As we approach the end of another busy week, I wanted to express my thanks (again) for the warmth and friendliness of the TAS community’s welcome to me over the past two weeks.
It was great to see and meet so many parents at the Junior School Information nights on Tuesday (Kewarra Beach) and Wednesday (White Rock). The Year 6 student leaders introduced me to each class and spoke clearly and eloquently. They certainly are wonderful ambassadors for TAS and indicative of the calibre of our Junior school graduates.
Thursday afternoon and evening I spent up at Genazzano Camp on the tablelands with the Year 12 students on their retreat. We shared a Chapel Service, with the School, Vice and Chapel Captains all involved. The cohort’s rendition of the school hymn and “Days of Elijah” was quite stirring and the attitude and contribution of all students in Chapel displayed quite a remarkable sense of closeness and shared experience. Afterwards, their adaptions and interpretations of a number of children’s classics in “Fractured Fairytales” were hilarious and very creative. It is a wonderful team-building experience for our senior students in a stunning environment and I was grateful to be able to share it for the afternoon and evening. My heartfelt thanks to the Heads of House (Mr Telford, Ms O’Shea, Mr Hasseldine and Ms Pylypiuk) and our Outdoor Education staff (Mr Osmond and Ms Beveridge) for giving up their time to provide this amazing opportunity for our Year 12s.
This afternoon, I was lucky enough to be involved in the White Rock Junior School Captains and Leaders Induction. Again, we had the opportunity to celebrate the calibre of our students and formally introduce our captains and leaders for the coming year. My thanks to all involved. I am greatly looking forward to being a part of the Kewarra Beach Junior School Leaders Induction service on Monday.
- For those of you who haven’t heard the news, Ella Goddard continues to dominate in the water, collecting an Australian silver medal for 13 year old girls last weekend in the Open Water Championships in Adelaide. A remarkable achievement.
- I look forward to inducting our senior school captains next Friday, at which the Bishop of North Queensland, Bill Ray, will also be commissioning me as Principal. I hope to see many of your there.
- I was thrilled to see that past student Elizabeth Sutton is holding an exhibition of her Art work at the Tanks Art Centre. The exhibition opens on Friday 17th February. We extend out warmest congratulations to Elizabeth, who is obviously an up-and-coming young artist to watch.