I am so incredibly thankful to all of you at Parklands for welcoming me so warmly this year. It has been an exciting, inspiring, challenging, eye-opening experience all the way through. I am grateful for all the many new people that I have been privileged to meet, from supportive colleagues, welcoming parents, sweet Prep students all the way through to a memorable bunch of Year 12s.

I can’t repeat often enough how much I have learned during this year. My most significant takeaway so far is all about how our College’s value of Christlikeness interacts with our Culture of Care. At the end of the day, what counts at Parklands is that every student finds a welcoming, accepting and loving place in which it is safe to grow, develop, make the necessary mistakes and learn from them, and to achieve your personal best through encouragement and support. This kind of care ultimately inspires students to flourish, to love God and to love others as themselves, as our mission statement says. I believe that if this is at the heart of a school, everything else that it should achieve will be possible.

As our teachers are wrapping up the year today and everything is being finalised to welcome our students and families back to 2018, I wish you a very happy and peaceful Christmas time with your loved ones. I hope that you will find enough time to refresh and restore, to connect with others and to celebrate God showing himself to us so humbly through his son Jesus.

Next year will see much growth, development and learning as we do life together as a big learning community. We will welcome some new families, give our best effort in the pursuit of learning and excellence, and trust God that he will complete our efforts. Through all the ups and downs of life together, we will be there to support each other in God-inspired love. It will be good to have a break, but I am looking forward to seeing you again next year.

Thank you to everyone who has played and will play a part in making life at Parklands so meaningful and pleasant.

God bless you

Mr Johannes Solymosi