Issue 02 / 24 May 2013
From the Principal 2013 Fete Our biennial Fete is almost here and you can feel the excitement building. The St Andrews Fete is always a special day in the College Calendar, and has a wonderful reputation in the wider community. Many people under the leadership of Steve Dignan (Fete Convenor) have been working feverishly behind the scenes organizing stalls and food, coordinating volunteers, arranging sponsors, collecting prizes, selling tickets, organizing rides, and putting together an exciting program of entertainment. Thank you to all those that have been involved in helping to put the Fete together - it has been a remarkable effort. Thank you in advance to all members of our community who are giving of their time to help out on the day itself. It is sure to be an amazing day - a real community event. I look forward to seeing you there.
Excellent OP Results Some of you would have read the Gold Coast Bulletin’s report on the 10th May about the ‘Top 10 Gold Coast Schools’ for OPs 1-5 in 2012. Despite the very arbitrary nature of these so-called ‘League Tables’ it was very unfortunate that the report contained an error. St Andrews was omitted and should have been in-
cluded in that table. The results of our 2012 Year 12s actually placed them in the top 5 schools. 23.25% of last year’s Year 12s received an OP between 1 and 5a truly excellent result. It was also disappointing that the report did not acknowledge the wonderful results of our 12s last year, because their achievements (and that of their teachers) should have been publicly acknowledged. ‘Growing Good Men’ Project In Term 3 we will be offering an after school program for our boys in Years 9, 10 and 11. The program is titled ‘Growing Good Men’. Under the leadership of Mr James Nelson, Director of Student Development, the program will focus on mentoring of young adolescent males, rites of passage, connecting our boys with good male role models and what it means to be a man in todays’ society. This is another opportunity for our students as the College endeavours to provide ‘More than a Good Education…..An Education for Good.’ Future Building Developments At the start of the year, I wrote that the College was undertaking planning for construction under the CRC (the Middle/Senior Library Resource building) and a Kindergarten(Pre-Prep). Intensive planning for these two projects have continued since then, and we are at a stage where we are waiting on various levels of Government to give us permission to proceed and also to indicate what level of funding will be provided for the projects. If things go according to plan both projects will commence building in 2014. The plans for the Lower CRC include a much needed new Tuckshop with eating area for students, 2 specialist Language Laboratories/Classrooms, a Flexible Learning Space, and Learning Areas and Work Spaces for Student Services. By building these facilities under the CRC it also enables the College to convert G Block into dedicated learning classrooms for Year 9 and