Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we head into the final weeks of our school year we understand that everything is getting busy and everyone is getting tired. In the fast-paced world we live in where demands and responsibilities compete for our attention, it's essential to be aware of our own needs and take action to meet them.  

Below are some tips for being mindful over the coming few weeks and upcoming holidays.

Tune in to your relationships

Like twisting the dial to find the perfect station signal on an old transistor radio. Give a little more time to your partner, children, friends or family especially when the moment arises each day. Pay a little more attention and simply listen. What are you really hearing?

Look ahead with hope and optimism

Hope is about anticipating good things and is a wonderful antidote to depression and stress. Because with hope, tomorrow looks a little better than yesterday. It doesn’t matter if tomorrow is better than yesterday, it only matters that you say to yourself that it might be!

Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a form of meditation that can be integrated into everyday life. Good mindfulness practice is all about the two A’s – Attention and Attitude.  It involves purposefully focussing your attention back into the present moment and all the sensations, emotions and thoughts of the moment, while maintaining an open, non-judgemental attitude to those emotions and thoughts. Brief and frequent practice is the way to go.

Avoid overcommitting – practically, socially, financially

Identify your own personal priorities for the festive season and rank order them - in your mind or literally on a piece of paper. Place these priorities in relation to everything else you have planned. The things at the front of line or top of the page become front of mind and give perspective to all the other things.

Gospel Reflection

This week marks the end of the liturgical year. Next week, with the first week of Advent, we begin the new liturgical cycle. It is fitting that the Church concludes the liturgical year with the celebration of Christ the King. The conversation between Jesus and Pilate displays a lot of word play on the part of Jesus and quite a lot of confusion on the part of Pilate. The confusion stems from different perceptions of what it means to be a king. For Pilate, part of the most powerful political and military rule in the ancient world, the idea of a king was a threat. Claiming kingship was claiming authority and power that would inevitably lead to challenging the authority and power of Rome and, more directly, its representative in Palestine – Pilate. Jesus, of course, had a completely different idea about ushering in a kingdom. He does indeed declare that he is a king and that is what leads us to today’s feast of Christ the King. However, his intention is not to claim a position of power and authority. When we think back to Jesus’ teachings about the kingdom of God, we recall that he declares the people of highest status – the first – in the kingdom to be the lowliest of this world. It is the poor, the sick, the outcast, the children and the widows who will hold the highest places in the kingdom of God. In a kingdom like that, what does it mean to declare oneself king? The confusion about what it means to be a king that is captured in this interaction between Jesus and Pilate is the same confusion that we saw among the disciples as they came to terms with exactly what it means to be the Messiah.

Thank you to the staff that prepared the students in Year 6 so wonderfully for their special evening - "The Night of the Notables". The students were amazing and really showcased their gifts and talents on this evening. Thank you also to the parents that attended. It was a wonderful community event.

This will be my last newsletter as I have come to an end of my time here at OLSS. I have enjoyed a lovely thirteen weeks with your beautiful children and enthusiastic staff. Thank you for your warm welcome while Mrs Bourne has been on her well-deserved leave. I wish you all the best for your final weeks of term.

Mrs Maria Rose

Acting Principal  

'Never see a need without doing something about it'. Mary MacKillop