Message from the Director of Schools

Dear Colleagues,

On Wednesday, Lent begins with Ash Wednesday. Lent is a chance to grow and deepen our faith through three main ways: doing something for God, something for ourselves, and something for others. We do this by

• Prayer: Strengthening our connection with God—ensuring we pray daily, going to Mass throughout the week, or setting aside time for quiet reflection.
• Fasting: Giving up something as a sacrifice. It helps us practice self-control and focus on what really matters. 
• Alms-giving: This is encapsulated in our Catholic Principle - the Common Good. It is about helping out those in need, such as supporting Project Compassion, and it also includes simple acts of kindness, forgiveness, and spending time with people who are lonely.

Pope Leo XIV’s Message for Lent, ‘Listening and Fasting,’  asks us to consider making room for the word through listening. Listening is the first way we show someone we want a relationship with them. He goes on to educate us on fasting through changing our language to cultivate kindness - Let us begin by disarming our language, avoiding harsh words and rash judgement, … In this way, words of hatred will give way to words of hope and peace. Pope Leo calls us to do this together, in communion with one another. We are called to undertake a shared journey this Lent. We can do this in our school, parish and community.

Bishop Peter Murphy has written a Pastoral Letter for Lent to guide us through this time of Lent. 

With Ash Wednesday, we begin our journey of Lent in 2026. This annual spiritual pilgrimage towards the Risen Lord at Easter consists of forty days. The number forty is in commemoration of the forty years God’s people were in the desert before the promised land and the forty days that the Lord spent in the desert in preparation for his public ministry. We too, likewise, are in training, spiritual training in this penitential season of Lent.

As the Lord endured three temptations, for our sake, in order that we might know how to combat them, so we are all called to fortify our wills in three specific domains (all good things come in threes): prayer, fasting and works of charity or alms-giving.

1. Prayer. Every good relationship is based on communication. It is a vital component of every personal relationship - a real connection needing to be made. Since Lent is a spiritual time of growth, as our first endeavour, we should desire to upgrade our communication with God. We can achieve that goal by attending daily Mass, praying the Stations of the Cross, the Divine Mercy Chaplet or the daily Rosary. It is one way to ‘knock at the door’ of God's heart.

2. Fasting / Abstinence: On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, the entire Church abstains from meat (according to our age) and fasts from some food. But throughout the whole of Lent, some form of sacrifice or self-denial is recommended. Why? It is a form of penance and detaches us from any inordinate pleasures we might have. In addition, it strengthens our willpower against addictive tendencies. This Lent, try going beyond giving up chocolate! Some people try to give up social media. Is it not true that we all could be less attached to technology this Lent!

3. Alms-giving. It is an old word that means to give unto those in need. So we promote our Project Compassion endeavours and works of mercy to those who are doing it tough. But true charity extends beyond material goods; it encompasses acts of kindness. Perhaps, we could give up some of our time and visit someone who is alone in a nursing home or recently widowed. Whatever we do, let us become instruments of God's love by bringing hope and healing to a broken world — and acting with kindness, forgiveness and reconciliation.

Let us conclude by asking Saint Francis on this 800th anniversary of his transition into eternity to inspire us in these three domains: something for God, something for self and something for others. Each of these domains, in turn, will increase our faith, hope and love.

O Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

New Payroll System

As you are aware, we have migrated from our legacy payroll system to HR Payroll in TechOne. A huge congratulations to Kate Kenny, Paul Baylis, Kay Moore, Kathy Hangan, Alison Bell, the wider employee services team, and the finance team for their outstanding work on the new pay system. While there will be teething problems as we go along, this is an enormous step forward in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our system. Thank you to everyone for your support as we have made this significant change.

School Visits

It has been a great joy to start my year by visiting schools with the School Performance Leaders. So far, I have visited 18 of our 24 schools this year and look to visit all schools this term. It has been wonderful to see how calm our schools are and how well our young people have settled into the school routines. Our young people are set up for learning with great spaces and strong routines led by committed, passionate staff. Walking the walls, it is obvious to see a coherent approach to learning happening with learning intentions and success criteria from kindergarten to year 12. This clearly shows the students what they are learning and how to be successful. This, coupled with rich tasks, fast feedback and strong assessment, forms our worthwhile lesson framework in all key learning areas. 

I have really enjoyed visiting our newest members of our learning communities - our kindy students. They are so keen to learn, and I learnt all about shapes.