Beaconsfield Campus – 29 November 2018

Recently we celebrated the achievements of a number of students at Presentation Night. These students excelled in their academic studies, performance skills or sporting attributes. In this our 40^th year we have recognised and affirmed members of community who were courageous enough to take a chance, take on board advice and strive for excellence. These individuals are a living expression of our theme Be the Light of the World.

I have been hearing great things about the achievements of our students during our commencement program. Please continue to make the most of this time. I am also looking forward to 14 December as we eagerly await the release of Year 12 ATARs.

Students, I hope that as you reflect on the year you can honestly say that you have been a productive learner & the best version of yourself. If this is the case you have worked hard, maintained an emotional connection to SFX, supported your friends & treated your peers with kindness. If not there is scope to attend to these matters and I encourage you to do so.

I sincerely thank each & every staff member for the generous gift of time & expertise. Your interest in the wellbeing of the students cannot be understated. Your work allows our students to grow & shine.

Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars

Congratulations to Allison Hibbert who has been accepted into the Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program offered by The University of Melbourne.

The Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program offers participants the opportunity to mix with like-minded peers and future leaders. A tailored program of events and activities will support and enhance their secondary studies, inspire their career plans and provide opportunities to interact with the University community.

Student Achievement

At our final assembly for the year we awarded a number of worthy students their Colour Awards and Student of the Term Award in recognition of their achievement across all aspects of College life.

Bronze

Lenny G and Anne-Marie Rangel

Silver

Harini Senanayake, Grace Thornton and Kiyara Ragell

Gold

Sarah Fahey

Students of the Term

Year 10 

Year 11

Sriram P  & Rebecca A
(Photo not available)

Catholic Identity

Advent begins this Sunday

This prayer was prepared by Lindsay Sant, our REC at the Beaconsfield Campus. Our Liturgy and Justice Captains led this prayer at the Beaconsfield Campus assembly yesterday.

As we approach the season of Advent, we remember the ways in which our Indigenous brothers and sisters commemorate Christmas. Indigenous artist, Duwuun Lee, created this depiction of the Nativity of Jesus from his perspective. He describes it in the following way:

The painting is a celebration of Jesus Christ who is held on high in the coolamon. The white figure is the Holy Spirit that is always with us; whoever looks at the painting will receive his blessing.

The star is the guiding light to help people on their journey in life and to find Jesus.

The blue cross reminds us that Jesus died on the cross to redeem our sins and celebrates His birth.

Reflection:

What do we value during Advent?

In our Religious Education classes, we have been learning about different ways in which faith is represented in society. This has led us to looking forward to the season of Advent which begins this Sunday and marks our journey towards the Christmas season. When we hear that Christmas is coming, our first thoughts may turn to shopping lists, who to invite on Christmas Day or frantic plans to decorate our homes.

While these things are important, it’s easy to forget that Advent and Christmas come with a set of values which are meant to guide our Christmas journey.

These values are symbolised in our Advent Wreath. The four candles of the wreath represent faith, hope, joy, and love. Imagine if every person prioritised these values, what would our world be like. Imagine if YOU prioritized these values, how would your world change if you were a little more faithful, more hopeful, more joyful, more loving.

Reflection on Jesus

Advent reminds us that we are accompanied by Jesus in our human journey. The birth of Jesus brought with it, hope and possibility. By sharing our human nature, God dramatically broke into human history to tell us that we are important and that everything we do can make a difference.

Consider the example of George Bailey, lead character in the classic Christmas film, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. George’s life falls apart after his small town community bank is on the verge of financial collapse. He bitterly states “I wish I were never born’. At this lowest point in his life, he is shown by an angel what would have happened if he hadn’t been born –

• his younger brother would have died if he wasn’t there to save him from drowning when they were children,
• his brother would not have saved over 100 other lives during the second world war,
• many people in his town would have lost their homes because George’s bank didn’t exist to help them,
• his wife never married an inspiring husband,
• and the children he loved were never born.

The message of this film is the message of Jesus’ birth, your life and everything you do with it matters.

Let us pray that we can approach this Advent/Christmas season first with faith, hope, joy and love

Lord Jesus, just as you showed the importance of what one ordinary life can do, we ask you to inspire us to use our ordinary lives to be bringers of hope, bringers of faith, bringers of joy and bringers of love. Through your Holy Spirit, direct our words and deeds and fill them with justice, compassion and mercy. Through us, may each person we meet be touched by the heart of God.

We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen

Our Student Leaders met Bishop Patrick O’Regan.

Last Thursday eight of our College leaders spent the day with Bishop Patrick O’Regan at the Catholic Education Office in Warragul. Our College, Vice, Liturgy and Justice Captains prepared a presentation about our school, including the hopes and dreams of the Year 9’s whom they had met the week before. I am pleased to report that our students made an excellent presentation to the Bishop, they articulated clearly the ethos, gifts and talents of our community, and were able to connect the faith of our College, (Jesus our way, truth and life) with our actions that expressed our faith, liturgy, soup van, winter sleepout, etc.

Our Captains – Matthew Lawless, Kailee McAuley, Connor Hinds, Susmitha Raju, Chloe Jones, Luke Cranswick, Ben Shields and Jasmine Mamontov enjoyed meeting the Bishop, along with the captains of the other six secondary schools in our Diocese.

Plenary 2020 continues.

Staff and students have taken part in Plenary sessions across the College. Parents are invited to join a session on December 5 at the Beaconsfield Campus.

Year 12 Retreat 2019.

By now you would have received the revised letter about the changes to the Year 12 Retreat. It is essential that forms are returned by the end of this year for the Retreat. We are pleased that Fr Rob Galea, robotics expert Marita Cheng and wellbeing expert Margaret Hepworth will be joining us across the three days. Each of these three are world experts in their fields and will inspire our students.

Feast of St Francis Xavier

Monday December 3 is the Feast day of St Francis Xavier. Celebrations begin with the first Berwick Soup Van Christmas party for those involved in this service on Sunday December 2, including those we serve. This event has been organised by our Year 12 Youth Ministry students, including gift bags and entertainment. It is a wonderful expression of our faith. It is close to ten years that the Berwick Soup Van, began by past students of St Francis Xavier College, started. Over that time our students and staff have been dedicated to serve our local community.

We are celebrating Mass at the Officer and Berwick Campuses as united year levels. REC’s Liam Doherty and Michelle Pereira have organized a special day of activities about our great saint to accompany the day. These two faith events express our St Francis Xavier Goal:

Our community is a living witness to the Gospel where Christ is encountered.

May Jesus walk with us through the Advent and Christmas seasons. We thank God for this time of difference, encounter and peace.