What a wonderful start to the 2023 school year it has been. On behalf of all staff at the College, I extend a very warm welcome to our Year 7 students and new students across Year 8 to 12 levels, together with their families, to the Kilbreda College community. We hope that our new students are settling in well and quickly feeling a valued part of our school community.

I also extend a very warm welcome to new staff who have joined our school community. We are blessed to have talented, dedicated and experienced staff joining us both in teaching and support/non-teaching roles.  Our new staff will be introduced to our community via this newsletter over coming editions.

Our College theme for 2023 is ‘Courage – speaking and acting with integrity’. Courage can be demonstrated in so many different ways, through our words and our actions each day.

• We can be courageous by stepping out of our comfort zone and taking up a new challenge or reaching out in friendship to someone we don’t know.
• We can choose to speak up if we hear or see someone treating another person unkindly, rather than ‘turning a blind eye’.
• We can speak out and take action against injustice in our world.
• We can reach out to others and ask for help when we need it.

These are just a few of the many ways in which we can be courageous.  As we journey through 2023 together, we will explore with students what it means to be courageous and to speak and act with integrity. 

Our core value of Courage was our theme last in 2017, prior to any of our current students being at Kilbreda. One of our key art installations at the College was created by our 2016 Creative Art Captains, under the supervision of Mrs Sonya Hood, to reflect these core values and the courage of women. The students worked through a process of identifying five women they felt that the students of Kilbreda could relate to who were strong and courageous, serving as wonderful role models and inspiration for us all.  They decided upon Cathy Freeman, Ellen DeGeneres, Mother Teresa, Malala Yousafzai and Frida Kahlo. They then chose a quote by Michelle Obama to include which they hoped would serve as a reminder to students for years to come:

It is one of my favourite student artworks displayed at the College as it speaks to the empowerment of women and serves to remind all who view it of the strength of women and their ability to make a difference through courage and determination. I hope that each time students walk past this mural they are reminded that they should never feel limited by their gender and should always be confident in their ability to work towards realising their own goals.

No doubt we have all read about or seen the devastation in Turkey and Syria and the significant loss of life due to the recent earthquake. As a faith based community, we offer our prayers of love and support to all impacted.

A Prayer for the People of Turkey and Syria

We pray for the people of Central Turkey and North West Syria, whose lives have been devastated by the earthquake.

Be present, O Lord, to bring comfort, relief, shelter and human kindness. Shield the people who suffer, console those who are bereaved, prosper the provision of relief, strengthen the work of emergency teams, and shine your light and hope in the midst of the despair.

We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

We Pray For

We ask for your prayers for members of our community and their families who have recently lost loved ones:

Sister Julie Thomas csb
Staff (1996 to 2001)

Sughra Sarwari
Mother of Sabir Sarwari (Staff)

Jared Te Pairi
Father of Layla Te Pairi (Year 10)

We pray that our loving God hold them gently in the palm of His hand.

Nicole Mangelsdorf
Principal