A Warm Welcome to Ambrose Treacy College, 2025!
Welcome to all families and in a special way, to new families who are joining us for the first time. We look forward to a positive year of continued growth and enjoyment for all in what we do together in supporting our students to learn, lead and serve here at the College.
2025 is a special year in that we celebrate our 10th anniversary as Ambrose Treacy College. We will celebrate this milestone in numerous ways and perhaps the most common will be through our story.
As a Catholic community, we join our global Catholic community in celebrating a Jubilee Year which happens every 25 years in the life of the Church. The theme for the year is “ Pilgrims of Hope” which is most apt for our times, opportunities and challenges locally, nationally and globally and links most powerfully with the Year 12 2025 theme of Stronger Together and our community signpost of a 10 year anniversary.
Our Year 12 students will lead some aspects of our 10 year celebrations through their motto of Stronger Together for 2025. As a College Leadership Team and as a staff community, during our professional development days in January, we have followed the Year 12 lead and have been using the Stronger Together theme to explore how we gain strength from our College Pillars of Learning, Leadership and Service and through our role models of Jesus, Blessed Edmund Rice and Brother Patrick Ambrose Treacy. These three people are deep sources of strength for us in what we do, how we do it and why we do it at our College.
The wonderful students of ATC from Years 4 to 12 are also both inspirations of strength as they call us to be the best we can be and sources of strength for each other, our staff and parents through their joy, challenges, humour and struggles. It is great to spend some time with our staff community getting ready for the year ahead but, at the end of the day, it is the boys that bring it all together and light the flame for what lies ahead in 2025.
May God bless the community of Ambrose Treacy College; our new students, families and staff, all continuing students and families and the Year 12 group of 2025 in a special way, past students and families and staff present and past in all that we do together this year in forming young men to be Stronger Together, people of courage and Signum Fidei; Signs of Faith.
Welcome Afternoon
ATC Dad and the President of ATC Parents and Friends, George Patrikios, invites families new and old, particularly in Year 4 and 7 but all year levels are welcome, to the annual Welcome Afternoon on Brothers Oval from 3pm to 5pm on Saturday, 8 February Details are on the ATC App and in ATConnect, and it would be lovely to see you there. Thank you to ATC Mum, Nicole Moy and Lisa Weller of the ATC Parents & Friends for their co-ordination and facilitation of this event.
Year 12 2024
We shared the academic outcomes for our Seniors of 2024 in December and we are presently tracking their university and pathway directions. I extend my proud congratulations to them and our College Dux, Jacob Cheung and the fifteen Year 12 students who are receiving the Ambrose Treacy Medal for 2024 with an ATAR score of 95 or higher. Jacob’s ATAR score of 99.75 is an outstanding achievement and he was warmly congratulated by our 2020 College Captain, Tom Perissinotto who retains his record as our highest ATAR achiever after five years at 99.85.
Tom has completed his undergraduate qualifications in Science at the Australian National University with first class honours in BAdvSci(Honours) majoring in Physics and Maths. He has been accepted into the Doctoral Research Program at ANU in nuclear physics, working on the Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility. Tom is a great example of what can be achieved through an ATC education.
We look forward to celebrating our 2024 Seniors and the achievements of all year levels at our upcoming Scholars and Academic Assemblies in February.
We are delighted that from an ATAR score perspective, our median improved for a fifth consecutive year and continued to build on our range of quality outcomes and pathways for our students. Our outcomes, both in terms of ATAR scores and range of certificate and diploma achievements compare favourably with similar Catholic all boys’ schools such as Nudgee College, Padua College, St Patrick’s College, St Laurence’s College and Villanova College and we look forward to continuing to enhance our teaching and learning culture in the academic formation and support of our students and our ongoing commitment to a holistic and inclusive mission and focus.
India Immersion
Welcome back to our India Immersion students and staff after what was a rich and moving experience and engagement with the people, places, gifts and challenges of this amazing country. We will benefit enormously from the formative experience for these students and staff not the least of which will be through our College Captains, Ted, Francis and Patrick who were part of the group. Congratulations and thank you to Mr Matt Warr, Ms Nicole Kirsch, Mr Andrew McCrohon and Mr Simon Martin for your leadership and care of the students. We look forward to hearing more and seeing the group transition their experience into practice at ATC and to the 2025 Immersion. Click here to read the student recount by Year 12 student, Arian Gates.
