Our opening prayer is known as the Federation prayer. It was written by student leaders from the Catholic Regional Colleges, and was gifted to Fr. John O’Reilly upon his retirement in 2017. It was an attempt to capture the enormous impact that he had on generations of young people, and their appreciation of his vision, service and presence. On this, the occasion of his passing into eternal life, it is timely to once again reflect on these words.

Fr. John served the Sacred Heart-Emmaus parish for 53 years, 49 as Parish Priest. Over the past week it has been lovely to listen to people’s stories and memories. His belief that nothing is impossible; his unwavering commitment to the Eucharist and the the mission of the Church; his ability to see a need and to do something about it are common threads in these stories.

Father often described the St Albans community as being ‘God’s own people’. It is a lovely expression that describes something that is beautiful beyond mere words. He always appreciated people’s warmth, their readiness to welcome newcomers and to share what they had, even if they had little. We have been blessed to be served by ‘God’s own priest’: a faith-filled man who was generous, hardworking and always ready to trust in what God was calling him to do.

Eternal rest grant unto Fr. John, O Lord.

And let perpetual light shine upon him.

May he rest in peace.

May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God,

rest in peace.

I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live,

even if they die (Jn 11:25)

Welcome

Welcome to the 2025 school year. I trust that you’ve had an enjoyable break and are looking forward to all that this year will bring.

Despite the hot weather, we have enjoyed a really good start. There was lots of noise and excitement on the first morning as students re-connected with friends after the break. It is great to see everyone so positive and ready to do their best.

I would like to congratulate students on how well they have settled into the routines and rhythm of the year and to thank families and staff for all the support you have provided to ensure a smooth start.

Our theme for 2025 is Who do you say I am?. It is a question that invites us to reflect, to search, and to deepen our faith and relationship with God.

New families

On behalf of the school community, I’d like to extend a very warm welcome to the students and families who’ve joined us this year, particularly our 175 Year 7 students.

The start of secondary school is an important milestone; something that students look forward to with great anticipation and excitement. I hope that your start has been a smooth one, that you are beginning to feel ‘at home’ and that your time with us is all that you hoped for, and more. I know that all staff who work with Year 7 are delighted with the start they have made.

New Staff

With growing enrolments and an additional three classes across the school, we have a number of new staff. I am delighted to welcome Mr Blake Robinson (Health and PE), Ms Liz Palsis (English and RE), Mr Mark Kelly (Health and P.E), Ms Celine Chung (English), Mr Edwin Sammut (Maths), Ms Emily Nancarrow (OED and Humanities), Mr Bert Collard (Science), Mr Samuel King (Science), Ms Georgia Smith (Humanities and RE) and Ms Caoimhe Leap (Humanities and RE) who join our teaching staff.

Each brings a wealth of experience, many gifts, fresh ideas and a strong commitment to our students. I wish them every blessing for their time with us.

MacKillop Assembly

Earlier this week we gathered as a school community for the MacKillop Assembly. This was an opportunity to formally mark the start of the 2025 school year and to celebrate the achievements of students who attained all round excellence in learning in 2024.

It was lovely to have families and some Year 11 students join us. Thank you to all involved in preparing and leading the assembly.

MacKillop Pins

The Mary MacKillop pin is awarded to the top 10-12 students at each year level. Results from Semester 1 and 2 are considered in selecting these students.

We would like to congratulate all students who received a MacKillop Pin. You are indeed a talented group!

Recipients of the Mary MacKillop Pin for 2024 were:

Year 7

Vivienne Nguyen

Lily Jade Ducusin

Emy Bui

Nancy Duong

Alexander Veloso

Cang Hing Man Rhing

Yoel Atallah

Caitlyn Nguyen

Michael Mendoza

Kimberly Nghiem

Mandy Truong

Meril Ayshoa

Emily Luong

Liam Salle

Year 8

Asta Dimo

Aurora Arikapu-Bakua

Jacky Ma

Hadil Ataallah

Natarshia Lay

Abrielle Fernando

Kirthik Ramachandran

Anna Nguyen

Esabella Brillouet

Xavier Cham

Rachel Nguyen

Wendy Nguyen

Maryam Salman

Year 9

Oli Nedjo

Teresa Marsom

Jade Nguyen

Tania Leong

Marian Mariscal

Kassidy Lay

Stella Mom

Theresa Nguyen

Sophia Pham

Lena Istaifo

Year 10

Anshi Sunkara

Danilyn Gangur

Aurelius Catayong

Mia Ye

Mari Habash

Kevin Phung

Jennifer Tran

Konstantyn Wejak

2024 Learning Bursaries

As well as the MacKillop Pin we also awarded a learning bursary for the DUX (student with the most outstanding academic results for each year level). The recipients of these awards for 2024 were:

