Page 1066 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 24 March 2015
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educational value attributed to the outdoor learning space is significant for all. As a result, the valley ponds project improves the quality of the ecological habitat and community spirit. I encourage all members to visit the valley ponds and see the improvements for themselves.
Daramalan College
MR DOSZPOT (Molonglo) (4.39): On Friday, 13 March 2015 Daramalan College hosted two major events. During the day close to 1,500 students and staff took part in the annual charity walk around Lake Burley Griffin to raise funds for St Vincent de Paul and Caritas Australia. The event is a major activity of the parents and friends association and the staff were greatly assisted on the day by a large number of parents who helped out at checkpoints as well as on the barbecue and drink stands to feed the hungry runners and walkers at the end of the course. I understand that close to $30,000 was raised from the charity walk around Lake Burley Griffin for St Vincent de Paul.
That evening, I had the pleasure of attending the Daramalan College official opening of the Littleton extension, which houses a number of new facilities, including a large self-serve canteen, a new years 11 and 12 common room and a flexible learning space that can seat 200 people.
The impressive addition to the Daramalan College infrastructure, the Littleton extension, was named in honour of Father James Littleton. Father Jim is a Missionaries of the Sacred Heart priest and has been a member of the college board since its inception in 1962. Father Jim was the principal of Daramalan College from 1971 to 1979, and returned to the staff in 1998 as assistant to the principal until he retired. He is currently chair of the policy review committee and a member of the governance committee and building, development and facilities committee.
He has been principal of three Missionaries of the Sacred Heart schools over a period of 20 years and has been the delegate of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Provincial on the boards of the four MSC schools in Australia—Chevalier College, Bowral, New South Wales; Daramalan College, Dickson, ACT; Downlands College, Toowoomba, Queensland; and Monivae College, Hamilton, Victoria. Father Jim holds a Bachelor of Religious Studies, a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New England and a Master of Arts (Education) from the University of San Francisco. He is a Fellow of the Australian College of Education.
At this event the college also launched its scholarship fund, which is aimed at providing a number of students from financially disadvantaged families with the opportunity to attend the college. Three former students of the college from different eras spoke at the event—Michael Kelly, who was one of the early pioneer students of Daramalan; Adrienne Day-Hodge, who was amongst the first female students to be accepted when Daramalan became a co-ed school; and George Southwell, who completed year 12 in 2014. It was fascinating to hear these former students’ experiences at Daramalan and how these have had a lasting influence on their lives.
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