Term 1, Week 11, 2024

Dear Families,

Happy Easter and congratulations to all students, staff and caregivers for a successful Sports Day last Friday. We were blessed with great weather! A big thank you to the way students participated in the events with enthusiasm, determination but also a sense of fun. Thank you to Mr Morgado and the Staff for organising such a fabulous day. Congratulations to our winning teams: McAuley who won the ‘House Cup’ and Fitzpatrick who won the ‘Spirit Trophy’. Our distance champions were Mariam and Moses while our sprint champions were Nyanluak and Elisa. Well done to our Sports Captains for leading their teams not just on Sports Day but also leading up to Sports Day…. well done Alex, Amelia (and Mariam) and Anastasia!

Thank you to those families who returned their ‘Return Slips’, nominating preferred times for the Parent Teacher Learning Conversations. These will be held on Monday 6, Tuesday 7 and Wednesday 8 May. You should have received a ‘slip’ this week showing each child’s Learning Conversation time. I allocated times for those families who did not send in their preferred times. Please see your classroom teacher if for some reason you did not receive a ‘slip’.

Thank you to Melissa Musolino for organising our ‘Walk for Water’ on Friday of this week. This activity has a dual purpose. Firstly, it raises awareness in our students and families about the needs of people around the world, especially around the importance of clean drinking water. Secondly, it helps to raise money for Project Compassion so that we can help those communities to set up and maintain water access in their countries and regions. Thank you for supporting this important call to act out our Mercy values, particularly Compassion, Justice and Service.

We would like to remind students and families to be wary of approaches from strangers, especially when they are unaccompanied or travelling to and from school. If they are approached, students should not respond and should not accept offers of rides or gifts. Students should seek the assistance of other nearby adults if they feel unsafe and should report any events to a trusted adult (parent or school staff member) as soon as possible. SAPOL advises that taking out a mobile phone and calling police can deter an offender and they recommend the student making a formal report to their closest police station.

Please remember that we have the following dates set aside as Pupil Free Days for the staff to undertake professional development, staff reflection, complete hand over activities, etc. There is still one more date to be set for later in the year. Our remaining set dates are: Friday 23 August, Monday 14 October, Thursday 12 December and Friday 13 December. Please mark them in your diary and book in to OSHC if you require this service (spaces are limited).

I would like to thank our staff for their dedication and hard work during Term 1 (the longest term). It really is a demanding job helping students to learn and grow, not just with academics, but also with wellbeing, social skills, emotions, relationships and behaviour. Sadly, we farewell Jia from Year 5, who will be leaving at the end of this week, as the family returns to the Phillipines. I wish Jia and her family all the very best and thank them for the contribution they have made to our school community. We wish God’s blessing upon them at this time and into the future. 

Anzac Day occurs during this holiday break, on April 25. This is the time we pay tribute to all of those who have fought in wars in an attempt to keep Australia as a peaceful nation. Many of these soldiers were injured or killed and most were affected in some way by the emotional nature of war. We think about our Anzacs at this time but keep in mind that there are many nations where war still happens or could happen at any time. We pray for all those people who are suffering through conflict in their area and hope that one day we can all live in peace. I encourage you, on April 25, to view Andrew Chinn’s song: My Grandfather’s Hat on Youtube - a song about Anzac Day.

Finally, I hope everyone: students, staff and families all enjoy a well earned break. Remember school resumes for Term 2 on Monday April 29!

Kind regards

Peter Mercer

Head of School

‘Shaping our Future Together’

CATHOLIC IDENTIY

LITURGICAL CALENDAR INFORMATION

A Liturgical Calendar shows the cycle of seasons in the Catholic Church. The Church year consists of six liturgical seasons: Advent, Christmas, Ordinary Time after Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time after Pentecost. In each newsletter we aim to highlight different events in the Liturgical Calendar that we might be focusing on or celebrating in our school.

Special celebrations that we focus on during classroom and whole school prayer throughout term 1 and those that come up in our liturgical calendar include:

Week 11

Project Compassion Fundraiser – Walk for Water

HOLY WEEK

A big thank you to our families who were able to join us for our Holy Week and Easter celebrations this year. Staff and students were highly creative in sharing their learning through story and song.

YEAR 2 PETERSON – FRONT OFFICE DISPLAY

Students in Year 2 Peterson have been discussing the significance of the Egg at Easter. The egg is a symbol of the Resurrection. Just as Jesus rose from the tomb, the egg symbolises new life. Students listened to the story ‘Who is in the egg’ written by Alexandra Milton. They investigated which of God’s creatures hatch out of eggs. You can see their artwork on display in the front office.

CAN COLLECTION

Oh, my goodness Tilda! What an amazing idea.

Tilda, with the support of her family, set up a 10c collection bucket in our school yard on Sport’s Day, to start collecting cans and other 10c items after noticing many fruit boxes on the ground. From Sport’s Day, Tilda raised $8.80. On Tuesday Tilda had collected another $2.50 from collecting items in our school yard. As this will be an ongoing initiative, Tilda and our student leadership group will discuss the best use of funds as we move forward.

Thanks Tilda!

CARITAS PROJECT COMPASSION – WALK FOR WATER

During term one each year, we aim to raise money to support the work of CARITAS through Project Compassion. The theme of Project Compassion 2024 is ‘For All Future Generations’. It is an expression of hope and reminds us that the good that we do today will extend and impact the lives of generations to come. It invites us to make the world a better place by working together now and finding long term solutions to global issues.

We have been reading about Leaia’s Story. Leaia and her family live in Samoa. When their water ran out, Leaia and her children had to collect water in containers from a neighbour down the street. The children would have to take several breaks as the buckets were very heavy for them to lift. To show our support for Leaia’s family and for other families around the world in a similar situation, and to raise much needed funds for Project Compassion, we will be holding a ‘Walk for Water’ event on Friday, April 12, where students will complete laps of the oval while carrying buckets and containers of water. We are hoping that you will support us by donating funds to Project Compassion.

You would have received a flyer via Seesaw about our Project Compassion Fundraising event, ‘Walk for Water’. You are welcome to join us for our beginning of day prayer service at 9am in the Yarning Place. You might also choose to join us in our walk around the oval.

If you are able to support us to help Project Compassion by sending along a gold coin donation on the day or clicking on the link in the flyer, we greatly appreciate your support.

SACRAMENT PROGRAM

For those families who have enrolled in the program, please be aware of the following dates:

Eucharist Workshop Session 2

Saturday April 13

9am – 11am

St. Thomas More Church – 19 Laverstock Rd, Elizabeth North.