Year 7:                  Lily Jade Ducusin

Year 8:                  Abrielle Fernando             

Year 9:                  Stella Mom

Year 10:                Mia Ye

Congratulations to these students. Each had a terrific year and achieved results of which they should be very proud. We hope that each student uses the prize in some way towards their education.

Kwong Lee Dow Scholar 2024

Congratulations to Mia Ye on being accepted into the Kwong Lee Dow Scholars program at Melbourne University. Mia achieved excellent results throughout the year and is a worthy recipient.

Future Innovators Award

Each year the Australian Defence Forces offers a Future Innovators Award to a student who is particularly interested in Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM). The recipient of the 2024 Future Innovators Award is Josiah Laoag. Now in Year 11, Josiah hopes to be an engineer and pursuing studies in this area.

Williams Cup

Congratulations to Guelen House on winning the 2024 Williams Cup.

Final Points: Guelen (105)  Corbett (100)  Reis (97)  O’Reilly (79)

Year Level Leaders 2025:

Year 7:                  Ms Celine Chung                               cchung@crcstalbans.com.au

Year 8:                  Ms Georgina Hart                             ghart@crcstalbans.com.au

Year 9:                  Mr Blake Robinson                           brobinson@crcstalbans.com.au

Year 10:                Mr Edwin Sammut                           esammut@crcstalbans.com.au

Newsletter

The newsletter is published fortnightly and is available online on Day 5 (Friday Week 1).

Newsletter Days for Term 1 2025:            

Fridays:  28 February, 14 March, 28 March                                      

Supervision 

Parents and students are advised that the College grounds are supervised on a daily basis from 8.20am to 3.30pm.

Outside these hours there are sometimes special activities, practices or events. For these parents are notified through the weekly newsletter or a special letter. 

Parents need to know that students who arrive prior to 8.20am and who leave after 3.30pm are not supervised.

The library is open until 4.30pm on Monday – Thursday and 4.00pm on Friday. Students are able to complete homework or read quietly in this space if they need to wait for parents.

School start / finish times

Students need to be at school by 8.40am and classes finish at 3.10pm each afternoon. However, students may be detained by teachers until 3.25pm without formal notification to parents. This allows teachers to follow up work, provide additional assistance or to address minor behavior issues before they become major.

Notification of Absences

We ask that parents or guardians contact the school before 10.00am if a student is absent on any day. This can be done by phone on 9366 2544 or email Atalalina Ulugia Sa’ena at aulugia@crcstalbans.com.au. As Atalina is responsible for tracking absences we ask that parent/carer/guardian notification by email be directed only to her, not to other staff. 

If the phone call or email notifying absence is received it will be taken as the official explanation of the student’s absence and no further note is required. If no contact is made with the school, a note explaining the absence will be required on the student’s return to school.

To ensure the safety of students the College has a policy of contacting parents when a student is away from school without notification. Atalina rings parents after 10.00am. It is a great help if parents/guardians ring before we make contact.

Term Dates 2025

Term 1:                 Monday 03 February – Friday 04 April 2025 

Term 2:                 Tuesday 22 April – Friday 04 July 2025

Term 3:                 Monday 21 July – Friday 19 September 2025

Term 4:                 Monday 06 October – Thursday 04 December 2025

Please Note:    

Year 10 students finish at the College on Thursday 20 November but have an Orientation program at CRC Sydenham from Monday 24 – Friday 28 November.

Mid-year exams (Years 9 and 10):               16 – 27 June 2025

End of year exams (Years 9 and 10):         13 – 27 November 2025

Families planning to travel in the middle of the year or at the end of 2025 are asked to note that exams and the Orientation program at Sydenham are compulsory. Exams must be taken within the exam timetable. They cannot be taken before or after the exam week.

Please do not book travel before:

• 27 June in the middle of the year (Years 9 and 10)
• 28 November for Year 11 2026 students (Year 10 2025)
• 28 November for Year 9 students.