Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.

Psalms 25:5

In 2024, when we celebrate the theme of Hope: Bringing a sense of purpose that the Psalmist writes about, it is worthwhile reflecting on how important hope is for a Year 8 student at the beginning of the year. For most students, Year 8 is the most difficult year of secondary school to start – far more difficult than starting Year 7. In Year 7, our students built a wide range of new friendships and strong relationships with their teachers. This was hard work but was richly rewarded with a special year of new beginnings. Then of course, they start all over again in a new Homeroom in Year 8, new teachers and they are called upon to develop new relationships and build new connections. For many, this can be very difficult and can cause understandable anxiety.

On the day of their return to school, I spoke to the year level about one of my favourite children’s books: ‘John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat’, which is the tale of an elderly widow named Rose whose friend and companion is a dog named, John Brown. John Brown is a loyal friend and caretaker for Rose, looking out for her as best he can. One night, Rose thinks she hears a cat out in the garden. John Brown assures her that it is not a cat. When Rose goes to bed, he goes outside and confronts the noisemaker, who really is a cat. John Brown, jealous at the thought of someone else receiving Rose’s attention, tells the cat to stay away.

When Rose realises that there is indeed a cat outdoors, she cares for it by leaving a bowl of milk outside the front door. Each night a jealous John Brown tips the milk bowl over. One morning, Rose does not get out of bed. She feels ill and tells John Brown that she will not be getting up. John Brown worries about Rose all day. Finally, he enters her room and asks if the cat would make her feel better. When Rose replies, “Oh, yes!”, John Brown brings the cat in. The end of the story finds a contented Rose, John Brown and the eponymous Midnight Cat relaxing and enjoying the quiet in front of the fire — and one another’s company!

John Brown is just like a Year 7 student at the end of the year who is feeling worried about what might happen in 2024 and doesn’t want to share the friends they had made in Year 7. They want to stay in the same Homeroom; they are happy and safe there and they don’t want this to change. They are around their friends, and they like being in a comfortable, happy classroom with teachers that they feel safe with. But if they don’t change and accept new people and welcome new experiences, they’ll never fully become the person that God is calling them to be.

Once John Brown accepted the Midnight Cat and made her welcome, he became contented and happy. He also made a new friend and developed a new and better relationship with Rose. So not only did he still have Rose, but he also had a new friend in the Midnight Cat.

My challenge to the Year 8 students at the beginning of this year is not to think as John Brown did when he first saw the Midnight Cat. Instead of being afraid of the changes that will come in Year 8, welcome and embrace them.

Congratulations to the Year 8 students for the bright and enthusiastic way in which they have welcomed the challenge of the new school year and have radiated the theme of hope. I am very excited about the great things we will achieve together in 2024. There will be many opportunities for Year 8 students to be a light of hope to Kilbreda College, such as being a Student Ambassador, a Class Captain, an SRC Representative, a member of the FIRE Carriers group or participating in the volunteer Foreshore Program.

With the grace of God to guide them, their families and the staff of Kilbreda College, they can look forward to an exciting and successful year ahead.

Bill Fitzsimons
Level Leader: Year 8