By Amanda Murthy
Students and staff of Salvado Catholic College welcomed the opening of two new primary school buildings, a resource centre, two hard courts and a soccer pitch with a blessing and official opening event, marking the second stage of their school’s construction progress, on Friday 15 November.
Salvado College is the newest Catholic College and the newest college in the state, adding to the 161 existing Catholic Schools since, its’ inception back in 2016.
Salvado Catholic College Principal Santino Giancono welcomed special guests for the occasion, including Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) Deputy Executive Director and Director of Catholic Identity Peter Yensch, Member for Canning Andrew Hastie, Member for East Metropolitan Region representing the Hon Sue Ellery MLC, Hon Matthew Swinbourn MLC, Abbot of New Norcia Right Reverend John Herbert OSB, Daniel Garlett, and Father Mark Baumgarten, St Francis Xavier Armadale Parish Administrator – along with the families of the students.
“We are very thankful to CEWA for having the foresight to Salvado College back in 2016. In our foundation year, we started with 105 students and 12 staff, and today as you can see we have over 300 students and over 30 staff, and over 400 student by next year,” Mr Giancono said.
“To all our staff, thank you. We continue to speak about being a part of Salvado Catholic College and the commitment you have put into this place and the students in our care.
“To our students, we do what we do for you. We thank God for all of you, for choosing Salvado and we look forward to build a strong sense of community here and ensure that there is justice, peace and compassion in all that we say and do – as we work, play, and pray together,’ Mr Giancono added.
The Salvado Catholic College Choir presented two songs during the event, singing ‘Receive the Power,’ and ‘Our God is Here.’
Fr Baumgarten who led in the blessing and dedication ceremony, remarked the words of Jesus, during his address, calling on all present to always strive to be ‘living stones that make up the temple of God.’
“My prayer, is that everything that happens inside of your school buildings, will be all for the glory of God -That we may learn of the important things, not only of the reading, writing and all the theoretical things that you will learn – but pray that you will learn of the things of God, who is very present in our lives,” Fr Baumgarten stated.
“This is a large part of the reason why Salvado exists.
“Remember that although it is important that we have this big beautiful building and space to do the vital work of educating and providing the needs of the students in this school, at the end of the day, what’s more important is what happens inside of the building,” he concluded.
During the official opening address, Mr Yensch thanked the Government and State government for supporting the work of Catholic Education in WA, as CEWA approaches their 200 year milestone next year.
“We have 162 schools here in WA, and our newest school is indeed Salvado College. So, our Catholic Education does live on through the Spirit and we are very proud of this tradition.
“Thank you to the government, and the state government for all your support, we really appreciate it,” Mr Yensch cited.
Mr Hastie said the $1,343, 008 provided by the Commonwealth Government was made possible through the Capital Grants Program, which provides funding for non-government schools to improve capital infrastructure.
“A huge purpose of this college is about developing young hearts, minds, and bodies to be of service to their community and I think Catholic Education does a great job at this.
“That is why we are very excited as the Australian Government to support schools like Salvado College.
“The college are doing an excellent job offering in greater choice of quality education for families in Byford. These new primary buildings and outdoor sport areas will further enhance the learning environment,” Mr Hastie concluded.