Feast of the Assumption

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. It is a very special celebration of Mary the Mother of God. According to our faith, the Holy Mother, "having completed her course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory".

The Assumption signals the end of Mary's life on earth and marks her return to heaven to be reunited with Jesus. While the bodies of both Jesus and Mary are now in heaven, there is a difference between the Assumption and the Resurrection. Where Jesus arose from the tomb and ascended into heaven by his own power, Mary's body was taken up to heaven by the power of her Son.

Our Mass today was a beautiful and prayerful tribute to Mary. The Year 4 classes did a wonderful job of planning, preparing and leading the Mass with help from their teachers, our Religious Education Prefects and Mrs Ronzini.

Zone Athletics Carnival

The Zone Athletics Carnival, held last Tuesday was a great opportunity to celebrate the physical talents of our students. We were represented by twenty-eight students who completed in a range of events in track and field at Sydney Olympic Park. We could not have been more proud of the way they competed and supported one another. Leaving school at 7am and not returning until 3pm, they were very patient and encouraging throughout a very long day. Huge thanks to Mrs Cordi for coordinating this event and Mr Jack for helping on the day. It was great to have the support of parents at the event.

Network Public Speaking Finals

Last Wednesday, Mrs Parsell and Mrs McKeown attended the Ashfield-Olympic Park Network Public Speaking Finals at Holy Innocents', Croydon. A huge congratulations to Marie (Yr 2), Brooklyn (Yr 4) and Ethan (Yr 6) who were chosen to represnt St. Martha's. The standard across the network was extremly high and these students are to be commended for the effort and preparation that they put into their speeches.

As well as the events above, in the past fortnight our kindergarten students have celebrated 100 days of school, Year 1 have led a prayer for the Feast of St Mary MacKillop, Year 3 have been on an excursion to Symbio Wildlife Park, our staff have attended professional development on improving reading and writing and extension and enrichment in mathematics, we have held a successful fundraiser for the Charitable Works Fund and celebrated the Olmypics with our own 'Potato Olympics.'

As a staff, we are grateful for your support in all of these events. As Assistant Principal, I am grateful to the staff for the way that they ensure the day to day learning of our students continues around these events.

Mrs Parsell is currently on leave and enjoying time with extended family. She returns to school next Thursday.

Steven Belcastro

Assistant Principal

Athletics Championships

Mrs Adriana Cordi - Sports Coordinator