I would like to acknowledge and thank all students, families, staff and our wider Rostrevor community for the many contributions made to all aspects of College life during 2024. It has been another rich and full year, another year in the history of Rostrevor College and another year that we have been enormously proud of the achievements of all the boys at Rostrevor.  

As the year comes to a close, we say goodbye to a number of staff who are concluding their time at Rostrevor and moving on to new experiences and opportunities. We thank, acknowledge and farewell Michael Vickery, Evan Pezos, Matthew Dell’Orso, Theo Pezos, Bram Schiller, Fatih Rantala-Hay, Olivia Punturieri and James Anfiteatro. We also farewell Acting Deputy Principal Cameron Alexander who has been here on secondment from CBC - I'm sure we changed the colour of his spirit from purple to red and black during his time here! We especially wish Michael Hingston, Annemarie Mein and Eugene Evans all the very best as they ease into retirement. 

We also give our blessings to Lisa Clark, Belinda DeConno and Richard Sachse as they take leave in 2024 to have experiences outside Rostrevor College but within the wider network of Catholic Education South Australia. 

On behalf of all the staff of Rostrevor College, I wish you all a joyous, safe, and happy Christmas. May the peace, love and spirit of Christmas be with each of you and your families.   

Our end of year Advent Liturgy was held for Reception to Year 9 students this morning. It was a beautiful reminder to be awake and alert to the unexpected signs of God’s presence around us in the lead up to Christmas. The ceremony saw the Year 9s lead us in prayer, the lighting of the Advent Wreath and the Year 4s share with us a delightful retelling of the Nativity as our reflection. We have much to be grateful for and as we prepare for the birth of Jesus, may we keep Christ at the heart of all that we do and may we be inspired by hope, peace, love and joy in the days ahead. 

Congratulations to Thomas Furst and Salvatore Papalia who have been named as the 2025 Junior Years Captain and Junior Years Vice Captain respectively. Both boys have displayed tremendous leadership skills over their time at the College, and I’m looking forward to seeing them thrive in their new roles as they lead Rostrevor’s youngest learners in 2025.

Yesterday we held our end of year Rite of Passage Ceremony for the 2024 Year 6 cohort. A Rite of Passage is a ritual event that marks a person's transition from one status to another, and in this case marks the transition from Junior Years to Middle Years and all the changes and milestones that come with it.  

The Year 6 Rite of Passage ceremony celebrated each young man for their journey thus far and for their future ahead. During the event we also asked God's blessing on all the Year 6 students as they embark on their journey in the Middle Years in 2025. 

This week we welcomed families of Reception to Year 6 students to the College to watch the dance routines Rostrevor’s youngest learners have been practicing with Ground Force Studios this term. Dancing through the decades, the Reception and Year 1 classes grooved to a medley of songs from the 1960s, Year 2s and 3s to the 1970s, Year 4s to the 1980s, Year 5s to the 2000s and Year 6s to contemporary music. Their funky costumes and impressive moves dazzled their audience, their hard work in rehearsals certainly paying off on the day. The teachers also brought the moves, surprising students and families with their own routine which finished in a heartwarming sendoff to retiring teacher Michael Hingston.

Yesterday morning, participants and staff from Jupiter Supports visited the College to work with students to create Christmas cards and gifts for their upcoming stall at the City of Adelaide/Adelady Christmas Village. The festive event, running on 13 and 14 December, features 100 stalls, including one each year dedicated to an autistic creator. This year, Jupiter Supports was selected to represent the Autistic Creators Collective - a significant honor and an opportunity to showcase the participants' creativity. 

Jupiter Supports, owned by the Borzillo family, holds a special connection to the Rostrevor community. The Borzillo family’s two sons are recent Rostrevor graduates, and several Old Collegians were on hand yesterday to support the participants. Among them were Joshua Borzillo (’20), Ryan Borzillo (’23), Stefan Spiniello (’20), Damon Stepic (’23), Julio Musolino (’23), and Jack Lazzaro (’23). These dedicated alumni are part of the nearly 40 staff members who contribute to Jupiter Supports’ mission of inclusion and empowerment. We commend Jupiter Supports for their incredible work and wish them success at the Christmas Village! 

Beloved Junior Years teacher Michael Hingston retires this week after teaching at Rostrevor College since 1984, enriching our community and impacting the lives and learning journeys of hundreds of students and their families over the last 40 years! Originally from Sydney, Michael followed his wife Sue back to her hometown and applied to work at the school her father went to in the 1940s - Rostrevor. Over his time here he has seen many changes, including many new buildings, nine different Principals and the progression from blackboards to Chat GPT. Michael has also taught many of his former students’ sons at Rostrevor, including the Dnistriansky family amongst others. The interview about his decades at Rostrevor that was included in last year’s Red and Black Magazine can be found HERE.  

Michael will be greatly missed by our community, including his 40th (and last) Rostrevor Junior Years class - the 2024 Year 4s. We wish him every happiness in his retirement. Thank you for your 40 years of outstanding service, Michael!  

The Rostrevor College front office and Junior Years office will close on Friday 13 December 2024 at 4:00pm. The front office will reopen on Monday 6 January 2025, 8:30am - 4:00pm. The Junior Years office will reopen on Monday 20 January 2025. 

The Manchester City Football School classes were treated to end of year class v class matches last week in what proved to be three very hotly contested but good spirited matches. 7E managed to secure a 2-1 victory over 7F with impressive goals recorded on both sides. The Year 8 class match this year served up another penalty shootout as 8F and 8B again could not be separated in normal time. After three misses in a row, 8F’s Jad Zeidan secured the trophy for 8F for the second year in a row, kicking his penalty off the cross bar to send the watching crowd into a frenzy. 

The Year 9 in-class match turned into an entertaining affair with the final score level at 1-1. With the sides unable to be separated, the game went to penalties. Jospeh De Sanctis stepped up for his squad and smashed the ball past the keeper to give his side the trophy.