Welcome to Term 3! - Ambrose Treacy College

Welcome to Term 3

Welcome to Term 3. I trust that the mid- year break has been positive and enjoyable for all our students and families. We look forward to Parent/Caregiver/Teacher/Student Interviews next Monday 17 July. We encourage students to attend this online meeting with their parent/caregiver to discuss feedback and progress and plan for the term ahead.

NAIDOC Week

Ambrose Treacy College are proud to join our nation in celebrating NAIDOC week [2 July – 9 July]. As a Catholic school in the Edmund Rice tradition, we signpost this important week each year through Eucharistic celebration or Mass. Tomorrow, our College Chaplain, Father John Gillen will celebrate Mass with Year 9 to 12 students and another with our Year 4 to 8 students with a thematic focus on NAIDOC week.

We are proud of our partnership with the Clontarf Foundation and of our 36 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Island students and staff. This year’s theme of ‘For Our Elders’ is both poignant and powerful as our nation discerns the upcoming referendum regarding “Voice”. First Nation elders across every generation have played and will continue to play a vital role in holding and sharing cultural knowledge, language, song, and story and are trailblazers, advocates, teachers, and leaders. It is our privilege to partner with the Clontarf Foundation and our families in learning and growing with our students and we acknowledge and celebrate the elders who continue to form our students and pave the way for us all in growing to be all we can be.

We look forward to the leadership of our Clontarf students this week as they lead our youngest students in some cultural activities to further inspire knowledge, conversation and understanding.

Year 12

I wish to extend our community prayers and thoughts to our Year 12 students as they commence their final semester of schooling. This time will go fast and there is much to do. We wish our Year 12 students the very best in their study, their co-curricular and service activities and in their friendships as they work together with parents and staff and support one another. This group led our student community well in the first half of the year and it is time for renewed energy and commitment. The job is not done yet, it is time to focus and build on what was achieved in Semester One. I am very confident that our Seniors will pave the way as they have in the first half of the year.

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 2024. 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.

Waterford Precinct Building Update

During the planning phase of this major project, it certainly became clear as the economic environment in Australia shifted rapidly that there would be headwinds to face ahead. The project is progressing positively but continues to be hampered by supply and labour factors caused by the economic environment and completion will be delayed to the second half of 2024. The College is well positioned to manage the logistics of this delay and plans are well advanced for this.

A reminder of the resources that are being developed during this project:

a fourteen classroom three story building with two hundred seat lecture theatre and new senior school reception, offices, and staff spaces, student eating and gathering area and more student toilets.
a second hospitality resource being created where the current senior school reception and offices are.
expanded teaching staff room and facilities in the Tipperary Building in the Middle School zone allowing teachers to be relocated from the Edmund Rice Building which will enable the creation of further non-educational office spaces and meeting rooms which are greatly needed.

Strategic Plan Update

The initial consultation phase of this process has been completed with representatives from past and current students, parents, teaching and non-teaching staff and Middle Leaders participating in focus groups last term. Thank you to everyone involved.

This process has yielded a substantial amount of feedback, ideas and hopes that joins the significant body of information we have gathered through our EREA Renewal Process, National School Improvement Tool project, a Mission Sustainability report facilitated by EREA and numerous surveys we have facilitated over the past two years.

The College Leadership Team will now work with our facilitator, Mr Patrick Herd to begin to thread focus areas and themes during the next weeks and will have a two-day workshop later this term with our College Advisory Council (Board) to continue this work.

The aim remains to launch our new ATC Strategic Plan in January 2024 and I look forward to keeping the community informed of the progress.

Staffing Update

As advised in Term 2, Mr David Gardiner, Deputy Principal, will retire at the conclusion of this year. Edmund Rice Education Australia Colleges Ltd will commence the recruitment process for this vital role today with advertising across various forums for the next fortnight. We anticipate a positive amount of interest in this senior position and pray for all involved in the discernment process. It is hoped that Mr Chris Woolley, Chief Executive Officer of EREA Colleges Ltd will be able to announce this appointment mid-term.

Mr Gardiner shared with the involved parents prior to the break that due to some staff departures, returning staff from leave and staff going on leave, that there are several staff changes and timetable alterations as result this term. I share a summary of this update with our community below:

A warm welcome to the following new staff:

Mr Ben Babao -Head of Year 8 
Mr Ben Jones -Hospitality 
Ms Nicole Fowler-Drama

Ms Jake Gaudie-English / Humanities
Ms Zara Lahey-Science Laboratory Technician

A warm welcome back to:

Ms Amy West-Sadler who returns full time to her role as Inclusive Practices Coordinator-Senior School and Year 10 Case Manager
Ms Julia Palaszczuk -English/Humanities

Numerous continuing staff are either in new roles or acting positions as we commence the new term, and we wish them well:

Mr Ben Eden-Acting Head of Mathematics- Senior School
Ms Katrina Holmes-Blissner-Coordinator Drama
Ms Nicole Kirsch -Coordinator Mathematics -Middle School
Ms Sharni Maclean -Head of Health & Physical Education

Mrs Katrina Mansfield-Acting Assistant Dean of Learning-Student Development and Learning Analytics
Mr Dave Mapleston-Counsellor - Middle School
Ms Kate McGee-Coordinator Science - Middle School
Ms Alana Rose-Assistant Head of Year 9 (a reminder that Alana will continue in her Case Manager role also for this Semester)
Ms Caitlin Sneddon-Head of the Arts

Ms Tim Walker-Head of Leinster House

Over the break, our Junior School Inclusive Practices Co-ordinator, Ms Sacha Pringle, has been appointed as Head of Special Education at Mt Crosby State School and will commence that new role during Week 3 of this Term. I take this opportunity to congratulate Sacha again. We are currently recruiting for her role and will announce this appointment in due course.

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 too always be compassionate to those around us.

Mr Chris Ryan