Clare's message........

Hello families,

I just have to start my message with GRATITUDE. The Cambridge dictionary defines the word as: gratitude

/ˈɡratɪtjuːd/

Gratitude is the strong feeling of thankfulness and appreciation for kindness, help, or good things received from others. It goes beyond a simple "thank you" by recognizing that an external source has added value to your life.

On Friday, we celebrated St Luke's Feast Day with a day of joy... and gratitude. Our children gathered to give thanks to our God for the community they are a part of, for the learners they are, for the families who love them unconditionally and for a God who is with them as they grow and change each day. The activities planned, the fun of Kaboom, the yummy treats throughout the day and the launch of the Art Show made for a lovely celebration. Thank you to those families who could make the launch; we'll try to build this each time.

There are many, many strong feelings l have about this community and Gratitude is one of them that often, frequently, almost always comes to mind. When across the parishes of St Luke's and St Timothy's and a school community, we can work for one common goal- to create a bi-annual event that not only brings us together but those people who make up our local community as well, that is something to celebrate, to be incredibly proud of and.. to be grateful for. Thank you for including me in that 'community' and making our visitors feel so welcome and included. We do it exceptionally well here at St Luke's and the feedback has been affirming, warm and positive and constant since Monday. My deepest thanks to every person, adults and children, who contributed to the success of the day. I do have to acknowledge the hard work, the constant commitment and the sheer determination by our Parish Secretary, Sonya O'Farrell. She is remarkable. The fete was certainly BIGGER, BETTER AND MORE MEMORABLE, than ever before.

Every second year we get to showcase our children's artwork at the ART SHOW. It was so lovely to hear the awe and wonder in parents and adult's voices as they complimented the beautiful curation of 2D and 3D works. Your children created the masterpieces and our staff curated the work. Thank you for the additional time our staff gave to ensure the art show's success. This is yet, another example of the fabulous curriculum St Luke's offers our children.

My congratulations to the St Luke's cricket team who played their hearts out at the Division Cricket Blast competition last Friday. Whilst they did not get the result they wanted, they gave every team they played, a run for their money. We are super proud of: Tommy, Jacob, Mason, Jonathan, Clem, Ollie, Tilly and Janessa for their efforts and sportsmanship. Our thanks to Tamaryn and Alex for coaching the team on the day.

On Wednesday, we had our very first PREP ORIENTATION session for our incoming 2027 Prep children. Brooke Madden, along with Emily Roberts (Learning Diversity leader) and Sue Bottomley (LSO) were very impressed with our 2027 group. We are looking forward to getting to know them. I had the pleasure of bringing the parents together for a cuppa and chat session and the room was buzzing. We have two more sessions, a parent only Connections night and then our Christmas carols evening where the families of our 2027 Preplings will be our VIP guests. Make sure you look out for them and introduce yourself.

At our assembly on Monday, l spoke to the children about what they could do if they are approached on their way to or from school by a stranger whose behaviour may be erratic. I spoke about how this can make us- both children and adults- feel uncomfortable and even unsafe. The main messages were:

If still close to school, return to school where you know you will be safe
If down on Canterbury Road, Woolworths is a safe place
Change your direction to avoid the person- cross the road to the other side
Seek help if another adult is nearby

It would be great for you to have follow up conversations regularly, to check in with your children and reassure them that whilst these experiences can be unnerving, there are things we can do manage the situation.

A final reminder to parents to send in any requests for classes for 2027 NOW. You have just one week to do so. Beyond that, it will be difficult to accept any requests as we are already working on class groupings.

I thought you might be interested that next Friday 30th October is WORLD TEACHERS DAY. I know l have the best teachers here at St Luke's. You might like to send your child's teacher a message or have your child create a card of gratitude or acknowledge the impact they have on your child/ren in person throughout next week.

We have added fete photos to different pages in the newsletter. Hope you enjoy them.

Have a wonderful weekend. Good luck to all those playing sport, doing special; things over the next couple of days. I'll look forward to seeing you all next week.

Clare