iServi News | 9 December 2022 | Term 4, Week 9
Principal’s Address, Servite College Awards Night
Welcome students, families, special guests, Provincial Delegate Father Peter Porteous OSM, our Servite Friars and Sisters, College Council members and the incredible Servite College staff. I would like to extend a special welcome to those of you here tonight who are visiting Servite College for the first time. Your presence is appreciated and please know that you are always welcome here.
This evening we take the time to recognise the achievements of many of our students. Tonight, we honour the outstanding efforts of students in many areas of the College. Our staff are very proud of these students, proud not only of their achievements but also for their grit and consistent effort. There are many students who come to school every day, give it their best and show absolute determination. While not every student will walk across the stage this evening, we remain proud of all our students and I think it is important we acknowledge them this evening.
Tonight, is an opportunity for all of us to celebrate the achievements of our community. I find it hard to believe that my first year as Principal of Servite College is coming to an end. However, when I look back at the year I smile at what we have achieved as a community. I could list the events we hosted, the incredible projects our students produced, the student visits to our campus in Nannup, the awards that we have won during the year, the Year 12 achievements, the social evenings, the incredible learning opportunities arranged by our staff or the structural renovations we have undertaken this year. Instead, I think the most important thing we achieved this year was a great sense of unity in community.
I believe that students learn best when they come to school feeling like they belong, that they’re safe and cared for. We endeavour to help our students feel pride in themselves and their school, to be brave and not let failure hinder them and to look out for each other along the journey. In their farewell address to the College at Graduation, our Head Boy Sam and Head Girl Kaylee, spoke about their feeling of community at Servite. In Kaylee’s words ‘we speak about the strength of community at Servite, but in reality, we shouldn’t speak about community because in fact, Servite is a family’. At Servite College we work together to hold each other up and know that others are there for us in our endeavours. As you can imagine, I host many visitors to the College, and without doubt each visitor will always comment on their feeling of welcome and of the happiness in our students.
We are fortunate to work in a Catholic community where celebrating in communion is nurtured. Servite College is founded by the Servite Order, an order that embodies community. The Seven Holy Founders were a group of seven men in Florence, Italy who together decided to honour and worship Mary and form the Order of the Servants of Mary, better known as the Servites. Established in the 1200s, the Order found they needed a place away from the hustle and bustle of Florence, to be able to pray, discern and find peace in their own thoughts. They established their Priory in Monte Senario just outside of Florence. Monte Senario was seen as a place where they could retreat, reflect and be together as a community within nature, with only the sounds of the breeze through the trees to distract them. It is for this reason that earlier this year, we named our Nannup campus, Monte Senario Campus Nannup. A place where we continue the tradition and find space to retreat, reflect and find peace. The Order of the Servants of Mary were a group of men who knew that together they were stronger. This, together with many other aspects of the Servites, is deeply relevant in our current context. It is interesting to note that the seven men were all beatified in 1717 and canonised in 1887 together, as a group, in communion.
This year the College also began planning for our future. What are the next steps to ensure our College is offering the best opportunities for our students and their families? Working with staff and students, we have developed a strategic plan for the coming years. The aims of our College include to:
- Provide students with learning opportunities. This could come in the way of learning environments, learning pathways, learning pedagogy, programs we offer, competitions we enter, academic assistance and extension or simply considering transitioning in and out of the College.
- Invest in staff professional development and wellbeing. Our staff are extremely important to student success. We are very fortunate to have incredible teachers focused on the wellbeing of our students. We hope to ensure all our staff can grow and thrive to bring the best out of our students.
- Share our Servite story. We are proudly a Servite College, the only one in Australia. The Servite Charism of Marian, Community and Service forms the foundation of who we are and what we are trying to be. In the coming years we would like to ensure this is evident in all we do and what people see on our campus. We hope to ensure our learning environment tells people that we are Marian, we are a community, and we are about service.
- Grow our community relationships. As stated earlier, community is our focus. All of you here, our students, our families, our staff and the extended community are all an important part of success at Servite College. Therefore, we are looking to increase our community engagement and develop our connections, involving alumni, families, parishes, schools and more.
At Servite College we truly believe that good education plays an important role in building our future. We believe that learning happens anywhere and anytime. We felt this during times of hybrid learning and the many off-campus learning experiences this year. We do not know what future we are preparing our students for, but we have a responsibility to ensure that their doors remain open, and opportunities are always presented. I think seeing our award winners tonight highlights the opportunities our learning community can offer students in preparing for their futures.
And before I conclude, to our students who won awards tonight, congratulations! You worked hard this year and I hope you are feeling proud. To our student leaders, I thank the outgoing Year 12 Captains who have been outstanding leaders to our College and have modelled the charism of service. I welcome the incoming Year 12 Captains and wish you all the best in your service in 2023, I look forward to seeing your flourish as leaders.
Thank you again to you all for coming this evening and thank you for being part of our community.
Key Dates
I take this opportunity to again outline key dates:
- Term 4, 2022 concludes on Friday 9 December 2022
- College Reception closes on Thursday 22 December 2022 and reopens on Wednesday 4 January 2023
- The Uniform Shop is now closed and will reopen on Monday 30 January 2023
- All Year 7, Year 11 and Year 12 students commence Wednesday 1 February 2023
- New students in Year 8, Year 9 and Year 10 commence Wednesday 1 February 2023
- Other Year 8, Year 9 and Year 10 students commence Thursday 2 February 2023
Key Messages
I will be communicating with all families next week with key messages as we prepare to commence the 2023 school year:
- College Calendar and Bell Times
- Learning Devices
- Fees
- Uniform Shop Opening Hours and Uniform Update
We will be releasing digital previews of our Yearbooks next week. Printed copies of our 2022, 2021 and 2020 Yearbooks will be distributed when students return to school. We will be inviting our Alumni to collect their printed copies from the College and look forward to reconnecting with our graduates at a special alumni event. For any queries about the Yearbooks or Alumni, please email mct@servite.wa.edu.au
Ms Silvana Vicoli
Principal