It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to the 2023 school year. We hope that you have all have a lovely and restful Christmas and new year period as we progress into the school year.
Firstly, please let us introduce ourselves as the new House Leading team for McAuley House .
As your McAuley House Leader, I’m Karen Goonan and have been a staff member of the College for 15 years. Previously to this year, I have been a part of the St Martin House working in the House Leading team. I teach in the Health and Physical Education and the mathematics domain I have a keen interest in netball and am a member of the Ballarat Swans Football Netball Club in which I hold a netball coaching position.
As the Assistant House Leader I’m Mitchell Jolly and am looking forward to being in the role of Assistant House Leader. I am involved in the community with the Beaufort Football and Netball Club and am a keen cricketer with the Sebastopol Napoleons Cricket Club.
We look forward to working with you and your student(s) in our roles of the House Leading Team. Please remember to always make contact with your teacher advisors as they are your first point of call and can assist you with concerns or questions. We have a wonderful team in the McAuley House who enjoy working with students. The teacher advisor is there to assist and be a support person for your child during their years at Damascus. By making contact, either via phone or email and providing information to us will allow us to better support your student and of course this information will be held with upmost respect. It is from here, where necessary that your teacher advisor may request the assistance of us as House Leaders to support and implement processes of support.
We have the honour of working with your student(s) as a valuable time in their lives where guidance and boundaries are important. As a College, we ask that you invite us into their lives, to assist with creating and making some dreams as well as allowing us to support them and yourselves through harder times. We hope that we can empower them to reach their goals by implementing strategies that are beneficial to them.
As our House Name, Catherine McAuley, we will hold true our values that Catherine lived by. Justice, Strength, Wisdom, Compassion and Faith. We, together will ensure that those students and their families who are a part of the McAuley house feel these values in the way in which we conduct ourselves as your House leaders.
We wish you all the best for the coming year.
Karen Goonan and Mitchell Jolly