Father Frank Brennan, an Australian Jesuit Priest, human rights lawyer and academic, has a longstanding reputation for advocacy and the pursuit of social justice. He is an internationally acclaimed and deeply respected thinker and professional.
Father Brennan now lives and ministers here in Brisbane and is a proud Nudgee Junior past student from the 1960s. It was a pleasure to invite him to the College today where he greatly enjoyed seeing some old photos, a tour of the Edmund Rice building and speaking with our Year 12 Study of Religion students and their teachers in supporting an assessment project they are working on.
The ATC Parents and Friends have two community events coming up that we would love you to come to. Tables are still available for the ATC Trivia Night on Saturday 2 August. This is a long-held tradition that dates back to Nudgee Junior days and is a great evening. Please get a squad of ten together and come along for some fun. Go to Parent Lounge Events & Payments to purchase your tickets soon.
Dads and significant male carers, the P&F are also hosting a Dad's Get Together on Saturday 16 August. I’m a dad so I think I can say this; we are not always as good at connecting and socialising as our partners are! Hundreds of ATC Mums come together for our Mothers in May evening and Spring Lunch events so we’d love to get a dads' event off the ground. We are starting with this nice and easy one with Burgers, Beers and Broncos! Please encourage the dad in your house to come along!
Inaugural Athletics Carnivals
We have had lots of positive feedback from the boys about our carnivals held last week with a much-improved attendance and participation rate from end of term Gala days held in the past. We were very pleased with how everyone had a go and engaged. This provides a good platform on which to build and improve next year. Well done to Leinster House on their victory and thank you to all staff for their organisation, leadership and support and to our Year 12 leaders for showing the way.
Year 11 Leadership
Congratulations to the Year 11 cohort on their excellent engagement with the retreat program last week. Students short listed via student and staff nominations for the roles of College Captain or Vice-Captain will be interviewed this week and we wish them well for this part of the discernment process as we prepare for 2026.
2026 Planning
As well as student leadership processes, this time of year sees subject selection, timetabling, staffing and budgeting processes begin to roll for next year. Thank you to Middle School parents for the strong attendance and engagement with our first subject selection information night last Thursday evening.
I have written, as I do each year, to key year levels to request that families please communicate with us proactively if there are changes in plans for enrolment in 2026. Wherever possible, the first half of Term Three is the time to communicate these decisions and I thank the relatively small number of families who have already done so. I invite confidential conversations with myself if that would be helpful and I may be contacted at the College as can our Head of Enrolments, Ms Robyn Donaldson. I respectfully request this proactive communication as it allows for accurate staffing planning, timetabling and budgeting for 2026. As always, of course, our hope and aim is for our families to remain with us at the College.
Staff News
This week, we are pleased to welcome Mr David Stonier to the role of Director of Human Resources and Ms Casey Ouston as Professional Assistant to the Dean of Learning. Also commencing this week is Mr James Kleidon who joins our Science teaching team. Welcome to the new members of our staff community.
Community Prayers
Lord, we pray for those in our community who are suffering. Be with them in this time of hardship and uncertainty. Give comfort and peace to those who have lost loved ones. May their sorrow be turned into strength, and their distress turned into peace. May our hearts remain loving and pure as we seek too always be compassionate to those around us.
God Bless,
Chris Ryan
Thank you to our sponsors of this year's Trivia Night!
