Senior School Assembly

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]to our college assembly. As is customary at St. Gregory's events, we will start our assembly with acknowledgement of country by Kenan Pez and prayer led by Ashton Santau. Today, among other items in our assembly, we will recognize the efforts of our year 12 students.

[00:00:17]As we gather today for this academic assembly, we acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, the Darwell people, and pay respects to elders past and present. We recognize their deep and continued connection to this land, its waters, and community.

[00:00:31]And we honor the knowledge, culture, the traditions that have been shared here for thousands of years. May we continue to learn from the wisdom of the First Nations people as they pursue learning, curiosity, and excellence together.

[00:00:47]We begin our prayer in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[00:00:52]Loving God, today we celebrate the many blessings which have enabled our academic success. Bless us with wisdom as we use the gift of knowledge.

[00:01:04]Bless us with your grace and courage to always be ourselves.

[00:01:09]We pray as people of gratitude for the opportunities that are that are made available to us. Help us to share our gifts with others in this year of pilgrimage and hope. We pray that we grow in grace and courage that we become brothers and sisters who join together in service offering care and support nurturing hope. We pray this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen. St. Marlin and St. Gregory, merry our good mother. May we always remember.

[00:01:52]Please stand and join us as we sing with pride a national anthem.

[00:02:02]Australian.

[00:02:11]Oh, let us rejoice for we are one and free.

[00:02:18]We've golden soil and wealth for toil.

[00:02:23]Our home is g by sea.

[00:02:27]Our land abounds in nature's gifts of beauty rich and rare in history.

[00:02:38]Let every stage advance Australia fair in joyful strains. Then let us sing Advance Australia.

[00:03:00]This morning's assembly will have a focus on year 12 academic achievements, but also have a few items that show the talents of our students. This includes two musical items. Can I invite our first music item to the stage, James Darling from the year 12 music class playing Sultanss of Swing?

[00:03:59]You get a shiver in the dark. It's raining in the park. Meanwhile, son of the river is stopping your whole everything.

[00:04:13]A man is blowing Dixie double time.

[00:04:19]You feel all right when you hear the music.

[00:04:28]Well, now you step inside, but you don't see too many faces.

[00:04:36]Coming in out of the rain to hear the jazz go down.

[00:04:43]Competition in all the places, but the horns they blowing that sound way on down south.

[00:04:59]Way on down south London town.

[00:05:50]Nat.

[00:06:00]Then the man steps right up to the microphone says at last just as the time bell rings night. Now it's time to go home.

[00:06:19]Then he makes it fast with one more thing.

[00:06:26]We are the sultanss.

[00:06:30]We had a sen way.

[00:07:24]Heat.

[00:07:42]Thanks James on a wonderful performance.

[00:07:45]It's now time to celebrate with our year 12 cohort the students academic successes to date. to introduce our year 12 course awards and announce award recipients. Please welcome to the stage Mr. Bulock, our stage six academic careleer.

[00:08:08]Good morning staff, families, teachers and students. A significant focus of the assembly this morning is to acknowledge students from year 12 who have obtained excellent academic results in their courses based on their semester 1 reports. Awards will be presented to students for gaining first, second, and third in each course.

[00:08:30]I would ask that you hold your applause until the end of each group is announced.

[00:08:38]To our award winners, as you come across the stage, please head to the back of the hall to the media wall for a photo at the end and Mr. Brennan will present these awards.

[00:08:48]Oliver Adameck, first place, society and culture.

[00:08:59]Jackalim third place physics Tristan Chantong second modern history Cooper Klugton third place health and movement science Vincent toorgio equal first industrial technology timber Owen Fishlock third software engineering Cody Flynn teacher commendation vet business services Liam Gallagher third visual arts.

[00:09:59]Max Cleven, equal first, legal studies.

[00:10:07]Archie Graham, second place, mathematics standard 2.

[00:10:16]Fraser Hollessworth, second, English extension one.

[00:10:24]Christian Kachamardos, teacher commendation, vet construction.

[00:10:33]Leon Lejo third mathematics advanced Benjamin L prey equal third English standard in his absence Finn Miller equal first mathematics standard one Cameron Newell second society and culture Kai O'Brien Third, sport, lifestyle, and recreation studies.

[00:11:11]Reese Palmer, third, modern history.

[00:11:17]Can we congratulate the students on stage?

[00:11:28]Joshua Pierce, equal third, English advanced.

[00:11:35]Daniel Russo first software engineering.

[00:11:43]Lucas Ryan first English extension one.

