Dear Families,

Here we are in December, finally the weather has caught up and the sun has decided to come out.

Our Grade 3 and 4 students went off to camp yesterday and seem to have had a most wonderful time. Thank you to all the staff who organised and attended camp so that our children could have this experience.

Our Year 5 students will be making their School Captaincy Speeches on Friday, good luck to them all and I know we will have many children capable of doing these important roles in the school put themselves forward on the day. It’s a big moment for them.

This week, our Year 6 students will graduate on Thursday evening. We hope that we have planned a wonderful mass and awards ceremony for them and their families. We look forward to acknowledging them all and celebrating this important milestone in their lives.

Last week on Friday, we held our Bethlehem Bazaar in the eco-centre. It was such a wonderful event, the children ran really great stalls and raised money for Vinnie’s. I would like to thanks the Year 6 staff for the work that went into preparing and running the day. It is a huge effort and takes a lot of work. I’d also like to thank our wonderful school community. We are a small community, but we contribute in a huge way when it matters. For families to put their hands in their pockets and give so generously at this time of year is overwhelmingly generous. We raised over $1000 last Friday, an unbelievable effort! As a Catholic school community, a focus on social justice is one of the key characteristics that set us apart from other school communities. I couldn’t be prouder or more appreciative. Thank you so much to everybody.

Next week on Tuesday, we will have our 2024 Transition sessions into our new classes and welcome our new Foundation students to the school. This will run between 11:15am and 1:20pm, so it will be important for all students to attend on this day to meet their new teachers. I am very excited about our school staffing structure for 2024. I will be sending this information home on Friday.

Finally, as a Catholic community, we are now in the season of Advent. This is a time of waiting for the wonderful and hopeful things that lie ahead. We sheared this beautiful prayer together in our staff meeting last week and I wanted to share it with our community.

An Advent Prayer

God of Love, your Son Jesus is your greatest gift to us.

He is a sign of your love.

Help us walk in that love during the weeks of Advent, as we wait and prepare for His coming.

We pray in the name of Jesus, our Saviour.

Amen.

Have a wonderful week ahead,

Sally