Celebrating Faith, Achievement, and Leadership

As we journey through Term 3, our College community continues to flourish through meaningful celebrations, sporting excellence, professional growth, and leadership renewal. These moments reflect our shared commitment to faith, learning, and child safety.

Father’s Day Mass and Breakfast

This term also saw the celebration of our Father’s Day Mass and Breakfast, a heartfelt tribute to the fathers, grandfathers, and father figures who nurture and guide our students. The event was a beautiful expression of gratitude and community spirit.

SACCSS Athletics Carnival

Held at Lakeside Stadium in Albert Park, the SACCSS Athletics Carnival showcased the talent and determination of our student athletes. From sprints to relays, our students represented the College with pride and sportsmanship. Congratulations to all participants and staff who supported this event. It was a successful day, especially for Samuel Dunning and Leanne Ellis, who were their respective age group champions. Leanne broke two records as well. In the aggregate championships, the students were 1st in Junior, 3rd in Intermediate and 1st in Senior divisions. 5 Pennants and 3 trophies have been added to what has been an impressive collection. It’s the first time that the College has won an athletics aggregate. Well done to all involved.

Vinnie’s Winter Sleepout

Many thanks to Mr Chesser and other staff who assisted with the Winter Sleepout. The event was successful and provided great opportunities for students to share time to reflect and appreciate ways in which they can help improve the circumstances of others, particularly the homeless in our society.

Child Safety Training

All staff have recently completed professional training in child safety, delivered by Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) Reportable Conduct Scheme (RCS) Team and Child Safety (CS) Team. This training reinforced our unwavering commitment to creating safety, inclusiveness, and accountability for every student. It aligns with our ongoing efforts to embed the Child Safe Standards into every aspect of College life and the training explored our responsibilities with Reportable Conduct and Mandatory Reporting.

Why Do We Carry Out Such Training?
Our Collective Call to Action: A Commitment to Child Safety

It is considered that in our society, many of our children endure the trauma of abuse in experiences that shape their journeys in negative ways. As an educator, I have witnessed the impact of abuse in children, often leading to vulnerability, lack of trust, setbacks and delayed healing. At times, for years, many children carry the weight of silence and pain.

As the principal of the College, I carry not only the responsibility of leading a school but the sacred duty of protecting every child under our care. My commitment, and that of my peers, empowers us to prioritise child protection as the most important responsibility we hold. Our values at CCCC fuels our unwavering commitment to ensuring that no child in our community ever feels unsafe, unheard, or unprotected.

Child safety is not just a policy, it is a culture. It is embedded in every decision we make, every space we create, and every relationship we nurture. The College is committed to fostering an environment where children feel safe to speak, where staff are vigilant and accountable, and where families trust that their children are in good hands. The Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) Child Safety Standards guide our practices, but our College values guide our commitment and actions. The College advocates for transparency, trauma-informed care, and the courage to confront harm wherever it may arise.

As parents and carers, you are integral members of the College community, and you play a big part in our mission.

• Let us work together to build a culture of safety, respect, and compassion.

• Let us speak up when something doesn’t feel right.

• Let us listen with empathy and act with integrity.

• Let us ensure that every child knows they are loved, valued, protected, and never alone.

Together, we can be the guardians of hope and healing.

Leadership Appointments

I am pleased to announce the following leadership appointments that will further strengthen our College’s commitment to excellence in Catholic education and student wellbeing.

Following what was a very long process with several interviews and in some cases, second interviews, I am confident that the successful candidates will give a lot to our community. 

Deputy Principal, Mission: Tristan O'Brien
Tristan brings a deep commitment to faith formation, social justice, and Gospel Values in action, and will lead our mission and Catholic identity with passion and purpose. Tristan has extensive experience as an active servant of what is the mission of the church and will continue to work in his work on outreach, engagement with the community and educational leadership. In his application, Tristan wrote:

“Throughout my education and youth work history, I have always endeavoured to place the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual wellbeing of young people at the forefront of my work. I believe firmly in the innate dignity and potential of every young person and choose to respond as such. Seeing in them the face of God, deserving of my effort, service, and professionalism. For me, education has long been a path for every young person to access a future of their choosing, as free from prejudice, disadvantage and barriers as reasonably possible”.

 

Deputy Principal, Operations: Kat Nguyen
Kat’s experience in strategic planning and school operations will be invaluable in ensuring the smooth and effective running of our college. In 2025, her support of the leadership team has been invaluable, particularly as we ensured compliance across child safety and supervision of students. She has supported the College in finding spaces when the QA was no longer accessible, has been supportive of me in my first year at the College and is always willing to learn. Kat has been a strong voice in the planning of the upcoming construction projects and shared this in her application: 

“Operational leadership, to me, is a form of service that ensures the right conditions are in place for staff and students to succeed. This includes the development and oversight of timetabling, events scheduling, daily operations, compliance, duty rosters, supervision, transport, and facilities management. My leadership in these areas is driven by collaboration, foresight, and attention to detail, with a strong commitment to supporting the teaching and learning program to enable student engagement”. 

