Dear Families
I wish you a very warm welcome to this special year in the history of Santa Sabina College. It is our 125th year of Catholic, Dominican education and we have much to celebrate and be thankful for. We begin the year with our 125th Anniversary Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral on Tuesday 5 February, with Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP presiding. The Heads of School will be communicating the details to all families, and we look forward to seeing many of you there. Archbishop Fisher shares our Dominican heritage and this adds a significant meaning to the celebration. He is very much looking forward to it. Although all seats are reserved and have now been allocated there will be some standing room available if you wish to join us.
Our High Tea following the mass still has seats available, so please book by 29 January to ensure you don’t miss out. This is a wonderful opportunity to mix with fellow parents, Dominican Sisters, ex-students and former College Principals in a beautiful setting a short walk from St Mary’s. Clicking on the image below will take you direct to the Trybooking site.
Please read Santa Scholars 2018 (below) to learn about about the breadth of achievement across the College. The 2018 HSC results were exceptional and you will read more about them in the publication. Santa Sabina was the leading Catholic school in NSW, and the analysis that we have just received shows that our “grand school average” is the highest in 12 years. The percentage of students gaining an ATAR over 90 has increased from 33% to 47% over the last four years. This improvement has been a collective and concerted effort arising from the College strategy. Our staff deserve rich commendation, as do our students who are focused, persistent and highly motivated. We congratulate them all.
For all families new to the College, you are joining a very welcoming and generous parent community. Please take the opportunities to join them at grade or year social functions, as well as at the Parents and Friends’ Association meetings each term. The more that you as parents feel connected to the school, the more likely it is that your sons and daughters will as well.
There have been some minor works undertaken at the College over the term break, including installing air-conditioning in classrooms according to a staggered schedule. We will undertake a new master plan this year with the focus on repurposing our existing buildings, particularly our beautiful heritage buildings. We want to ensure that our development is sustainable financially and environmentally. This was the approach taken with the transformation of the hall precinct to become the Siena Centre. We have completed the first two stages, and are hopeful that Stage 3 will occur this year. The fourth and final stage, which involves upgrading and redesigning the hall, will hopefully not be too far distant.
While this is my final year as College Principal, I still have much to do and accomplish before December. I am excited about the year ahead, seeing our students, and really looking forward to engaging with you in achieving all that Santa Sabina deserves.
Dr Maree Herrett
