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We are a Catholic co-educational College catering for Reception to Year 12 students, educating in the tradition of the Salesians of Don Bosco and the Sisters of the Good Samaritan. The College is located in Port Pirie, South Australia. We also offer 5 day boarding facilities for students in Years 8 to 12.
Contact us by:
E-mail info@stmarkspirie.catholic.edu.au
Phone (08) 8632 2800
Messages from the Principal
NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP - COMMUNITIES MAKING A DIFFERENCE
The Australian Government is committed to an education system that pursues excellence for all Australian schools and where every child receives the highest quality education. This commitment has been backed through both a national agenda for school reform and unprecedented investment.
Major reform priorities set by the government include raising the quality of teaching in our schools, ensuring all students are benefitting from schooling, especially in disadvantaged communities, improving literacy and numeracy outcomes, and improving the transparency and accountability of schools and school systems at all levels.
Catholic Education South Australia’s (CESA) implementation plan addresses each of these reform priorities and all schools involved in the project are exploring ways to attend to them at a local level.
The St Mark’s College, ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION PLAN for 2012 can be viewed from this link.
Easter Reflection
Easter celebrates great moments of our humanity and the great dimensions of our faith.
We see Easter’s richness at school in beautiful, innocent Year 6 re-enactments of the Passion (and they were truly a blessing).
We see these children in costume and remember that Easter is about sacrifice and betrayal, resilience, fear and fragile faith.
We gather for Eucharist as a community and remember the Passion is about a moment of love and nobility and a mystery that I take to my deepest self.
We see articulated and considered faith expressed through the generosity of the Project Compassion donations which our students take so seriously.
We gather in a formal staff reflection, like last Tuesday afternoon, at Stations of the Cross and know Easter is about a deep spirituality, a wonderful ritual, gentle moments of reflection and forgiveness.
We approach a holiday time and know we meet in our Cathedral grand ritual, prosperous in symbolism. The Passion Week colour is purple and red and it washes feet, breaks bread, crucifies and buries.
And it gives us a narrative. It’s about a story that encompasses suffering and death and it is so honourable. It is a time alone in an empty church or with fellow pilgrims making sense. It is hearing the organ, carrying palms, smelling the incense and finding wisdom in a paradox.
We try to make sense of a death. The time becomes an understanding of the challenge of loving. It is an acceptance of the great Amen of God. “It is accomplished” (John 19:30) Easter is at once overwhelming and also as simple as a lonely crucifix draped with a purple cloth.
And on Sunday the colour changes. It becomes all about that Sunday.
Diocesan Assembly
Our diocese gathered last week to reflect, connect, pray and listen. It was a time of greeting and faithfulness. All the priests were there and there were people from all over the north of the state.
Our Bishop celebrated a Chrism Mass and St Mark’s were represented as readers, servers, singers and there was even an old scholar priest (Father Brian Mathews). Our choir sang at the Assembly Dinner under the baton of Ms Fiona Clarke and I was particularly proud of the way Mrs Genevieve Richter (Grade 3 teacher) managed the conference in her leadership capacity. I thrilled to hear Brett Czechowski’s powerful organ recital and a golden moment was when Year 11 Tess Ganley stood up to the assembled and said “Don’t forget the young ones. We are still here”.
Our Diocese reflected on what it meant to be baptised and how we are challenged to serve and to build. I found the process robust and healthy and if we are getting older as a group we are resolute in response to the challenges of the Church. It was great to be involved, to get a sense of a loving community.
Greg Hay, Principal