Dear Our Lady of Lourdes Parents and Carers,

As you are all aware, Fr. Brendan Hayes will retire at the beginning of Term 3. Fr. Hayes has been an amazing support, faith leader, and educator for our school and parish for the past 20 years. I wish Fr. Hayes all the best for his retirement and hope he enjoys his free time to travel.

On Thursday, I had the pleasure of meeting Fr. Hayes' successor, Fr. Dean Mathieson. Fr. Dean has been the parish priest at St. Luke the Evangelist in Blackburn South for the past few months and has held numerous roles in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane since his ordination. Fr. Dean will be a wonderful addition to our school community, and I look forward to welcoming him officially when he begins next term.

It is with sad news that we bid farewell to our French educator, Madame Laurence. Laurence and her family have decided to relocate back to France to be with their family and friends. We are sad to see them go. We wish Laurence all the best in her move back to France and hope this may open the door to building a school-to-school friendship in the near future. We have begun our search for Madame Laurence's replacement and hope to have an announcement to share with you very soon.

On behalf of all the staff at Our Lady of Lourdes, I hope you have a wonderful two-week school holiday break. We look forward to hearing about your holidays when you return on Monday, July 15th.

Together, we can achieve great things. Thank you for your continued support and dedication.

Adrian McAlister
Principal