Faith, Community & Culture

Staff Spiritual Day

As part of our ongoing commitment to building connections within our diverse community, staff attended John Paul College for a multifaith spiritual day.  There were a wide variety of facilitators and presenters that covered many faith traditions including Buddhism, Islam and Judaism.  The importance of paying attention to those around us, and ourselves, was a highlight for those staff who attended the Yidaki (Didgeridoo) healing with Lionel Lauch and also the Polynesian concept of Alofa (Samoan).  Acknowledging and understanding faith traditions, other than Catholicism, is important when seeking to understand each other to live in community and unity.

Here are some of the staff reflections about the day - 

"I left with a lot of food for thought and continued talking about it for the weekend and having conversations with family and friends. I think more respect and acknowledgement of faith traditions should be shown. There are so many wonderful things we can learn and take on board from our multicultural community, without lessening our own faith." - Mrs Absolom

"...the day opened my eyes to different faith teachings and other people's experiences." -Mrs Clutterbuck

"I thought all sessions were thought provoking, culturally informative and spiritually inspiring. I liked the way the presenters connected with their audience and were passionate about their culture and beliefs inviting us to reflect on our own lives." - Mrs Charman

A special thanks to Together for Humanity for their ongoing support with resources and finances to fund these events.

Sacrament of Confirmation

Bishop Tony Ireland visited Friday morning last week to meet this years Confirmation Candidates.  He created a warm and relaxed atmosphere for the students to engage with him about their chosen saints, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, their favourite food (pizza, sushi and Bunnings sausages) and even ventured down the 'favourite team' rabbit hole.  

He was extremely impressed with their knowledge of sacraments, the humour they shared with him and also the mature way in which they presented themselves.

We are extremely proud on the way you conducted yourselves throughout your learning and particularly on Sunday as you were sealed in your Catholic Faith.    

We ask for the Holy Spirit to continue to guide and strengthen them with the gifts of Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Right Judgement, Piety, Fear of the Lord and Fortitude.  

Amputee Awareness Week

Year 4 students were lucky enough to have a special guest visitor in week 2.  Simon came to share his story based on resilience in adversity after becoming a congenital amputee last year.  His key message was about maintaining a positive attitude to help turn a negative experience into a positive experience.  Simon explained that becoming an amputee has been a HUGE challenge yet his persistent and positive attitude has meant he has been able to become an ambassador for Ossur, a company that is committed to the innovation of new products for amputees.  Simon showed us his prothesis, bionical legs (which he can use with an app!) and his running leg/blade.  

Darcy- "He explained to us how he lost his leg - he had an infection in his bone and he showed us all the photos of his journey in hospital and explained how he kept going with nothing stopping him as he had to learn to walk again.  He went to one of the Ossur competitions and won a prosthetic running leg."

Paige - "He taught us that it took a long time to change his legs, taking them on and off with rubber padding in them.  Simon had a very resilient and boppy attitude" 

Joy - "Simon told us about when he went to a rehabilitaion centre to get him up and walking again and that it could have taken him months but he practised a lot to shorten the time!"

Declan - "It didn't take him a long time to walk with his new prosthetic leg - his dog, Roly, was his biggest fan."

Jesse Tree

This term our school is learning about Jesus’ family tree. A family tree tells us a story about who went before us.  We all have one and so does Jesus!  There are so many people in Jesus’ family but over the next few weeks we will be learning about Jesse and his son, King David. Then Isaiah and Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist. We will also learn about Joseph, Jesus’ earthly Father.   All year levels will be or have been introducing a new person at assembly each fortnight this term

Last week, the year 4 students introduced the school to Jesse and his son David, followed by the year 1/2s who sang a beautiful song called, Be the Light (Be the Hope) which reminded us of Isaiah message.

We look forward to learning about John the Baptist when the year 3's present at assembly next week.  It would be lovely to see as many parents and carers to support the students at the assembly.  Hope to see you there!