Principal's Report 

Dear St A's Community,

 

This week we began our Lenten journey. Lent is a 40 day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It's a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord's Resurrection at Easter. During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture; we serve by giving alms and we practice self-control through fasting. We are called not only to abstain from luxuries during Lent, but to a true inner conversion of heart as we seek to follow Christ's will more faithfully. We recall the waters of baptism in which we were also baptized into Christ's death, died to sin and evil, and began new life in Christ.

 

This week we celebrated Shrove Tuesday. Our students were treated to pancakes and toppings in their classrooms and in the Kitchen Garden program.  Shrove Tuesday is the day preceding Ash Wednesday and is popularly known Pancake Tuesday.  The name “Shrove” is the past tense of the English verb “Shrive” which means to obtain absolution for one’s sins by way of confession and by doing penance.

 

 

On Sunday many of our Grade 4 students attended Mass at St Frances Xavier Church – to prepare themselves for their upcoming sacraments.  Candidates and their families commit themselves to attending mass, leading up to their sacraments and a sign of devotion. Please keep all these students in your thoughts and prayers and they continue their sacramental journey. 

 

Ziggy our resident wellbeing dog has visited St A’s again this week.  It has been great see all the students following the guidelines about what they need to do when Ziggy is around.  Ziggy is still in training and is still learning about our students and our school.  She loves coming to St A’s and seeing all of the students. Her wagging tail, is a tell-tale sign of this! Ziggy spends some of her time in the school office and it has been great to see the students visiting her in Ziggy’s own space and respecting her needs and wants. When Ziggy is out and about on the playground she is well received by the students who eagerly want to see what she is up too!

 

Parents and Friends - Calling out to all parents to get involved!

The Parents and Friends Association is a friendly group of dedicated parents and friends who enjoy volunteering their time to work together in partnership with the school for the benefit of our students and school community. Being a part of this is a wonderful way for our parents to be involved and use their skills and expertise to work collaboratively with others, our students, and to contribute and build a sense of community in the support of our school. It allows parents to contribute, in many different ways, to making their children’s education rich and positive.

 

The role of the Parents and Friends Association is to:

 

·         To provide support, in various forms, for the school, our students and community, including raising funds for the benefit of the school

·         To work in cooperation with the Principal, staff and school in building effective partnerships between home and school

·         To encourage diversity by getting to know the parents of other children at the school

·          To support school events and assist with the running and organisation

 

We are always looking for volunteers to help with school events and encourage all of our parents to volunteer and contribute in some way.   Please come along to our first meeting to find out about upcoming school events and how you can help.