Since the 13th century, the Catholic Church has dedicated the month of May to Mary, the mother of God. Such devotion has been an important part of our Catholic identity as we strive to follow her example of saying “Yes” to God, just as she did at the time of the annunciation. Pope Francis encourages us to regularly pray the Hail Mary, not just as a sign of our devotion to her, but to seek her intercession in all the things that trouble us in our lives. “To this invocation, the Mother of God always responds,” he says. “She hears our petitions, holding her Son in her arms, she blesses us and brings us the tender love of God made flesh.”  At this particular time of year, I also take the opportunity to wish the mothers, grandmothers, aunts and all other mother-figures, a happy mothers day for this coming Sunday. 

Each year, schools in the Diocese of Wollongong distribute a survey known as “Tell Them From Me”. It invites students, parents and teachers to offer feedback to each school on what is done well, in addition to areas that can be improved upon. Earlier this week, we circulated a link and invited all parents to participate in this process for 2023. I have included the link again here and invite parents to complete this survey before it closes on Friday 19th May. Any contribution you can make would be most welcomed and valued. 

This coming Tuesday will see the second P&F Meeting for 2023 held in the College Library from 7pm. All parents are welcome to attend to offer their input with regards to all aspects of College life. This week’s meeting will feature a

 presentation from our Leader of Learning - Technological and Applied Studies (TAS), Mr Ian Gorrie, and our Leader of Learning - Educational Technologies, Mr Danny Avalos. 

As you may be aware, the Department of Education has recently announced additional release time for teachers to prepare and support the roll-out of the new curriculum. The Catholic Education Office have recently announced that similar allowances are being made for systemic schools and, for this reason, I wish to confirm that the remaining staff development days for 2023 are as follows: 

• Thursday 29th June (Term 2, Week 10)
• Friday 11th August (Term 3, Week 4)
• Friday 22nd September (Term 3 Week 10)
• Friday 17th November (Term 4 Week 6)

Finally this week, it gives me great pleasure to announce that on the evening of Friday 28th April, former Magdalene Catholic College student, Joshua Whicker, became the first ex-Magdalene student to be ordained a Priest. Josh, who is the son of our current Administration Coordinator Mr Chris Whicker, joined the Missionaries of God’s Love (MGL) order and will minister to the Parish of St Declan’s in Penshurst. We take the opportunity to congratulate Fr Josh and the Whicker family. We are thrilled to confirm that Fr Josh will be returning to Magdalene by joining our community for our own Feast Day at the start of Term 3. 

Wishing you all the best for the weekend ahead, 

David Cloran

Acting Principal