Acting Principal's Message 

Year of Jubilee

Good afternoon everyone.  

As we reach the final day of term three, I’d like to thank our dedicated teaching and support staff, who work tirelessly to create a nurturing and inspiring environment for every learner. Their commitment to excellence and genuine care for our students is what makes our school such a special place.

To our families – thank you for your ongoing support, involvement, and partnership in your children’s education. A strong school community relies on collaboration, and your engagement makes a real difference.

As we head into the holiday break, I hope it brings you and your families a chance to rest, recharge, and enjoy some well-earned time together. We look forward to welcoming everyone back refreshed and ready for another exciting term ahead, beginning on Monday 6th October.  School is as normal however there are no buses running.

Wishing you a safe and happy break.

Merci,

Christy Roberts

DIARY DATES

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This weeks  edition of Along the track is well worth the 5 minute read.

               ALONG THE TRACK

                       by Jim Quillinan 

                                REST

One of the earliest images of God the Bible offers is the story about God walking around the garden when  the cool evening breezes were blowing, talking with  those God has just created. It’s a story of contrasts,  firstly about an all-powerful God who can create out  of nothing but then it is a story about a God who  enjoys company, who stops to rest and wander in the  garden, to breathe in the damp, fragrant evening air,  to delight in friendship and conversation. It’s also a  story about the gift of creation and what can be done  with it by the creativity of a gardener’s hands and  labour and how they can take the gifts of water and  soil and sunlight and use them to make a garden. In  other words, what’s the point of creation if it cannot  be used and enjoyed, what’s the point of  companionship, friendship if we do not take time to  nourish them and enjoy them? 

The commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day is  more than just about prayer and worship.  It is also a reminder of this creation story. It is about  making sure that we have Sabbath times in our lives  so that we can rest and re-create body and soul and  take time to enjoy creation and companionship.  Jewish people describe that idea in the expression  ‘practising shavat’. That is where the word Sabbath  comes from. Sabbath was meant for everyone,  including their servants and animals and the  immigrants or slaves who came to work there.  

Every fifty years as part of the law given by Yahweh,  the Israelites enjoyed a Jubilee year. The Jubilee year  required that the land lied fallow and people rested,  and all those who were in slavery were set free to  return to their communities and debts were forgiven. The Jubilee reset as it were, was a collective form of  rest. It sought to ensure that the people lived in ways  that reflect good relationships with God, with each  other, and with creation. It was designed to ensure  that we cared for each other and for creation.  

But for so many today, finding time to rest is  becoming increasingly difficult. Work seems to  consume every waking moment, often because so  many must work two or more jobs to make ends  meet. The pace of life is not set for rest and renewal  especially when we have immediate access to so  much – information, goods delivered to our door,  phone calls and 

social media requiring immediate  response. Finding time to nurture relationships, to  build friendships is not always easy. Not working for a  year or letting the land lie fallow is not an option!  There are so many who work for poor return, long hours in the difficult conditions. Many are the  modern slaves. 

It may well be a time for a modern Jubilee reset. Rest  is precious, a necessary part of life. That is the lesson  of Genesis where we become more conscious of how  God reaches out to each of us in friendship and how  

we nurture that. It means being more conscious of  the beauty and wonder of creation and our power to  care for it or destroy it. It means being more  conscious that we are not meant to be alone but to  live in community and for community. It means supporting workers in their quest for decent pay and  conditions so they don’t have to work so often and  for so long. There are so many who work long hours  for little pay, in the hot kitchens of our restaurants,  delivering our meals, working endlessly just to  survive. It means campaigning against companies  that exploit workers, and investigating supply chains  that use slavery and exploited labour to produce their  products.  

In the words of Pope Francis: 

If we learn to truly rest, we become capable of true  compassion; if we cultivate a contemplative outlook,  we will carry out our activities without that rapacious  attitude of those who want to possess and consume  everything; if we stay in touch with the Lord and do not  anaesthetise the deepest part of ourselves, the things  to do will not have the power to cause us to get winded  or devour us. We need — listen to this — we need an  “ecology of the heart,” that is made up of rest,  contemplation and compassion.  

Paradoxically, there is a lot of work to be done if we  are all to find rest. But it is possible, in fact it is  necessary. Rest has been robbed from so many of us,  and we need to work to get it back.  

Rest 16 September 2025 

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