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From the Principal

Published 24/09/2021 · Academic

As I write to you, I have been reflecting on our busy Mercy Term. This week we hosted our Mercy Dinner at Boarding, the Spirit of Mercy Assembly, our College Mass, special fundraising activities, and the Cultural Festival. All of this, in addition to the many Performing Arts and sporting activities, including the ACC Athletics Carnival, have been held in the past few weeks.

As we look forward to the next two weeks of rest, I congratulate the students and staff for their participation in the term’s activities and the many events that took place.

Last week, Annamaria Cream and I joined the Principal of Mazenod College, Mr Andrew Watson, and the Head of Boarding, Ms Candice Betts, on a whirlwind tour of the Pilbara and Gascoyne regions in the north of our State. We certainly did a lot of driving and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to visit, not only future and interested families, but also many of our current boarding families. These trips are more personal than just attending local Agricultural Shows, and we love the opportunity to share information about our College. Certainly, it is our students who are our best ambassadors, so all we needed to do was provide the information that families needed clarified. We thank the families who drove in from their homes to meet with us, it is always a pleasure to chat in person.

It has come to our attention of late, that there have been issues with drivers adhering to the speed limit when entering College grounds. Year Team Leaders will address this with our current students who drive to school, however there are also concerns that some parents and visitors are exceeding the speed limit when driving in and around the College. We would like to remind you that the speed limit on the College grounds is 10kms per hour. We also appreciate, like any other school, that peak drop off and pick up times mean that we need to have extra patience so that the safety of our children and other road users is not compromised. We are hoping that a common-sense approach will suffice, rather than us having to resort to the installation of speed humps etc. at a great cost.

Parents are also reminded that some bays are specifically reserved for drivers displaying ACROD stickers and should always be left free for their use.

Next term, students will return wearing their summer uniform. I ask you to ensure that uniforms still fit, after two terms’ growth, with special attention to hemlines! Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

As I wish you all a pleasant holiday, please keep our Year 12 students in your prayers. They commence their final school examinations and some WACE practical examinations during the break. The countdown is on as they very quickly approach the end of their school days.

We wish Mrs Catherine Wildish and Mrs Geeup Wall an enjoyable, safe and restful break as they commence Long Service Leave. We look forward to welcoming them back mid-Term 4. We wish Mrs Rosie Davidson our very best as she commences her Maternity Leave.

We thank the good Lord, for this term; for the challenges, the successes, and the mistakes from which we have learnt. We ask God to be with us as we spend our time with family and friends and to keep us safe in our activities, give us good rest and good fun. We look forward to seeing our students return refreshed and ready for the final term of 2021. While staff commence on Monday, 11th October, students, except Year 12, return on Tuesday, 12th October. Year 12 students have been provided with a special timetable for the first two weeks of Term 4.
God bless,

Carmen Cox
Principal

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