Dear Parents & Caregivers,
I hope you are all travelling ok and are enjoying your week. Like you, I am getting back into the routines of school life with making lunches and ironing uniforms! My holidays were pretty full on; my oldest, Izabella, had her Year 12 Ball and my youngest, Sienna, turned the dreaded 13! I hope you all enjoyed some time with your kids. We are all so glad to see them back at school.
Pondering what to write for our first newsletter for Term Two had me focus on the word forgiveness as we had our recent Parent Workshop on the Sacrament of Reconciliation this week. I found the following quote which I think is a good one. Listening to our presenter, it was so obvious that forgiveness can be so powerful. I mean, we all mess up, all the time and what a gift it is for us as humans, to be forgiven. Our lives are simply full of stuff. Some of that stuff can bring us pure joy, but other stuff can bring pain. So, too, are our many relationships; ones that can bring us ultimate happiness, but others that can make times tough. These times may be a single moment or they can go on for some time.
Which is why I love this quote and continually refer to it throughout the year. Think about it, forgiveness may bring us untold peace. As I am getting older, I am learning more and more that we are not in control of anything. Although we get wiser as we get older, there are things that I hold onto for reasons I cannot explain. At times I feel these things consume me. What I need to keep working on as a person, is to be gentle on myself and others when things become uncomfortable, when things don’t work out as I wanted, or when relationships become strained. I am realising more and more, that if I can keep being gentle on others at the core of my person, I find this untold peace. Those feelings of challenge or uncomfortableness disappear when I am in this frame of mind.
None of this is simple in any way. Our past experiences influence who we are. But living in the past and thinking the same thing will happen again blurs our future happiness. Watching the kids and their parents at the Reconciliation Workshop discuss that forgiveness takes our relationship with God to a deeper level. God lifts that weight off our shoulders and gives us that sense that everything is going to be ok. Hopefully all of us can remember to ‘cut others some slack’ when things are not going how we had hoped.
So if forgiveness brings us untold peace, the flow on has to be gratitude and turning what we have into all we need to. The challenge is to keep this constantly in our mind. We all know it is pretty easy to be grateful when things work out how we want but what about those time that are tough? We find it difficult to show gratitude. This is the human part though. All of us find it challenging to be positive and grateful all the time. This is why acceptance of ourselves and those around us is so important. Again, not the easiest of things to do at times, so the challenge is how much do we want it, to make things lighter for us. Let’s see how I go with all of this, I know it will make me a better person if I continually work on this as will you.
Over the past week and a bit I have thought a fair bit about my mum and how the busyness of life stops me from seeing her. In all seriousness it’s not hard to find the time but it seems impossible to get there. I know if I was to drop in unexpectedly, my mum would be so excited and the curry puffs would keep on rolling out of the oven! This is something I am going to try and do more often as it is the simple things in life that mean the most! When I think about my mum, I realise just how special she is. Mums just seem to stop what they are doing and give. We all know dads do this also, but the relationship between a mother and her children is something beyond our understanding.
ANZAC Day
This week we celebrated ANZAC Day, a national day of remembrance for Australians and New Zealanders, commemorating victims of war and for recognition of the role of their armed forces. It marks the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.
I would like to thank our Year 6 Ministry Leaders for preparing our beautiful service where the whole school came together to remember and pray for the ANZACs.
Sacrament of Reconciliation
Please keep all our students making their first Reconciliation this term in your prayers. May the gift of forgiveness help you build positive things in your life. Extra special thanks to Fr Richard, Mrs Adams and Mr Gaudoin for preparing our students.
Uniform
I would like to thank all our students for their commitment to wearing their uniform with such pride. I will continue to monitor the students wearing the correct uniform on the correct days and send home reminders to parents if their child is in the incorrect uniform. Here are some gentle reminders to assist your child this term:
- Sports uniform with maroon shirt on Mondays
- Sports uniform with faction coloured shirt on Tuesdays
- Formal uniform to be worn Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
- Sports tracksuit jacket is to be worn with the sports and formal uniform in cooler weather
- Long black unisex trousers are optional for cooler weather with the formal uniform, not the sports uniform
Thank you all for your efforts in this area.
School Pick Up Time
A reminder that school finishes at 3:00pm each day and our Kiss and Drive is open until 3:20pm. It is an expectation that all students are collected by their parents or caregivers by this time.
Our OSHC service is available for families to enrol in if you are unable to get to school by this time. Please see Tahlya Perez to enrol your child. Thank you.
Mother’s Day Events
On Thursday, 9 May, we will be celebrating our mums and caregivers at our Mother’s Day Liturgy and Morning Tea. We look forward to seeing you all there! Stay tuned for further information.
Playground – Soft Fall
We are in the process of having some of our soft fall areas in our main playground being replaced as there were signs of cracking. After having it inspected by the company that carried out the installation, it was agreed to have it replaced rather than repaired. We are hoping to have this rectified in the next week. I would like to thank the students for being so patient with this.
New Website
We are all so proud of our new school website which is a lot easier for parents and caregivers to navigate. Please take the time to visit our new website.
Early Close
A reminder that school will close at 11:50am on Wednesday, 22 May for Parent Teacher Interviews. OSHC will have limited bookings available for families who have regular bookings. Please ensure you plan accordingly for the upcoming Early Close.
Pupil Free Days / Public Holidays
Parents and caregivers are reminded of the upcoming Pupil Free Days and Public Holidays:
- ANZAC Day – Thursday, 25 April
- Pupil Free Day – Friday, 17 May
- Pupil Free Day – Monday, 20 May
- Early Close 11:50am - Wednesday, 22 May
- WA Day – Monday, 3 June
- Pupil Free Day – Friday, 28 June
Please continue to look after yourselves throughout the term. We look forward to journeying with you. Take care.
Clinton Payne
Principal
P&F News
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About Us
Email: admin@santaclara.wa.edu.au
Website: web.santaclara.wa.edu.au
Location: 91 Coolgardie Street, Saint James WA, Australia
Phone: (08) 9251 0400