 

Deputy Principal, Staff: Paul Toney
Paul currently works at Loyola College, Watsonia, as the DP of Staff and Compliance. Paul will lead the development and support of our teaching and non-teaching staff, fostering a culture of professional growth and collaboration. Paul’s experience extends to work in England and many other schools in Victoria. Paul’s experience and dedication were evident through the process. He shared this in his application: 

“As an experienced leader in Catholic Schools at both Loyola College and St Columba’s College in St Albans (Brothers of the Sacred Heart) I have played a role in shared leadership within the College mission, vision, and identity. My focus is centred around building a clear vision by establishing a commitment to goals, encouraging high expectations and showing high visibility in the school setting”.

 

Deputy Principal, Students: Melissa D'Amico
Melissa’s student-centred approach and dedication to wellbeing and engagement will be instrumental in supporting our young people to thrive. She is a leader in the education of STEM, having been an integral member of the creation of the STEM Centre at St Columbus College. Her capacity to discuss student engagement and wellbeing as central to learning and the innovation that schools must embrace to engage were outstanding. She has wide experience and commitment to education, having recently served as senior pastoral leader, and innovation and learning leader at Assistant Principal ranks at Aitken College, Greenvale. She wrote this in her application: 

“The wellbeing of students is intricately connected with their learning experience. I am committed to delivering a curriculum that fosters diversity, seeks the ‘truth’; and develops faith filled global citizens with a sense of justice that will enable them to flourish. It is important to sustain a community that is nurturing and one that truly understands the students’ spiritual, intellectual and creative needs”.

 

Each one of these leaders brings a wealth of experience, a strong commitment to Catholic education, and a deep understanding of our college’s values and vision. I am confident they will make a significant contribution to the continued growth and success of our community.

Please join me in congratulating Tristan, Kat, Paul, and Melissa on their appointments, and pray that they are given the wisdom to help steer our College in the right direction.

Sadly, I wish to acknowledge the resignation of Mrs Ruddick, our Deputy Principal of Learning and Teaching. We thank her for her years of service, her passion for educational excellence, and her unwavering support of staff and students, particularly during the challenges that the College experienced in recent years. Her legacy will continue to inspire our learning community.

Dr Napoleon Rodezno
College Principal

Dear Families,

As we near the end of Term 3, it is timely to pause and reflect on the learning opportunities and milestones that have taken place across our College community.

On Wednesday 7 August, all Year 9–11 students participated in the College’s Subject Selection Conferences. Each student attended a one-on-one appointment with a course counsellor to carefully consider their 2026 subject choices. These conversations are an important milestone in each student’s learning journey, allowing them to reflect on their strengths, passions, and future aspirations. We hope that this day was both exciting and inspiring, encouraging our students to take ownership of their learning pathways and to see the possibilities that lie ahead.

Our Year 7 and Year 9 students recently received their NAPLAN results, while our Year 8 and Year 10 students received their Academic Assessment Services results. These standardised assessments help us gain a deeper understanding of student progress and achievement whilst providing insight into areas where improvements can be made in both literacy and numeracy. This data is used by teachers, parents, and the College community, as it guides our efforts to support future student learning.

The College is pleased to share the results of the 2024 NAPLAN tests with our community. We celebrate that the combined proportion of students achieving in the Strong or Exceeding bands across all domains is at or above both state and national levels. This is an outstanding achievement and reflects the hard work of our students and the commitment of our teachers to delivering high-quality learning. A full breakdown of these results can be found in the tables below.

While we celebrate these successes, we are also committed to continual improvement. Analysis of both current and past results has highlighted that some of our Christ the King students require further support in numeracy. In response, we have introduced a new mathematics tutoring initiative for selected students in Years 7–9 at Christ the King. This program is designed to provide targeted support and intervention, ensuring that every student has the skills and confidence they need to thrive in mathematics and beyond.

For our Year 12 students, the coming weeks mark an important transition. They are now completing their final pieces of coursework before moving into their Trial Examinations, which will commence on Thursday, 18 September. We wish our senior students the very best as they prepare for these assessments. The September school holidays will no doubt be a critical time for focused revision as they build towards their final VCAA examinations later this year.

Lauren Markovic

Acting Deputy Principal, Learning & Teaching

Major Works

September has seen the commencement of two major projects at the college.

