Principal's News 2026 Term 2 Week 4
By Simon Doyle, Principal
Mother's Day Breakfast 2026
Our BDC Mothers Day Breakfast was an outstanding celebration of our wonderful mothers, grandmothers and special friends and the difference you make at home and BDC. Thank you for coming in and joining this important BDC event, and we hope last weekend was special for everyone. Thank you to the team who catered to over 700 guests for breakfast and our generous sponsors for the raffle.
AFLW Success
At the end of last week, the College also received the announcement that BDC Alumni Amaia Wain from the Class of 2025 was the draft pick number four for AFLW. This is an incredible achievement from a talented athlete who was also in our High Performance Program. Amaia consistently demonstrated her dedication in her academic studies and the BDC Way across integrity, courage and mutual respect, and she achieved the AMPOL Award for Best All-Rounder in 2025.
We share this from Amaia:
“Monday night was an incredibly exciting night, getting drafted to the Bulldogs. It has been a crazy whirlwind week, having to relocate to Melbourne within 4 days. Striving towards the highest level has been an amazing adventure, but it’s not always easy. You have to push yourself to the limits, celebrate the small wins and always be resilient.
Being a regional athlete comes with the additional complication of huge hours of travel. Last year, I would train in Sydney until 7pm, drive home late at night, arrive at 1am, then go to school the next day. In addition to that, my weekends were also spent on the road travelling to matches in different cities.
The support I received from my BDC teachers was amazing, always making learning accessible to me, even though I missed a lot of classes. Ms Nat Titcume, from the High Performance Program, took a special interest and often followed how my footy games were going. The High Performance Program at BDC was really helpful in my development, providing me with an opportunity to do additional training sessions whenever I needed. I am incredibly grateful for the support and assistance the BDC staff have given me to help me excel at school as well as succeed in sport.”
Congratulations Amaia and her proud parents.
Growth through opportunity
Bishop Druitt College believes that growth begins at the edge of comfort. Encouraging your child to try something new, whether it’s a different subject, a creative pursuit, a sporting challenge, or a service opportunity, opens the door to discovery, confidence and resilience. Within our inclusive and supportive community, grounded in The BDC Way, students are empowered to step forward with curiosity and purpose. When young people are supported to take up a new choice or opportunity, they not only uncover new talents but also deepen their sense of belonging and develop the skills they need to thrive in an ever changing world.
The opportunities our students have far exceed what I had when I was at school and, as I write this article, in particular, Term 2 seems to be full of many varied opportunities. Many areas we excel at, like the local production of Oliver at the Jetty Theatre with many of our students in the cast, we wish them well. Or the NCIS Cross Country, where we have achieved first in primary and secondary categories based on percentage points. We are pleased to add that over 120 students made it to NCIS and 67 made it through to CIS. Congratulations to our staff for encouraging sport and also to our students for their participation and competition against the independent schools.
Da Vinci Decathlon
Two teams have made the state finals for the Da Vinci Decathlon in Sydney this week. This is a team event in an academic competition designed to challenge and stimulate the minds of school students. Students compete in a team based on the disciplines including engineering, mathematics and chess, code breaking, art and poetry, science, English, ideation, creative producers, cartography and legacy. Leonardo da Vinci (1452 to 1519) was one of the world’s greatest thinkers and scholars. Da Vinci demonstrated an ability to perceive the interconnected nature of knowledge and embraced learning, and hence this competition has an emphasis on higher order thinking, problem solving and creativity. Congratulations on making it to the state finals.
Ethics Olympiad
The Ethics Olympiad Team had a wonderful 4th place result last week and the team included: River Lazzaro, Alex Hargraves, Cydni Lessells, James Quodling and Nuala Doyle, and training partners: Charlie McLauchlan, Zitong Lin, Sophia Walraven, Liam O'Hare and Josh Wing. The Ethics Olympiad, coordinated by Mrs Bec Brown, uses the art and skill of diplomacy and ethical frameworks. This is in contrast to debating technique. A highly skilled and unique opportunity included case studies such as:
TRUE CRIME: Should true crime shows be required to seek the consent of victims before and during production?
SAVIOUR CHILDREN: Is there a moral distinction between selecting embryos to find a saviour sibling and selecting for blue eyes?
BIOETHICS: Should parents be allowed to control their child's genes, or should there be rules to protect the child's rights and future?
DIGITAL AFTERLIFE: Do AI companies that produce chatbots of the deceased have a moral obligation to balance truth, privacy and emotional impact?
ALTERNATIVE MEAT PRODUCTS: Is it permissible for the wealthy to purchase in vitro meat products when they are unaffordable for the majority of people?
UNI SCHOLARSHIPS: Should wealthy students accept scholarships?
Coming up
Senior students are focusing on assessment and future pathways. The Year 11 Newcastle/Sydney University Excursion is on this week and the High Performance Program has a focus on athlete profiles through a workshop, Brand Like A Champion.
NCIS Football events occur this week for secondary students. Chess and basketball continue. We wish all students the best across these events.
In our Chapel services, Rev Williamson has created a focus for Pentecost, that occurs 50 days after Easter. The story of Pentecost is a powerful symbol of global connection. Services on this day are usually in red, a symbol of the Holy Spirit. It remembers that people from dozens of different regions heard the same message in their own language and it is considered the birth of the Church. We look forward to hearing more in our Chapel services.
We welcome our visitors to our 2026 Open Day and Kindy Pop In. Please contact the school should you require further information.
God bless,
Simon Doyle, Principal
As we all gather and stand upon Country, may we acknowledge and respect Gumbaynggirr Land and the thousands of years’ worth of both physical and spiritual connection to Country, culture and teachings embedded forever within these Lands.