Principal's News
Dear Parents and Carers,
This will be my last newsletter for a few weeks. On Sunday I am flying to Ireland to take part in a pilgrimage being offered by the Diocese of Ballarat to school principals which is part of the Diocesan 150th anniversary celebrations taking place this year. The Diocesan Director had asked that all principals attend a pilgrimage like this over the next few years.
The pilgrimage will be led by Fr Justin Driscoll from the Ballarat Cathedral and will be visiting a number of institutions and sites that have special significance to the Catholic Church in Ballarat, such as Trinity College, Loreto House and the first Mercy House, built by Catherine McAuley, the founder of the Mercy sisters that began Sacred Heart school here is Colac.
The pilgrimage will take place during next week and the first week of the school holidays, however, I have elected to delay my flight home and take the opportunity to take some Long Service Leave in Europe before returning to school on Monday, August 5th.
Mrs Daffy will do a fantastic job as principal in my absence and will be supported by the wonderful Nicole Lynch. Please give them the kindness and support that I enjoy in this amazing community.
SPORTING STARS Many of our Grade 5 and 6 students played off in the Netball and Football Lightning Premierships last Friday. From my standpoint I saw lots of energetic, happy and excited kids enjoying their sport in very good spirit.
I shared a story with the kids today about the time I heard ex-VFL/AFL Coach, David Parkin share a story about football success. In 1995 David coached Carlton to an emphatic Premiership where they won the Grand Final by 10 goals after losing only one game for the entire season.
David explained that at Carlton they had discovered that if their players all committed one sacrificial act per quarter per game they ALWAYS won. A sacrificial act meant sacrificing your own game to help your team mate. One per term and they ALWAYS won.
Sport CAN be good for us all if we approach it with the right attitude.
Congratulations to both our senior football and netball teams that won the Lightning Premierships and will now head off further afield to compete at District level.
ASSESSMENT CONVERSATIONS
These interviews are well underway this week. They should be booked through our PAM platform. These meetings are an important part of our Reporting program where the children are invited to attend for part of the meeting to help reflect on the year so far and to set some goals for the second half of 2024.
If you cannot find a time that you can make, please call our office and we will do our best to accommodate you.
SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM Our Grade 3 Catholic students are invited to be part of our Parish program of preparation for the sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Communion. These sacraments are a very important milestone in our children’s spiritual and family lives. I would urge all families considering enrolling children in the program to make it a priority in your family, get in contact with Godparents and extended family so that they might join you in what is an important family occasion as we share our traditions and our faith with our kids.
The Information Night for parents is this Thursday evening June 20th. There is a meeting at 4:00pm and an alternative at 6:00pm. The sacraments will be celebrated over the weekend of August 24th & 25th. Please refer to the ‘Date to Remember’ in the newsletter for further dates to support this program.
END OF TERM Second term will conclude NEXT Thursday, June 27th at 3:15pm.
Jack Lenaghan - Principal