Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Term 3! I hope you and your family had the opportunity to find time to rest and relax over the school holiday period. Our students have returned very settled and I have had the pleasure of observing excellent teaching and learning taking place in classrooms around the school this week.

The holidays allowed for a number of projects to take place around the school, with our fairy tree receiving a considerable cleanup, the roof and glazing were also installed on our Yrs 3 & 4 renovation. Next week we should see the internal sheeting of walls begin. Next week, I aim to give you a video update to show the building's progress. 

NAIDOC Week

NAIDOC week nearly always takes place in the school holidays, and so for schools, it is usually celebrated in the first week of Term 3. Yesterday we celebrated NAIDOC week with a prayer celebration in the school hall. Mrs Sharee Thoms did an outstanding job of breaking open this year's theme, ‘For Our Elders,’ through the use of storytelling, song, cultural practices and picture books. Today our Indigenous Students attended the Archdiocesan NAIDOC Mass for schools at St Christopher’s Cathedral, Manuka. Sharee Thomas and I will be attending with the children. 

Upcoming Parent Events

On Wednesday night, we had a successful parent engagement session run by three of our Inclusive Education team members, Coordinator Kristy, Wellbeing Officer Susan and Counsellor Tessa. They covered theory outlining how the brain responds to big emotions and shared practical strategies for parents to use that home. These are consistent with the practices we use at school and allow shared language between home and school. We know that an effective partnership between home and school leads to better student outcomes, so I thank the 30 families who were in attendance. 

On Monday, 7th August Week 4, we will run our next parent engagement workshop, Peaceful Relationships. This will be run by one of our parents, a trained psychologist and counsellor who will focus on self-regulation, conflict management and communication in relationships within the family unit. This is free to our families and BASCA will provide care for anyone who requires it. Please use the link below or scan the QR code to sign up. For more information, click on the youtube link.

https://youtu.be/JWg-pjq0rYg

https://bit.ly/PeacefulRelationshipsWorkshop

Kristy Everding and I are currently training to become accredited facilitators of the Cool Kids program, which we hope to run for our SFA community at the end of 2023 or early 2024. By becoming registered trainers, we hope to reduce some of the most significant barriers to accessing the program: a long wait list, cost and length of commitment due to the distance of providers from the family home. Keep an eye out for updates on this program later in the year. For more information about the program, visit Macquarie University - Cool Kids Anxiety Program (mq.edu.au)

Staffing Update

My wife and I are expecting the arrival of baby number 3 at the end of August. I will be taking some leave from Week 5 until the beginning of Term 4 to be with my family and new baby. Mrs Annie McArthur will be the Acting Principal during this period and will do an outstanding job at leading the school in my absence. We are currently running an internal process to appoint an Acting Assistant Principal and Coordinator during this period.

Sharee Thomas will leave us next week to join a pilgrimage of teachers from the Archdiocese to attend World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal. World Youth Day is a Catholic festival of Faith that occurs every 3 years and is located in various locations across the globe. It is a meeting of young people from all over the world with the Pope, who celebrates mass with around 2 million faithful and is an opportunity to celebrate unity amongst the global Church. 

After an internal selection process, Mrs Amanda Ducker will be the Acting Religious Education Coordinator while Sharee is overseas. She will leave on Wednesday next week and will return at the beginning of Week 5.

ELC Update

Today we have reached a significant milestone in our ELC project with the pouring of the concrete slab. Please find attached some pictures of the pour onsite today. 

Blessings and best wishes for the week ahead

Kind regards

Sean Rutledge

Principal

Gospel Reflection: Matthew 13:24 - 30

Let them grow together until the harvest.

Today’s gospel features a parable about the kingdom: the weeds in the field. This is a fascinating parable about something undesirable or unwanted being mixed in with something that is apparently good – and Jesus presents the parable as a description of what the kingdom of heaven is like.

Let’s look at the imagery of the parable. Darnel is a weed that looks exactly like wheat while it is growing. Only once the ears have formed can it be distinguished from the wheat. It is a malicious prank to sow darnel among wheat.

