Education in Faith 

Grandparent celebration

Thank you to all grandparents and other special people in our children’s lives that attend the Grandparent's mass last Tuesday.  The children were all so excited to have their grandparents, present to celebrate this momentous occasion.  The celebrations continued as the children spent time in their learning spaces engaging in learning with their grandparents. 

Celebrating mass

This term each learning space has been invited to attend mass. This will occur on a fortnightly basis on Tuesdays at 9.15 am.  Each learning space has been allocated a time to participate in celebrating mass. Please find attached a copy of the mass times and dates that your children’s learning space will be celebrating mass. This is a great opportunity for our children to experience the celebration of mass both at school and with their families. You are invited to join us as we celebrate this special celebration. We look forward seeing you all. This week, Tuesday 2nd August, we will begin with 1/2 AM and 3/4 KD soplease feel free to attend this great celebration. 

Celebrating Year 6 Retreat Day

As people of faith, our Year 6 learners were given the time and opportunity to engage in a Retreat Day.  The day was facilitated by Ian Vergel. Ian’s knowledge and understanding of the Sacrament of confirmation was very informative and the children’s dialogue, response and engagement throughout the day were a credit to them. 

The purpose of this day was for our learners to develop a deeper understanding of the importance of the Sacrament of Confirmation.  As people of faith, we engaged in various learning opportunities to understand, discover and make connections about the Sacrament of Confirmation. Our learners engaged in unpacking the following:

The definition of a sacrament has four parts.  Sacraments are:

Sacraments always contain specific actions and words that allow a specific grace to be visible.  What are the actions and words associated with the Sacraments of Confirmation?

Identify the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

What are the three features of the Sacrament of Confirmation?

As people of faith we gathered in the chapel to reflect and engage in prayer. We began by asking Jesus to guide us, as we spend this day reflecting and understanding the importance of the Sacrament of Confirmation.  How the gifts of the holy spirit play an important part in our daily lives and how these gifts have made us the special people that we are today. 

Our learners were given the time to reflect and document any wonderings that they may still have had after unpacking the Sacrament of Confirmation. 

I wonder if the actions or words give you more of the Sacrament? Ewan

I wonder how many times you can receive the chrism oil? Giselle

I wonder what is the meaning of our sponsor and what is their role in this Sacrament? Chloe

I wonder why a priest cannot confirm us.  Does he need special permission? Pete

I wonder what is the most important Sacrament? Alejandro

I wonder which oil is used for which Sacrament? Jessica

We reflected and made discoveries about these wonderings and we will continue to unpack these and other wonderings throughout the week. 

As part of the retreat day, the children engaged in making mosaic crosses followed by a yummy hot food lunch.

The day continued with the children writing letters to their sponsors outlining the special gifts that they have and why they were chosen to be their sponsors. These letters will be distributed to the sponsors this coming Friday after confirmation. 

The day concluded with the children receiving the letters that had been written by their parents.  I was privileged to have witnessed such a memorable occasion, one that I will not forget. I cannot explain the joy, happiness and even a few tears that I experienced from the children as they read their letters. I am sure that your children will treasure the moment they received these letters and the letters written for a long time to come. Thank you to all the parents that took the time to reflect and write amazing words of love, wisdom, dreams and hopes.  Thank you to all the children for participating in the retreat. 

We wish you every blessing as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Annette Gasbarro

Religious Education Leader.

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