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Holy Thursday

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 13:1-15

It was before the festival of the Passover, and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. He had always loved those who were his in the world, but now he showed how perfect his love was.

They were at supper, and the devil had already put it into the mind of Judas Iscariot son of Simon, to betray him. Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, and he got up from table, removed his outer garment and, taking a towel, wrapped it round his waist; he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ ‘Never!’ said Peter. ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus replied, ‘If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with me.’ ‘Then, Lord,’ said Simon Peter, ‘not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!’ Jesus said, ‘No one who has taken a bath needs washing, he is clean all over. You too are clean, though not all of you are.’ He knew who was going to betray him, that was why he said, ‘though not all of you are.’

When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes again he went back to the table. ‘Do you understand’ he said ‘what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.’

Reconciliation

Last Wednesday evening seven of our Year 3 students had their First Reconciliation. This was a special evening for the 31 candidates, which we celebrated with 24 other parishioners and Emmaus students. A big thankyou to all the teachers involved and the parents who supported their child through the preparation and evening. A special word of thanks to Maria Mangone who spent many hours preparing not only the students but all the aspects of the Sacrament that gave the evening a special reverent atmosphere. We also thank Fr Jacob for leading the Sacramental proceedings on the night.

Lincoln Archibald, Marcus Chow, Gabriel Desperles, Max Gillespie, Kyla Guo, Mitchell Lund and Francesca Santosa.

Child Safe Standard 2

"Child Safety and wellbeing is embedded in leadership, governance and culture."

Rooted in the Gospel and the teachings of the Church, St Christopher's School upholds the sacred dignity of every child as created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27). This belief places Catholic educators in a privileged and profound position to protect and nurture the most vulnerable.

At St Christopher's we take child safety very seriously. We attend to Child Safe Standard 2 in many ways. The key word in the standard is 'embedded'. Our teachers and staff are always conscious of attending to their child safety obligations, not just for accreditation purposes but so they can work in an environment that they know is safe for children. To that end, it is important to share with you that we have Child Safety as a standard agenda item at Staff Meetings, Leadership Meetings and School Advisory Council Meetings. When the Parents Association meet about events, we always apply risk management strategies around child safety after assessing possible risks for the event.

You will note too from assemblies this term we have highlighted to the children that we have a Child Safety Team. As Wellbeing Leader, Ms Danika Rait is our key Child Safety Officer and along with myself and Deputy Principal Silvia DeFilippis we form the Child Safety Team. Maria Mangone (Religious Education leader) and Louise Sollecito (Yr 3/4 and Intervention teacher) also support the team when needed. We encourage children to see their own classroom teacher as a child safety officer should they need to speak to someone about feeling unsafe. Likewise they can approach anyone on the Child Safety Team.

Parents play an important role in this framework too. I ask that all parents read and participate as outlined in the standards as shared through this newsletter and in keeping with our Child Safety Code of Conduct, you will be contributing to ensuring we 'embed' child safety as a priority and the norm in our school community.

Medical Plans and Updates

We are currently in the process of auditing our medical requirements for all students requiring medication or have any known allergies with treatment plans, whilst at school. This process occurs each year to ensure we have the most up to date medical information and action plans in place to best support the students.

We ask all families to check their child's medical information in PAM to ensure this is correct.

School staff were trained and practiced emergency procedures on our recent school closure day. When emergencies arise, we rely on the accuracy of the information provided to us, as well as the approved medical devices provided by parents. It is therefore critical that we are provided with up to date plans and devices that have not expired past the use by date. Please contact our office to ensure your child's medical needs are being catered for if they require plans and/or devices to be stored onsite.

Holy Week Paraliturgy

Tomorrow all classes will participate in and perform different significant events to depict the story of Holy Week leading into the Easter celebration. All parents, carers and family members are invited and welcome to join us in St Christopher's Church from 9.15am for the paraliturgy. Last year was the first year I had seen this at St Christopher's and it still stands out to me as one of the highlights of the year due to the obvious connection to and expression of our faith, but also because of the beautiful singing and energetic engagement from all our students. Well done to our teachers for preparing them so well.

Easter Raffle

Thankyou to all the families that contributed to our Easter Raffle with kind donations of chocolate goodies. The funds raised will go to supporting Caritas Australia's Project Compassion activities for those in need. Join us in the Hall from 2.45pm tomorrow for the drawing of the raffle. There are plenty of prizes, two for each class and an overall prize. Tomorrow is the last day of term and school finishes at the normal time of 3.30pm.

Swimming

Our students completed their intensive swimming classes this week. Thankyou to all the parents who helped out on those days, the teachers greatly appreciate the ongoing support with activites like these.

Please refer to this page in the newsletter for swimming photos.

Yr 5/6 Adventure Experience Days.

What a wonderful time the students had on their 2 adventure experience days. We hope you enjoy looking through the photos taken of the 2 days. Camp Photos

Student Gallery