Principal's News

The School newsletter will be emailed to families each Tuesday 

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Dear Parents/Carers,

Today is “All Souls Day”. A day of reflection upon the lives of those we have loved and lost. It is particularly poignant for me and my family this year, of course. Last Thursday our Religious Education Leader, Katrina McGuane prepared a beautiful and very moving Prayer for our school which all of us celebrated in the individual classrooms. The Grade 6 children worked in teams in each room to lead the service and did a fantastic job. It was really comforting for me to sit with your children in prayer. Thank you to all involved.

MISSION EFFORT Thank you to everyone for your generous support of this year’s Mission effort. Congratulations to our Grade 6 students who raised $1996.65 to support the work of Caritas throughout the world.

PUBLIC HOLIDAY Our school will be closed tomorrow, Tuesday 3 November for the Melbourne Cup Public Holiday. A reminder that the school will be closed on Friday November 20th as teachers prepare the children’s reports.

STAFFING FOR 2021 As we do every year, we will have a few changes to staffing for 2021. Mrs Mackrell, sadly is retiring. Deb has taught at Sacred Heart since 1999 and is an absolute expert. Her growing brood of grandchildren are very definitely her priority now and we wish her all the very best.

Ms Annette George is also leaving us this year to take on new challenges at Trinity College. Annie has taught at Sacred Heart since 1995 and in the last few years has dedicated herself to Leadership of our Special Needs and Learning Diversity areas, where again she has become an expert in this field. Again we wish Annette all the best as she begins this new chapter in her career.

Mrs Katrina McGuane has been an outstanding Religious Education Leader for our school, but after returning to the classroom in 2020, she would like to have a break from the R.E. leadership and will dedicate herself to her classroom entirely from 2021.

To this end, I am pleased to announce that Miss Nicole McNamara will be our new Special Needs and Learning Diversity leader which has created a vacancy for a classroom teacher.

We have invited a former student from our school, Mr Aaron Walters to teach at our school next year.

We have also offered a position to Ms Julie Leonard to teach in partnership with Lizzie McLaughlin and to lead our Religious Education program. Julie has a Master’s degree in Theology and has experience in many leadership positions in a variety of schools across Australia. We look forward very much to Aaron and Julie joining our teaching team in 2021.

REPORTING ABSENCES Parents are reminded to contact the school before 10:00am if children are absent from school. Given the caution with which we must all act, absences have been quite high and following up on those that haven’t contacted us is very time consuming. Your assistance with this matter would be appreciated.

ALL SAINTS - ALL SOULS

In his letter to the Colossians, Paul made the following, startling statement: “You are God’s chosen race, God’s saints; God loves you” (Colossians 3, 12). He then proceeded to describe what those who are so dear to God actually look like: “So, you should be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another; forgive each other as soon as a quarrel begins. The Lord has forgiven you; now you must do the same. Over all these clothes, to keep them together and complete them, put on love. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it was for this that you were called together as parts of one body. Always be thankful. Let this message of Christ, in all its richness, find a home in you” (Colossians 3, 12-16).

 As a way of making meaning for ourselves of this celebration of All Saints, I suggest we list all the “saints” in our lives who have helped us to grow into the people we have become. These are the “saints” who are meant to be at the centre of today’s celebration. These are the people who have had an impact for good on us. Some of them have already gone to God; others are still alive. Some, even, have become physically distanced from us because of the circumstances of their lives and of ours. But we remember them with gratitude.  

The people whom we list are, for the most part, very ordinary people  -  our neighbours, those we meet in the supermarket, those who walk our streets visiting the forgotten, the lonely and the shut-ins, those who take the trouble to demonstrate for the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers. They are the ones who reflect Jesus to us as they touch us and our world.

Those who have generously shared their lives, talents, time and possessions, without a second thought, with those whom they encounter, especially those most in need. We have met them, we know them, and we are inspired by them. We are the richer and wiser, the freer and more generous ourselves because their lives have intersected with ours.

So, let's consider our “ordinary” Saints and quietly thank God that they found their way to us.