On behalf of St Thomas the Apostle school community I wish to thank our distinguished guests attending today to help make this a special event.  Bishop Greg, Maria Kirkwood, Greg Strickland from Brand Architects and Mark from United Commercial Projects, Principals from nearby schools and members of our Parish and School Advisory Committee.

I would like to acknowledge the vision and passion of Fr Denis O’Bryan who is valiantly building a vibrant community in a new suburb. Fr Denis is taking the threads from many places, cultures and people and weaving it into a special community. In partnership with St Peter’s Cranbourne East the parish has built a Secondary School campus, the first of its primary campuses and is about to begin the physical building of the Church on this site.

Fr Denis and Mr Brendan Marrinon worked together to create a vision of a school that would meet the needs of the students today and into the future. This is the last two sections of the capital projects that complete the school enabling a population of 700 students and 65 staff.

I would like to thank Brendan and all the staff who have worked with him on the Building team to bring his vision to life.

Our thanks to Greg and his team at Brand Architects for taking that vision and creating buildings that house and support this plan for learning and teaching.

Thank you to Mark and the team at United Commercial for the work in bringing the drawings to life with steel, concrete and talent.

A very special thank you to the teams from Diocese of Sale Catholic Education who work alongside schools through the building processes.

The Building Infrastructure team and our Regional Facilities officer Alistair Fixter who diligently help educators navigate the unfamiliar territory of building projects and processes.

The IT team who have worked to ensure that connectivity is futureproofed.

The school finance team who ensure our budgets allow us to build, maintain and in future renovate to keep our learning spaces contemporary and fit for purpose.  

Thankyou Ms Kirkwood for the work your teams do in ensuring schools are operating to their best in order to focus on our wonderful children and giving them spaces that allow them to grow, learn, explore and achieve.

Our school’s name recalls that St Thomas was one of Jesus’ chosen apostles. He journeyed alongside Jesus, learning from his teaching and being challenged by his message. In John’s Gospel we meet Thomas as Doubting Thomas; feeling left out having not seen the risen Christ who demands proof.

Thomas then rose to the challenge of spreading the Good News of salvation and lived his remaining life building Christian community.

We here at St Thomas The Apostle PS continue this mission using the four central pillars of prayer, service, thanksgiving and reconciliation to build a firm foundation for living and sharing the Christian story in word and action. While these pillars frame our doing it is the message of love central in the mission of Jesus that animate the life and work at our school today and into the future.

Kind regards

Mrs Kate Dourley

Principal