From the Principal

I would like to thank all our parents and carers who were able to make it to the ‘Meet the Teacher’ afternoon on Monday. The feeling walking around the school was so vibrant. The children were very excited to bring their loved ones in to see their learning spaces after COVID had prevented this for so long. It was also so nice to see families catching up with each other in the school again. We look forward to many more occasions where our community can come together this year.

Following on from the ‘Meet the Teacher’ afternoon we held a Cyber Safety information session run by the local police Youth Liaison Officer. A number of parents and carers were able to attend the session and received valuable information for supporting their children in the online world. The youth liaison officer will also be running student cyber safety sessions during school time for all our Year 2 to 6 students in the coming weeks. We are planning to run sessions for the Kinder and Year 1 students next semester. More cyber safety information is available for parents on the eSafety Commissioner website. It is so important for parents to talk with their children about cyber safety so please take some time to have a look at this website and chat with your children when you can. We work together to ensure they are educated to stay safe online.

This Wednesday we celebrated Ash Wednesday and the commencement of Lent. Kinder and Year 1 participated in a beautiful liturgy in the Saint Raphael's church and the senior school participated in a lovely liturgy in the school hall where all students received the ashes on their forehead. These ashes symbolize the call to repent and believe in the Gospel. Lent is a time of prayer, penance and arms giving. A time to take on a challenge, spend time in prayer and support those less fortunate than ourselves. This is why we focus on raising money for Project Compassion throughout lent. Project Compassion boxes will be available at school for students to place any donations in during Lent. The children are encouraged to make sacrifices to support this initiative such as forgoing the canteen, doing some extra chores etc. and donating their money. Please support this important social outreach project throughout the forty days of Lent.

Yesterday, 32 students travelled to Yass to compete at the Northern Region Swimming Carnival. Every student performed admirably and should be proud of the way they conducted themselves in and out of the pool. A special thanks to the parents who went along to support their children, especially those who assisted as a timekeeper throughout the day. Well done to the 15 students who will progress to the Archdiocesan Carnival on Tuesday, 7th March in Queanbeyan. A big thank you must also go to Mrs Spackman and Mr Marmont for all the work preparing for the day and for travelling to Yass to support the children to participate in the event.