Issue 9 SJC News 2020

One night last week I watched the evening news where I saw protesters pulling the statue of a historical figure from its podium before rolling it into a river. A few nights later a reporter stood in the centre of London in front of an enormous box covering a statue of Winston Churchill to prevent it from suffering a similar fate. Churchill was a polarising figure. A bellicose orator, who stood up to Adolf Hitler and united the British behind him during the dark days of World War II, he is regarded by many as a hero, but by some as a racist and a misogynistic bully. As in most cases the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.

Churchill left many memorable quotes including “we make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give”. At school in recent weeks as we have responded to sadness and tragedy, there has been a surge in giving and kindness between people. There is tremendous power in doing small acts of goodness and kindness. Individually they might not mean much but collectively they make a powerful statement about how in this community we care for each other.

On 6 August, 1945 a nuclear bomb disarmingly codenamed ‘little boy’ was detonated above the city of Hiroshima. Hundreds of thousands died either in the immediate blast or of radiation sickness later. In a park near the city centre and epicenter of the blast there is a eucalypt tree which somehow survived the bomb over 70 years ago. It is alive and thriving. Similarly in a park on the site of the World Trade Centre in New York there is a tree which survived the 2001 terrorist attack. While showing the scars of the event, it is well and growing.

Winston Churchill’s was the voice of British resilience in the face of adversity. The trees in Hiroshima and New York are great examples of resilience. They have recovered and thrived after catastrophic events. We will recover and learn to be more resilient after the events of this semester. We pray for strength and resilience as we work together and support each other confident that better times lie ahead.

Remote learning was a great experience which saw some students working and learning effectively and others struggling for motivation. In the last few weeks it has been a real joy to have everyone on campus for face-to-face teaching. The best teaching involves relationships and interpersonal interaction and screen-based interaction just isn’t quite the same.

It has been good to spend less time interacting with a screen! So much of our communication is now online with social media facilitating public conversation and the airing of personal views. Like any public conversation, ones contribution can either be positive and encouraging or negative and demeaning. I’d like to think that the change in the way we have seen boys treating each other at school in recent weeks would be reflected in their online interaction.

At school we often find conflict between students has its genesis in abusive exchanges online. If you wouldn’t say it to someone face-to-face then you shouldn’t say it online. If it is helpful positive and kind say it, if it is unhelpful negative and mean don’t. Perhaps it really is as simple as Scripture suggests “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Mk 12:31)

In recent weeks we have been planning for the possibility of a positive COVID-19 test in the St Joseph’s community. Should this occur we will follow directions from the Department of Health and Human Services but it is possible we will need to conduct a ‘reactive school closure’. This means closing the school during the course of a school day.

All families will receive a CareMonkey notice explaining our procedure should a reactive school closure occur. It will ask for your direction as to whether your son may be dismissed or if he will stay at school until the end of the school day. It is important that we receive this direction. It is also important that no parent comes onto the school site if this eventuates.

Michelle Brodrick completes her time at St Joseph’s next week to take up her new role as Principal of Loreto College Ballarat in Semester 2. Michelle has made an enormous contribution to St Joseph's in the last eight years. She has been the force behind many strategic initiatives and has been a powerful advocate for curriculum reform, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues and Women in Education. Leaving a school in a better place than when you arrived is the hallmark of success for any educator. We are very grateful for the contribution Michelle has made to St Joseph’s and wish her well at Loreto.

This is the final newsletter of this semester. I wish you and your families a restful and restorative break.

God Bless