
Important Announcement
An important communication was sent recently by The College Principal, Mr Brennan, to all community members on Monday outlining the following:
‘Recently you received a letter from Dr Frank Malloy regarding my appointment to a short-term position within Marist Schools Australia and Mr Joel Weekes taking the position as Acting College Principal for Term 3, 2024.
I write to advise you that Mr Luke Morrissey has been appointed as Acting Deputy Principal for Term 3, 2024. Mr Prateek Kripal will take on the role of Acting Director of Boarding for this period.’
I am fortunate to be able to act in this position during Term 3. Please be aware that I will still be living onsite, and I will remain involved in the overseeing of the day to day running of the Boarding School. I congratulate Mr Kripal for taking on the position of Acting Director of Boarding and ask that your questions and concerns go through to him throughout next term as appropriate. Mr Kripal will continue to act as the Senior Boarding Coordinator for Term 3 with some additional assistance from the Assistant Boarding Coordinator, Mr Kenny Singh.
Family Weekend
Thankyou again to all the families that were able to come and support their sons for Family Weekend this year. As always it was an amazing event with quality weather, rugby, and more importantly company throughout the day. A huge thankyou again to the Runciman, Ryman, and Khan family for supporting the BBQ for the day and keeping everyone well fed. The highlight was our Family Mass, which was again the centrepiece of the weekend. The boys singing was again amazing and left everyone in feeling joyous. Our annual Family Spirit Awards were presented to the boys who make the most effort in making our boarding houses like a family unit away from home. The award winners for this year were:
Year 7 - Will Bennett
Year 8 – Toby Roots
Year 9 – Daniel Minehan
Year 10 – Angus Banks
Year 11 – Jackson O’Hehir
Year 12 – Cooper Black
To help us continue to improve the weekend I would appreciate it if you would provide some feedback by completing the following survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeM8ErFtTGNSCTH8YelKClZRWn9llBEm2D8ERRXNWre38WUTQ/viewform
Champagnat Awards
We recently celebrated the Feast of St Marcellin Champagnat with our annual Mass. As always it was a wonderful celebration, but what was particularly joyous was the number of boarders recognised with Awards on the Day. Each year, 5 boys from each Grade are nominated to be recognised as Champagnat Award winners. These are our young men in the community who through their actions and words support the values of St Marcellin and our Marist Community. The following boarding students were recognised on the day:
Year 7 – Sebastian Rodway (Yowie Bay)
Year 8 – Lenny Ursino (Barrack Point), Toby Roots (Adelong)
Year 9 – Marshall Anderson (Lilli Pilli), Alik Anu (Merrylands), Jimmy Smith (Nyngan)
Year 10 – Jacobi Fernando (Moree)
Year 12 – Daniel Canellis (Boorowa)
A boy from each Year Group is selected to be the Champagnat Medallion recipient, who best reflects Marcellin’s characteristics. A huge congratulations to Toby Roots, Jimmy Smith, and Jacobi Fernando who were all selected as winners for these awards for 2024.
Congratulations
There are a number of boys we would like to acknowledge for their success in personal pursuits that have occurred throughout this term.
Lachlan Vella (Caringbah, Year 12) competed in the School Sport Australia U18 Baseball Championship representing NSW in Canberra this term. The NSW team won the championship and after a successful tournament Lachlan was also selected in the All Australian Baseball U18’s team of 2024.
Cooper Black (Nyngan, Year 12) was selected in the NSW Combined Catholic Colleges Open Rugby League team. Cooper will compete at the Australian Schoolboys Rugby League Championships in Coffs Harbour in the upcoming school holidays. An Australian Schoolboys team will be picked at the conclusion of this tournament. Good luck Cooper.
Mase Hillcoat (Shellharbour, Year 11) Cade Chapman (Kiama, Year 11), Preston Smallwood (Bilambil Heights, Year 11), Luke Cannon (Griffith, Year 12), and Kai Runciman (Wellington, Year 10) who were selected in the ISA representative Open’s and U/16 teams to play in the NSW Rugby Championships against GPS, CAS, CHS, CCC and alike which be held at various venues across NSW in the school holidays, including at St Gregory’s College on the 29th and 30th June at the end of this term. The NSW Schools teams will be chosen at these selections to then play in the State Championships and then possibly Australian Championships. Congratulations also to one of our boarding staff, Mr Sam Hackett, who was selected as a coach of one of these representative teams. Good luck boys.
Connor Rose (Bourke, Year 10) was selected as part of the Brighter Futures program sponsored by Cultural Choice. Connor was given the opportunity to design and paint a Sydney Roosters player's boots for the Indigenous Round. A wonderful initiative.
