From the Principal
Mothers Day & Hope
The Easter season that we remain in until Pentecost is a season of hope. The possibilities for a new way to live were recognised by the early followers of Christ, whose members even referred to themselves as ‘The Way’ (Acts 24:14). This hope is very much present in the Gospel story of two mothers: Mary and her cousin Elizabeth, as will be recounted in the Feast of the Visitation later this month. In Australian Catholics’ In praise of mothers, Fr Chris Gleeson notes that Mary was a young peasant woman in a time of Roman occupation who had walked for many days on an arduous journey to visit her pregnant cousin. Despite this, upon arrival, ‘we see two mothers-to-be singing and dancing and embracing one another’. Their focus was on the joy in seeing each other and the futures of their unborn children.
PRAYER FOR MOTHERS
During this autumn season we pray in a spirit of hope for all mothers that they will be life-givers and continue to reveal the female face of God to us.
We thank God for our mothers for giving us life, for nourishing and enlarging that life, and for doing without that we might have.
We pray for those mothers who must mother below the poverty line, who are too young to mother, and those who must watch their babies starve or grow up with hate and violence in their hearts.
Above all, we pray for mothers that they may continue to sing songs of hope to us in the chaos of our world.
Happy Mothers Day to all mothers and female role models in our Aquinas community!
Mothers Day Mass - Tuesday 14 May
I look forward to a wonderful community celebration on Tuesday 14 May for our Mothers Day Mass. All members of our community are invited to join this liturgical celebration in our Chapel at 7.30pm, with supper provided afterwards.
Musical journey to success
Congratulations to the staff and students involved in last weekend’s Generations in Jazz trip to Mt Gambier, South Australia. By all accounts, our young musicians were not only great ambassadors for the College, but also acquitted themselves very well on stage. Please read below for details.
We look forward to the range of performance evenings across this term and next, along with our College Musical - High School Musical - whose rehearsals are well underway.
Master Plan consultation - Thank you!
Last week, we conducted Master Plan consultation with staff, students and families. Many thanks to the parents who attended the in-person session, along with those who contributed via the online survey. Many valuable insights for improving our physical facilities and grounds were gained from each section of our community.
Council of International Schools CIS
Aquinas is an accredited member of the Council of International Schools (CIS), which recently held a meeting of our local chapter. Among the sharing of ideas, we were pleased to receive great feedback from the international representatives and our Victorian peers about the 29 different projects staff began in 2023 and continue to collaborate on into this year. Our ‘Deep Dives’ to improve and innovate are grouped into the following areas:
- Learning for Wellbeing
- Students Achievement and Increased Academic Rigour
- Cross-faculty Collaboration for Increased Learning Opportunities
- Engagement in Student Learning
- Citizenship - Digital and Global.
Later this year we begin the process of CIS re-accreditation and look forward to involving staff, students and families in this journey of continual improvement.