[00:11:50]Harry Ryman equal third mathematics standard one.

[00:11:56]Joel Simjo third industrial technology timber George Smith teacher commendation vet hospitality Levi Thorp first modern history equal first mathematics standard 1 in his absence Jackson White, teach accommodation, vet fitness.

[00:12:30]Jackson Wolfford, second, sport, lifestyle, and recreation studies.

[00:12:41]We congratulate the students on stage.

[00:12:51]Jack Yates, third, legal studies.

[00:12:58]Nathaniel Antonius first mathematics standard 2 equal third studies in Catholic thought.

[00:13:06]Riley Bruce second English studies second studies in Catholic thought.

[00:13:15]Ashton Chansau second English standard second health and movement science.

[00:13:22]Charles Consungji second business studies equal third English advanced.

[00:13:29]James Dowling third music teacher commendation in vet construction.

[00:13:39]Isaac Filippo first studies in Catholic thought and first in visual arts.

[00:13:48]William Fineanos, first English studies, first sport, lifestyle and recreation studies.

[00:13:58]Ethan Matthews, first business studies, equal second studies of religion 2.

[00:14:06]Dylan Murray, equal first industrial technology, timber second, software engineering.

[00:14:17]Micah Pace equal first legal studies third society and culture.

[00:14:26]James Atkin third biology third business studies second physics.

[00:14:36]William Baragree third English studies equal third mathematics standard 1 equal third studies in Catholic thought and congratulate the students on stage Nate Baxter first English standard equal second studies of religion one and second visual arts Jaden Bernetti equal third studies in Catholic thought, teacher commenation vet hospitality and teach accommodation vet primary industries.

[00:15:19]Cody Danju second mathematics advanced equal first music first studies of religion 2.

[00:15:27]Jacobe Fernando equal third English standard first health and movement science and equal second studies of religion 2.

[00:15:36]Joshua Hootton equal third English advanced third mathematics standard 2 and first studies of religion one.

[00:15:46]Anthony Day second in biology, second in chemistry, third mathematics extension 2 equals second studies of religion one.

[00:15:59]Dylan Chu first place mathematics advanced third English extension one equal first music first physics equal second studies of religion one.

[00:16:12]Ethan Kenny, third, chemistry. Second, English advanced, second, English extension one, sorry, mathematics extension one, second mathematics extension two, and equal second studies of religion one.

[00:16:28]and Mitchell Williams. First biology, first chemistry, first English advanced, first English extension one, mathematics extension one, first mathematics extension 2, equal second studies of religion one.

[00:16:44]Please congratulate these students.

[00:16:55]Congratulations year 12 award winners on attaining excellent academic results in your courses based on halfearly reports. We will come back to some more awards shortly but for now it's time to celebrate one of our year 8 public speakers Noah W. Smith. Noah was extremely successful earlier this year as he won the CSDA public speaking grand final at St. Patrick's College Stratfield. Noah has kindly accepted the offer to speak this morning with his speech titled, "Let me ask you this.

[00:17:38]Firstly, I would like to remind all students of the college's internal competition, the 35th annual Gordon Federplace public speaking competition on Tuesday the 23rd of June, week 10. It is open to all students, both experienced and inexperienced. There are encouragement awards specific in every division specifically targeting new speakers. The winners will earn the right to uh represent the college at the Marrist Oratory on the 31st of August.

[00:18:13]The Gordon Feder place competition is the most important competition of the year. Topics and other information will be released on central on Monday the 25th of May, week six. Today we are going to hear a speech from Noah Smith of year 8 which he used to win the CSDA public speaking competition last term.

[00:18:40]This competition involved 76 Catholic schools across Sydney and 140 speakers in the year 8 division. Through three rounds, Noah's speech was judged to be the best of those 140 speeches. A truly outstanding achievement. I now introduce to you Noah Smith with his topic. Let me ask you this.

[00:19:13]I want to start with a small experiment.

[00:19:16]It might sound weird, but it's for science. Trust me. For the next 10 seconds, I'm not going to say anything.

[00:19:25]I'm just going to stand here in front of you. And I want you to just be here.

[00:19:40]How did that feel? For some of you, it was a relief. But for most of us, there was a twitch, a tiny internal itch to check a notification, to adjust your chair, or to wonder if I'd suddenly forgotten what I meant to be doing. We live in an era where silence feels like a technical difficulty. We've become a gap filling species. If there's a 30-second wait for an elevator, out comes the phone. If we're sitting at a red light, even though we shouldn't do it, out comes the phone. If we're waiting for the bus, can you guess? Out comes the phone. We've declared a war on boredom.

