College Principal’s Report

Members of the College Family, As the sun sets on another year and we are about to be enveloped by the wonderful Christmas event, we reflect on the year that is ending with its ups and downs, its peaks and its challenges, its moments of excitement and pride and those of disappointment and sadness. Our year parallels the journey of each human story as the community works together to build a community of love, service and development for all who belong. The year has seen a rapid growth in the way we use information technology to inform teaching and learning. The advent of 2012 will see every student (Year 7 – Year 11) with a netbook that will assist each teacher and inform the learning of every boy. Our young men are the product of the digital age and to remove that capacity from their life serves no purpose at all. However its use must also be measured if only because our VCE exams still require a pen and paper. Teachers have put many hours into learning skills themselves and discovering how to make the Moodle platform relevant and accessible. It is all the world of 21st century education. Inherent in this approach is an acceptance that it is good for us to pursue a course that encourages greater transparency with our programs and hence greater public accountability for what we do. As significant recipients of government and private funding we owe it to all our stakeholders to be accountable for our programs and operation. Our new website is one such mechanism for this and our use of Moodle, with appropriate parental access, will be another. Of what use is technology if we cannot use it to assist us all in that we do as parents and teachers. It was once said that “it is good to be good; better to be better; best to be your best”. That should be the motto that drives all our efforts. The 2011 cohort raised the bar for VCE results and the increase in higher achievers was matched by a significant drop this year in bottom end scores. We congratulate the group, in particular our Dux for 2011 – Philip Taranto with 99.35 and closely followed by Calvin Wu and Simon Hearn. The College Leaders again brought great credit to themselves and their Year group with the way they engaged in College-wide activities and led from the front. A leader is one who has the growing capacity to serve, beginning with the end in mind. Our Leaders began the year with the idea that everything would be done collegially and all Year 12s shared that mantle. I applaud the cohort as a group which has brought great leadership not only to our College wide activities e.g. Track and Field Championships, Founders Day celebrations and MAD day in the park, but also taken responsibility for their learning in an increasing way and presented themselves at all times as young men with a mission. The year began with the great flood. Just as school was beginning to settle after the hustle for the first three weeks, God sent the rains and flooded a few rooms including the Administration building. It took the rest of the term to re-establish a degree of normality – but we survived well. Then in August God called to Himself, Hannah Kennedy-Curtis, a young woman of great energy, personality and character who had completed a Gap year in De La Salle in 2010. A tragic car accident reminded us all of the fragility of life but also helped us to realize that we are not on earth alone. My mind will ever be etched with the memory of standing in Glen Orme Ave, alongside hundreds of young men in blue and gold blazers and dotted with teaching staff and Old Collegians, who stood in quiet respect and brotherhood as the one whom they had known, respected and laughed with was being taken to her rest. We often say that community and a sense of family is at the heart of all that we believe in, and do, at De La! It is true.

Hannah Kennedy-Curtis RIP 18 August, 2011.

Our year was also marked with the deaths of two prominent Brothers in the life of the College. Brother Stanislaus Carmody fsc was a member of the College community for 25 years and Principal 1959 – 1964. Well known and highly respected, Old Collegians stepped forward to farewell Stan from St Joseph’s church.

