Principal's Message | Dr Michael Carroll
Dear members of the Terrace Family,
I begin this edition of the Terrace News by thanking and congratulating the many staff, parents/caregivers and students who were involved in Open Day on Monday. There were large numbers of visitors to the College during the afternoon and they were treated to a wonderful display of the wide range of experiences and opportunities available at Terrace. My special thanks to the students who helped showcase the College. Well done to all involved.
The Edmund Rice Mass provided an opportunity to launch the new Eddie’s Van – a symbol of our work at the margins of our local community. The van, along with the many volunteers involved in the outreach program, serves those at the margins each morning by providing breakfast and bringing together a diverse range of people from within the Terrace Family. We were able to purchase the new Eddie’s Van through the generous support provided at the Long Lunch in 2019. While that may seem a long time ago, your generous support will enable Terrace to continue its important mission.
Congratulations to all those involved in the Middle School Musical. Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat was a wonderful show and highlighted the diversity of talent within the Terrace Family. Similarly, congratulations to the boys involved in the combined All Hallows’ School and Terrace Senior Musical Freaky Friday – The Musical. Both productions were a credit to the students and staff involved. Well done.
Terrace welcomes Toowoomba Grammar School to Tennyson this weekend as we celebrate our inaugural GPS Indigenous Round. As Terrace strives to be a place of inclusion, the opportunity to acknowledge our indigenous history and connection is very important. Games will commence with a ‘Welcome to Country’ and there will be a focus on our Indigenous origins at the halftime break of the 1st Football game.
This Saturday will also allow the community to taste our new Merlo Timor coffee from the new Kolega Cafe operating at Tennyson. The Terrace Timor Network has officially launched a new partnership with Merlo Coffee to source and supply a Kolega Timor Coffee. My special thanks to Dean Merlo and his staff for their outstanding support and generosity. The Merlo Kolega Coffee is a Timorese single-origin peaberry coffee, with profits from sales being directed back to the people in Timor-Leste via the TTN. The coffee used at Tennyson will now exclusively be the Merlo Kolega Coffee. Kolega coffee can be ordered via the Merlo website or through this link and will be delivered to you the following day. By ordering this coffee you are supporting the TTN who contribute financially to a range of social and economic initiatives in Timor. Come along on Saturday, have a great coffee and consider changing your current home and work coffee to the new Merlo Kolega Coffee.
Students in Years 5, 7 and 9 undertook their NAPLAN testing this week. After being cancelled in 2020, it was pleasing to see how the students approached the testing program this year. My thanks to the many staff involved in the preparation and staging of these tests. The results will be available in August/September this year.
I mentioned earlier this year that the College has launched its new Strategic Plan – Towards 150. Over the coming weeks, I will expand on the Priority Areas outlined in the document. However, this week I will focus on the College’s new Mission and Vision Statements and outline the five Priority Areas.
Mission Statement
As a Catholic School in the Edmund Rice tradition, we inspire young men in their lifelong pursuit of knowledge, humility and wisdom through a liberating Catholic education that is informed by the life of Blessed Edmund Rice.
Vision Statement
As the Terrace Family, we commit to the formation and education of young men who will make a difference through service of God, the community and each other.
Our Priorities
As a future focused learning community with a strong tradition, we will continue to develop and enhance these priority areas over 2021 - 2025, with the College Leadership Team determining focus areas for each year. These actions will be detailed in Implementation Plans and reported on annually, before ultimately measuring and reviewing in 2025.
Each of these Priority Areas will be further explained in the Terrace News over the coming weeks.
Have a great week and enjoy the Merlo Kolega Timor Coffee at Tennyson.
God Bless.