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Dear Parents, Guardians and Carers,
Tomorrow we will be attending the Ash Wednesday Mass as a whole school at 12pm at St Michael’s Church. Parents are very welcome to join us. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the Lenten season.
Pope Francis once said that ‘Lent is a time of repentance, yes, but it is not a time of sorrow!’
The Pope wanted to remind Christians that Lent is a season of ‘a joyous and serious commitment to strip ourselves of our selfishness … and to renew ourselves according to the grace of our Baptism.’ Note his emphasis on it being ‘joyous.
In one of his major teaching documents, Evangelli Gaudium, the Pope begins as follows: ‘The Joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus.’ He goes on to say that ‘With Christ joy is constantly born anew.’ This is the kind of Lent we should all strive for: a joyful one.
Later in the same document the Pope expresses concern about joyless seriousness. ‘There are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter.’
The Pope then reminds us that ‘Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved.’ Our Lent should be a time of joyful response to that love. Fasts and penances should be helping us find joy in Christ, not misery.
After all, Jesus emerged from the desert proclaiming ‘Good News’.
(Nick Brodie - Liturgy Help)
Lent is upon us – let's consider it a time to strengthen our relationship with Jesus Christ and seek inner transformation through fasting, prayer, and acts of generosity.
Meet the teacher sessions
You will receive an email asking you to pick a time slot on either Tuesday 20th February or Wednesday 21st February. This is a chance to meet with your child’s teacher and share information about your child that will assist them this year to thrive. Letting your child's teacher know things like interests and hobbies, their strengths and challenges will all be helpful information for their teacher. Grades may also send home prompts for you to consider prior to the meeting.
National Apology Day to the Stolen Generations
February 13 each year marks the anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. On this day in 2008, the then Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, offered an apology to the Stolen Generations of our First Nations People. Last year, Yaama, the First Nations Community of St Matthew's, Cornubia, QLD, Catherine Connors, together with Andrew Chinn and the staff of Butterfly House combined stories and talents to create this song.
Term One Key dates:
- 14th Feb - Ash Wednesday Mass - 12pm St Michael’s Church
- 23rd Feb - Running Trials
- 1st Mar - School Athletics Day
- 7th Mar - School Photos
- 11th Mar - Labour Day Public Holiday (school closed)
- 25th Mar - 2025 Foundation enrolments open
- 28th Mar Term One ends - 1pm finish
- 16th Apr - Term Two commences 9am
Kind regards
Jodie
In the gospel this week Jesus is confronted by a leper who was asking to be healed. To be a leper in 1st Century Palestine was to be utterly rejected from society, regarded as an outcast. They were not permitted to engage in religious practice as they were permanently regarded as being ritually unclean and, indeed, unable to become clean as long as their disease lasted. Jesus simply stretched out his hand, touched him and made him clean. Jesus saw the man, not the disease!
How do we apply that to the 21st century? We can ask the question, Who is your leper? Who is the person in your life that you need to embrace rather than reject? Sometimes we are too quick to judge someone based on what we have heard or how they look. Who would benefit from you viewing them with different eyes? Soft eyes! Eyes of compassion!
Each week students from each class are awarded Student of the Week certificates. These children are nominated for the example they have been within the school based on the School Wide Expectation focus for that week. The weekly focus will be from Wednesday until Tuesday the following week. Awards will be presented to students at Assembly on Friday.
In Week 3 the School Wide Expectation focus is Learning :
I set high expectations of what I can achieve.
I work hard and always try my best.
I reflect on my own learning and how I can improve.
I can receive and act on feedback.
| Ava Briscoe | Joaquin Atayde | Bentley Leitch |
| Elsie Kite | Toby Sutherland | Olivia Uren |
| Frankie Armstrong | Ariana DiCiero | Corey Moore |
| Zara Hodge | Sarah Franklin | Xander Szkwarek |
| Jasper Sheen | Louis Flowers | Jaymes Johnstone |
| Oakley Devitt | Tessa Jennings | Aria Pearson |
| Cato Nightingale | Campbell Quail | Alex Turner |
This year St Michael's is continuing our recycling program to do our part to combat landfill. The items that we are recycling are; bread bags (free of crumbs), bread tags, and bottle tops (milk, soft drink and longlife lids only).
