Welcome Back To Term 3
Afternoon Tour
Do you know a young man who might like to come to ATC? Please share our registration details with him for our afternoon tour where we will take his family through the heart of campus. To register for the tour on Thursday 8 August, CLICK HERE.
Welcome to Term 3
Welcome to Term 3! I trust the mid year break was restful and enjoyable for all our students, parents and staff. I warmly welcome everyone back for the second half of the year and, in a special way, our Year 12 students and families for their final semester at ATC.
We look forward to Parent/Caregiver/Teacher/Student Feedback Meetings next Monday 15 July 2024, on the student free day. We encourage students to attend this online meeting with their parents or caregiver to be an active participant in engaging with feedback and planning for the semester ahead.
Japan Immersion Tour
In another sign of programming returning to normal after several years of disruption, our immersion tour to Japan to enjoy time with our partner school, Konan in Kobe took place over the break. A rich and enjoyable time of learning and experiencing took place and we are most grateful for the support of our families and our program Co-ordinator, Ms Tasha Damon and accompanying staff, Ms Tanya Oghanna, Mr Michael Bannon and Mr Conor Finn. Thank you also to Mr Paul Ramsay for his experienced insights and support. Congratulations to our students for representing our community proudly.
Australian International Music Festival
We also had a large contingent of 59 co-curricular music students head off to Sydney for a fabulous week of workshops, collaborations and concerts where the highlight was performing at the Sydney Opera House. Thank you to our Director of Co-Curricular Music, Mr Jono Bolt and Ms Carla Sernia, our Co-Curricular Music Administrator and the team of staff for an outstanding week capped off by the achievement of being awarded two gold medals by the festival adjudicators!
We are also blessed by the great support of all the music families including numerous sets of proud grandparents who enjoyed the tour concerts as well. Congratulations to all involved and especially to our musicians who represented the College with distinction.
Senior School Precinct
During the break, we took ownership of the extended Waterford Senior School precinct facilities.
Some students and staff have commenced using the facility today. There remain a few elements to be finalised and we will work around those for the next week or two but it is great to have the handover complete.
Once fully operational, we will identify some time for members of the community who would like to come and have a walk through to be able to. We will advise of this soon. The official Opening and Blessing of the new facilities will take place in Term One of 2025.
We now move to a three-month project of refurbishment in the original Senior School precinct and Middle School. The Senior School refurbishment is for a second Hospitality teaching space where the Senior School Reception was located and the Middle School refurbishment is the extension of our largest Middle and Senior teaching staff room which is located in the Tipperary Building.
The Senior School drop off and pick up zone will remain closed until this final project is completed.
The current Senior School Reception has been relocated to the new building, opposite the current one and on the same floor.
Initially, the only uses for the new Waterford building will be to house Senior School Reception, Head of Pathways, Counsellor, Heads of House, some Senior School teaching staff, some classes and Leinster Home Room groups. Approximately 40 staff are being temporarily located in the precinct while the new Hospitality space and Tipperary staff room areas in the Middle School are extended and refurbished. This phase will last until the September break. We also look forward to being able to use the 200-seat lecture theatre located in the new Waterford space from the beginning of Term 3.
For Term Four, the demountable classrooms located opposite the Edmund Rice Building will be decommissioned and these classes will be timetabled in the new Waterford building for the term.
In 2025, the fourteen new classrooms in the Waterford precinct will be fully integrated into the College timetable.
From Term 4 this year and into 2025 timetabling, the College will lose the current four demountable classrooms, two located in the Tipperary Building which are being taken over by the extended staff space and two which are located in the Westcourt Library. Therefore, the project will provide a much needed extra six classrooms, centralised staffing spaces for the Middle and Senior Schools, increased space in the Westcourt Library and increased space for non educational offices and meeting rooms in the Edmund Rice Building. From a longer term master plan perspective, the extra classrooms also provide the College with the capacity to decommission the Year 7 classrooms at the top rear of Nudgee Junior Hall if desired in the future.
Thank you to students, staff and families for your contribution to these important projects and for your ongoing patience, understanding and co-operation.
Year 11 Leadership Camp
Our Year 11 students embark on their Leadership Camp this week. This is a special signpost experience for the entire group and a part of the discernment process in selecting their leadership representatives for 2025. All senior students play a key leadership role within our community, and we wish them well for this time and thank our Heads of House and the Formation Team for their co-ordination of this event.
