To the family and friends of St Edmund’s College,
Traffic Issues
As you are aware, I am deeply concerned about the safety of our students and the dangerous traffic conditions along Canberra Avenue. All roads surrounding the College are a school zone, except for Canberra Avenue. I have previously written to Chris Steel, the Minister for Roads and Active Travel, asking him to consider making Canberra Avenue a school-zone (i.e. 40 kph) as we have students walking across Canberra Avenue to either catch buses on Wentworth Avenue or to walk home to and from Kingston. We also have a very large number of parents who need to turn into Canberra Avenue from our driveway in the morning and afternoon – 40 kph would certainly reduce the danger here. The Minister informed me by email on 12 March that “Canberra Avenue is an arterial road with limited school frontage” and therefore will remain as it is. I cannot understand how the department has deemed that Canberra Avenue has limited school frontage when most of the school sits along Canberra Avenue and is the exit point for all of our parents in the mornings and afternoons, as well as the exit point for students who walk home or walk to Wentworth Avenue to connect with bus transport. All roads in NSW are deemed a school zone if they have school frontage regardless of the nature of the road, from small one way streets to six lane highways. On Tuesday afternoon of this week I am meeting with Andrew Crichton, the Director of the School Safety Program from the Development Coordination Branch, Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate to discuss this situation further. I will keep you informed of my communications and progress regarding this situation.
Uniform
I would ask all of our parents to support us in our efforts to have our students wear their uniform with pride. It is often disappointing to be standing at the front of the school in the mornings and see boys come out of their parents’ car without a blazer, shirt out and tie undone. All students are expected to travel to and from school with their shirt tucked in, their tie done up and, for students in Years 7 – 12, wearing their blazer. I would like to thank most of our boys for doing the right thing in this area and demonstrating their pride in the College so well, but we do have a small group of boys who are reluctant to follow College expectations in this area.
Examinations
We wish our Year 11 and Year 12 students well in their examinations which commence this Friday. We hope that they approach their examinations with a studious approach, a clear head, and a strong sense of confidence.
Enrolments
Our next Experience Eddies Day is scheduled for Monday 22 June. If you are aware of any prospective parents in the community who are thinking of sending their son to St Edmund’s, please let them know of this event and direct them to the College Facebook page to register their interest. Our enrolment interviews for 2021 have commenced – applications for 2021 are arriving at a great rate, so again if you are aware of anyone thinking of having their son at St Edmund’s next year, please inform them to submit their application as soon as possible. Please also direct them to the College Facebook page for our Virtual Tour.
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
I often enjoy following the reflections and commentaries of Fr. Antony Kadavil from Vatican News (www.vaticannews.va/en.html). Last Sunday was the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, and I would like to share with you Fr Antony’s reflections. Fr Antony provides four important life lessons that emerge through our belief of the Holy Trinity. These life lessons are especially significant for two reasons at this time – the first being our consideration for others as we commence our move out of the COVID-19 restrictions, and the second being the nature of relationships and respect of others emerging from the Black Lives Matter movement around the world. These are Fr Antony’s life messages:
“1) We need to respect ourselves and respect others. Our conviction of the presence of the Triune God within us should help us to esteem ourselves as God’s holy dwelling place, to behave well in His holy presence, and to lead purer and holier lives, practicing acts of justice and charity. This Triune Presence should also encourage us to respect and honour others as “Temples of the Holy Spirit.”
2) We need to be aware of God as the Source of our strength and courage. The awareness and conviction of the presence of God within us, gives us the strength to face the manifold problems of life with Christian courage. It was such a conviction that prompted the early Christian martyrs, when taken to their execution, to shout the heroic prayer of Faith from the Psalms: “The Lord of might is with us, our God is within us, and the God of Jacob is our helper” (Psalm 46).
3) We need to see the Trinity as the model for our Christian families: We are created in love to be a community of loving persons, just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are united in love. From the day of our Baptism, we have belonged to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. How privileged we are to grow up in such a beautiful Family! Hence, let us turn to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in prayer every day. We belong to the Family of the Triune God. The love, unity and joy in the relationship among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit should be the supreme model of our relationships within our Christian families. Our families become truly Christian when we live in a relationship of love with God and with others.
4) We are called to become more like the Triune God through all our relationships. We are made in God’s image and likeness. Just as God is God only in a Trinitarian relationship, so we can be fully human only as one member of a relationship of three partners. The self needs to be in a horizontal relationship with all other people and in a vertical relationship with God. In that way, our life becomes Trinitarian like that of God. Modern society follows the so-called “I-and-I” principle of unbridled individualism and the resulting consumerism. But the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity challenges us to adopt an “I-and-God-and-neighbour” principle: “I am a Christian insofar as I live in a relationship of love with God and other people.” Like God the Father, we are called upon to be productive and creative persons by contributing to the building up of the fabric of our family, our Church, our community and our nation. Like God the Son, we are called upon to reconcile, to be peacemakers, to put back together that which has been broken, to restore what has been shattered. Like God the Holy Spirit, it is our task to uncover and teach truth and to dispel ignorance.”
Holy Trinity Prayer
God For Us, we call You Father,
God Alongside Us, we call You Jesus,
God Within Us, we call You Holy Spirit.
You are the Eternal Mystery
that enables, enfolds, and enlivens all things,
even us, and even me.
Every name falls short of your
Goodness and Greatness.
We can only see who You are in what is.
We ask for such perfect seeing.
As it was in the beginning, is now,
and ever shall be.
Amen
Blessed Edmund Rice, pray for us.
Live Jesus in our hearts, forever.
Joe Zavone
Principal
Christus Lux Mea