Principal Communications, 25 March 2024

Dear Parents and Carers

I enjoyed the Bush Dance last Friday evening hosted by our year 11 students who gave us a good community time while raising funds for Drought Angels. This coming Thursday – the last day of term 1 2024 - we will celebrate with Crazy Hair day and free dress as we raise funds for Compassion. These are our two main charities: one making a difference to our farming community in Queensland and the other making a difference to children’s lives in Iloilo in the Philippines. Our students making a difference to the lives of others is an outcome of a Calvary education that makes us particularly proud of our young people, who they are and who they are becoming.

This term the carnivals (swimming and cross country), the leadership assemblies, induction of our year 7 cohort into high school, the academic program and the many clubs and other cocurricular activities have all given me moments of enormous pride as I have seen our young people achieving personal goals and growing in personal character. There have been many moments that ‘make it all worthwhile’. Thank you again for choosing to partner with us in your child(ren)’s education. Each day, despite the challenges, we invite our children to stretch into their best selves. This is made so much more fruitful through your authentic partnership with us. Thank you.

We say farewell to several staff members while others will be on leave next term. On leave will be Rahnia Collins, Vicky Feilla and Esther McDonald. Esther is relocating to WA at the end of her leave, and we thank her for all she did to launch the Dance program as part of CAPA over the past two years. Sofia Fernandez and Lisa Karunaratne leave us as their respective contracts end. We thank Sofia for her work supporting the STEM team and Lisa for her contribution to our LOTE program (teaching Japanese). John Ong’s time with us draws to a close at the end of this term. We appreciate his flexibility as he has supported the development of Music and Creative Industries as well as his work on the sound desk with trainees.

Without our extraordinary and talented staff who go above and beyond each day in their commitment to our vision for your children, I would not witness so many growth moments across our community.  I appreciate deeply their commitment and resilience. As we embark on Easter celebrations and two weeks of holiday time, I wish the staff and you many blessings as you enjoy the break from the rhythms of our busy College community life. We look forward to welcoming you back next term to the MSS Musical, SHREK, the dedication of the redesigned Culbert building complete with outdoor deck, board walk and welcoming entrance to our College. We look forward to our inaugural Junior Showcase, Athletics carnivals, lambing season, and celebrating our 40 years through the burial of time capsules on each campus. Term 2 holds the promise of many special moments as we continue to see growth and development in our students and in ourselves.

May God bless you and your families this Easter,

Cherylynne Gostelow 

Principal & CEO