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Last Thursday 16 December, we held our inaugural “Celebration Day” – an event to bring together our community and celebrate the achievements of the year past. And what a year it’s been! So many wonderful stories of growth, friendship, love, hope and compassion, and so much more!

The event was held in the Learning Hub at Compass, where students were encouraged to invite a special guest along for the day – that special guest could have been a parent, caregiver, family member, partner, friend, support worker or another special person.

Compass students Jacqui, Justine and Tizzy led the Acknowledgement of Country before foundation Principal and Head of Village Kelly Bunyon delivered a heartfelt message to the more than one-hundred guests.

All students were then presented with a 2022 Compass pin, to commemorate all they have achieved and to celebrate and acknowledge their personal journey towards living a life that is meaningful to them – a legacy piece that will be repeated at future Compass celebration days.

It was then time for some individual awards to take focus. At Compass, we love partnerships! Earlier this year we forged a strong connection with Renewal SA and the Playford Alive Project Office, which led to our participation in the Playford Alive Local Heroes Awards. The Playford Alive Local Heroes Awards are sponsored by the Playford Alive Initiatives Fund – a partnership between Renewal SA, SA Housing Authority and City of Playford.

Five awards were established as part of the program, which were linked to our Compass values, with nominations for four of the awards coming directly from our student cohort and one decided by Compass’ Curriculum Lead. The Compass Leadership Team then reviewed the many nominations and decided the worthy winners. The awards that featured were:

• Compass Bravery Award for the student who has been courageous
• Compass Perseverance Award for the student who has done hard things
• Compass Community Award for the student who has contributed to our school community
• Compass Faith Award for the student who has lived out our Faith Community mission of loving and serving others

City of Playford Mayor Glenn Docherty and Regional Manager SA Housing Authority Shannon Paulson attended as special guests to present the awards, with all winners gifted a $200 gift card and trophy to honour their achievements. Congratulations to our winners:

• Mikayla – BRAVERY Award
• Ducati – PERSEVERANCE Award
• Caitlin – COMMUNITY Award
• Brandon – FAITH Award
• Tizzie – ACADEMIC Award

It was then time to close out the event by recognising our first ever Compass graduates! This year, one little person was graduating from the Compass Early Years Hub and four young people moving on to their next chapter.

The Compass Early Years Hub team proudly presented Amelia her gift as she makes the leap to primary school.

The four graduates were then presented their “Compass Tool Kit”, a bag carefully put together with the Compass values in mind, to help navigate the next steps of their journey with Compass by their side. Learning Facilitators then invited their respective students to join them on stage, before sharing moving tales of their time at Compass and presenting them with a graduation certificate.

The Compass graduates then took the opportunity to express gratitude for their time at Compass and presented all members of staff with their own gift and a plaque that will be used to commemorate future graduates.

Compass would like to congratulate:

• Amber – with ambitions of moving on to further study at TAFE
• Phoebe – who will be moving on to further study at University
• Tara – who will be moving on to further study at TAFE
• Jacqui – who will commence a Chef apprenticeship

At the conclusion of the formalities, guests were invited to stay for food and drinks, and a tour of the Compass facilities.

A perfect way to close out our first year. We can’t wait to do it all again in 2023!