Principal’s Message

August 25, 2022

by Principal, Mr Steven O’Connor

2023 Student Leadership Interviews

In recent weeks, the Deputy Principal, Mr Brodrick spoke with all Year 11 students about the process towards consideration and appointment to the key leadership positions for the remainder of 2022 and into 2023. These positions include College Captain, the Vice Captains of the College, House Captains and House Vice Captains and the leadership positions in the Boarding House.

The Year 11 students were asked to consider their interest in the leadership roles, nominate for these and follow through with a letter of application and a written response to key selection criteria. This week, we commenced the interview process for these leadership roles.

We received a large number of applications from Year 11 students and I congratulate all those who took the brave step to put themselves forward and participate in this process. We will look to finalise the appointments to these leadership roles within the next couple of weeks and I will look forward to working with the new Student Council from the beginning of Term 4.

More will be said in the weeks ahead, but I wish to thank the current Student Council for the great spirit, energy, enthusiasm and commitment they have shown throughout their tenure. In particular, I thank James Clark as College Captain and the two Vice Captains, Zenon Czulij and Isaac Hucker. I have been impressed with these young men in the leadership roles and I thank them for the many contributions they have made to the College in their positions.

Staff Positions of Leadership (POL) cycle

Recently, the College advertised for a large number of staff leadership positions which will come into effect in 2023. This is a part of the Positions of Leadership (POL) cycle that all schools go through every 3-5 years. St Patrick’s College has generally not advertised externally for these leadership positions in recent years and so, it was decided that in this cycle, all leadership roles would be advertised both internally and externally.

Over the next few weeks, members of the Leadership Team and I will be interviewing candidates shortlisted for these roles. I will advise the College community of the POL appointments at the end of the interview process.

Father’s Day

Next weekend we will celebrate and acknowledge the role that fathers play in the lives of their children and families. As a part of this, as usual, the College will conduct a Mass and breakfast for Father’s Day on Friday, 2 September. I look forward to seeing lots of our students and their fathers at this gathering and I wish all of our Dads a happy Father’s Day!

ACC Chess Success

Congratulations to our Chess players on the recent success they enjoyed in their first ever ACC Chess tournament, held at Simonds College in Melbourne! It is great to see that SPC Chess players are doing so well in recent times!

The Open Secondary (Years 7-12) competed in our first over-the-board (in person) competition in years, and the team from St Patrick’s won against some strong competition.

Four of our players finished in the top 10, with Leonard Goodison in first place out of the 57 players with a win for all seven games. Justin Goodison was equal second whilst Jesse Mattson and Blake Hertog were fourth and seventh respectively. Many of our students were in their first competition for chess. This result means we will move into division one next year for ACC.

Congratulations to all involved and thanks to Mr Winfield and the other staff who supported the Chess team!

Br Purton Oratory Competition

This week we are running the annual public speaking and debating competitions at St Patrick’s College. The Purton Oratory, Ms Mary Purcell Debate, Br Breach Oratory, Major Brian Broadribb Impromptu Speaking and Sir High Devine Impromptu Speaking competitions are all highly regarded and respected by generations of students from St Patrick’s College.

I congratulate every student who was involved in these competitions this week and encourage all students to become involved in the art of public speaking or to join a debating team at some point in their time at St Patrick’s College.

I also thank Ms Monique Allen for the wonderful job she did in preparing and running these competitions this year.

Well done to all involved!