This is our final Newsletter for the year. I would like to thank and commend our staff, students and families for all that has been achieved this year.
The theme for 2024 was ‘Varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit’, (1 Corinthians 12:4). Throughout the year, the Year 12 Student Leaders, the Student Representative Council, and all with informal student leadership roles, worked across all year levels to help students take advantage of the opportunities to share our gifts and talents with each other. In the coming weeks the College Yearbook, Duce Maria, will arrive. The Yearbook showcases the many gifts shared at OLMC this year. The editorial team including Communications Captains Indra L and Ella P, and staff Holly Reeves and Elizabeth Baxter have done an enormous amount of work to capture our theme for the year and represent all that happens in a year at OLMC. It is a wonderful chronicle of a very successful year.
On Tuesday evening, our Year 7-9 Instrumental Music students performed for an audience of parents, grandparents and friends. Congratulations to all students and instrumental music staff who have worked so hard all year to improve and extend their skills. The students showed enormous courage and talent as they performed in front of such a significant audience.
Next week, the Orientation program for the Year 11 and 12 classes of 2025 will take place. The program is a very important introduction to the demands of VCE whilst at the same time setting students up for the year ahead. It is an extremely important part of the preparation for 2025, and we look forward to seeing all students eagerly participating.
The final assembly for the year will also be held next week. Students who have exhibited excellence in their learning or through their engagement in co-curricular or outreach programs will be formally acknowledged. It will be a moment to celebrate and give thanks for all that has been achieved throughout 2024. It will be a wonderful celebration of the variety of gifts that many students have shared with us throughout this year.
The Leadership Team and College Advisory Council have been working towards the finalisation of the Strategic Directions 2025-2029. We are looking forwarding to sharing them with our community next year as we begin the next phase of our journey and focus on the future needs of our students.
Staff Movement
This year a number of people are discontinuing their normal roles at OLMC. Each person has contributed to the fabric of our community, helping to build and nurture young people of courage, compassion, justice and joy. There are many OLMC students who speak about their amazing experiences, both in class and in the many co-curricular activities on offer at OLMC, because of the dedication of staff like them.
They have offered kindness, mentoring and leadership to all with whom they have worked. While we wish them well in the next part of their journey, we farewell them with some sadness and hope that they will remember that they will always be a part of the OLMC Community:
- Simon Conlan
- Maureen Gleeson
- Sarah Nash
- Laura Bridge
- Alicia McHugh
- Lauren Marquet
- Russell Ives
- Sarah Hodge
- Emily Li.
Staff on Leave in 2025
- Gabrielle Tabban
- Emily Dickinson
- Amanda Hawker
- Indu Weerakoon.
Christmas
In this season of Advent, we prepare for the birth of Jesus. This is a season of great joy, hope and celebration. We spend time with family, and share celebrations with our friends and colleagues. It is a celebration of the gift of life. Christmas can therefore become an occasion to welcome, as a personal gift, the message of hope that emanates from the mystery of the birth of Christ.
My hope for all OLMC families, as it is each year, is that this is a time of great joy where the gift of life and the nourishment for your heart enables you to find a place of encounter with God and each other. May the blessings of Christmas be with you.