Dear Friends and Families of St Paul’s,
It is with an extremely heavy heart that I write my final newsletter article as Principal of this amazing and beautiful College community. The past ten years have absolutely flown by and been full of the most wonderful and professionally rewarding experiences of my and my family’s life. I deliberately include my family in saying that as they have shared the journey and constantly speak of St Paul’s. They all follow us on Facebook, constantly marvelling at how special the school is!
I vividly remember the opening Assembly in 2015 when 8 students spoke words of welcome in their various native languages. This was in the presence of my family, including my then 85-year-old father. We were all teary-eyed then and spoke at home of how special St Paul’s appeared to be, even at first sight! Earlier this term my now 95-year-old father, my wife Deirdre and all our six children attended the Farewell Assembly – and again we were all overwhelmed with the same feelings of gratitude at being so unconditionally loved by a community that has given us so much.
Trying to find the right words to describe St Paul’s is a challenging task. Trusting, caring, lovingly diverse, respectful, safety-conscious, protective, driven to excellence, relationship-based, and faith-filled are just a few that describe how innately beautiful it is. We are an educational institution and providing a holistic, values-driven, academically excellent environment is at the core of our existence and is our purpose. But, as a Catholic school in the Edmund Rice tradition, we will always work tirelessly to live by our FRED values and our EREA Touchstones. This is not an easy task and navigating our way through ever-changing challenges is relentless. Societal pressures on families and then in turn on young children seem greater than ever before. What some students and their families have as burdens in life seem quite extraordinary and, in many ways, unfair. Hence, who we are as a caring, inclusive, supportive Catholic community must never change.
The most important word we use to describe who we are and who we will continually strive to be is FAMILY! We try our absolute best to treat our students as our own sons and daughters, the families as our own, the staff as sisters and brothers to each other. If this drives us and when combined with a commitment to understanding and empathy, the community flourishes. This is not easy so we must commit to our motto; Certa Bonum Certamen – to Fight the Good Fight, as St Paul himself would want us to do! I like to think that St Paul, Edmund Rice, Catholic Education S.A. and EREA Colleges Ltd all believe we do an exceptional job in this regard!
With a decade of amazing experiences comes a decade of even more amazing and loving relationships. To all the students, my heartfelt thanks for the laughs, the challenges, the sometimes-tough conversations that make us better people and for your commitment to growing into the absolute best version of yourself. To the families who have entrusted your daughters and sons to us. Thank you. That is a responsibility we have always taken seriously, knowing that sometimes we have more time with the children than some parents do and that it is only through working in partnership that any child can become who God wants them to become. We know that families trust us in this pursuit, and so again we say, thank you all.
To all the staff, past and present, who really do make St Paul’s the amazing place it is. It has been an inspiration to be given the blessing of being able to employ so many exceptional educators. We are and have been blessed with an amazing number and quality of applicants to join our family. To have shared marriages, births of children, passing of parents, sicknesses, milestone birthdays and so many other special occasions, has been a privilege.
The College is in exceptional hands, and this will only get better next year and beyond.
Staffing within a school also brings its challenges and as the Principal I know, and I accept the responsibility of making decisions that are not always easy and have an adverse effect on individuals. While I am particularly sorry about that, I hope people do understand we must always make decisions that are in the absolute best interest of our students.
Finally, to the Executive and Leadership Teams I need to express the deepest level of gratitude. Some people say that leadership can be a lonely existence, but it is not that way at St Paul’s. We have some of the most outstanding professionals you could only dream of working with. Mr Josh Foulis our Deputy Principal is the ultimate in that statement, a colleague who epitomises loyalty, trust, diligence, and commitment to all things St Paul’s. I certainly could not fulfil my role without him, and I am more deeply blessed when this is magnified by our exceptional Executive Assistant Ms Kerrie Cook, Ms Marianne Loftus (Head of Primary), Mr Tim Martin (Business Manager), Mr Anthony Farina (Head of Primary), our Secondary Leadership Team and our Primary Leadership Team.
As Meister Eckhart once said, “If thank you is the only prayer you ever pray in your entire life, it will be enough.” While that seems far too little to offer as an expression of my most sincere gratitude, I will promise this, that the St Paul’s family will always remain at the forefront of my thoughts and prayers. I will follow with great love and appreciation, all the future developments of St Paul’s and watch with a smile on my face, as we continue to live the life of an exceptional educational institution and welcoming family – to all.
I hope that you all enjoy the real meaning of Christmas. That the peace and joy God brings through the birth of Jesus gives much happiness, hope, and love to you and all those you care deeply about.
