PASTORAL CARE 2025

Once again, I would like to congratulate our Pastoral Care Team for their quality work. They are an impressive team led by Mrs Lowe, Mr Badolato and Mrs Troianos, and they consistently aim to support young people in their wellbeing needs, thereby enabling students to be supported in the very conditions that enable learning.

Change is constant in life, and this is undoubtedly true with the staffing of a large K-12 college.

I acknowledge the fine work of Mr Stavros Arzapitian, who has been a Year Coordinator across multiple schools in the Diocese of Wollongong for over 10 years. Mr Arzapitian has led the Year 12 2024 cohort finely - but he has decided to step down from his Year Coordinator role from 2025 onwards. Instead, he will lead the Mathematics faculty in an Assistant capacity.

Equally, I thank Mrs Jasmina Rooke (Nee Cox), who has been working very well and closely with the Year 7 Cohort - many students whom she had previously helped when they were in Stage 3. Mrs Rooke has also decided to step down from her Year Coordinator role from 2025 onwards. Instead, she will lead Middle Years Learning in an Assistant capacity.

I also thank Mrs Angela Troianos, who has stepped up into the role of Years K-4 Pastoral Care Leader since the departure of Kristina Vella. Mrs Troianos has been dedicated and very proactive in her efforts. She will return to the K-4 Literacy Instructional Coach next year.

I will welcome all new staff in the final newsletter for 2025, but for now, I welcome three new staff in the Pastoral Care sphere:

• Mr Luke Baddock is currently Stage Leader at St Michael’s Primary School, Blacktown. He comes to us with a broad range of experiences.
• Ms Natalie Collins is currently LaSallian Coordinator at De La Salle College, Revesby. She joins us with a passion for supporting young people holistically
• Mr Kevin Reutens is currently Year 8 Coordinator at Mary MacKillop Catholic College Wakeley. He is a passionate musician and cares deeply about students’ pastoral care and wellbeing needs.

All three staff will be joining our Pastoral Care Team in 2025, which I am delighted to announce includes the following staff:

JUMP ROPE FOR HEART - SFCC Success!

Thank you so much for your generosity in supporting this excellent initiative.

For those who don’t know, established in 1983, Jump Rope for Heart is a skipping and fundraising program run in Australian primary schools. It encourages kids to have a positive attitude towards exercise, healthy eating and heart health while raising vital funds to fight heart disease.

Our SFCC ‘Heart Heroes’ have been working hard over the past month, honing their skipping skills (skipping for literally hundreds and hundreds of hours) while raising funds for this fantastic cause. Thanks to their efforts, SFCC was ranked first in Australia in their fundraising efforts - raising over $32,000. What an incredibly wonderful effort. Well done, students, staff and families.

A special thank you to Miss Lauren Meli for introducing this initiative and then to Miss Catherine Laskaris for her phenomenal work coordinating this program throughout the term. 

What an outstanding success for a great cause.

Year 12 2025 Student Leaders Retreat with the Bishop

I would very much like to commend and thank our new College Captains and Vice Captains who last week represented SFCC at a 3-day / 2-night retreat at The Hermitage, Mittagong. Bishop Brian Macord hosted School Captains and Vice Captains from all secondary diocesan schools to allow them to reflect on their leadership,  the schools they lead and what they might achieve next year.

The program ran in accordance with the Bishop’s intention of running Catholic formation experiences in alignment with his diocesan message of Catholic communities being ‘bearers of Christ’s love’. I thank Mr Matthew Watson for being there and supporting the students throughout. 

Each school leadership group presented to the larger group on the final day, and not surprisingly; our student leaders did brilliantly as they reflected on the magnitude of their role, their hopes, aspirations and the very nature of St Francis Catholic College. Thank you Thalia S, Jamie S, Ella L and Tuli V; our College is in safe hands!