Today is a celebration of all that is good about our students, teachers and the School. It is wonderful to look & observe among you that positive energy that comes on Graduation Day.
Unfortunately due to Covid-19, it is not possible for all children and staff to celebrate this special day with you here in the cathedral but they are is a celebration of all that is good about our students, teachers and the School. It is wonderful to look & observe among you that all thinking of you and will join in when we go back to school with our pizza party.
Thank you to all the parents and guardians for coming to our Graduation ceremony.
Seeing all of you here today is a testament to the achievements of our graduates and to the love and support they have received over the years form the staff, parents and the whole school community.
I am enormously proud of the 6th class of 2021. Each one of our pupils has worked very hard to realise their full potential. They have preserved and worked towards achieving their goals in a very determined way through a world pandemic. Throughout fifth and sixth class they were thrown into the deep end- in and out of school – at no fault of their own. Their resilience shone through and you should be very proud. I’d also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of the staff for their hard work in supporting the boys during this pandemic!
Each of you have grown in a way that you should be so proud and are now ready to transition to a new exciting chapter in your lives. We endeavor to provide a holistic education in Sjtbbns.
It is not all about the academic achievements but rather about embracing all the various opportunities in sport, music & drama that the school offers to the students.
This year’s group of 6th class have grasped these opportunities and the staff have watched in awe as they developed both life skills and resilience skills across the broad curriculum in our school.
Can I take this opportunity to thank all you parents for your tremendous support and willingness to support your child’s education in our school. We value and acknowledge the support of the parent community in the provision of an inclusive education here.
Like everything else, behind the scenes there is a huge commitment going into each lesson prepared and an eagerness to be the very best staff we can be. It is a privilege for me to work with this staff and the school managers, who have such a skill-set and expertise in education and most importantly they spend quality time getting to know our boys. Their dedication to educating the students in our school is enormous.
I would also like to thank Austin Newman as he supported all of the children and parents the past five years and we wish him all the best as he returns to his teaching role. Your support, commitment and interest in sjtbbns is commendable. As well as that, thank you to Fr. Noel who has been extremely welcoming to me and the new staff and always readily available to support the boys and the school with our faith.
To all of our students here, the future is where you will spend most of your lives. The real power of creating and being responsible for your own future is unlimited. You will hopefully experience enormous joy in creating this journey for yourself and enjoy the benefits of it too. Of course there will be challenges ahead however when you are determined to succeed you will make the right choices for you! I encourage you to put all your energy ,your faith, talent and time into each opportunity that comes your way.
I am excited about the future for each of our students graduating today. You have the potential to be all you want to be.
I’m going to finish with a story that resonates with me as it symbolises everything you boys are capable of! Your ambitions and opportunities are endless and as you finish here in Sjtbbns, it’s your time to fly onto bigger and better things.
