Newman News Term 4 Week 6: From the Director of Mission and Catholic Identity
“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good: His love endures forever.” Psalms 107:1
Over the past week, I have met with many families who are looking to enrol their children in Newman College. This has ranged from our youngest students looking to enrol in Kindergarten in 2024 and 2025, right up to students who are looking to enrol in the high school. One of the responses I really enjoy hearing from families is what I really consider the ‘heart’ question:
What are your hopes and aspirations for your child, and what are the things that are most important to your family?
In one way, the responses I hear to this question are very different. After all, every family has their own set of values and things they consider important to their children’s future. But in all those responses, I often hear the same things being said: for their children to be happy, to have a supportive friendship group, to have the chance to take part in different experiences, and to be challenged to be the best they can be.
The vision that we share for our students includes all of these things, and can be summarised in a single sentence – for our children to become good Christians and good citizens. We hope to form our young people into those who can make a difference in our community, inviting them to take part in formal learning through our Religious Education, Eucharistic celebrations, and Youth Ministry experiences that allow them to put both their faith and learning into action. It is both a privilege and a pleasure to be doing such work.
Altar Servers
Over the past couple of weeks, a number of our Year 5 students have been taking part in training to become altar servers. This has been supported by our acolyte and RE teacher, Mr Mike Diamond, and our Religious Education Coordinator, Jane Short. It was wonderful to be a part of this process with these students and to see them so willing to serve in our school community – they have certainly approached their training with a great sense of excitement and enthusiasm. At yesterday’s Community Mass, they were commissioned and officially welcomed into the Ministry team. We wish them all the best in their commitment to the Church.
Congratulations goes to: Avia Picotti, Mila Picotti, Eva Menzies-Stewart, Siara Henny, Elise Cakar, Arlia Della Franca, and Addison Barr. We look forward to supporting them in their new roles within the College.
Year 10 Gamechangers and Mini Marists
This week, our Year 10 Gamechangers group made a visit to the Lavalla campus to meet with our Year 6 Mini-Marists. The theme was ‘Making Connections’, which is all about building relationships and creating kinship across our year levels. Students split up into groups and spent time getting to know each other and reflecting on the different projects they have spent time on this year. They ended the session with a game encouraging students to learn more about each other, which we hope will lead to more opportunities for us to build bridges between the primary and high school. A big thanks to all those students who took part this week.
St Vincent De Paul Society Christmas Appeal
This week information will go home to families regarding the annual St Vincent de Paul Society Christmas Appeal. This appeal provides hope, comfort, and dignity to over 3000 families in Western Australia who will be struggling during the Christmas season.
This year, the College will be supporting the St Vincent de Paul Society at both St Cecilia’s Church in the Parishes of Floreat / Wembley (Primary donations) and Our Lady of the Rosary, Doubleview (Marcellin donations). Donations can be made at all three campuses by Friday 2 December. Primary donations are to be taken to classrooms or left in administration, and secondary donations can be left in the Champagnat Chapel.
Information regarding suitable donations will be communicated to families this week. We are very grateful to the support of our community in this important initiative.
Community Mass
It has been great to see so many of our students, especially in the Marcellin campus, attending our Community masses over these past few weeks. We warmly invite the entire Newman College Community to gather with us for Mass at 8.10am on Thursday mornings in the Champagnat Chapel. Mass is celebrated by a Priest from a local parish and is hosted by both primary and secondary school students. Please see the upcoming schedule below:
Week 7: Thursday, 24 November; Romero and Year 4 Green
Week 8: Thursday, 1 December; Thomas More and Year 3 Blue.