From the Principal

• PRAYER:  Stewards of Creation
• P&F Trivia Night this Saturday 4th August
• Academic Awards Ceremony this Friday 3rd August
• Year 12 Trial Examinations
• Our 2018 Kokoda Expedition Returns
• A Tribute to Mr Long
• Rugby Indigenous Round this Saturday 4th August

Prayer: Stewards of Creation

As our continuing theme this year is Stewards of Creation, I share with you a prayer prepared by Ms Grove and used this week in the school .

Prayer for Action for a Green Earth

We live in your world, O God, and for this, we praise and thank you.

Among your treasures, we creatures have fashioned many things to make our lives easier,

healthier, and freer.

We have also created more things than we need, more than we can ever use.

When these things distract us from our purpose in this life, we are misusing the world you have created.

When these things prevent others from having their basic needs met, your creation is corrupted. Help us to keep our eyes open to this temptation of consumerism.

Help us to be followers of Jesus who are focused on the important and simple things in life - Christians who care for others and are willing to share our riches with those who have unmet needs.

Give us the courage to go against our culture when it confuses wants and needs.

Remind us that when the journey of life in this world is complete, we take with us only what we have built inside ourselves: treasures of the heart, love and generosity, friendship and concern,

caring and sharing.

We pray for these things in Jesus' name.

St Francis of Assisi:  Pray for Us

St Pius X:  Pray for Us

Blessed Edmund Rice:  Pray for Us

Live Jesus in our Hearts:  Forever

(Source: http://www.greenfaith.org/files/prayers-christian.pdf and Image : www.seaturtleguardian.org)

P&F Trivia Night this Saturday 4th August

PLEASE COME ALONG AND JOIN IN!

The annual P&F Trivia Night will be held this Saturday Evening in the Chatswood Gym commencing at 6.30pm and everyone is invited.  This is one of the best nights of the year and I always look forward to the evening.

Bookings close at the end of the day on Thursday so don't miss out!  It's not too late to join an organised table or if you don't have an organised group, you can  join the "COMMUNITY TABLE". ​  Book now via the trybooking link http://www.trybooking.com/293122 and be a part of the evening.  Funds raised will go towards all the many activities conducted by the P&F Clubs.  Every cent raised goes directly to the students and their learning as determined through the P&F.  Even if you can’t come parents can bid on the silent auctions.  Full details can be found on the P & F page of this newsletter.

Academic Awards Ceremony this Friday 3rd August

Congratulations to all our Award recipients for this Friday’s Academic Awards Ceremony to be held in The Concourse, Chatswood.  Due to limited seating, invitations have only been sent to the parents/carers of Award recipients.  Next week we will publish the names of all these students.

Year 12 Trial Examinations

Please pray for Year 12 as they prepare to undertake their Trial HSC exams next week. Our best wishes and full support to our young men as they face these important exams.

Our 2018 Kokoda Expedition Returns

At Monday’s assembly we celebrated the success of our Kokoda Expedition and Callan Services Immersion.  Our commemoration commenced with Nick Bendall (Year 11) paying due respects to Country, the Cameraigal people of Chatswood, and the Oro people of the Owen Stanley mountain ranges, who were dubbed the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels for their care of wounded Australian  during the Kokoda Track campaign.

Our Kokoda Expedition was the 2014 brainchild of Mr David Reay, member of staff and commissioned Major in the Australian Defence Force, so it was fitting that he was able to complete this trek after missing the 2014 and 2016 incarnations. Organised by Mr Paul de Silva, the 2018 Expedition included 30 students in Years 9 -11, parents, uncles and staff. All contributed to the success of the expedition and must be thanked for their positive input and endurance.

A Tribute to Mr Long

During Monday’s assembly we were joined by Mr Greg Growden, who, with his son Angus (Year 12), was a member of our 2016 Expedition. Greg is a renowned Sports and Rugby journalist (Sydney Morning Herald and now ESPN) and author (“Gold, Mud n Guts”, “The Wrong Un” and many others). Greg’s most recent book: “Wallabies at War” was launched last Wednesday, and significantly, Greg has dedicated this book to our Primary School Principal Mr Tim Long, who along with our On Track Expedition guide Bobby Hale, Greg credits with saving him “during some very tough moments on the Kokoda Track”. This was a heartfelt expression of thanks extended to Mr Long at assembly.

Mr Long has himself invested a lot of emotion into the Kokoda Expedition, following as we were in the footsteps of his father, Lt Bruce Long, 3rd Militia Battalion, who as a 20 year old, led a platoon of “Snowy River men” over the Track in 1942.   

Rugby Indigenous Round this Saturday 4th August

This Saturday we will mark part of our NAIDOC celebration through the Indigenous Rugby round for our First XV vs St Patrick’s Strathfield. The game will be on Chaplin Oval at Oxford Falls commencing at 2.15pm and will be preceded by a short ceremony. This is also the First XV’s last home game for Rugby this season.   

Mr John Couani - Principal