[00:20:23]Let me ask you this. When was the last time you were actually truly bored? Not waiting for something bored or nothing else to do bored. But sitting with yourself with endless possibilities bored. The tragedy is we think we are just killing time. But time isn't the only thing dying. We're killing our capacity for original thought.

[00:20:49]Neurologists talk about something called the default mode network. It's a specific circuit in our brain that only kicks in when you stop focusing on an external task. The book stolen focus by journalist Johan Hari discusses the default mode network as a vital part of our brain that is being taken over by today's world. All this constant stimulation rarely allows our brain to enter this state. But when you stop scrolling or working or listening to a podcast, your brain doesn't actually shut off. It turns inwards. It starts connecting dots you didn't know were related. It solves problems you didn't know you had. It's where all our greatest ideas and innovations come from. But today, we starve that network.

[00:21:38]We treat our minds like a vessel that must be filled with input 24/7.

[00:21:43]In a daydream, you are the author. In a stream, you're just the audience. We have traded the power to imagine our own worlds for the convenience of scrolling through somebody else's. We are so busy consuming other people's ideas, other people's vacation photos, and other people's outrage that we've left no room for a single thought of our own to grow.

[00:22:09]But there's a deeper reason.

[00:22:12]It's not that the internet is interesting. It's that boredom is a mirror. When the noise stops, the internal dialogue starts. And sometimes that dialogue is uncomfortable. It's where we hear all the questions we've been avoiding. Am I happy in this job?

[00:22:30]Why did I say that mean thing yesterday?

[00:22:32]Who am I when I'm not being productive?

[00:22:36]We use our devices as digital pacifiers.

[00:22:39]The moment a difficult thought bubbles up, we shove a screen in front of it to make it go away. We are numbing ourselves with content so we don't have to face the quiet. But the quiet is where the growth is. You can't have the breakthrough without the boredom. You can't have the aha if you never allow the to last more than 5 seconds. So my challenge to you today is a strange one.

[00:23:05]I'm not asking you to be more productive. I'm asking you to be less.

[00:23:12]So I'm asking you to protect the gaps.

[00:23:16]Tonight, when you're standing in line or waiting for the microwave to beep, stay in the gap. Resist the twitch. Let your mind wander. It might feel awkward. It might feel lonely. And it will definitely feel boring. But that boredom is the soil where your next great idea is waiting to break through. So, let me ask you this. If you never give your mind a chance to wander, how will it ever find somewhere new to go? Thank you.

[00:23:57]Thank you, Noah, for your speech. Ms. Morrison, our director of teaching and learning, will now announce the major academic awards for semester 1.

[00:24:15]Good morning, Mr. Brennan, special guests, parents, carers, teachers, and students. Today, we will present three major awards for our year 12 semester 1 academic presentation.

[00:24:27]The first award is the principal award for engagement in learning. This award is presented to five students who have the most commendable engagement in their learning results from their semester 1 reports. The second is the principles award for academic achievement. This award is presented to five students who have been most highly ranked so far in each of their courses. And finally, the year 12 semester 1 academic growth award is presented to the student who has demonstrated the most growth from the end of their preliminary report to the semester 1 year12 report across all of their courses. And I ask that we hold our applause until the end. Can I ask the following students come forward to receive their principles award for engagement in learning? Charles Consungji Jacobe Fernando, Joshua Hooton, Leon Lejo.

[00:25:48]Ethan Matthews.

[00:25:57]The principal's award for academic achievement is presented to the following students. Dylan Chu Cody Danju, Anthony Day, Ethan Kenny Mitchell Williams.

[00:26:50]And finally, our academic growth award for year 12, semester 1, is awarded to Thomas Draper. Thomas has made significant improvement in a range of his courses. He has improved by an average of 15% across all of his courses. Moreover, his current report has indicated a significant improvement in his engagement in learning.

[00:27:13]Can we please congratulate these students?

[00:27:24]Congratulations, gentlemen, on some fantastic results.

[00:27:36]Can I now call to the stage our second musical item of the assembly, Aiden Whitehead from year 12, playing Whiplash on the drums.

[00:28:01]Heat.

[00:28:24]Heat.

[00:28:55]Heat. Heat.

[00:29:01]Heat up here.

[00:29:26]Heat.

[00:29:39]Heat.

[00:30:11]Um, well done a well done Aiden and congratulations to all the other boys.

