Dear Members of the St Gregory’s College family,
I must say that I do love this time of the year. The weather is starting to cool a little which makes the days much more manageable for our students with their outdoor pursuits. Like always, there has been plenty on the agenda at St Gregory’s College over the past weeks and so much for us all to the proud of. As we rapidly move towards the Easter Break, I want to wish all families the best as they enjoy a long weekend and then the ‘downhill run’ to the end of Term 1.
Marist Schools Improvement Framework
This year is a pilot year for some of our Marist Schools to participate in a new ‘Marist School Improvement Framework’. As a part of piloting this framework, St Gregory’s College will be involved in a ‘cyclic inquiry’. The aim of this process is to gain an understanding from our community around faith, learning and culture at St Gregory’s College. This will form a vital component of the College’s new Strategic Plan that will be developed in 2024.
As a part of this process, our students, staff and parents of our community will be asked to complete two surveys that will provide data about these two critical areas of school life. The first is a DISA survey which is a holistic survey about school life. The second is a Leuven Survey which is a Marist Charism survey. In the coming days, all parents will receive an email from me with the instructions for the two surveys. Having completed the survey’s myself now, they take about 10 minutes each and will provide the College with some essential information moving forward.
I would encourage all parents to complete the surveys for the benefit of our community to make St Gregory’s College the best place it can be and to target the areas of need in our new Strategic Plan.
In anticipation, I thank you all for your contributions to this confidential survey.
Camden Show Results
Congratulations to Ms Hayley Mahoney
On Saturday afternoon our very own Head of Agriculture, Ms Hayley Mahoney won the ‘Recognition of the Camden Show Excellence in Agriculture Award’ for 2024 for her contributions to Agriculture Education and beyond.
We all thank Ms Mahoney for her passion for Agriculture at St Gregory’s College and how fitting for this award to be presented to Ms Mahoney and take place at the local show in Camden!
Congratulations to Mrs Sandra Hackett
The Camden Show has another staff member who has taken out some of the awards. Congratulations to our very own Mrs Sandra Hackett who has two awards that she was presented with at the Camden Show this year.
- 1st Place for Long Cucumbers
- 2nd Place for Carrots
In the amateur photographer section, Mrs Sandra Hackett also received a highly commended in Reptiles.
Plenty of talent at St Gregory’s College, not only with our students but with our staff also.
Student Success at the Camden Show
Photography: There has once again been some great success at the 2024 Camden Show with our amazing photography student Oliver Bishop.
Oliver is predominantly a landscape photographer with a first and second in his age group and a highly commended in opens (up against adults) he also explored flora and fauna this year receiving multiple awards. He received best overall exhibit and now moves onto the Royal Easter Show.
- Highly Commended Opens - Landscapes, Seascapes and Sunsets
- First Youth (16-21) - Landscapes
- Second Youth (16-21) - Landscapes
- Second Youth (16-21) - Plants and Flowers
- Highly Commended youth (16-21) - Study of Birds
- First Youth (16-21) - Study of Animals
- Highly Commended youth (16-21) - any other subject
Congratulations to Oliver.
Art
Three of our students were recognised for their artworks at this year's Camden Show with ten submissions from the College which was fantastic. Congratulations to:
- Connor Rose Year 10 – 1st prize
- Levi Kidd Year 7 – Highly Commended
- Boen Brincat Year 7 – Highly Commended
Sydney Royal Easter Show
The Sydney Royal Easter Show has now kicked off and it is going to be a big show for St Greg’s. Already we have success at the show with Year 5 student, Patrick Ursino’s Ram winning school Champion!
Developing Grit
There is a line of thinking that children today are not ‘tough’ like the generation before them. The foundation for this is, that in previous generations, children were expected to do more around the house and there was a ‘hands off’ mentality by parents in relation to their children and what happened to them. This meant that children learned to solve their own problems and sort out disputes with their peers. The same people who espouse this line of thinking talk about ‘helicopter parents’ who constantly intervene whenever a child has a problem. Or one that I heard this week the ‘lawn mower parent’ who creates the path for their child.
Whilst there are elements of truth to what is said when you think back to what childhood was like for many people in previous generations, there aren’t too many reasons to get misty eyed. The old idea of toughness was related to being able to hide your emotions and to ignore the many unpleasant things that people would do to each other. These unpleasant things were seen by some as ‘character building’, which really meant putting up with callousness and not saying anything.
If you think about a resilient person, they are not necessarily tough in a traditional sense, but they are resolute. For someone to be resilient or resolute they cannot do this in isolation. People are not resilient for resilience sake, they are resilient because they are committed to a cause, ideal or relationship.
An amazing Australian model of grit and resilience that you may have heard of is Turia Pitt. After being caught in a fire while running an ultramarathon in 2011, her life changed in devastating ways. Not only did Turia bounce back from near death, but she is now a humanitarian and passionate about helping burns victims in less fortunate countries. Turia has also gone on to achieve athletic feats most of us wouldn’t even dream of.
If it is true that young people today are less resilient, then maybe it is that they lack purpose. We need to ensure that our young people are idealistic to a cause and committed to some worldview that puts temporary pain in the context of a wider hope. As parents and teachers, it is our responsibility to create and envision a ‘sense of purpose’ for the young people in our care. Let’s continue to work together to ensure that our students develop grit.
Celebrating Student Success
This week our ‘Bloke of the Week’ is Sri Aitipamula. Sri helped Greg’s win 7/87 vs 23. Sri took 3/3 off 3 overs including a hat trick. What an amazing effort and great to share this with our community – well done Sri!
Through the newsletter, I will draw your attention to some of the outstanding efforts, successes and ventures that our students achieve that we love to celebrate. Please email any success to me so we can continue to celebrate with your son or daughter to jweekes@stgregs.nsw.edu.au
Events on the Horizon
Week 9
Monday 25 March
- 32nd Marist Basketball Carnival Gold Coast
- Year 10 NSW Health Vaccination Clinic
- Royal Easter Show Team
Wednesday 27 March
- JS Cross Country
- Senior School Easter Liturgy @ 9am
- Hackathon and DaVinci Excursion
Thursday 28 March
- Junior School Easter Liturgy in the Br Luke Hall @ 9am
- Easter Hat Parade 1:45 pm
- Music Excursion Sydney Lyric Theatre
Week 10
Tuesday 2 April
- Easter Show Continues
Wednesday 3 April
- Year 6 Camp – Point Wolstencroft
- Year 10 Minimum Standards Tests
Thursday 4 April
- Year 7 - 11 Progress Reports Published
Friday 5 April
- Year 9 Game Changers Retreat Day
Saturday 6 April
- ISA Rugby Union Trial v St Edmunds College @ St Gregs
Have a lovely weekend and we look forward to seeing you all back for Week 9!
As our St Gregory’s College motto states, ‘You will reap what you sow’.
Mr Joel Weekes
Assistant Principal/Head of Senior School