To describe the kingdom of God in this way may seem a bit odd. Can the kingdom of God be a ‘corrupting’ or ‘souring’ or ‘irritating’ influence? The kingdom message of Jesus can be seen as a corrupting force in that it set about corrupting and destroying what was a flawed system. The parable also demonstrates that it only takes a tiny amount of this ‘corrupting’ influence to have a dramatic effect (adapted Greg Sunter).

SACRAMENT OF EUCHARIST

Nominations are now closed for the Sacrament of Eucharist. If you did not nominate your child and you now wish to, please contact the Parish immediately on the following email TuggeranongSouth.Sacraments@cg.org.au.

The next steps are your attendance at one of the following information evenings (please note the different times each night). Both evening will be held at Holy Family Church. Children do not need to attend but are welcome. 

WEDNESDAY 26th July @ 5:30pm

OR 

THURSDAY 27th July @7pm

You will receive all the information you need at this evening to help support your child throughout their Sacrament preparation.

World Youth Day

Next Wednesday I am travelling to Lisbon in Portugal to be part of the leadership team that heads the World Youth Day Pilgrimage for the Archdiocese of Canberra Goulburn. There are 22 young teachers and youth ministers who will be travelling alongside myself, Lee Herden from CE and Christian Nobleza from the Archdiocese, Fr Eden and Archbishop Christopher through Spain and onto Lisbon in Portugal.

We will be visiting many sacred sites along the way, journeying directly to the heart of Spain and onto the medieval walled city of Avila in honour of St Teresa. we will then visit the sacred shrine of Fatima, where in 1917 the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three children as ‘a lady in white’. After Fatima we travel to join the youth of the world in Lisbon for the 16th International World Youth Day – for a week of prayer, worship and celebration, in the company of Pope Francis.

World Youth Day (WYD) is a worldwide encounter with the Pope celebrated about every three years in a different country. WYD is open to all young people who want to take part in a festive encounter centered on Jesus Christ together with their peers. This event is an opportunity to personally experience the universality of the Catholic Church, and to share with the whole world the hope of many young people who are committing their lives to Christ and His Church.

World Youth Day is a unique way to deepen my faith and grow closer to Christ, through prayer and the sacraments, together with hundreds of thousands of other young people and I am very excited. I will be away until the 13th August and will leave a very capable Amanda Ducker in the Acting REC role, so if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact her via email or at school.  

Have a wonderful week and please pray for me while I am away.

Sharee Thomas

In the final part of The Resilience Project's digital series, Martin shares an important message about creating environments where our kids can ask for help.

65% of adolescents do not seek help for mental illness.

In this presentation, Martin shares a personal experience about a traumatic event that happened to him as a child. He explains how he overcame adversity and built resilience by asking for support, particularly from his family.

Note: This video contains a story of sexual abuse that may be triggering. Please consider this before watching. For mental health resources and support information, visit The Resilience Project’s Support Page.

View Part 5 of the series here:
Part 5 - Summary: https://theresilienceproject.com.au/2023-parent-carer-hub-inspire-martin/

Thank you for participating in this Parent and Carer Digital Program series.

You can re-watch the videos and access activities and resources anytime via the Parent & Carer Hub.

You can also stay up to date with The Resilience Project news and events by signing up to the Newsletter.

The Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge finishes on the 11^th of August. Students are required to give their completed reading records to Alison Bond (school librarian) or their classroom teacher for verification. Students who are still completing the reading requirements are encouraged to speak to their teacher or school librarian for assistance and book recommendations.  

Still, looking for great reads? Check out the recent work of some of our CMRC Ambassadors. 

Kid President Totally Rules? Jack Heath’s newest book is a story written with humour and wit that will take you on a wonderful journey into the life of Jaxxon, the first-ever KID PRESIDENT.  

Tania McCartney’s latest work Wildlife Compendium of the World is now available. Be enchanted by stunning illustrations as you learn more about amphibians, reptiles, monotremes and pilosa. Delve into historical fiction with Stephanie Owen Reeder’s Heritage Heroes collection and read inspiring stories about remarkable children from Australia’s past. If you enjoy an upbeat bop-a-long to rap-like poetry, look out for Harry Laing’s latest book RapperBee. 

Reading record forms are available in the library. Please collect at anytime.

Book Week 2023