A reflection from our Principal, Mr Allen van Blerk:

I could not have known that out of the ten thousand and sixty-nine days I have spent at St Charles College, the 26th of July 2025 would instantly become my favourite day ever. When I asked the Old Boys for ideas on how to celebrate our 150th birthday this year, I found out that Family Day was once a tradition at the College. I think that setting aside a Saturday to do all the crazy, fun things that only a College family like ours can do was an incredible way to celebrate 150 years of Providence. Few would be unmoved to see brotherhood in spontaneous action as older boys picked up struggling Scrummies and helped them complete The Dash, and such human goodwill inspires us to work harder than ever to build the next 150 years.

An honour to host our grandparents
I asked you to bring money and grandparents, and you did just that – thank you. The Grade 9 Market Day vendors reported that business was booming, and the Prep parents’ world-famous bacon and egg rolls must have set new records. Perhaps the greatest honour of the day was hosting the Grandparents’ tea in the newly built staff pavilion. We are so grateful to have had the whole family to celebrate with us on Saturday.

I think the boys loved the sport against the staff, and tennis, squash and football were hotly contested; but I have to apologise to the boy I tackled in the staff vs boys football match. Using the physics equation: force equals mass times acceleration, I exploited mass as a factor, and the resultant force transferred to the ball sent us both flying. It’s one of the unrecommended ways to understand the laws of momentum, but in what I think was a skydiving tuck and roll, I landed back on my feet, still alive, and without anything broken – so I am doubly grateful today.

Peace in the midst of relentless change
There are no real rules about celebrating 150 anniversaries, but I am tremendously grateful that we could set aside Friday for the Chapel service to acknowledge 150 years of God’s unwavering faithfulness. I commend our Chaplain, Mr Ross Ducasse, for the sensitive and respectful celebration we shared on Friday. It is a real challenge to guard the spiritual core of the College as a non-denominational Christian School, and we tread prayerfully to make sure that the boys see faith in action. It is incredible to witness them encouraging their peers and speaking with personal faith in challenging times. I believe that the world is in too much trouble to pretend to follow God, so when we are tired of the impossible and the difficult, we should accept the invitation of scripture:
“Come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28