Dear Parents,

Week 5 Lent

We have had a spectacular response to our Project Compassion and Easter Raffle initiative. We raised a total of $1373.30 for Project Compassion. (Click on the image)

Here's what the money raised by our school community can do:

$25 - Can provide disability screenings and early intervention advice and procedures to 5 children in Vietnam.

$100 - Can provide water tank maintenance training so that people in Samoa can have sustainable access to clean, safe water.

$150 - Can provide a household with funds needed to start their own business selling food products in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

$500 - Can provide hygiene training for a community in Samoa so that they have the knowledge to prevent illness with safer hygiene practices.

Well done and thank you, and we are looking forward to our Easter Raffle to finish the term today. Again, thank you for your generous donations.

Our Catholic Social Teaching principle for Week 5 is The Common Good.

'The common good is reached when we work together to improve the wellbeing of people in our society and the wider world' (Caritas Australia Website). You can watch a Caritas video about the Common Good here.

Reconciliation

Congratulations to the 13 St Christopher's students who joined children from the Parish and Emmaus Junior School at Holy Xavier Church last evening. A special thanks to Maria Mangone and our Year 3/4 teachers, Maria Vecchio, Catherine Commerford and Danika Rait for both preparing the children and organising all elements of the sacrament with our colleagues from the parish and Emmaus.

Congratulations to Kevin Chen-Widayat, Cristian D'Cruz, Amber DeLa Cruz, Christof Fonseka, Ayla Guo, Athia Guo, Benjamin Ho, Rian Kim, Mayon Kuruvita, Alexander Lund, Olivier Ng, Zino Park, Aiden Tran.

End of Term 1 - Dates for Term 2

No doubt our students will be tired after two weeks of swimming lessons especially as it coincides with the end of the first term. School holidays provide them with a chance to rest, play and have some extended family time. I trust that your family has an enjoyable school holiday period and that you have a lovely Easter with loved ones.

I would ask that all families check school calendars for the start of Term 2 as there are a few important events as well as public holidays and a school closure day. Our Foundation students have an exciting excursion to Ripponlea organised for Wednesday April 23.

School Photo Day

Thursday April 24 is our School Photo Day. Students are asked to wear their Winter Uniform for this day. If they should have PE for that day teachers will send a message to families about that in Week 1. Apart from Thursday April 24, when all students will be in Winter Unifrom, the first two weeks are a uniform transition period, so students are welcome to wear either Summer or Winter Uniform depending on weather conditions and what they feel comfortable in. From Week 3 all students are required to wear Winter Unifrom.

New Play Ground

The new playground is complete and almost ready to use. Once the mulch is added and the temporary fence removed it will be ready for use. I am sure all students (and families) will have lots of fun playing together on the new equipment.

Prayer

Joyous Time of Year