My Marcellin

Over the past couple of weeks I've written about the challenges facing teens and their parents during the COVID-19 restrictions. It's been (and will continue to be) a tough time for everyone, particularly in regard to social isolation and as I've said previously we are in completely uncharted territory and still have little idea about what comes next. In a feature in The Lancet published a couple of weeks ago the author, Joyce Lee wrote "... not much is known about the long-term mental health effects of large-scale disease outbreaks on children and adolescents."  She ended the piece by stating we needed to support young people through this period but there is also "a need to monitor young people's mental health status over the long-term, and to study how prolonged school closures, strict social distancing measures, and the pandemic itself affect the wellbeing of children and ...

Yesterday we, as a country, began National Reconciliation Week. This annual week offers people across Australia the opportunity to reflect on and express regret for injustices of the past, to focus on reconciliation, to hear about the culture and history of Australia’s Indigenous people, and to explore new and better ways of meeting challenges in our communities. These occasions aim to give people across Australia the opportunity to focus on reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. It is a time to reflect on achievements so far and on what must still be done to achieve reconciliation.

As many of you may know, on May 26, 1997, a report was presented entitled “Bringing them Home”. This was prepared by the National Enquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.  It included sad and painful stories of the removal ...

2020 has been a year of trial, turbulence and transition. We have all been required to transition into a very different way of life for a period of time. The constant shifting of the year can be difficult for us all, and especially our young men, to navigate. This week we share an article from, Andrew Fuller that was originally written for school leadership teams however, we believe he raises a lot of points that are important for parents and young people as they navigate their way back to the classroom. We have shared the points we believe are relevant and will help in the transition back to face to face learning.

As we move towards the Program selection process for our Year 7 -11 students, we asked our Careers Practitioners Dora Karas and Kevin Kelly to share some thoughts on how the choices young people make in their learning impact their life beyond school and what sort of conversations parents can have with their sons to support them in this. We will be sharing details around program selection and dates in the near future.

One key aspect of College life that has been missing from our Home Learning Program is the opportunity for our young men to participate in mass on Thursdays. We are blest at Marcellin to have so many priests keen and able to be part of our community; few schools are able to offer mass weekly and we are very grateful to our College Chaplains who work together to ensure that Marcellin is (usually) able to do so. Our weekly mass reminds us that the celebration of the Eucharist is the 'source and summit' of our faith, in that it calls us to remember, celebrate and live Jesus' example of love and service. As the light from outside floods our Chapel through the floor to ceiling windows, we remember that what we say in our prayers is what we are called to live in our actions. 

Despite not being able to gather to celebrate the Eucharist this term, our young men have been supported to consider ...