Churchill Avenue News

It has been a great start to 2025!

I hope this newsletter finds you safe and well. As we progress through another exciting start to the year, it is important to reflect on the great achievements of this community in recent times. As we begin 2025, the College continues to celebrate the wonderful achievements of the Class of 24, with our students meeting high expectations and experiencing great academic and holistic success. I look forward to celebrating and recognising the efforts of the students, particularly the Top 20 achievers at the upcoming Assembly on Thursday.

Caroline Chisholm Catholic College continues to be a safe place for learning, thanks to the dedication and hard work of the community. It is important that each student commits to making the most of their opportunities while attending the school, because each day will prepare them for life as adults. During my first week at the College, I asked students to try and do three things each day; to learn something new, to be safe, fair and kind when relating to others, and to grateful to you as their parents for the opportunities they have. I hope that they have taken on this advice.

During the first three weeks of school, the College has come to life with the energy and presence that students have injected. The buildings and great facilities we have only come alive when the students walk through and use them.

In recent weeks, the College celebrated the Commissioning Mass and Assembly, and this was an opportunity to welcome our student leaders into their roles. With leadership comes responsibility and each one of the formal leaders who accepted their badges committed to servant leadership as members of our faith community. I shared with the students the following insight from my experience as an educator:

Our college is built on faith, aspirations, trust, learning, and community because we aim to be a home for growth, discovery, and transformation, where everyone’s minds will be nurtured to become future leaders, guided by the values of faith, acceptance, compassion, and excellence. Today illustrates the commitment by the College to enable this.

In 2007, a while ago from where we are today, Joshua Bell, a Canadian who is known as one of the best concert violinists in the world, played for free, for 45 minutes, using a violin worth 3.5 million dollars, at a subway station in Washington DC.

Over a thousand people passed Bell as he played his violin, and only seven people stopped to listen to him. Only three days earlier, he had played for thousands of people who had paid considerable sums of money for their tickets.

This was an experiment, which was conducted by the Washington Post. So why did so many people not stop and take advantage of the moment by listening to such an artist?

At times, we are so concerned with what the future holds that we may only focus on the immediate thing that we assume is most important at that point in time.

In doing so, we may miss the beautiful gifts of the moments that we therefore ignore, which evolve right in front of us without being truly appreciated. During that morning of the experiment, people walked past Bell and ignored the beautiful sounds made by his art, skill and violin, because they may have been late to catch the train or needed to get to a meeting or to see a friend.

I encourage you to stop and reflect, and in doing so, appreciate the prospects of not just tomorrow but those that may appear in front of you right now. There is beauty all around us, yet we often don’t stop to appreciate this. Learn to appreciate the day ahead by enjoying the moment God has given you now.

I encourage you to support your child in appreciating the moment that they have right in front of them, as they navigate through a stage in life full of opportunities and support which will help overcome their challenges. May you have a great fortnight ahead and thank you for making me feel very welcome.

This is a prayer shared with our staff:

Prayer before Study or Instructions

Almighty God, you are the true fountain of light and the only Author of all knowledge. We pray to you, so that you enlighten our understanding, and remove from us all darkness and ignorance. We pray that we can be testaments of your wisdom as we educate the wonderful children entrusted to us. May your word and wisdom be the light that guides and protects all our students as they learn from us this week.

Amen.

Dr Napoleon Rodezno

Principal