CELEBRATION ISSUE
From
Our Principal “COMMITMENT TO GIRLS’ EDUCATION IS AS IMPORTANT TODAY AS IT WAS IN MARY WARD’S TIME…”
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ew beginnings are always accompanied by a mixed bag of emotions – nervousness, excitement, apprehension, curiosity. As I started a new chapter of my Loreto Normanhurst journey in 2019, taking on the role of Principal, I felt the warmth and strong support of our beautiful community. Mother Gonzaga Barry said: “There is no subject of greater, perhaps as great, importance to a nation as that of its women’s education,” and when Mary Ward founded the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1609, she recognised the critical difference that education for girls would make. Her vision, and the Loreto values that she lived out and embodied in the Institute and in her educational endeavours, have been passed on for over four hundred years. Commitment to girls’ education is as important today as it was in Mary
Cruci Dum Spiro Fido
Ward’s time, and I am most humbled and privileged to have been entrusted with the vision and leadership of our wonderful school.
“It is our relationships with one another, relationships marked by trust and respect, which give us the freedom and courage to be our own natural selves and thereby strengthen the richness of the whole community to which we belong.” In 2019, along with all Loreto schools in Australia, we celebrated the value of Sincerity and what that means for us as a community. Throughout her life, Mary Ward strove to act in response to the deep stirrings of her heart and spirit, by listening
fully and openly to God. Like Mary Ward, we remind ourselves that it is through our own self-knowledge that we are able to have authentic relationships with ourselves and with others. Every day I am inspired by the beauty and warmth of our Loreto Normanhurst community. Throughout the year, I have encountered wisdom, respect and openness. We celebrate the joy of seeing our students every day – the sounds of laughter in the halls, the dancing in the quad, the vibrant music… Loreto Normanhurst is alive with felicity. As you browse through the following pages of Loreto Life, may the stories that unfold connect us in celebration of this very special school community. MS MARINA UGONOTTI Principal
Special Edition 2020
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LORETO LIFE 3