Preston Smallwood (Bilambil Heights, Year 11) was selected to participate in the NRL Indigenous Leadership Camp held at Leura in the Blue Mountains. He had the opportunity to mix with various key stakeholders in the game and undertake various leadership courses throughout the camp.
Game Changers – Year 9 St Josephs College, Hunters Hill and Year 8 John Therry
Thanks to Mr Halaifonua and Mr Kmet for leading these programs.
Game Changers is our Marist Youth Ministry program. We started the program with Year 8 last year and this year we have both Year 8 and Year 9 undertaking the program. The program aims to promote a strong sense of community, through regular meetings, creative faith formation, and service opportunities, this dynamic program provides a forum for your sons to become faith-filled leaders and agents of change in our school community.
Our boys are in the first phase and second phase of this program called Le Rosey (Years 7 and 8) and La Valla (Year 9 and 10). Throughout the term the boys were able to connect with other schools all around NSW for a Game Changers Retreat. Our Year 8 boarders went to John Therry Catholic High School in Rosemeadow, and our Year 9 boarders travelled to St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill. If you would like to learn more about the program further information can be found at this link: https://maristyouthministry.com/game-changers
First Nations Program
Our First Nations students have had lots of opportunities this term. They spent a weekend working with former NRL player and St Gregory’s College student, Jonathon Wright, undertaking a cultural experience program which included, dancing, culture, art, team building and mindset. The boys in Year 10 to 12 have also been undertaking the Artucation program run by Youth Solutions. They undertake Drug and Alcohol, Mental Health, and Cultural workshops, before finishing with an Art session with renowned indigenous artist, Danielle Mate.
We had a number of boys also head to Sydney to participate in an AIEF Careers Day workshop. Deklin Jarrett (Lismore, Year 11) and Victor Simon (Armidale, Year 12) had a great time exploring their university and post school career options.
We look forward to the NAIDOC week celebrations at the beginning of Term 3, as well as our annual First Nations fixture against Kinross Wolaroi on Saturday 3 August.
Important Dates
Term 2 concludes on Friday 28 June. The Friday is the travel day for our remote and regional boarding students. School will still be operating as normal for our weekly students who are expected to be in attendance on this day. Weekly students can be collected at the conclusion of school at 3:00pm.
Term 3 commences on Tuesday 23 July. Monday 22 July is the travel day. The boarding houses will remain closed until 4:30pm. No dinner will be available onsite.
HSC Trials commence in Week 3 on Monday 5 August.
The Term 3 Boarder’s Free Weekend is at the end of Week 6, Friday 30 August to Monday 2 September.
2024 Graduation
I will write to our Year 12 families at the beginning of next term but please be aware of the impending graduation of our 2024 Year 12 students. The following dates are of relevance:
Thursday 26 September – Final Boarders Mass (6:15pm) and awards followed by Year 12 Student and Parent Cocktail Party and Farewell. All Year 12 families are expected to attend this event.
Friday 27 September – Graduation Ceremony, Graduation Mass, and Year 12 Formal and Awards Ceremony.
Saturday 28 September – travel day for boarding students. Please note: Regional students can return home after the graduation mass if parents are providing transport. This needs to be at the conclusion of the mass at approximately 1:00pm.
On the Road
We will be at the Tamworth Boarding Expo on Friday 26 July and Saturday 27 July. Please come and say hi if you are available.
Our first event for Term 3, our ‘Western Families Dinner’ will be held on Saturday 10 August to coincide with our Rugby Fixtures against St Stanislaus College in Bathurst. We will be holding a function at the Panorama Hotel on the Saturday evening at the conclusion of the 1st XV fixture. Marketing material will be sent to our families in the coming weeks asking you to RSVP to this event. If you would like to get a head start, please send an email to Danielle Sherd at boarding@stgregs.nsw.edu.au with your attending numbers. This is an adults only function. If you have any families that are interested in joining our boarding community please bring them along to meet us on the night.
As we always say, our families are our biggest marketing tool. If you would like us to visit your region, as you have some families you would like us to meet, please contact me directly and we will work something out in the calendar.
Sunday Boarders Mass
Our Sunday Boarders mass is held every Sunday at 6:15 pm in the College Chapel. All community members are invited to join our boarding community for our weekly celebration.
Communication and Social Media
A reminder about our Facebook and Instagram accounts. These sites are live so please make sure you get onto them if you have accounts.
Ad Jesus Per Mariam
Luke Morrissey