NAIDOC Week
Ambrose Treacy College is proud to join our nation in celebrating NAIDOC week this week. As a Catholic community, we celebrate this special week by gathering for Eucharistic Liturgy tomorrow and I thank our College Chaplain, Father John Gillen for celebrating Mass with us. We look forward to sharing in culture through the leadership of our Clontarf students this week.
Our own Reconciliation Action Plan, which informs our practices and strategies towards recognition and reconciliation, is presently submitted for renewal and we look forward to finalising this soon and continuing our growth and commitment to this vital part of our community.
Right to Disconnect
The evolution of electronic communication over the past 25 years has seen all workplace cultures adapt and change. There have been numerous benefits and challenges brought about by this and the industrial environment and regulation is continuing to come to terms with this across all sectors of work.
In the most recent enterprise agreement for Catholic schools in Queensland, a “right to disconnect” policy and practice for staff was identified as requiring consultation with staff, formalisation and articulation.
We have carried out this process as required and are launching our policy and practice this semester.
In the most simple terms, staff have been advised of two key elements of the policy and practice:
- Unless in instances of emergency, they are not required to respond to electronic messages or phone messages from their employer or parents/caregivers outside of the hours of 7am to 5pm Monday to Friday.
- Unless the matter is urgent or an emergency, a reasonable time frame for response is 48 hours from time of receipt. We facilitate a 10-day timetable for teaching staff and scheduled time for administration tasks can be different on different days for full time and part time staff so we thank you for your understanding of that.
Our staff will continue to strive to be timely and responsive in communicating with you. I anticipate there to be minimal change in our culture of partnership but do recognise and support this important development as the emergence of smart phones in particular over the past decade has seen a marked challenge for workers across all sectors to disconnect and spend time for self and with their partners and families.
Staff News
Mr Lyndon Brieffies, our Head of Sport, was in a serious traffic accident prior to the break. He is now out of hospital and while he is recovering well, it will take some time for him to return to full time work and operations. We wish Mr Brieffies all the very best.
I welcome the following new staff to our community and thank them in anticipation of their contribution at ATC:
- Assistant Dean of Learning: Senior School Ms Angela Simpson.
- Head of Senior School Science: Ms Dominique Nielsen.
- Director of Clontarf Academy: Mr Matthew Rae.
- Meenakshi Juneja: College Account (fixed term).
Mr Ben Babao, our Head of Year 9 has been successful in being appointed to the College Leadership Team of Redeemer Lutheran College in an Administration role and we wish him every success and thank him for his contribution at ATC over the past year. Mr Babao will finish with us at the conclusion of Week 2 this term.
For the remainder of this year, we have appointed Ms Alana Rose as Acting Head of Year 9 and Mr Adam Knott as Acting Assistant Head of Year 9. I thank Ms Rose and Mr Knott for accepting these positions at late notice over the break.
Mr Jared D’Roza, Assistant Head of Year 8 has now commenced his year of leave. A reminder that Mr Alex Scobie will be Acting as Assistant Head of Year 8 during this time.
Ms Tegan Kent has now commenced her parental leave and Mr Daniel Watts will act as Co-ordinator of Middle School Mathematics.
Ms Miranda Simmonds commences her parental leave in a few weeks. Ms Kerri Nott will commence taking her classes from the commencement of the term for continuity.
We warmly welcome back Ms Cristina Bozzi back to the Hospitality team from her parental leave.
As a result of these and earlier movements, we welcome the following teaching staff to their respective faculties on fixed term contracts:
- HPE and English: Mr Ben Marriott
- English and Humanities: Ms Kerri Nott
- Mathematics: Mr Andrew Loch
- English: Mr Kane Routledge
We welcome Mr Rabi Kundu (to commence in Week 3) to the Mathematics team on a permanent basis.
0ver the break, Ms Sue Booth and Ms Leisa Lenihan, School Officers in the Junior School Inclusive Practices Team, submitted their resignations. We thank Sue and Leisa for their dedicated service to the College, students and families and wish them well.
We welcome Ms Gina Park and Ms Jess Hamilton to the Junior School as School Officers and Mr Tony Dunstan to the Senior School in the Inclusive Practices teams.
Brother Denis Sullivan
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Brother Denis Sullivan, a cherished supporter of Ambrose Treacy College. Our hearts are heavy as we remember his dedication and kindness. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time.
Community Prayers
Lord, we pray for those in our community who are suffering. Be with them in this time of hardship and uncertainty. Give comfort and peace to those who have lost loved ones. May their sorrow be turned into strength, and their distress turned into peace. May our hearts remain loving and pure as we seek to always be compassionate to those around us.
God bless
Chris Ryan
