Dear parents, carers and students,

This week’s Gospel recounts a conversation between Jesus and a rich young man who asks what he must do in order to inherit eternal life. In response, Jesus tells him to sell all his belongings and give the money to the poor. After the man walks away, disheartened at this advice, Jesus turns to his disciples and reminds them that it is difficult for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God, comparing it to a camel passing through the eye of a needle. This passage challenges us to evaluate what we prioritise in life. In a materialistic world, we are asked to trust in His provision and our eternal rewards. It emphasises the role of faith, sacrifice and a reliance on God’s grace in our lives. 

As we have returned to a new school term, I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate our Year 12 students on the successful commencement of their HSC examinations. These exams mark the culmination of 13 years of school and for most of them, the end of their 6 year journey here at Magdalene. We had a number of exceptional farewell celebrations in the final week of Term 3, which were highlighted by our Graduation Mass and Awards Ceremonies that took place throughout the day on Wednesday 25th September. I wish our students all the very best as their HSC continues over the next few weeks and ask all members of our community to keep them in your prayers at this time. 

It was a most significant occasion on Monday this week as we installed our 2025 Student Leaders at their Induction Ceremony. With such a wealth of potential leaders to choose from across all of our cohorts, it was with great pleasure that we badged our SRC from Years 7 to 11, including the leaders of each of our Year 12 portfolios, our House Captains and our Youth Ministry Leaders for 2025. The ceremony also saw the badging of our new Year 12 cohort as they assume their collective role as the Graduating Class of 2025. The full list of these students appear below, however, I congratulate our two College Captains, Sophie McMonigal and Oliver Bromley and our two Vice Captains, Bella Stevens and Cody Wooden. I also extend a sincere thanks to the many proud family and friends of our student leaders who were able to join us for this celebration. 

This week also saw two expeditions depart the College as part of our Duke of Edinburgh program. Our Silver students departed for the Blue Mountains on Tuesday morning under cloudy skies, while our Bronze students departed on Wednesday. Both groups met up on Wednesday afternoon where they spent that night in camp together prior to their safe arrival back to civilisation on Thursday. I thank Mr Dowdell, Mrs Harrison, Miss Bagot, Mr Cimino, Miss Cupillari and Miss Wang who accompanied our students on this incredibly unique experience. 

Finally this week, I would like to thank the many members of our College community who turned out for the 24 Hour Fight Against Cancer Walk last weekend. From the start of the walk at 10am on Saturday, through to its completion at 10am on Sunday morning, Magdalene was well represented by students, staff and parents for this very worthy cause. I particularly thank those who braved the cold overnight temperatures at the Campbelltown Athletics Stadium and the staff of the College who helped coordinate our involvement. 

Wishing you all the best for the weekend ahead, 

David Cloran

Principal

The next P&F Meeting for 2025 will be held on Tuesday 20 May at 7pm in the library.

Will Morris 2/22 and 20

Koby Hamilton-Jones 2/14

James Sinfield 4/16 

Bella Stevens 1-18

James Tidy 32no (including three 4s and one huge 6) 

Fielding award: Zach Condon was outstanding in the outfield. Congratulations to Sean Brazier (sub), Harrison Sinfield and Declan Donaghey who all took smart catched in their first run in the First XI.

Mr Chris Ferry

This fortnight, we added another 19km to our cumulative total - this means that we've travelled from Bonny Hills to Port Macquarie (as the crow flies), and have achieved a cumulative total of 384km so far. Join us every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 7:55am for an 8:00am start at the top of the Back Oval steps for a 1km walk (course may change due to weather and other conditions). This is a great chance to get outside, get moving, chat with your friends, and 

add some kilometres to a cumulative total which will take us as far as we can go! See Mr Cimino for more details.

Transport for NSW is making adjustments to the public transport network to connect the new Sydney Metro City & Southwest with Sydney’s trains and buses.

Some changes are already in place including the North and Northwest bus changes on 4 August and Sydney Metro from Chatswood to Sydenham which opened on 19 August.

Transport is preparing to make permanent adjustments on the train and the regional outer metropolitan bus network from 20 October 2024.

The changes will support the final conversion of the T3 Bankstown Line between Sydenham and Bankstown to Metro operations and respond to the introduction of Metro services from Chatswood to Sydenham.  

We are communicating the upcoming changes to your school so you can share this information with parents, students and staff, and would appreciate you distributing this via your channels.

This change will occur during the NSW Higher School Certificate and may also align with other important dates in the school calendar. We encourage students to familiarise themselves with what this may mean for travel to and from school before the start of Term 4 by visiting transportnsw.info 

When the train timetable changes, some of your students’ usual connections may also change. The Transport for NSW Trip Planner will be updated before the changes take effect.

We encourage you to remind your school community to plan ahead at https://transportnsw.info/trip before travelling and allow extra travel time.

To provide feedback on any Transport services, please visit transportnsw.info/contact-us/feedback

Kind Regards,