The Principal's Desk

Dear parents, families and friends,

I will begin this newsletter by sharing my thoughts on the what is happening in our world. Watching the news at the moment it can be clearly seen that the world is in a precarious state. The global Coronavirus pandemic has caused huge amounts of stress, frustration and anger to develop in people. Issues such as racism, injustice, inequality, corruption in government and the increasing gap between rich are now boiling over. People have had enough, here in Australia and around the world. As we have seen throughout history the combined voice and action of the people can cause change. Petitions, protests, words and actions are all very powerful ways of bringing about change. What we are seeing now is people joining together, standing up and speaking out against wrongdoing. As Christians we are called to do exactly this. God created all people. God created all people equally. Unfortunately it is human nature to want to fight, to be selfish, to be greedy. Today, as throughout history, people fight over race, gender, religion, land, wealth and even sport. People want to be better; to be stronger, faster, richer, smarter than the next person. However, we are all equal. We all came from God. We will all return to God. Each of us has God in us. We are all special. We are all unique. Some of the biggest mistakes and blunders in history have been caused by people not understanding that everything is created by and comes from God. 

We learn much from the example set by Christ. Jesus came into this world to redeem humanity. To show us how to live just and proper lives as humans in the way that God intended for us. Jesus showed us that to be great is to serve not be served. To be strong is to use power for people and not over people. Jesus demonstrated that every single person is special and important to God. Everyone is loved by God; saint and sinner, rich and poor, regardless of race, religion or gender.

As we move through these challenging times and come to a resolution, I prayer that common sense, good will and the wisdom and love of God prevail, so that we find ourselves in a new world of equality and justice for all.

As we move towards the end of term, there are some important reminders and updates.

School Closure

On Wednesday 9th September there will be a student free day to allow the staff to plan and prepare for Term 4. There will be no Google Meets on this day. Students may have a free day or use this time to catch up on any uncompleted work. OshClub will provide child care service on this day, please make contact with them to arrange this.

Camps

The Year 3/4 camp that was scheduled for Week One of Term 4 has been cancelled. Even if restrictions ease to Stage 3 by the start of Term 4, under these restrictions school camps are not permitted. The Year 5/6 camp scheduled for the end of the year during the second last week of term is still active at this point. We will make a decision about this camp later next term once we have clear information about the stage of restriction at that time.

End of Term

Friday 18th September is the end of Term 3. School will conclude at 1.45pm. There will be no online sessions or planned work from this time forward. Those students enrolled in on-site supervision will be dismissed at 1.45pm. It is expected that any uncompleted tasks are finished over the holiday period so that all students are up-to-date and ready for the commencement of Term 4.

"God loves each of us as if there were only one of us." St. Augustine

Have a great weekend.

Kind regards,

Matthew Stead

Principal