From the Principal

This week we have been part of National Reconciliation Week, with the theme for this year being ‘Be a Voice for Generations’, which encourages all Australians to be a voice for reconciliation in tangible ways in their everyday lives – where we live, work, and socialise. At the College, we celebrate the Kaurna peoples and the land on which we share our footprints with First Nations Peoples who have walked the tracks and fished the waterways before us. This week as a College community, we pay our respects to elders past, present, and emerging.

Last Sunday we celebrated the feast of Pentecost, often referred to as the birth of the Church as we know it today. As the Holy Spirit descended, the disciples gathered began to speak in other languages that could be understood by all ‒ a powerful image of Church.

We celebrated Pentecost this week with mass at the Senior and Junior Schools. At the Senior School eucharistic celebration, two students, Lucy O’Grady and Reid O’Callaghan, spoke to the congregation about their recent Pentecost experience on Bathurst Island based on a song we all know, ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star’. They spoke of the sacred moment of togetherness when those assembled around the camp fire sang the song in their own language, Tiwi, and the Saint Ignatius students in English.

“At first, when we weren’t singing, it felt like we were all separated. But as soon as we started singing ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star’, a song that brings us together, everything changed. As we were singing in English, we felt like we were part of something in that we were all singing together. But I think the moment that we really felt the spirit working in us was when we all started singing together in our own different languages ‒ both in Tiwi and in English.”

They spoke of the power of connectedness and respect and a willingness to be at one with others. It was a very moving reflection and one we will all remember when we hear ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star’ again. How special and life-changing these immersions are for our students, and how important that we continue to immerse our students in these real experiences in their formative years. They really are the positive influencers of the world today.

Thank you to the parents who attended our Dreaming nights this week and brought their ‘blue sky’ thinking to the table around our Strategic and Master Plan development. It was great to capture parents’ views about the future of schooling and what is ‘top of mind’ as we develop the new Strategic and Master Plans for the College for the next five years. There will be more opportunity for input via a survey document that will be sent out to all parents, and I hope that parents take the opportunity to complete the survey when it arrives via email.

The College has a strong history of supporting all families and opening our doors to families who are aligned with our values but in difficult circumstances. All Jesuit schools in Australia offer bursaries, and it is part of our mission to look to offer a Saint Ignatius’ College education to those in need. Recently, you will have received a 72 for 72 invitation to support our Bursary Program. We hope to raise as a minimum $72K to celebrate our 72-year history in Adelaide. I hope that you might consider donating to this annual giving plan, knowing that your donation, large or small, will go directly towards supporting students who will benefit immediately from a Saint Ignatius education, and our wonderful legacy of support for those in need continues. To donate click HERE.

With prayers of peace and hope,

Barbara Watkins
Principal

OREMUS (Let us pray)

We remember all in our College community. May our prayers comfort those suffering at this time. May God’s blessing be a source of support in their sorrow and loss, and bring courage, patience, and hope.

“Ask and you shall receive … knock and the door will be opened unto you.” (Matt 7:7)

If you would like someone to be remembered by the College community in prayer (even anonymously), please provide details to the Rector, class or Mentor Teacher, or House Leader.