AS ONE!

The events of last week featured a significant first as Cardijn College and Sacred Heart College music students joined together to perform at the Marion Cultural Centre in an evening titled “AS ONE”. The showcase of Marist school students was just outstanding with each school having a distinctive style of music. It was an amazing two nights with so many great moments and what captured me most were the faces and smiles of the students when they were performing. They were in their element and as two schools we have made an impact on these young people by nurturing, believing in and providing them with these opportunities. Thank you for the leadership and vision of David Gauci Director of Co-Curricular Music at Cardijn and Dan Ryan, Head of Music at Sacred Heart. I also extend my gratitude to all the music staff who were involved, WOW! They are so talented and committed. To the students, we are very proud of your love for your school, your love for music, of being Marist and most importantly that you were there for each other.

Winter season sports concluded in the last weeks and I congratulate all students and staff for another outstanding year of winter sports. We won a number of finals and enjoyed the competition. Thank you to the coaches and the mums and dads for getting up early on Saturday mornings to be taxi drivers.

Last Friday was the official opening and blessing of the new Vocational Education Training facilities at our Marcellin campus. These facilities include a STEM laboratory, Hair and Beauty Salon, Personal Care and Health (hospital ward) and an Early Learning teaching space. The facilities were blessed by Fr Josy Sebastian and officially opened by Senator Alex Antic, Senator for South Australia. The Director of Catholic Education, Dr Neil McGoran spoke at the opening about the importance of broad pathways including VET in the senior years of education. Ms Katrine Hildyard, Member for Reynell and Mr Chris Picton, Member for Kaurna were also in attendance.

At the end of this week I will be on leave for the remainder of Term 3 and look forward to returning in Term 4. This leave coincides with some milestone anniversaries in the Rijken household and I am looking forward to spending some quality time with the family. I Include a link to information regarding the Acting Principal and Deputy Principal arrangements during my absence.