Dear Parents and Carers

The significant season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday next week. We as a school will gather for a liturgy on the hill near our church. On the hill we are so fortunate to have such a wonderful reminder of God’s gift of creation all around us. The season of Lent tracks the significant 40 days of preparation and reflection before Easter, it reminds us of our responsibility to care for each other and the environment by: 

• Almsgiving - giving to the poor traditionally through Caritas Project Compassion at school
• Prayer- to connect to God through prayer
• Fasting- to observe this as a time of appreciating what we have and giving up some of our favourite things. (For adults this traditionally includes not eating meat on Fridays and on Ash Wednesday.) 

Your child will have a tiny sprinkling of ashes on their head during the liturgy.  Ash Wednesday is a chance for us to ground ourselves in understanding, as St Mary MacKillop would say “We are but travellers in this place.’ our presence in the history of our planet is so fleeting and our responsibility for the welfare of each other and our environment crucial. Lent is a good time to reflect and remember this responsibility. 

This Friday we will be celebrating our Opening School Mass, at 12 noon. During our mass we will welcome our new Kindergarten students, in addition to our 2021 student leaders receiving their badges. Unfortunately we cannot invite our broader school community to join us due to ongoing COVID restrictions,  we have however asked the parents of Year 6 to be present to witness this significant occasion in a COVID restricted manner. Our current Year 6 are an amazing group of young adults who will serve their fellow students with responsibility, kindness and pride. 

ZOOM LINK -

Our first P and F meeting of the year was held on Monday night, it was lovely to have the opportunity to welcome our parents into school grounds for the first face to face meeting since early last year. There were many new faces both in person and on Zoom and I thank everyone that attended for supporting our school and being so active building our school community. The next meeting will be held on Monday 1st March, this will be both a general meeting and our AGM. Please come along and support your child by supporting our P and F. 

The week starting the 22nd of February we will be inviting each family into school to ‘Meet the Teacher’. This is an opportunity for you and your child to discuss and set their learning goals for the year as well as celebrating their strengths, with the class teacher. You will receive an invitation via Compass to nominate a time for the meeting, later this week. The following  week we will be holding Personalised Planning Meetings for our students with additional needs. It is not expected that families will attend both meetings. If you have a child with a Personalised Plan, you will receive an invitation via Compass to nominate a time for the meeting. If you have more than one child with a Personalised Plan, you are encouraged to book consecutive time slots. Personailsed Planning meetings are scheduled during the school day and you can opt when booking on Compass for a phone conference or a face to face meeting. Thank you for playing such an integral role as we develop a deep understanding of your child. Booking details will be offered via Compass this week. 

I look forward to seeing you at our school gate or at the hall in the afternoons. I wish you a peaceful week.

Yours in partnership

Laurinda Nelson