Faith. Culture. Community.
Sacrament of First Holy Communion
Walsh House Day celebrates the charism of devotion
Photography Competition - Will you be the winner?
NAIDOC week gallery super sleuth afternoon
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day Walk
Passport to Leadership - John Paul College
On the special Feast of Corpus Christi, we celebrated the Sacrament of First Holy Communion, a sacred moment where our students received the Body and Blood of Christ for the first time. The Eucharist, as described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1324), is “the source and summit of the Christian life,” nourishing our souls and drawing us closer to Jesus. Through this sacrament, we are united more deeply with Christ and the Church. We pray that this holy encounter blesses our First Communicants and their families, filling their hearts with grace, peace, and a lifelong love of the Eucharist. May they always find strength and joy in the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
Congratulations and thank you to the work carried out by our Walsh leaders on the Feast of the Sacred Heart. Your enthusiasm and great communication skills ensured our whole school community took part in the request for tins to support people in our community. Thank you to each student who wrote a beautiful note of support to the recipients of our cans; they warmed our hearts and we are sure you are warming the hearts of our extended community. Walsh House leaders presented 272 cans of food to John Murtagh and Shane O'Meara, who look after St John's - St Vincent De Paul.
A big thank you also to the community of St John's who donated 33 pairs of sunglasses for the people in Timor Leste. With the help of sunglasses, we hope that the people of LosPalos will experience better eye health. Thank you to Mornington Peninsula Shire Councillor, Patrick Binyon, for sharing the story of the Timorese people. Maddie and Leon presented him with over 50 pairs of glasses for him to deliver to Timor Leste during the school holidays.
The Feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated through liturgy led by Walsh House. It was a beautiful and action-packed celebration as we listened to the scripture whilst acting out words such as 'love' and 'neighbour'. It helped us connect to the word of God.
This year we will be hosting a NAIDOC Gallery Walk from 3:15 pm - 4:30pm on Wednesday, 30th July at school. The gallery will display most of the past 50 years of NAIDOC posters for your perusal. The images share the political and social journey of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders over the past 50+ years. On entry, you will be given a booklet to guide you in the hunt for clues. I wonder what the theme of NAIDOC was in the year of your birth? How many goannas can you find on all of the posters?
We can't wait to see you there!
Each year our FIRE carrier students host a walk to school as part of our fundraising pledge to The Opening the Doors Foundation. The foundation supports First Nation students and their families, ensuring they are able to choose the quality education they deserve, are retained and supported in education and have the same opportunities as any Australian child.
This year we will meet at Frank Street Reserve at 8am on Monday 4th August. We will be raising funds by asking for a gold coin donation or you can begin donating using the QR code attached. This year we are hoping to raise $150 to support the foundation.
Please check out the flyer for more information.
Will your photo make the foyer? Please see the flyer below for more information. Submissions are open until 31st July - a fun time school holiday activity!
The competition is open to one photo per student.
We were lucky enough to host the 'Passport to Leadership' students on Tuesday morning. As part of the program at John Paul college, students are required to teach a new skill to the primary students. This year activities included creating a new game, cup stacking and origami. A mixture of year 9, 10 and 11 students put their teaching skills to the test and passed with flying colours. They were confident and attentive to the year 5 and 6 students. The "I have an elephant" statement was hugely contested and a good springboard for laughter and dialogue.
Congratulations to all of our students who participated, you were respectful, engaged and displayed good manners. We hope that you may be inspired to take part in this program if you attend John Paul College.
I just wanted to share that we will be having a guest speaker come to our Father's Day evening this year. Our school has been working with OneLove Australia this year, and our 3-6 students have all attended their workshops. Our staff have also completed workshops with them. Jamal Elsheikh will host the evening and will be bringing a sports star from the AFL, A League or NBA to support him in delivering a message of kindness through the use of a toolkit to use when confronted by racism. The tentative date for this event is Thursday 4th September.