• Quin Auditorium. Works have now commenced to rectify the issues with the roof of the Quin Auditorium. The strengthening of the roof structure in addition to modifications to the foyer, female toilets, disabled toilet will occur. The Quin Auditorium will be a welcome addition when it becomes available during term 1 2026.
• Improved access and facilities St John’s building. Work has commenced with the replacement and modernization of the passenger lift located in the St. John’s Building. As well as the lift, an additional disability access toilet is being constructed on the ground floor. Both projects will enable the college to continue to meet our requirements to provided for student needs. The additional toilet will be completed late term 4 whilst the lift will be available for the start of 2026.
• VET / STEM Centre. We hope to appoint the main contractor for this exciting project this week. It is hoped works will commence during the Term 3 school holidays.

Allan Thompson
Business Manager

Community Programs

We're extremely lucky to have a number of programs being offered by local groups and partner organisations. 
We hope you'll consider attending some over the coming weeks!
 

Maribyrnong Spring Holidays Programs

Looking for some activities for over the school holidays? The Phoenix Youth Centre, run by the Maribyrnong City Council, has a number of programs available, from cupcake decorating to excursions into the city!

Cupcake Decorating: https://www.maribyrnong.vic.go...

Matcha Painting: https://www.maribyrnong.vic.go...

ACMI Games World: https://www.maribyrnong.vic.go...

Indoor Trampoline Centre: https://www.maribyrnong.vic.go...

Plus, if you're looking to make a difference and get involved with your local community, during Term 4 students can sign up for the Youth By Nature program here: https://www.maribyrnong.vic.go...

Fathers Day Mass and Breakfast

We love welcoming our students and their families each year to celebrate the father figures in their lives!
This year was no different, and we were so excited to see the chapel at our 204 site filled with families on Friday morning. 

St Vinnies Conference and Winter Sleepout

Last week some of our socially-minded students attended the St Vincent de Paul Society conference at Marian College.

Excitingly, they gave a presentation while there to students from other schools about our recent winter sleepout. Congratulations to all our students who did such a good job not only presenting, but also at the sleepout itself!

Sustainability Week 

Last week was sustainability week!

We've had daily challenges, a recycling program, and planted Australian native foods in our CTK garden beds in order to improve our College's biodiversity.

Overall it's been a great week, and hopefully we've managed to make our campuses a little more sustainable!

Updated TISC

Our TISC has had an upgrade!
We've got new furniture, updated interiors and more - we encourage students to pop in and have a look, or even borrowing a book!

Excursion to the Hellenic Museum

Our Year 7 History students enjoyed an excursion to the Hellenic museum, where they could explore the art and history of ancient and contemporary Greece. 
They looked at all aspects of Ancient Greek life, including weaponry, culture and art!

Year 7 Textiles Class

The students created beaded lizard keychains and then worked collaboratively to design and assemble a larger-scale version as a team project.

It was a great opportunity for them to practice fine motor skills, creativity, and teamwork while exploring different aspects of textile craft. The boys really engaged with the task and were proud of their results. 

VM small Business Day

On Friday our Unit 4 VM students planned and implemented community projects across the College.

Staff were excited to have their cars washed, and both staff and students enjoyed purchasing suasuages, ice cream spiders, dim-sims and more!
After stalls were completed, students evaluated the group results, and donated all funds to a chosen charity. 

Mathematical Association of Victoria Games Day

On August 20th, 8 Year 8 students from CCCC participated in the MAV Games Day at Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School , competing against Melbourne's top schools. 

We extend our congratulations to Joanne Deepak, Bawi Khaimi, Felix Ly, Miranda Nguyen, Allayna Tran, Jonah Tran, Marley Von-Gurung, and Delphi Yong for their outstanding efforts.
Their performance was exceptional, with the girls' team placing 17th and the boys' team 19th out of 57 participating schools. Their success is a testament to their dedication and mathematical prowess.

Season of Creation, Spring 2025
Peace with Creation

Every year from September 1st, the Christian family unites for this worldwide celebration of prayer and action to protect our common home.
It is a special season where we celebrate God as Creator and acknowledge Creation as the divine continuing act that summons us as collaborators to love and care for the gift of all that is created. As followers of Christ from around the globe, we share a common call to care for Creation. We are co-creatures and part of all that God has made. Our well-being is interwoven with the well-being of the Earth. You may learn more here: https://seasonofcreation.org/

And so we pray...
Creator of all,
we praise you for the gift of life and for the faith that unites us in care for our common home.
We confess how estranged we have become - from one another, from your Creation, and from our truest selves.
We acknowledge that our greed and destructive impulses have fractured our relationships with you, with others, and with the Earth.
Fertile fields have become barren, forests lie desolate, oceans and rivers are polluted.
Thriving communities have become places of suffering, and the earth cries out.
May we come together as one family, to labour for your peace - a shalom where all your people may dwell in safety, and rest in quiet places.
Amen.