The Half Time Whistle

Thank you for your support at home as the College has transitioned to full winter uniform with suitcoat, badges and ties (with top buttons done up) from today until Father’s Day in September. We looked sharp this morning and your support is appreciated, along with neat haircuts, shaving and polished shoes!

This Wednesday sees us officially hit the halfway mark in a short term. Now would be a great time to support your child in identifying what is on their “to do” list and helping them with time management, prioritising schoolwork and enjoying exercise, rest and sleep time for the push home in the busy second half of the term. Us boys always overestimate our ability to multi-task and underestimate what work it takes to stay on top of things!

Mother’s Day

I certainly hope yesterday was a special day for everyone filled with love for all families, celebrating an important woman in your lives. Staff prayer this morning shared that this is a joyous day and can also be a day of reflection and longing for Mums and Grandparents who have passed away and for some people who long to be a Mother. My wife had her first Mother’s Day without her Mum yesterday and visited her memorial place, which was special for her, and I certainly gave thanks for my own Mum who passed away seven years ago.

I look forward to the ATC Mothers in May event on Wednesday evening. It is designed to celebrate Mothers and significant carers in our community and to provide a fun, relaxed time for them to share together. This is not an event for students to attend.

Empower Week

This week, the College is facilitating a theme called “Empower Week.” The theme we have chosen for this 2024 Empower Week centers around wellbeing. Mental illness is a major red flag in Australia with 43% of people aged 16-85 experiencing some form of mental health challenge at some stage in their life. Empower Week this semester turns our focus to Well-being, with the intention of Building Our Emotional Muscle by taking our brains to the gym every day. Afterall, we can’t expect to go to the gym once and be able to run a marathon and this is the same for our brains – it needs to be a consistent routine to regulate our brains and bodies to prevent us from reaching crisis point. 

Empower Week will be an opportunity for the ATC community to come together to normalise conversations about mental health, and to engage staff and students through practical tools and exercises that we can be doing as a daily practice to ensure we maintain our emotional homeostasis. Our Formation and Counselling Teams will lead events over the week including guided meditation, student panels, pop-up band performances and a social afternoon with Brigidine on Friday for our Year 8 students.  

During the week, our focus will also extend to our Staff who work so well in partnership with our families to support our students.  Through education, engagement and awareness, we can build a sustainable mentally healthy ATC community. 

Inclusive Practices Community Connection Breakfast

I look forward to welcoming some of our Inclusive Practices community parents for breakfast this Thursday morning for our inaugural Community Connection event. This is designed to support conversations between parents and caregivers whose children are a part of this rich aspect of our school life. At ATC, we have approximately 24% of our student community that taps into support at various levels and partner with our Inclusive Practices Team, School Officers and Teachers in helping everyone to be the best they can be. We look forward to welcoming our guest speaker Mr Fintan Keogh, whose son, Fearghus is a proud ATC Past Student from 2023.

College Tour

This Thursday 16 May we host our second College Tour for the year. Over 300 people registered to come and experience the ATC difference. I thank the staff and students who will volunteer to showcase our wonderful community. I again remind current families and your friends that enrolments are becoming very tight at ATC, and early enrolment is important. If you have any queries, please contact our Head of Enrolments, Robyn Donaldson.

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