Message from the Principal

Welcome back to 2020 and a special welcome to all new members of our community… new staff and new families!  

It was with great enthusiasm that the MSM community welcomed 157 Year 7 students on Wednesday for their first day of their secondary education. In a moving tradition, the Year 12 students formed a guard of honour as the Year 7 students entered the Sophia Centre for our “Welcome Assembly”. A very special “thank you” to the Year 9s who participated in the assembly from the air-conditioned comfort of the Ionian Auditorium.  This allowed us to accommodate the large group of parents who were able to join us for this special milestone as their daughters took their first formal steps of their journey at MSM.  
 
Another fine tradition is the celebration of the achievements of the graduating class of 2019 during the Welcome Assembly. There were 87 students in the cohort – 69 that were OP eligible and 18 students studying VET/alternative pathways. In the final year of the allocation of OPs we were delighted with our results.  In the OP 1-5 range we had 40.6 % of our students achieve this range – historically this is the highest percentage of OP1-5s at MSM.  91.3% of our students achieved an OP 1-15.  

Thank you to Gabby Brown, Genevieve Ryan, Cyrena Tabet, Keeley Murphy, Caitlin Turner, Ella Donohue, Maliah Pini, Julia Poli and April Foxlee from the graduating class of 2019 who returned to provide some inspiring reflections; sharing the courses of study they are going to pursue and their dreams for the future, while also providing advice and encouragement to our current students. 

As of last week, 79% of our students had been offered their first preference from QTAC and 96% of students offered their first or second preference. The most popular areas of study were:

1. Health;  
2. Law, Economics, Psychology
3. Management and Commerce
4. Education 
5. Creative Arts
6. Natural and Physical Sciences. 

We congratulate all of the 2019 Graduates on their achievements and we look forward to hearing about their successes in the future.

After assembly, our guests were invited to stay for morning tea. Thank you to Richard Peace, President of the P and F Association, for coordinating the morning tea. Thank you to all parents who contributed to the morning tea or assisted with setting up, serving and cleaning up. Your contributions are greatly appreciated.

There are a number of significant College events next week. I would warmly like to invite members of our community to join us for the Opening Eucharist and Commissioning of Student Leaders at 9.00 am on Monday 3 February. I would also strongly encourage all students to attend our annual Interhouse Swimming Carnival at the Valley Pool on Wednesday 5 February. You do not have to be a strong competitive swimmer to enjoy the novelty events and contribute to House Spirit. I am also looking forward to joining families at the Father Daughter Breakfast on Thursday morning. The Music Camp is also another wonderful activity that commences on Friday afternoon.

Our MSM Community has so much to offer in 2020. I would encourage all students to get involved! 

In faith and love

Sharon Volp
Principal