Welcome back to the 2025 school year.

This year, we celebrate the Kildare Ministries value of ‘Hospitality, welcoming all’. At Clonard, we have chosen to explore this value through the theme of ‘Open Encounter Transform.’ Our theme points to the transformative process that occurs when people are truly open to the gift of the other. This year Pope Francis has called for a jubilee year with the theme of ‘pilgrims of hope’. In the Catholic Church, a Jubilee or Holy Year is a special year of forgiveness and reconciliation, in which people are invited to come back into right relationship with God, with one another and with all of creation. A Jubilee Year is celebrated by the Church every 25 years. The theme is Pilgrims of Hope. Pope Francis has invited Catholics to renew our hope and discover a vision that can “restore access to the fruits of the earth to everyone”. We are also invited to rediscover a spirituality of God’s creation in which we understand ourselves as “pilgrims on the earth” rather than masters of the world. The call of the Jubilee Year will interweave with our College theme as we journey together through the year.

A spirit of welcome has been alive and well at the College over the past weeks as we welcomed 18 new staff members and all our new students who commenced with us in Years 7 to 12. It has been wonderful to hear from our new staff and our Year 7 students and their families about how appreciative and affirming they have been of the welcome they have received at Clonard. One of our new staff shared the other day that they felt walking into Clonard was like a ‘big hug’.

We welcome the following new staff

  • Teaching Staff – Rebecca Barry (Yr 7), Katie Cross (PE/VM), Montana Gale (Maths), Anthony Laffy (Yr 7), Aphra Millis (Indonesian), Tanya O’Toole (PE), Warren Pedersen (Yr 7), Rachael Plummer (Eng/Hums), Brianna Shannon (Eng), Tiffany Stevens (VM), Adam Zito (Maths/Sci), Fiona Scally (PE)
  • LSO staff – Vesna Cooper, Susan Dillon, Nancy Mileto, Chelsea Ward
  • Lab Technician – Lynelle Jones

I congratulate our Year 7 students on their transition into College life. I have observed them navigating new spaces, new timetables, new friendships, attending their first house assemblies and experiencing a wonderful off-site experience down by the Barwon River as a community. It was lovely to gather with them this morning to mark the end of this transition time with a BBQ breakfast hosted by our staff. Several of the students told me the highlight had been the canteen, making new friends, the river experience, cooking and French classes. Later this term we will be hosting our Open Days for 2026. Please share this information with family and friends who may have daughters in Year 6. We know that word of mouth is one of the most powerful ways of spreading the great things we do at Clonard. Information about Open Days can be found here.

Thank you also to our Year 12 students for the way they are setting the tone for their year. Teachers have reported that most students completed the holiday tasks to set themselves up ready for the year ahead. We have been impressed by the number of students making use of the silent study spaces both within and after the school day. Yesterday we were delighted to welcome back our high achievers from 2024 including students who received ATARs over 90, the highest scoring students in each subject and the VCEVM high achievers. Both Charli Scown (VCEVM Year 12 High Achiever) and Kushi Madaan delivered inspiring speeches about their journey to excellence in their studies. This year 80% of our Year 12s who sought a tertiary offer through VTAC received their first preference from the following:

  • Deakin University
  • RMIT University
  • Federation University
  • Melbourne University
  • Australian Catholic University
  • Monash University
  • Victoria University
  • La Trobe University
  • Swinburne University
  • Deakin College
  • Collarts (Australian College of the Arts)

We are grateful for the work of Steph Baulch our Career’s Practitioner who supports our students and their families through this time of transition.

2025 marks the beginning of the College’s new Strategic Plan, ‘One Pace Beyond’. This plan represents the culmination of a period of review and consultation with our community undertaken in 2024. You may have participated in the survey or the focus groups facilitated by the external consulting group who supported us with the process. After final discernment with the Leadership Team and the Stewardship Council and consideration of Kildare Education Ministries’ new strategic plan, we proudly launch our strategic aspirations and commitments for the next four years. Our commitments are under three key goals: To Be Bravely Ambitious, Intentionally Connected, and Thriving Change Agents. A link to our new strategic plan can be found here. This plan is challenging, aspirational and represents a community striving for excellence and innovation as we endeavour to provide a holistic, future-fit learning experience for our young women.

One of our commitments to be bravely ambitious was to ensure that our students understand the competencies and capabilities they need to be empowered successful learners. Last week, we welcomed Dr Judi Newman, who addressed staff, students and families in relation to the neuroscience of learning. It was a wonderful couple of days with Dr Judi, who had a wealth of knowledge to share with us. Many of the students have shared with me how they found the memory techniques that she taught them to be most useful. I encourage you to read the more detailed article prepared by Hugh Saunders, our Assistant Principal for Improvement and Impact, later in this newsletter. We are currently in the process of purchasing a number of resources shared by Dr Judi and will make these available to parents once we have them in our library.

Next week, we will mark the beginning of our new school year with our Opening Mass on Friday, 14 February at 11am. All families are welcome to join us for this celebration and have received an invitation via Operoo. At this liturgy, we will be commissioning our new student leaders, who have already commenced working in their portfolios following a leadership formation day with Yellow Arrow.

For this event, students will be required to wear full academic uniform. As we commence our year, we ask families to be supportive of the College in our efforts to ensure that the students wear the uniform with pride. 

As part of our PB4L expectations, staff will also be monitoring the shops at Minerva Road before school, requesting all students to move on to school from 8:40am, ready for the 8:45am bell to go to class for an 8:50am start. Students who arrive on the later buses after 8:45am are asked to move directly to school, remembering that if lunch needs to be purchased, this can be done at the canteen.

We have a full term ahead with house carnivals in swimming and athletics as well as a number of beginning of the year rituals. These events are part of community building. Inspired by our theme of hospitality and our strategic goal to be ‘intentionally connected’ we are hosting house family picnics later in Term 1. Save the dates and keep an eye out for further information. Coming dressed in your house colours and joining in the fun will help build connection and earn house points for your daughter’s house.

Finally, today some wisdom from Leonardo da Vinci about learning:

‘Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.’

Blessings

Luci