P RI N C I PA L’ S
Welcome
From the College Principal Dear Parents, Carers, Students and Friends of the St Gregory’s College Community,
W
elcome to the second edition of the year of our College publication, ‘Hearts & Minds.’ Since our last publication in July this year, the College has endured the lockdown period with all students and most staff remaining offsite, and online learning being the mode of teaching delivery. As I sit to write my article for this edition, we are coming to the close of our first full day back at the College for all our students in Kindergarten to Year 12, and the return of our staff onsite. It certainly has been an exciting day as we welcomed staff and students back onsite, hopefully for the remainder of Term 4, and hopefully in an environment where we are working hard to keep all our College community safe.
“
As our students walked up the
path at the College today, I witnessed vibrant young people happy to
”
be back…
02 S T G R E G O RY ’ S C O L L E G E | Hearts & Minds
Seventeen long weeks have endured since the lockdown began. In this period, our ‘world’ as we use to know it has changed forever. We have learned more about agility, resilience and responsibility as we have traversed the many changes and challenges thrown at us via the COVID pandemic. As our students walked up the path at the College today, I witnessed vibrant young people so happy to be back amongst their friends and teachers in an environment they know cares deeply about each of them.
What I want our students and their families to know is that the greatest lessons we need to teach as a result of our experiences over the past eighteen months with the pandemic, are lessons teaching our young people about hope. We will fail our students miserably if our lessons are content-rich and engaging, but we miss the vital ingredient of teaching our students through a lens of hope. Teaching our students to have hope is a valuable lesson that will help them go after their goals both today and in the future. We also know that hope is not simply being optimistic or happy all the time. Hope is one of the most important values that young people can develop. A child who understands the value of hope will be less likely to give up. When the going gets tough, they won’t allow themselves to be overcome by discouragement. One of the premier leaders in hope research, Shane Lopez, in his book, Making Hope Happen: Create the Future You Want for Yourself and Others, defines hope as “the belief that the future will be better than the present combined with the belief that you have the power to make it so!” (Lopez, 2013). In another way, the Dalai Lama says, “hope means keeping going, thinking I can do this” (Bstan, 2018).
IS S U E 02 | NOVE M B E R 2021
03
