From the Acting Principal 

Dear families,

Last week we observed ANZAC Day, marking the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during World War 1. In class, students focussed on the history and significance of ANZAC Day. We paused as a school on the Wednesday prior to our school closure to reflect upon and remember all Australians and New Zealanders who have served and died in conflict. Thank you to our Year 6 Faith & Social Justice Leaders Pia and Olive who were thoroughly organised and read beautifully to our school community and Ms Earle as Education in Faith Leader for assisting with preparations.

God of love and liberty, we give thanks this day for the peace and security we enjoy, which was won for us through the courage and devotion of those who gave their lives in time of war. We pray that their labour and sacrifice may not be in vain, but that their spirit may live on in us and in generations to come. That the liberty, truth and justice which they sought to preserve may be seen and known in all the nations upon earth. This we pray in the name of the one who gave his life for the sake of the world, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Last Wednesday our entire staff assembled for an afternoon of First Aid Training including CPR. This is an annual compliance requirement that staff undertake to ensure the care for all in the community. Later this Term we will be introducing a new record keeping system for all occurrences of first aid treatment, whereby parents will be sent an email alert by the person administering First Aid. As always, phone calls are made to parents as a courtesy or whenever required and this will continue. Stay tuned for further updates.

I’m pleased to advise our community that our Zen Zone play area has been stocked with flexible furniture and creative resources for our students to use during break times. This initiative has been funded by all of the generous baking and proceeds from last year’s Cake Stalls. Our Year 6 Leaders will be on rotation to encourage and support younger children to use the area during break times and to run clubs of various interest groups. The Zen Zone offers a quieter, more passive recreation area compared to our playgrounds. Thank you again to the P&F for all of the organisation in relation to fundraising to make projects like this possible.

The transformation of the Zen Zone space and garden area continues tomorrow with our next Working Bee. If you are available even for a short period of time, whether that be to work on the garden bed or to assist with supervising children, please do let your parent rep know. There will be an evening sausage sizzle for the children and parents and I look forward to seeing many of you there with our sleeves rolled up!

Next Friday we are looking forward to acknowledging all of the wonderful carers, mothers, aunties, grandmothers and special friends in our lives who do so much for all of us. If you haven’t yet done so, please book a family ticket for our Mother’s Day breakfast and raffle, commencing at 7:30am. Bookings can be made via the following link https://www.trybooking.com/CRCUU until Wednesday 8th May, and if you would like to donate any items for the raffle, please drop them off also by this date. The whole school will be celebrating Mass at 9:15am that morning, followed by assembly at 10:30am. As always, all are welcome.

Finally, a heads up that the following Friday 17th May is National Walk Safely To School Day. On this day we encourage as many children and parents to walk to school and minimise the use of car transportation. As per previous years we will be coordinating a few meeting locations that students can walk from. A map will be sent via Seesaw in the coming weeks.

Take care and wishing God's blessings and peace upon each of you.

Mr Anthony Speranza

PS: An update from Cathy…

A big hello and hope week 3 is going well. Time is going by so quickly. We are in Scotland having left Edinburgh and travelling to Inverness via Pitlochry, and hoping to have a walk and coffee in Balmoral today! 

The beach shot here is St Andrew’s, don’t be deceived by the sun but a stunning place. The university buildings were amazing. We were rugged up and some people were in shorts and t- shirts. The North Sea is very cold, I tried to put my feet in but it was so cold it stung. 

I miss everyone please send my love to the children and can’t wait to ‘bore’ you with my history stories. I am very glad I wasn't around 900 years ago! 

Xx Cathy