As you may be aware, Steven Mifsud, Deputy Principal Student Wellbeing, has been appointed Principal of Damascus College Ballarat commencing 11 July 2022. Steven has been Deputy Principal here at MSJ for the past eight and a half years and has been committed to supporting students, staff and parents. Steven has been an excellent teacher and leader who has developed and implemented many positive changes at MSJ. His passion for, and contribution to learning, faith and wellbeing is so evident here at the College. I have no doubt his experience, skills and compassion will ensure him every success in his new role. We wish him all the very best.

Stacey Bourke will be acting Deputy Principal Student Wellbeing for the rest of the year and Kelly Sexton and Rory Godbold will share the acting Director of Student Wellbeing role along with their current House Leader roles. We are in the process of advertising for a Deputy Principal Student Wellbeing to commence in 2023.

I would like to acknowledge the commitment and work of Sr Jeanne Dwyer (pictured below), a Sister of St. Joseph who passed away on Sunday 12 June. Sister Jeanne established Joseph's Corner, a free counselling and support service for family and friends of people living with alcohol and drug addiction. Sr Jeanne was an amazing person who worked selflessly for others.

MSJ was proud to, over the years, support Sister Jeanne and her work. She was a great friend of the College and she will be missed. Rest in Peace Sr. Jeanne.

On Friday 3 June, we held the annual MMADD Day, a whole-school celebration of the Arts. As always, it was a fabulous day that highlighted the many gifts and talents of both students and staff. It was wonderful to be able to have the cast of Mary Poppins perform for the whole school as the production had to be cancelled the last two years due to covid. Another highlight of the day was the Year 12 Drama class who developed their own dramatisation that explored historical gender, racial and sexual discrimination over the last century. This was a very powerful and fitting performance that challenged and empowered us to stand up and speak up against discrimination.

Our celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart on Tuesday 21 June was a joyous time of prayer and reflection. My thanks to Fr John Healy who, as always, provided us with a wonderful Eucharistic celebration and provided much food-for-thought in his homily. My sincere thanks to the Faith Team, altar servers, readers and MSJ Voices for their contribution to the Mass. At the end of Mass, we officially farewelled Steven Mifsud and I thank Amelia Vivera and Lauren Vander, the College Captains, for organising a very fitting farewell speech and video.

Over the last week, our senior students have been involved in exams and our junior students have been completing assessment tasks. Teachers are now completing reports which will be available to families on Wednesday 13 July. Please take time to read the report with your child and discuss areas for improvement and future goals that they may wish to set. If you wish to discuss any aspects of the report, please contact, in the first instance, the subject teacher.

I wish to thank all staff and students for their understanding and flexibility over the last term as we dealt with high staff and student absences. It has been a challenging term but I am grateful that for the most part, we have been able to provide relevant and meaningful learning, faith and wellbeing experiences for our students.

I hope everyone gets a chance to relax over the term break and I look forward to seeing everyone refreshed and ready for an exciting Term 3.

Kate Dishon