Dear Families,

Last week was Catholic Education Week across all 101 Catholic schools. It celebrates the solidarity we share as part of Catholic Education. You may have seen some social media across CESA and some features from our TMC Team as well. It has been excellent to celebrate both the unique gifts of Thomas More College, and the beauty of being part of a strong Catholic Education System. We appreciate being a leading school within CESA and love celebrating our work as a Catholic School.

We’ve had some significant events over the last and this week to signify this:

• Throughout last week, students wrote heartfelt messages of hope, support, and kindness on paper hearts and stars. These were then displayed around the school as gentle reminders that no one is ever alone and that even the smallest words can brighten someone’s day.
• Our Year 7s students embarked on a pilgrimage to St Augustine’s Church as a full cohort. Staff and students walked together and met leadership staff along the route, where students each collected an item for them to carry with them on their journey (shell, candle, cross). These were then presented at the Church where Fr Roderick engaged in a ‘teaching mass’ with students.
• This week, we held our second ‘sold out’ Principal’s Tour. It was a fantastic event where our students again took the lead in guiding enrolled and prospective families through the school. I love seeing families see and become enamoured with our school through fresh eyes.

In addition, very significantly we have just welcomed the election of a new Pope. This is the third such event in my lifetime, so we know these are rare; it is a milestone moment for the Catholic Church. From the Archbishop’s statement sent last week:

“The new Pope, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost OSA is an American Cardinal of the Catholic Church, born on 14th September, 1955 in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA) and was ordained a Priest in 1982. Pope Leo XIV has a background in canon law and has served in various international roles, including as a Missionary and Bishop in Peru, where he was appointed Bishop of Chiclayo in 2015.

In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, placing him in charge of overseeing the selection of Bishops worldwide. He was made a Cardinal on 30th September, 2023.

Our prayer today in the Archdiocese of Adelaide is one of thanksgiving to God for providing a good Shepherd for us all. He will be a Shepherd who walks before us and with us helping us to bring the joy of the Gospel to all people especially those on the margins of our society.”

During these events we are reminded of the worldwide Catholic Church of which we are an important part.

Weeks 7-10
I have been fortunate to have gained a place on a CESA Study Tour Pilgrimage and will be taking Renewal Leave for the last four weeks of the Term. During this time, I will be travelling to the UK and representing Thomas More College on three significant experiences. They are:

• The international Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education (GRACE) Conference at St Mary’s University Twickenham. GRACE is a global network of leaders, educators and researchers in Catholic education.
• A tour of high performing Catholic Academy Trust Schools. There are five primary and six secondary schools which are consistently amongst the top performing multi-academy trusts in the UK. This will be a chance to see how the schools are maintaining and improving high performance (and spread the ‘good news of TMC’ in this space too!).
• A Spiritual Heritage Pilgrimage - Celebrating 180 years of Catholic Schooling in South Australia. This 10-day pilgrimage in Ireland is a wonderful opportunity especially designed for CESA leaders to recognise, understand and celebrate more deeply the profound influence of the Irish on our schools in South Australia. It will include the places of significance and stories of those religious orders/founders involved in our Catholic schools across South Australia, including the Irish Dominicans, Christian Brothers, Irish Jesuits, Mercies, Brigidines, Carmelites and Benedictines. I was educated by the Christian Brothers and have worked at Dominican and Brigidine Schools (amongst others) so I am very excited about this leg of the trip.

I am very grateful for this opportunity and thankful that TMC can support me to continue to be the best leader I can be for the school. During this time Shannon Bertram will be acting Principal and Ruth Taylor acting Deputy, and they will do an excellent job as they have in the past.

I look forward to sharing news about this when I return.

Take care,

Corey Tavella
Principal