Sacrament of First Holy Communion

Over two special Masses on Saturday 6th November at 4pm and Sunday 7th November at 11:30am, we celebrated a beautiful First Holy Communion with students from Year 3 and Year 4.

Thank you to the parents, Miss Johnson, Mr O'Donnell, Mrs Moylan, Miss McGrath and to Fr Vic and Fr Damien for the lovely celebration.

Catholic EarthCare Youth Summit

On Wednesday 10th November, ten impassioned students from Year 5 to Year 9 participated in a virtual Catholic EarthCare Summit. There were over 320 students from more than 20 Catholic Schools from around Australia that took part on the day.

The students listened to guest speakers from other schools and also from attendees at the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference. We discovered that St Philomena's has started lots of sustainability initiatives and also that we are capable of doing more. We were also invited to greet a tree... introduce yourself to a tree and spend some time with a tree (Jack took time to connect with the big fig).

With the support of the school community we are hoping to make some significant changes to the way we use resources and the thoroughness of our recycling.

Stay tuned for the ECO-committee plans in 2022!

Caritas Australia Youth Panel

On Thursday 11th November, Grace Schweitzer and Bella Nash participated in a Caritas Australia Youth Panel discussion. There were a total of 14 students from Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and the Solomon Islands participating and sharing their thoughts around social justice issues.

There was some great sharing of what we are doing already to support Caritas with fundraising, the challenge was what can we actually do? Finally students shared their hopes and dreams for a future. These were around reducing poverty and removing the injustice in the world. Striving for equality and acceptance with a distinct focus on discrimination.

What an inspirational generation!

Vinnies Christmas Appeal

Mini Vinnies

Students in Stages 2-5 are invited to take part in some exciting Mini Vinnies Initiatives. These initiatives are designed so the students can have an opportunity to live our Catholic Principles and Values as Stewards of Gods Creation and reaching out to others through the Common Good, with a Preferential Option for the Poor.

We have had an influx of happy crocheters from Year 5, and we are finally making some great progress with crocheting. Perhaps, next winter, we will have a cache of blankets to donate to Vinnies.

Thanks Crochet Crew!

The Crochet Crew meets in the MacKillop Room during lunchtime on Wednesdays and Thursdays to crochet granny squares. These granny squares will be joined together, making unique and cosy rugs which we will donate to Vinnies for their winter appeal. No crochet experience is necessary and all material will be supplied. Crochet Crew is ideal for students in Stage 2 and above.

The Green Team have a focus on caring for our immediate environment. Green Team meet during lunch time, every Tuesday, and focus our energy and attention on one area of the school grounds, removing rubbish which may have blown into the garden beds. The Green Team is made up of students in Stage 2.

This fortnights focus was the garden beds near the quad and the gardens in front of the art and music buildings. What a FANTASTIC commitment to our environment these Green Teamers are making!

Waste Warriors was a response to the amount of rubbish we generate as a school. Most of this rubbish ends up in general landfill and a quick lunchtime audit identified that we could be recycling up to 95% of our waste! How exciting!!

An impassioned bunch of Stage 3 students are working together to make sure that our rubbish is sorted correctly and sent to be recycled.

Our aim is to have scrunchy, or soft, plastic collected and recycled - this is called RedCycle and you can recycle this at home by returning scrunchy plastics to Coles or Woolworths. We will take the 10c recyclable bottles, cans and containers and donate the money to Vinnies and hard plastics and paper will be recycled as well. Green waste will be sent to the Waste Management Facility for composting. Living as Stewards of Creation will help to ensure our environment thrives. The Green Team will have planning meetings during lunchtime on Monday and will follow a roster for the week.

Moree Vinnies Care and Support NEEDS your help

St Francis Xavier Parish church bulletin

Click here for a link to the latest Parish church bulletin.

Library News

Overdue Books

Scholastic Bookclub Issue 8