Soon we will be coming towards the end of the year. Preparations may already be underway at your house for Christmas, and the blessed break that comes with it. Before then, our Year 12 students will experience the rites of passage that come with the end of secondary schooling. These rites are both symbolic and real. They are markers of a point in time, where we as educators, the students themselves and their families celebrate 13 years of school education. This is not the end of their education though; all students will engage in some form of formal or informal and ongoing education beyond school. It is not long now before they take their leave from St John Paul II College.

I am always conscious at this time of year that it is a time of mixed blessings. Many students look eagerly to 2026 and beyond and are excited about the “what next” bit. Some may be a little anxious or nervous, and even cautious about the liberation from schooling, for this brings the need to make conscious, and personal decisions. Regardless, it is a milestone that we rightly recognise and memorialise. In a Catholic school we do so through awards and farewell assemblies, through a formal dinner evening, and of course with the celebration of a sacred meal, at Mass. We give thanks and we pray for our young people as they step out into the world in a new way.

It gives me pause to recall my own Year 12 end-of-year celebrations, and perhaps in many ways how not much has changed. There was gathering, there was speech-making, there were a few tears, and there was a sense of moving on. There was nervousness about the coming HSC exams for me, and in wanting to do my best, with a hint of worry about the marks and the implications of said marks on my aspirations for tertiary study. All very real at the time, and yet in hindsight, none of this has defined me, none of it has not decided my future, and it has not limited my life choices. I acknowledge that at the tender age of 17 or 18, this is sometimes difficult to comprehend. What I do know though, is that there will be people there to look out for, walk with, and support our young people during this time of transition.

While the end of schooling and the need to do one’s best is important, an equally important marker for young people who have enjoyed a Catholic education, is the kind of human they are now, and are going to be in the future. My prayer for all our Year 12 students is not that they become wealthy, always happy and fulfilled, or that they enjoy stellar success at everything they attempt. Rather, I pray that they leave us with a heart for the poor; for those who sit at, or beyond the margins, for those who need our help the most. I hope that together with mums, dads, and grandparents, we have inculcated in them a desire, and indeed an urgency for seeking to do good in the world, for the benefit of “the other”. In his very recent Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te (I have loved you), Pope Leo impels us as Christians to:

“not abandon almsgiving. It can be done in different ways, and surely more effectively, but it must continue to be done. It is always better at least to do something rather than nothing. Whatever form it may take, almsgiving will touch and soften our hardened hearts. It will not solve the problem of world poverty, yet it must still be carried out, with intelligence, diligence and social responsibility. For our part, we need to give alms as a way of reaching out and touching the suffering flesh of the poor. (#119).

May our Year 12 students go forth with the intention to work for the poor, for justice, and for peace. I wish them every blessing as they move on from school, and pray they are safe during these celebration times. I ask for your prayers for our students at this time of year.

I remind all parents when picking up your child in the afternoons by car to not park in the disabled car parking spots unless you hold a disability parking sticker. It is really not fair on parents and staff with a disability to not be afforded their right to park here. Let us respect the need for others to have access to these spots. You will be moved on if you park here without the need to do so.

Dr Craig Wattam
Principal