And as Stanislaus left De La Salle, Bro Mark Murphy fsc was arriving to teach Physics and Maths. And that he was to do for the next 30 years. Mark endeared himself to all who had the privilege to know him. He was the teacher par excellence and what he wanted, he was given. Students respected Mark too much to fool around in Physics...and they all did well as a result. Father Les Troy CM was associated with De La Salle as our full time College Chaplain from 1972 until his retirement in 1995. Entering the Vincentians as a late vocation he was a gentle and sincere man who endeared himself to every student who had the privilege to meet him. He became a legend as priest in the College and the envy of many schools. He married Old Collegians, baptized their children and even celebrated their wedding Jubilees. He was the true pastor to his sheep in De La! 2011 sees the retirement from active work in schools of Brother Matthew Herron fsc. Matthew celebrated his Golden Jubilee of his robe taking in 2010 and a bout of ill health has brought on his retirement this year, aged 70 years. He was worked tirelessly in schools for 45 years in Papua new Guinea, and Australia. He is a renowned ornithologist and a master of native fauna and flora. He pursued Library studies to Masters level to equip him for his older years. We thank Matthew for his two years of very devoted service in the library at De La Salle (Tiverton), his Alma mater! He finished where it all started in the 1950’s. Ad multos annos. Also joining Brother Matthew in retirement this year is Di Walsh who has been part of our school since 1983. A wonderful Maths teacher with a meticulous eye for detail, Di was ever the watchful one to ensure that our boys were in the best possible position going forward to exams. We thank her and wish her well in her retirement. Mr Paul Marshall, Kinnoull Counsellor, also retired this year after 20 years with De La Salle College. Quiet and unassuming, Paul was a patient and caring man who was superbly placed with his disposition to help our young men. He will be missed greatly and we wish him well in his retirement at Torquay. Each year we continue to build the capacity of our staff either through in-service programs and our Lasallian network. In August four senior staff attended a one-week program at the Lasallian Centre, Narooma, conducted by Lasallian Education Services. It was a great opportunity for some key staff with a longer track record to re-visit their mission, hear the stories of those from many different Lasallian enterprises around Australia and PNG and generally grow in knowledge and understanding of Lasallian culture and the various missions in which it expresses itself. It proved a valuable experience for all who attended. Our staff, Brian, Jon, Sandy and Ellenor, are pictured below with other participants. This year the College embarked on a re-development program to refurbish the College for the decades ahead. With the aid of federal government funds under the BER program, we renovated the Tiverton campus library. This program will be continued in subsequent years as we upgrade, re-surface and construct what is required to offer our boys the best we can. In our Centenary year a new sports surface will be constructed at the rear of Kinnoull campus and considerable work will begin at Tiverton for the construction of a new canteen, with accompanying refurbishment work. And all this as the College prepares to celebrate our Centenary year. During 2011 a small representative Committee met regularly to plan activities for the College and it will be an exciting year for us. Considerable work was also done with our stationery and website to ensure that our Centenary was suit-

ably advertised as part of our preparations. We owe much to all those Brothers and their co-workers who, over the years, educated young men for our world. De La Salle has a huge footprint in both the local and national community. From our founding fathers until today we owe it to everyone to stop and recognize the wonderful tradition and Lasallian family that has been engendered in all who have worked or studied in the College over 100 years. We are ready. I am personally indebted to the College Board for all the support that they have provided to the College during this past year. As a newly constituted incorporated institution (2009), the Board does have a set of responsibilities which it has the duty to fulfil. And it all takes time and commitment — both of which our Board has been prepared to offer. All Colleges owned by the Brothers are now served by individual incorporated Boards though still under the auspices of the Trustees of the De La Salle Brothers. As De La Salle College seeks to position itself for the next lap, the Board has needed to consider and approve, discuss and deliberate and work together that the College might strengthen and grow as a more independent entity but in conjunction with other similar Lasallian schools. We appreciate their dedication and commitment to De La Salle College. Judge Andrew McKenna has been with the College on both an Advisory and now an incorporated Board for more than 10 years. He is an Old Collegian and his two sons graduated from De La. We are grateful to Andrew for all those years of service to our community and wish him well. To our Chairman, Brother Chrisopher Gorringe fsc, and our Deputy Chairman and Chair of the Finance Committee, Mr Damian Nolan, our sincere thanks and appreciation. De La Salle is a community of like-minded staff who work closely together to continually give the best that we can offer to our young men. To the teachers and support staff of the College I am very grateful for your dedication and commitment to all that we know as De La! Thank you for your unique contributions which, together, enable our community to work effectively and successfully for all who study here. I value greatly the skills and commitment of our staff who have worked tirelessly to bring De La Salle to a position of confidence and efficiency that it now enjoys. There is always room for further improvement and it will continue but we must always be grateful for what we reach from one year to the next. For the year that is rapidly coming to a close we thank God for his many blessings to us. For the Centenary that is ahead of us, we ask God’s blessing on our school family as we remember, we thank and we celebrate our Centenary. Deo Duce!

Brother Paul fsc Principal

College Board

Peter Riordan (Dep. Principal), Br Alphonso Zoanetti fsc, Tony Morwood, Br Christopher Gorringe fsc (Chairman) Seated: Judge Andrew McKenna, Br Paul Rogers fsc (Principal), Damien Nolan (Dep. Chairman), Sean Curtin

College Executive

Stephen Young (Ass Principal — Curriculum), Peter Riordan (Deputy Principal), John McAlroy (Head of Campus, Tiverton) Ann Corcoran (Business Manager), Br Paul Rogers fsc (Principal), Sally Buick (Head of Campus, Kinnoull)