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Dear friends of St James Catholic College,
Blessing of Mary Mackillop sculpture
Below is the extract from the speech from James Radnidge, Maci Carr and Hannah Wickham about the production of the sculpture:
MACI: We stand here today representing the St James Catholic College Student Leadership team. We would like to share the process that has led to the production of the sculpture of Mary of the Cross MacKillop. It has been a wonderful experience to be involved in developing this sculpture - what started as an idea in 2023 has now led to us being here today.
Back in February at our first student leaders’ meeting for the year, we discussed the formation of this sculpture, what the process would involve, the timeline, who would be supporting us in bringing to life our ideas and we asked clarifying questions to ensure our decisions were accurate and a true reflection of the life of Mary and her provision of an education for all.
Our discussions initially centred around Mary’s life and her connection to our College. We then undertook research based on what we knew and had learnt about Mary and sourced possible sculpture options by looking at images and representations of Mary that had been created by many artists in many different fields of work.
HANNAH: After much discussion and over several meetings, the decision was made to have Mary standing and looking out across the College. Whilst discussing the sculpture stance, we also saw several images of a little terrier dog standing near Mary, and we wondered whether a little dog could form part of our sculpture. We sourced terrier images and were delighted to find that Mary did have a terrier dog later in life named ‘Bob.” We then waited anxiously to hear if ‘Bob' could be part of our proposed sculpture as we believed the dog linked beautifully to our College country setting. How delighted were we to hear that our suggestion of the inclusion of ‘Bob” as part of the sculpture had been accepted.
The next stage was to choose a stance and think about how Mary would be positioned. The leadership team under the guidance of Mrs Duggan and Mrs Radnidge gathered here at this current site and one member of the team modelled possible arm, head and stance positions that captured Mary in our St James Catholic College context. A unanimous decision was made by our team members, photos were taken and these were then sent to Regina and Christina in Victoria - our Sculptors. We were very pleased to hear that they could model a sculpture based on our thoughts, images and recommendations.
At subsequent meetings, we were kept informed of how the sculpture was progressing. We were shown images at each stage of the process and we were excited and quite amazed to see how our ideas could turn into something so amazing. Our thoughts are definitely captured here today as we stand looking at Mary and her dog ‘Bob’.
We would like to now share with you some of the detailed features you can see if you look closely.
JAMES: Mary has a very slight lean towards her outstretched hand. Her face shows love and compassion. She is a welcoming Mary who walks amongst us in our everyday school life. She is a witness to all our activities, our challenges, our celebrations. One foot is slightly in front of the other as she is on a journey with us. Her veil is back over her shoulder - a symbol of working with us. Mary is on the move.
Mary’s hand is outstretched in welcome and invitation for us to join her in her story. Her right hand rests gently on her cross - a symbol of the strength she took from her faith, a symbol of her vocation and of her dedication to those in her care. Her Rosary beads hang from her belt.
Her dog ‘Bob”, a symbol of unconditional love and faithfulness, sits at her foot and looks up to Mary, ready for the next adventure. He is a symbol of man’s best friend, of loyalty and faithfulness- we must all have faith.
We hope you have enjoyed listening to this story. As members of the Student leadership team we would also like to thank all present for supporting us in our decisions and for guiding us on this journey. We encourage all of you to take time to sit and contemplate here in this beautiful setting, and reflect on all that Mary has given to us as ‘we have much for which to be thankful’.
Thank you James, Maci and Hannah for that informative summary of the process that has led us here today.
On behalf of our college community I thanked Fr Warren and Mrs Anne Foale and especially acknowledged the work of Mrs Donna Duggan and Mrs Elizabeth Radnidge in not only preparing for the event but the whole work to get the sculpture from a good idea to being blessed.
School Improvement Survey
How can you improve in anything? Feedback!
Just like any person or institution trying to better themselves, we need your feedback to affirm what we are doing well and challenge ourselves in getting better in areas we need to concentrate on.
To this end, we need your help. The help we need is for you to fill in a school Improvent Survey sent out to you by Insight SRC.
Insight SRC is conducting this survey on us and Catholic Education Tasmania. It is designed to assist us in gaining an understanding of parents' perceptions of their children’s experience of school. The results will benefit everyone within the school by providing valuable information about the ways in which the school can use staff, student and parent input to plan programs and activities to improve your child's experience at school.
In the middle of the term you will receive communication with login details for you to participate. Please do. Your perspective is invaluable.
Joe Sandric
Principal
Important Dates
|
Book Week Parade 9.30am MPC |
|
Yr 6 Come and Try Day |
|
Yr 5 Volleyball Competition |
|
AJASS Student Retreat |
|
Yr 9 Eddie Rice Leadership Day - PCYC Huonville |
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Yr 8 HaSS - Parliament House |
|
OE1 - Fire Lighting |
|
RHH Trauma in Youth |
Flames Winners
| Prep: | Max Driessen |
| Year 1/2: | Ella Farah |
| Year 3/4 Blue: | George Fraser Clark |
| Year 3/4 Gold: | Ila Pugh |
| Year 5: | Ava Carter |
| Year 6: | Jack Lewis |
| Year 7: | Blake Wicks |
| Year 8: | Summah Taylor |
| Year 9: | Bailey Clark |
| Year 10: | Bridie Walker |
Aboriginal Children's Day Celebrations
Mary Mackillop Feast Day Mass/ Activities
Life projects
Bridgewater Bridge site visit
Gardening
Soccer team
Kinders had a special visitor this week for Science week.
Channel History Museum
Contact and communication during the school day
SMS Absence Notifications
The College accepts SMS absentee notifications. Please SMS: 0488 863 246 with your child's name, grade and absent reason. Please save this number in your phone for future reference.
Drink Bottles
Please make sure your child brings a drink bottle to school each day.
College Facebook Page / Instagram
Join our College Facebook page just click below or type in: @StJamesCatholicCollege in the Facebook search bar.
Have your childs medical details changed?
A gentle reminder to advise the school if your child's medical details have recently changed. Please contact the College office to ensure your childs details are current.
Move well, Eat Well.
- https://www.movewelleatwell.
tas.gov.au/primary_schools/ plant_fruit_and_veg_in_your_ lunchbox - https://www.movewelleatwell.
tas.gov.au/primary_schools/ limit_sometimes_foods/ lunchbox_snack_idea_flyers
These suggestions also have the added advantage of often being low packaging, which assists to reduce the litter in our environment.
Please feel free to share any great ideas for lunchboxes with your child's teacher!