[00:30:15]Can I now please invite Mr. Brandon to select to give this address.

[00:30:26]Well, good morning to our our parents, uh the staff and the young men of St. Gregs. What a what a great assembly and thank you to our musicians and and to Noah. An outstanding speech. I was fortunate enough to um to hear Noah's speech at the grand final and certainly it was an incredibly high level of of public speaking but um every person in the room it was quite unanimous which is unusual for public speaking with the with the judges or the adjudicators and also the the audience that that know was a complete standout and again to speak in front of almost a or probably a thousand people this morning was just outstanding. So again, good morning staff, students, and parents. Today, as we gather as a school community to celebrate excellence, not only excellence, excellence in academic achievement, but excellence in character, perseverance, courage, and commitment. And it takes me back, and I talk about this, our strategic plan quite a lot, but it takes us back to the third priority that we have, which is looking at improving student learning outcomes and enhancing this culture of excellence. And today we are we are about celebrating that excellence. In a Catholic and Amara school, an awards assembly is never simply about marks, ranks or certificates. It's about recognizing young men who have chosen discipline over distraction, effort over excuses, and growth over comfort. It's about celebrating students who've understood that learning is not merely preparations for exams, but preparation for life. To our year 12 students receiving awards today, congratulations.

[00:32:00]You've earned this recognition through many unseen moments. The early mornings, the late nights, the drafts rewritten, the questions asked, the persistence shown when things were difficult.

[00:32:13]Success rarely comes in dramatic moments. More often, it is built quietly day after day, choice after choice.

[00:32:22]There's a story about the great sculptor Michelangelo.

[00:32:26]When he asked when he when asked how he created his masterpiece David from a block of marble, he reportedly said, "I saw the angel in the marble and carved it until I set him free."

[00:32:39]Your education is much the same. Every young person arrives with possibility already within them. The role of teachers, parents, and mentors is not to create greatness from nothing but to help uncover what is already there.

[00:32:55]Gifts of intellect, compassion, leadership, creativity, faith, and courage. And boys, that process is not always easy. Real growth involves challenge. It involves moments of failure, disappointment, uncertainty, and self-doubt.

[00:33:14]Yet often it is precisely those moments that shape the man that you become.

[00:33:20]The students we honor today are not necessarily those who found everything easy. Many succeeded because they learned resilience. They learned how to recover from setbacks. They learned that excellence is not perfection. It is persistence.

[00:33:36]As a Mara school, we also remember that achievement must always be grounded in humility and service. So Marcelon Champion wanted young people to become good Christians and good citizens.

[00:33:47]Something I challenge you pretty much every time I get a chance to speak to you. He believed education should form the whole person, mind, heart, and spirit. So while we celebrate academic distinction today, we also celebrate something deeper. Young men who support their classmates. Young men who lead with integrity. Young men who treat others with dignity. Young men who use their gifts not simply for themselves but for the good of others.

[00:34:17]Because in the end, your will never be a measure of your worth. The measure of your life will be the kind of man you become. How you treat people, how you respond when life becomes difficult, whether you stand up for what is right.

[00:34:32]Whether you use your talents generously, whether you become a source of hope, strength, and compassion for others. To our parents and families, thank you.

[00:34:42]Behind every successful student stands a network of sacrifice, encouragement, patience, and love. Your support matters more than you may ever fully realize.

[00:34:52]To our teachers, thank you for your dedication to the vocation of Cataly education. Your influence extends far beyond the classrooms and assessments.

[00:35:02]You help shape futures, values, and lives. And finally, to our year 12 students, this assembly celebrates achievement, but it should also inspire purpose. Don't settle for simply being successful. Aim to be significant.

[00:35:18]Be men of faith. Be men of courage. Be men of compassion. Be men who lift others up. And be men who make the world more just, more hopeful, and more humane. As you continue through your journey through this important final year in our college's hundth, remember that greatness is not reserved for the extraordinary few. Greatness is found in ordinary people who consistently choose what is good, true, and right. May you continue to strive for excellence. May you continue to grow in wisdom and humility. And may you always know that God walks beside you in every challenge, every opportunity, and every step ahead.

[00:35:59]Again, congratulations to all the award recipients and I wish you a good morning.

[00:36:14]Okay, gentlemen, before we do wrap up our assembly, I'm going to stand for the subt. So just standing quietly and singing with pride our sukumus Jerry Santa uses Glor Jerry.

[00:37:39]Thanks everyone. Please seated.

[00:37:45]Can I just stop by saying just thank you to