Renewed Energy and a Return to Routines
Welcome back for Term Two! I trust that the Holy season of Easter was a peaceful and renewing time for all in the ATC community and that the recent days have been filled with family and friends and the peace and joy of the Risen Jesus. I am pleased and grateful to be back after a time of rest, study and family and look forward to what lies ahead.
Thank you to Mr David Gardiner (Acting Principal), Mr Conor Finn (Acting Deputy Principal), Mr Tim Walker (Acting Dean of Formation) and Ms Sharni McLean (Acting Head of Health and Physical Education) who have particularly supported my time of leave. These staff return to their usual roles this term and as a result, along with some other changes required, there will be some adjustments in teacher allocations for some classes which will be communicated to students and parents.
Welcome back to Mrs Karen Jones who returns from Term One long service leave. We extend our condolences and ongoing support to Mrs Jones on the recent passing of her much loved father.
I take this opportunity to add my own welcome to all new members of our community in 2023. I am sure that the Year 12 Leaders have gotten the year off to a positive start with their theme of “Pave the Way” and the Easter season is a powerful reminder and renewal of our call as a Catholic school to place the Gospel of the Good News as the heart of all we do and how we do it.
Parent/Teacher/Student Feedback Meetings
The Parent, Student and Teacher Feedback Meetings are scheduled online for Monday 24 April from 9am to 7.30pm. A reminder that this is a Pupil Free Day. The meetings are an opportunity for you to meet with your child’s teachers. We strongly encourage your child to be present at the online Teams discussions. I hope that these sessions are fruitful for all concerned and a good plan for the term ahead is established. A simple framework of questions I always offer for students of all ages at this time is:
What am I going to keep doing?
What are some habits and practices that work for me?
What am I going to stop doing?
What are some habits and practices that don’t work for me and stop me from doing my best?
What am I going to start doing?
What might be something that I know would work but I haven’t tried or haven’t had the self-discipline for? What works successfully for somebody else?
We look forward to all students building on the start that was made in Term One. The term ahead provides some challenges with the first few weeks interrupted by long weekends and public holidays. As always, there are many co-curricular activities and events to engage all our students. The fact that it is a slightly shorter term means that a focused start on schoolwork and backward mapping for study is important for end-of-semester success. I encourage all parents and caregivers to be alive to this reality for our students where there only 42 days of classes this term.
Premier’s ANZAC Award
Students Thomas Eccelston and Dashiell Solomon who won the Premiers ANZAC Prize to travel to the UK, France and Belgium have left our shores. Their tour of the Western Front sites will culminate with attendance at the Dawn Service at Villers-Bretonneux in France on ANZAC Day. It is incredible to have two of our students selected for this life changing experience and we wish them well and look forward to learning about their journey upon their return.
Strategic Plan
As Mr Gardiner has shared previously, a significant focus for our community over the next six months is the Strategic Plan process for 2024 and beyond. We have been deliberate in aligning several key consultation tools in collecting insights in support of this. In particular, in late 2022 we participated in Edmund Rice Education Australia’s school renewal process which is much like an internal audit and in Term One of 2023, we engaged with the Australian Council of Education Research School Improvement process which is much like an external audit. In late 2021, we also undertook the regulatory process of registration with the Non State Schools Accreditation Board which requires significant internal reflection and accountability. Along with numerous surveys we deploy regularly, these processes have put us in a prepared position to commence our consultation and facilitation for our next Strategic Plan.
In our 9th year, we are well placed to be reflective, critical, and creative in considering our short-, medium- and long-term goals. The College has engaged Mr Patrick Herd, a specialist in this area, to assist our facilitation. Mr Herd is a former Nudgee Junior parent who was on the NJC Advisory Board in the days of dreaming and visioning for ATC so knows our context and narrative well and will be of great support. I look forward to keeping the community engaged and up to date with this process.
Mothers in May
A reminder of the Mothers in May event being held on Wednesday 17 May from 5pm to 7pm. It would be wonderful to have many of our ATC mums and significant female carers come along to this event. May is, of course, the month of Mother’s Day and in the Catholic calendar, the month of Mary, the Mother of God who both Blessed Edmund Rice and Brother Patrick Ambrose Treacy had a special devotion to in their spiritual life. We are indeed blessed by the leadership, role modelling and care provided by all women within our extended community and we look forward to celebrating that relationship at this event. Tickets are $25 and available via your Parent Lounge.
Dash for Crash Date Claimer
Forward notice that the ATC College Foundation is partnering again with the McMeniman family in hosting a fun run event in memory of ATC Dad and Nudgee Junior College Old Boy, Mr Damien McMeniman. Hamish and Oliver are in Year 12 at ATC and we are pleased to partner with their Mum, Marie, and their family and friends in hosting the “Dash for Crash”. The event will commence and conclude at ATC on Sunday 21 May 2023, and entries may be made for 5km, 10km or 21.1km as well as virtual participation. Funds raised are kindly being donated to the ATC Foundation which works to provide an opportunity for someone to attend our school like Damien did. Further information will be forthcoming, but I wanted to make the community aware of this upcoming event this term as it was a great success last year and we hope to build a strong tradition with this initiative.
Co-curricular Activities
Term One concluded with Inter-House Cross Country and a fantastic Autumn Music Concert and we look forward to the many sporting and cultural opportunities that await our students this term. I was also very delighted to see the success of our Senior A QDU Debaters in Term One.
Well done to all Rugby and Football players and thank you to all staff and parents who participated in the Ballymore and EREA Cups over the break and best wishes to all sports participants this term. Thank you in anticipation of the guidance and support from all coaches, parents, and caregivers.
We wish the College Swimming Team every success at this week’s Greater Brisbane Conference (GBC) Swimming Carnival.
Year 12 Formal
Our Year 12 students celebrate their Senior Formal this Friday evening. We wish this wonderful group a great time and look forward to joining parents and caregivers in welcoming everyone to this signpost event.
Community Prayers
I ask the community to please place Joshua Donlevy-Esterhuizen (Year 11) and his family in your thoughts and prayers following the recent loss his grandfather. We hope that the passage of time will help heal the pain of their passing. Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, may perpetual light shine upon him, may he rest in peace. Amen.
God bless,
Chris Ryan
College Principal
