School News

Dear parents, families and friends,

With this newsletter we have reached the end of May. We have delayed publishing this newsletter to allow for photos from Saturday night's Sacrament of First Holy Communion to be included along with all the other celebrations.

We have come to the end of the Easter Season which finished last weekend with the celebration of Pentecost. The Season of Easter stretches beyond Easter Sunday for 6 weeks, which compliments the 6 weeks of Lent. During the 6 weeks of Easter we follow the post Resurrection accounts of Jesus. During this time Jesus spent time with his disciples, teaching them, opening their minds and preparing them to continue the mission to spread the Gospel throughout the world. Last Sunday we celebrated the Feast of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down upon the Disciples, blessing them and filling them with the power of God. The Holy Spirit bestowed 7 gifts upon the Disciples; Knowledge, Understanding, Wisdom, Courage (Fortitude), Reverance (Piety), Right Judgement (Counsel) and Wonder & Awe (Fear of the Lord). These gifts are also bestowed upon us. As we grow and learn we acquire Knowledge, which leads to Understanding, which grows into Wisdom. These three then inform Right Judgement or Counsel, the ability to make the right decision or to Counsel others to make the right decision. This then requires Courage to act and Reverance to do so in a way that acknowledges and respects God's each person as child of God. Finally we arrive at Wonder & Awe, seeing the presence of God in the people, things and moments of time in all of creation.

Shortly, many of our Year 6 students will begin to prepare for the Sacrament of Confirmation, when they will be blessed and filled by the Holy Spirit and asked to develop these gifts in their lives.

Building Update

Work has stalled at the moment due to the builders and architects attempting to problem solve a number of challenges. Parts of the roof need to be replaced and new guttering installed that will cope with the volume of water when it rains without flodding or leaking, this includes relocating downpipes to the outside of the building. The downstairs rooms need some stumps replaced. Some of the joists need to be repaired and some sections of floorboards replaced. Major plumbing work is required in the back corner near the church especially with correctly directing stormwater and sewage to avoid blockages and floods. Finally, fibre optic cables need to be extended and the upstairs data cabinet relocated as it is currently in the place where a large sliding glass door needs to go.

Staffing Update

There has been a change to our staffing recently. Kat Kats, our Libray Community Outreach and Engagement Officer has made the decision to resign from her position. We thank Kat for her hard work and dedication in establishing Storytime, Kinder Outreach and Playgroup as well as inspiring our schools involvement in a number of events and inititatives. We wish her all the very best in her future projects and endeavours. We will endeavour to continue these programs as they are an important part of our outreach into the community.

Sacrament of First Holy Communion

By the time you read this newsletter we will have completed the celebration of First Holy Communion for our students. The sacrament was held over the last two weekends with our families electing to attend one of the masses held in any of the three churches of the parish. We congratulate all children that received their First Holy Communion and look forward to them receiving their second, third, fourth and fifth Holy Communion.

Swimming Program

We have completed two weeks of the five week swimming program. It has been enjoyable watching the students take to the water like fish. The students seem to enjoy having the pool all to themselves. I must commend the students for their excellent behaviour both at the swimming and travelling to and from the the pool.

Interschool Sport

I had the opportunity to attend the Winter Gala Sports last Friday. I was supervising the soccer teams, with 'coaching responsibility for Team B. I was very impressed and proud of how our Year 5/6 students conducted themselves. I witnessed great teamwork, support and encouragement. Our Year 6 students really displayed their leadership qualities through the day.

OSHClub/MACSEYE Transition

The final day for OSHClub (Junior Adventures Group) will be Friday 26th June. The first day of MACSEYE Before and After School Care will be Monday 13th July. There will be no Holiday Program during June/July as OSHClub needs to transition out during the first week and MACSEYE needs to transition in during the second week of the holidays. I know that OSHClub has provided details for alternate holiday programs and MACSEYE will be providing us with alternate holiday program details shortly. I take this opportunity to thank OSHClub for their many years of providing service to our school community, 14 to be exact. I have been extremely happy with the service they have provided our community. In all my years in education, this has been the best run program that I have experienced.

Fridays

Friday has been the day that we allow students to bring their own toys and sports equipment to school. Due to some recent injuries and near misses to both students and staff we ask that no sports equipment be brought to school on any day of the week, including Friday. We do have plenty of sports equipment available for the students to use during lunch and recess breaks. There are times when we actually have too much equipment around the yards. The school will continue to supply sports equipment for the students, in particular balls, as we can control the size and inflation of the balls, ensuring that they are appropriate for our play spaces. Beginning with footballs and soccer balls we will begin introducing safer balls into the play spaces. We recieved a delivery of 50 Silent Footballs during the week. 30 of these will be used by Mr Manoleras during Physical Education classes. The remaining 20 will be shared across the junior and senior yards this week.

Toys and games (card games, boardgames, colouring and activity books) can be brought to school on Fridays only.

Afternoon Dismissal

A reminder that no games are to be played after school in the Birmingham Street Park until 3.25pm. This is to allow for the the crowd to disperse. There are bikes, scooters, prams, young children and pedestrians moving through and around this space and we want everyone to be safe. Given that students won't be bringing their own sports equipment to school, this won't be an issue. On Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays at 3.25pm when I have finished directing foot traffic, I will bring out two of the Silent Footies for the students (and parents) to have a kick. Both the school and the council love to see the students and families using the park space after school. We just have to wait about 10 minutes to allow the large congested numbers to disperse before the students can run around and play games safely.

I take this opportunity to thank all our students who ride or scoot home for exiting the school grounds and the park area safely

NCCD

Please read the letter attached below containing information about NCCD 2026.

Upcoming Events

• Friday 5th June - School closure for Staff Professional Developement
• Monday 8th June - Public Holiday King's Birthday
• Thursday 11th June 9.15am - Whole School Mass Feast of the Sacred Heart
• Friday 12th June - School House Colour Athletics Carnival
• Wednesday 24th June 1.00pm - Early Dismissal
• Wednesday 24th June 1.30pm to 7.00pm - Learning Conversations Part 1
• Thursday 25th June 3.30pm to 5.00pm - Learning Conversations Part 2
• Friday 26th June 1.15pm Early Dismissal - End of Term
• Friday 26th June, 6.00pm to 8.30pm - School Disc

Matthew Stead

Principal

“Have courage no matter what your crosses are.” - St Mary MacKillop