Dear Families,

A fortnight ago we celebrated school mass with the Parish with the theme of Lent. This mass was led by our Year 1/2 Davies class and was celebrated by all students in Year 1 and 2. The children have all been busy learning about Lent in their classrooms so mass was a lovely way to connect our classroom learning with the Parish and our families.

Recent events have seen the religious life of our school promoted and celebrated in different ways that normal this last week. Monday Morning Prayer was conducted in the classrooms and will continue to occur this way for the time being. This allowed the classroom teachers to share a more personal prayer experience with their own students and involve children within their classes.

On Saturday March 21 it was Harmony Day and as a school we celebrated the event on Wednesday, March 17 during Harmony Week. Harmony Day is a day that we celebrate Australian Multiculturalism and the successful integration of migrants into our communities. Harmony Week is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values. In the classrooms the children participated in numerous Harmony Day activities that included writing poems about Diversity, constructing arguments about why society is better when we live in harmony and together they built paperchains that connect and unite people, celebrating diversity and uniqueness.

Last Thursday, March 19 was St Joseph’s Day and as individual classes we celebrated the Feast of St Joseph with a morning Liturgy. I would also like to acknowledge the efforts of the Year 3 and Year 4 students, along with their teachers who spent considerable time preparing and planning for St Joseph’s Day, however were not able to conduct their stalls at this time – their efforts were greatly appreciated.

St. Joseph inspired Mary Mackillop and the Josephite sisters to love others. We, too, are asked to love and care for each other like St. Joseph did, especially during times of need.

“I have a great love for St. Joseph, because he is a man of silence and strength. On my table I have an image of St. Joseph sleeping. Even when he is asleep, he is taking care of the Church!” Pope Francis.