Staff News
New Staff:
I welcome all new staff, both teaching and non-teaching across our community and wish them well for 2025:
- Mr Hugh Alexander (Junior School)
- Ms Vanessa Capaldi (School Officer)
- Ms Petro Els (Maths)
- Ms Kate Garrone ( College Leadership Team: Dean of Faith and Mission)
- Ms Hebe Goddard (Design Technology)
- Ms Genevieve Machin (School Officer)
- Ms Dixie McNaught (School Officer)
- Mr Sam Pedersen (Science)
- Ms Natalie Stanley (Hospitality)
Welcome back to the following staff who are returning to the College after periods of leave:
- Mr Jono Bolt
- Ms Sara Condon
- Ms Katrina Holmes- Blissner
- Ms Sharni McLean
- Ms Varna Metcalf
- Mr Ben Rerden
Over the extended break, we farewelled Mr David Tobin, Ms Jurgita Felix (concluding early this term) and Ms Dominique Ridley from our teaching staff and Ms Sophie Butler has taken a year of leave for 2025. We thank them for their service to the College and wish them well for their futures. Ms Jenny Harding, Professional Assistant to the Dean of Learning has also moved to another school and Mr Phil McMullen from our Property and Maintenance Team has accepted a position at the University of Queensland. We thank them and wish them every success and happiness.
Traffic during the early weeks of Term
There are 14 schools within a 5 kilometre radius of ATC so the streets of Indooroopilly are intense during the early weeks of the year. This means that we all need to play our role in being safe when driving both outside the College and within the College and I thank you for your co-operation in looking after each other and our students.
The reality for the bus systems is that the congested streets in the early weeks of the year slows down services and this gradually calms to a degree as patterns of travel settle and co-curricular programs across the various schools settle into a routine. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
After two and half years of being a building site, we are delighted that the Senior School is now completely open and that the drop-off and pick-up system for the Waterford Precinct is open once again. Click here for our Campus Map with drop off zones clearly marked.
Formation Team
As the year gets underway, it is important to know the names of some key people who will support your son and work with you.
There are lots of key staff across the systems of the College and I will just start with a pastoral lens for this first blog.
If a staff member’s name is Tom Brown, their email address is brownt@atc.qld.edu.au All staff email addresses follow the same structure.
If you wish to contact a staff member but are unsure of who to connect with, please click on the ‘contacts’ tile on the ATC App or call College Reception and they will happily assist you. 0738780500
Please be sure to know the name of your son’s Homeroom Teacher whether they are in Year 4 or Year 12. They are a key contact point for you as they meet with your son and his Homeroom group each morning. In the Junior School, this is your son’s classroom teacher.
Leading and supporting the Homeroom Teachers in creating our pastoral care culture is our Formation Team, which is led by Mr Conor Finn, our Dean of Formation and Mr Brendan Flanagan our Assistant Dean of Formation.
Formation Team
Head of Junior School Formation Mr Michael Stewart
Year 4 Coordinator Mr Paul Degenkamp
Year 5 Coordinator Ms Maryanne Gillespie
Year 6 Coordinator Mr David Ryan
Year 7 Head of Year Mr Adam Knott
Year 8 Head of Year Mr Yugei Nair
Year 9 Head of year Ms Alana Rose
Head of Connacht Mr Matt Ribeiro
Head of Leinster Mr Bernard Wong
Head of Munster Ms Danika Ehlers
Head of Ulster Mr Cameron McConnell
Junior School Counsellor Ms Siobhan Brophy
Middle School Counsellor Ms Kate Nankivell
Senior School Counsellor Ms Kelly Gaunt
Best wishes for 2025
We look forward to all that the year will bring and wish all of the ATC community a joyous and fulfilling year. Be sure to update the College APP and your subscriptions for Year Level and co-curricular activities so you have key information.
The College Leadership Team and key staff look forward to seeing lots of parents at our upcoming Information Evenings. More information will be shared on the ATC App in the coming week.
Details to help you prepare for the first week of term are in the Deputy Principal's blog. You can read this by clicking here.
God bless,
Chris Ryan