Take care, God Bless and thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
Paul Belton
Dear Friends and Families of St Paul’s,
It is with an extremely heavy heart that I write my final newsletter article as Principal of this amazing and beautiful College community. The past ten years have absolutely flown by and been full of the most wonderful and professionally rewarding experiences of my and my family’s life. I deliberately include my family in saying that as they have shared the journey and constantly speak of St Paul’s. They all follow us on Facebook, constantly marvelling at how special the school is!
I vividly remember the opening Assembly in 2015 when 8 students spoke words of welcome in their various native languages. This was in the presence of my family, including my then 85-year-old father. We were all teary-eyed then and spoke at home of how special St Paul’s appeared to be, even at first sight! Earlier this term my now 95-year-old father, my wife Deirdre and all our six children attended the Farewell Assembly – and again we were all overwhelmed with the same feelings of gratitude at being so unconditionally loved by a community that has given us so much.
Trying to find the right words to describe St Paul’s is a challenging task. Trusting, caring, lovingly diverse, respectful, safety-conscious, protective, driven to excellence, relationship-based, and faith-filled are just a few that describe how innately beautiful it is. We are an educational institution and providing a holistic, values-driven, academically excellent environment is at the core of our existence and is our purpose. But, as a Catholic school in the Edmund Rice tradition, we will always work tirelessly to live by our FRED values and our EREA Touchstones. This is not an easy task and navigating our way through ever-changing challenges is relentless. Societal pressures on families and then in turn on young children seem greater than ever before. What some students and their families have as burdens in life seem quite extraordinary and, in many ways, unfair. Hence, who we are as a caring, inclusive, supportive Catholic community must never change.
The most important word we use to describe who we are and who we will continually strive to be is FAMILY! We try our absolute best to treat our students as our own sons and daughters, the families as our own, the staff as sisters and brothers to each other. If this drives us and when combined with a commitment to understanding and empathy, the community flourishes. This is not easy so we must commit to our motto; Certa Bonum Certamen – to Fight the Good Fight, as St Paul himself would want us to do! I like to think that St Paul, Edmund Rice, Catholic Education S.A. and EREA Colleges Ltd all believe we do an exceptional job in this regard!
With a decade of amazing experiences comes a decade of even more amazing and loving relationships. To all the students, my heartfelt thanks for the laughs, the challenges, the sometimes-tough conversations that make us better people and for your commitment to growing into the absolute best version of yourself. To the families who have entrusted your daughters and sons to us. Thank you. That is a responsibility we have always taken seriously, knowing that sometimes we have more time with the children than some parents do and that it is only through working in partnership that any child can become who God wants them to become. We know that families trust us in this pursuit, and so again we say, thank you all.
To all the staff, past and present, who really do make St Paul’s the amazing place it is. It has been an inspiration to be given the blessing of being able to employ so many exceptional educators. We are and have been blessed with an amazing number and quality of applicants to join our family. To have shared marriages, births of children, passing of parents, sicknesses, milestone birthdays and so many other special occasions, has been a privilege.
The College is in exceptional hands, and this will only get better next year and beyond.
Staffing within a school also brings its challenges and as the Principal I know, and I accept the responsibility of making decisions that are not always easy and have an adverse effect on individuals. While I am particularly sorry about that, I hope people do understand we must always make decisions that are in the absolute best interest of our students.
Finally, to the Executive and Leadership Teams I need to express the deepest level of gratitude. Some people say that leadership can be a lonely existence, but it is not that way at St Paul’s. We have some of the most outstanding professionals you could only dream of working with. Mr Josh Foulis our Deputy Principal is the ultimate in that statement, a colleague who epitomises loyalty, trust, diligence, and commitment to all things St Paul’s. I certainly could not fulfil my role without him, and I am more deeply blessed when this is magnified by our exceptional Executive Assistant Ms Kerrie Cook, Ms Marianne Loftus (Head of Primary), Mr Tim Martin (Business Manager), Mr Anthony Farina (Head of Primary), our Secondary Leadership Team and our Primary Leadership Team.
As Meister Eckhart once said, “If thank you is the only prayer you ever pray in your entire life, it will be enough.” While that seems far too little to offer as an expression of my most sincere gratitude, I will promise this, that the St Paul’s family will always remain at the forefront of my thoughts and prayers. I will follow with great love and appreciation, all the future developments of St Paul’s and watch with a smile on my face, as we continue to live the life of an exceptional educational institution and welcoming family – to all.
I hope that you all enjoy the real meaning of Christmas. That the peace and joy God brings through the birth of Jesus gives much happiness, hope, and love to you and all those you care deeply about.
Take care, God Bless and thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
Paul Belton
