Grant, we pray, O Lord our God,

That as the Cross shines in our southern skies,

So may Christ bring light to our nation,

To its peoples old and new,

And by saving grace, transform our lives.

Amen

Today, Torres Strait Islanders celebrate the "Coming of Light" or the arrival of Christianity. Missionaries arrived there in the 1870s, and many Islanders adopted Christian beliefs and customs into their lives, alongside, and sometimes instead of, their traditional ways. Every year on the first of July, Torres Strait Islanders celebrate, remembering the arrival of the missionaries on 1 July 1871.

Across the world the coming of Christianity usually meant the forceful end of traditional beliefs, but not so in the Torres Strait. Christianity was embraced and welcomed into everyday lives with Torres Strait Islander culture informing people's understanding of it. The Coming of Light festival has physical, cultural and spiritual significance for all Torres Strait Islanders.

Staffing News

After an application and interview process, we are pleased to announce that Sarah Young has been appointed as our new Canteen Manager. Sarah will begin her role next term. We are, as I am sure you are, very excited that the canteen will once again be up and running to provide delicious lunches and snacks for the students and to help us, parents, on those days when there is only one piece of bread left in the house! We will advise you of the hours of operation before the start of term.

Drive-through

Please be aware of our ongoing request for parents to enter the carpark during afternoon pick up, from the Scrivener Street end of Boronia Drive, turning left into the driveway. Coming from this direction means that cars are more easily able to drive down Boronia Drive, from the Hovea Street end. Trying to turn right into the driveway is causing significant issues.

Our Returning Community

Following continued improvements in health advice from ACT government and also guidelines from Catholic Education, it is expected that soon we will be able to relax some of our current restrictions around welcoming parents and friends into our school. We will maintain some practices, in line with ensuring everyone’s safety, but before our return on Monday 20 July, we will communicate with parents what our protocols will be for the start of Term 3.

End of Term House Points

Congratulations to Lourdes for being our winning House Group this term. All members of Lourdes will be rewarded with a Pizza lunch tomorrow. In recognition of the efforts of each of the Houses, all students are invited to wear free clothes on Friday to help celebrate the end of a great term!

Social and Emotional Learning

Thank you to Belinda Ladmore (mother of Ryan in Foundation) for sending through a link to a Play School special on racism that was launched last Friday. The special focuses on what racism is, how it makes people feel and how we can all play a part in stopping it. Watch the video here.

Some alarming statistics were mentioned in the educator notes that Belinda also sent through, “Children between the ages of  2-4 internalise racial bias and become set in their thinking by 12.” You may find the attached Unicef article, Talking to your kids about racism an interesting read to help with answering those ‘tricky’ questions that children sometimes ask.

We are on the Move!

Teachers, staff and students have been busy getting organised to move classrooms in preparation for the building renovations that will begin next week. Year 1 have settled in well to their ‘new’ classrooms and our Foundation classes have joined together and coined the term Foundation Pink to represent the merging of Red and White. We cannot wait for the end results of our building works and I am confident that as a community we will endure the coming building 'chaos' with eager anticipation of what awaits us at the end.   

Family Maths Week

Following on from the success of last year's Family Maths Night, next term Mrs Coghlan and her band of student assistants will be holding a Virtual Family Maths Week. During Week 2 there will be different activities available for your family to access from home and participate in together. There will be plenty of prizes on offer. Watch this space for information about how to access the event.  

We are certainly in for a special treat these holidays without smoke covering the Canberra skies and without lockdown restrictions in place. Whatever your family does over the coming two weeks, enjoy the change of place and please stay safe. We are looking forward to starting Term 3 as close to ‘normal’ as possible!   

Yours in Christ,