COVID Safe measures:

Cases of COVID-19, flu and other winter illnesses continue to rise across Victoria, which is causing disruption for staff and students.

We have implemented several COVID Safe measures, such as air purifiers, improved ventilation and recommended mask wearing, based on advice from the Victorian Government that they will reduce the transmission of COVID-19, and help keep staff and students safe.

These measures will remain in place for the rest of winter to ensure that Catholic Regional College Caroline Springs can remain as safe and open as possible.

We have also deployed other measures, such as engaging casual relieving teachers, combining classes, rescheduling some school activities and having school leaders supervise classes, to minimise the disruption of staff absences.

The operational flexibility these measures provide enables us to minimise the disruption to the wider student body as much as possible.

I thank you and your child for your support, and patience, as my staff and I work through this challenging period.

College Musical Mamma Mia!

WOW what a wonderful, vibrant, fun, and very polished performance of this year’s musical Mamma Mia!, we have recently witnessed. I have watched the faces of the students as they have performed over the past week, and I have seen wide smiles and happy, joyful faces. Similarly, I also watched the audiences throughout the performances, and they also had permanent big smiles throughout the shows with plenty of laughter and singing.

This has been eight months in the making, and I am so deeply proud of all the students who have worked so tirelessly throughout this year. I was truly amazed, by the wonderful gifts and talents that our students have displayed, across so many diverse areas. In these shows we witnessed our students’ outstanding performing arts abilities, including singing, dancing, acting, and instrumental music playing. This production was an excellent opportunity for the students involved, to showcase their gifts and talents in an engaging and entertaining way. I thank the students for having the courage to step outside their comfort zone and initially undertake their auditions and then be brave enough to accept the roles, and then perform them so skillfully and stylishly.

This year we re-introduced a live band format, with a very skillful 8-piece band performing every single note of the musical score. The band led by conductor Dr Chris McGillan and Musical Director Mr Danny Godoy also practiced and rehearsed for many months and they sounded extremely professional and achieved outstanding results. I would like to thank all the student and staff musicians involved for their exemplary commitment to the college musical and for performing at such a high standard.

I would also like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all the staff that were involved in this year’s College production. In this production we witnessed the students and staff working collaboratively and creatively to bring out the best in each other. We are very proud of all involved, as they dedicated themselves to literally hundreds of hours of rehearsals, after school and on weekends.

The staff at CRC Caroline Springs are very committed and go above and beyond to support the students. Our students are indeed very lucky to have such great teachers and staff, who are so committed to providing them with these amazing experiences that they will all remember and cherish for the rest of their lives.

I am sure that anytime in the future, whenever the students in this year’s cast and crew hear an ABBA song in the car, on the radio or on tv, they will be reminded of the magnificent times they had here at CRC Caroline Springs as part of the Mamma Mia! musical cast. The fond memories, friendships, songs, and lyrics will all come flooding back to them.

We also thank those staff, students involved in vocal ensembles, backstage crew, front of house, and the many students, staff and our maintenance team involved in the painting and construction of the amazing musical set. The set looked fabulous. It was also very exciting to have so many past students volunteering their times and talents to assist backstage in numerous roles. We always warmly welcome our alumni back into our College community and we very much value and appreciate their efforts.

A very special and heart felt thank you, to the following staff who played very significant roles to put together this year’s amazing college production of Mamma Mia!:

Director: Ms Jordyn Bugeja

Producer: Ms Katie Franzone

Producer/Conductor: Dr Chris McGillen

Musical Director: Mr Danny Godoy

Acting Coach: Mr Ben Wisby

Photographer: Mr Shingo Gibson-Suzuki

Back Stage Manager: Ms Allison Caruana

Vocal Coach: Ms Elise Laguna

Instrumental Music Piano: Ms Maria Fiteni

Instrumental Music Guitar: Mr Luke Julian

In concluding, I also thank the parents and families of the students involved in the musical who have supported their participation and have often acted as taxi drivers, dropping off and picking up your son or daughter to the various after school and weekend rehearsals. The support and encouragement you have given you child has enabled their involvement.

We eagerly look forward to announcing the 2023 college musical in the upcoming weeks.