We are already into Week 3 of Term 1 and the children continue to impress me with their kindness (towards the staff and their peers) and their engagement in their learning. They rise to the high standards set by their teachers and are probably going home tired after a big day of learning.

Again, I would like to say thank you to the parents, grandparents and friends who I have met over the past 3 weeks. Georgia and I are feeling really settled in the school community as are our sons Patrick (Yr1) and Michael and James (both 7 months old). We look forward to getting out into the Yarrawonga community in the coming weeks and months.

At Mass on Sunday, Fr Junjun reminded us of the power of our words. He spoke about the importance of the Word of God as shared with us through the Bible. We are reminded the Bible is not a historical recount of Jesus’ life, and that many elements of the Bible are symbolic and need to be unpacked so that we can apply the correct teachings to our lives. Fr Junjun spoke about the importance of context, and it is a good reminder to us that each of us have our own context and to always be kind to one another.

Our Swimming program continues with our Yr3-6 students (P-2 will have their swimming program in Term 4). This will culminate with our Swimming Carnival on Thursday 20th February. Tim will share more information with families as the day approaches.

This Friday’s assembly will be a special one. We will be announcing the Yr6 Leadership roles for 2025. Assembly will start 5 mins earlier than usual (2:45pm) in the Mercy Centre. The Yr6s have given speeches highlighting the reasons why they would be suitable for these roles. Staff and students have voted on who they feel has demonstrated the suitable leadership qualities during their time at Sacred Heart, and the ‘official leadership positions’ will be announced at assembly and then further celebrated at our Opening School Mass. (I say ‘official leadership positions’ because we view all our Yr6 students as leaders of our school, whether they wear a badge or not. And we call upon each of them to be role models to our younger students). The reason we are announcing these roles ahead of the Opening School Mass is, so these leaders are ready to go for our swimming carnival.

On Tuesday Bec and I met with Suki from ‘A Playgrounds’ to discuss our new playground. This playground will be installed next to the basketball courts during the Easter School holidays and be ready to go when the students return in Term 2! Thank you to all those who have been a part of the fundraising and design that has gone into making this playground a reality.

I warmly invite all families to attend our Opening School Mass which will be held in the Multi Purpose Building (MPB) at the College at 10am on Friday 28th February. At this mass we will celebrate the beginning of the new school year along with our Yr6 Leaders.

Please save the date of Tuesday 4th March (Shrove Tuesday) when we will host our annual Meet and Greet Morning. Starting at 7:30am and concluding at 9:00am, parents and family members will be provided with pancakes (it’s Pancake Tuesday) and a BBQ breakfast. Please come along if you can and challenge yourself to make at least one new friend, and please ensure no parent is left by themselves.

The following day is of course Ash Wednesday (5th March). Our Yr5’s and 6’s will celebrate this day by attending Parish mass, whilst the rest of the school will take part in a liturgy at school.

Thank you for your continued support, especially in the areas of school uniform and early school arrival, it is greatly appreciated.

Take care and God bless,

Jarrod

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