Dear Parents/Carers,

Creator God,
Because of your abundant love
you chose to bring light and order into the formless void,
to create a world of unsurpassed beauty and you saw that it was good.
We ask that you continue to recreate the world with that same attentive love,
to bring light into today’s world.
Replenish our hearts so that we too can renew the face of the earth.

Amen.

I trust that you had a wonderful Easter celebration with family and friends. At our whole school Mass yesterday, Fr John reminded us that the joy and warmth of Easter should not just be restricted to that one day. It is a feeling, given to us by Jesus, that can influence our way of being each day of the year. Of course, this is challenging when we confront difficult moments. However, if we can replenish our hearts then we can be the positive influence for others in those moments. 

It was wonderful to see parents and carers attend our school celebrations of Easter yesterday with the Mass, Easter Hat Parade and raffle. It is not often when Easter falls within a school term, so it was a great that so many of you took the chance to join us. 

Attendance at school

As we are nearing the end of Term 1, it is timely to reflect on attendance requirements for students. Pleasingly, data is showing that the majority of students in our school have a 95-100% attendance rate. For this term, that equates to no more than 2-3 days absent. Our system of schools is espousing that this attendance rate is  target for all our school communities to work toward, which would equate to no more than 10 days absent for the year.

Of course, illness is a significant reason for children to be absent, especially when there is a risk of spreading their illness with others. Families are encouraged to use student holiday times for travel to minimise absenteeism. 

The learning growth of students depends on consistent and regular practice of the skills, especially in English and Mathematics. When this is disrupted by unnecessary, absences it can take a child longer to catch up on this learning. Also, the development of their social skills is also enhanced via regular attendance.

School Cross Country

As mentioned in a Compass notification yesterday, we are keeping a close eye on weather forecasts for this Friday. At this stage, they are still predicting a lot of rain, so we may need to postpone the carnival to our back-up date of Friday 12 April. A final decision will be made during tomorrow. 

Wishing you a safe and blessed week,

Paul Moroney
Principal