Celebrating 40 Years of Co Education At St Patrick’s College
By Mrs Liz Illingworth, Principal
'A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots'
— Marcus Garvey
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF CO EDUCATION AT ST PATRICK’S COLLEGE
Tomorrow we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Co Education at St Patrick’s College. This is a day when we acknowledge the contributions of the Presentation Sisters, the Sisters of St Joseph and the Christian Brothers who all courageously brought Catholic Education to Launceston when they opened Sacred Heart College, St Thomas More's and St Patrick’s College.
In February 1873, the Presentation Sisters began teaching pupils at their convent in Launceston. With its small beginning, Sacred Heart College was established. The growing need for the education of Catholic children in Launceston was further met by the arrival of the Christian Brothers and the opening of St Patrick's College in York Street in 1919. The third branch of this educational tradition began with the establishment of St Thomas More's School, Newstead, under the auspices of the Sisters of St Joseph in 1938. The schools grew as the Religious Orders made a significant contribution to the Catholic community of Launceston. Despite the hardships of earlier years, the Catholic community continued to invest in the education of their children. In 1958 the Christian Brothers opened a new campus for St Patrick's College at Prospect Vale. This became a secondary college for boys.
Further financial strain and the challenges of a more extensive curriculum led to an amalgamation of the two secondary girls’ Colleges. In 1978 Sacred Heart and St Thomas More's joined to form Marian College. Finally, in order to provide a continued high standard of education for Catholic families, a further amalgamation of schools occurred when St Patrick's College and Marian College joined to create the new co-educational secondary College which is St Patrick's College today. This major shift in Catholic education took place at the beginning of 1984 heralding a new era of enthusiasm, vision and endeavour. In 1998, the Year 7 classes left the Newstead campus and joined the other classes at Prospect, completing the amalgamation process to a Catholic college on a single campus.
The College today is a thriving place, educating 1548 students in 2024 and employing over 250 staff. As a College we are a significant contributor to the Launceston community and well respected for our Catholic Identity, our Educational Programs and our outstanding facilities. We look forward to the innovations that will occur over the next 40 years.
FAREWELL TO OUR YEAR 12 GRADUATES OF 2024
In Term 2, our 2024 Student Executive presented the whole school Assembly. At this same time, they launched their theme for 2024 - 'Unmask the Real You'. As a College community, the Student Executive challenged us all to take off our masks, to be brave, to be ourselves, to be vulnerable, to show up as ourselves, to be authentic and to be courageous.
Over the next few days we will be farewelling our Year 12 Graduates of 2024. We are proud of each of them and their achievements over their time at St Patrick’s College. As a College we wish them well, we encourage them to be themselves, daring and courageous as they venture away from the security of our community to new starts.
Next week will be one of celebration and reflection for our Year 12 students, staff and you, their families. We look forward to the many planned opportunities to celebrate and farewell our students within their Year, Tutor and House Groups and at Mass on Thursday night, followed by the Valete Celebration. We know that our students will maintain high standards and participate over their final week respectfully.
The final opportunity to celebrate our Year 12s again, along with their parents/guardians, will be at our End of Year Mass and Year 12 Graduation Ceremony on Thursday 12 December, at the Silverdome.
END OF YEAR MASS AND YEAR 12 GRADUATION
Our culminating event for the College Year is our End of Year Mass and Year 12 Graduation, which will be held at the Silverdome on Thursday 12 December commencing at 6:00pm.
All students are expected to attend this event and we hope that parents/guardians will join us for this celebration.
Enjoy the week ahead.
