RETURN TO SCHOOL

The College is very much looking forward to students returning next week.

TRANSITION BACK TO SCHOOL

Please ensure you have read the latest College letter (posted on Compass today 22/10/21)

This communication covers numerous items including changes to bell times; student drop off and pick up, mask wearing, our COVID-safe practices, the need for College uniform and appropriate grooming requirements to be met.

Given the challenges we face we want to minimise any further disruptions and get students back into their learning.

Two requirements in particular, as listed in today’s letter, include:

• students must wear a mask indoors unless they have an approved exemption (the College should know about this by now)
• students need to ensure they are wearing the correct uniform and are abiding by hair and grooming expectations of the College.

It would be a great shame if parents/carers had to be contacted next week to collect their children – if these expectations are not abided by.

YEAR 12 CELEBRATION

I congratulate year 12 as they have returned to their studies on-site (and/or remotely) this week and as they return more fully over the next couple of weeks.

Today I commended them and spoke about how liminal spaces can provide rich opportunities moving forward.

The idea of a liminal space come from the Latin (limen), meaning threshold. It is seen as an in-between time, a time of waiting.

The American Franciscan Priest Richard Rohr writes about Liminal Spaces in detail: “[it] is a unique spiritual position where human beings hate to be but where the biblical God is always leading them. It is when you have left the "tried and true" but have not yet been able to replace it with anything else. … It is when you are in between your old comfort zone and any possible new answer. It is no fun. Think of Israel in the desert, Joseph in the pit, Jonah in the belly, the three Marys tending the tomb.” https://sojo.net/magazine/january-february-2002/grieving-sacred-space

This is very fitting given the COVID-19 circumstances they (and we all) have experienced this year. Waiting for remote learning to wrap up, waiting for restrictions to ease up, waiting for vaccinations rates to increase, waiting for certainty about HSC requirements etc..

The liminal space can be painstaking, but it can also allow us to reflect on who we are and what we can achieve moving forward.

To Year 12 we have asked that, having taken stock, they return with renewed enthusiasm and confidence that what lays ahead will indeed be a successful time.

Life is all about pivoting from one moment to the next – so we encourage students to draw on the love of their families, the comradery of peers, the guidance of staff, their inner strength – confident in the knowledge that their God walks with them.

PRAYER

This fortnight’s prayer is simply an extract from scripture. But what a fantastic extract.

When feeling upended or topsy-turvy as normality slowly returns may you feel uplifted and return to this reference often as needed:

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” —Philippians 4:4–7