God our Father, we thank you for the joy of this third week of Advent. Open our hearts to praise you now with all your angels and saints as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, your Son.
We make this prayer in your name.
AMEN
The third week of Advent began last weekend it is also known as “Gaudete Sunday”, which means we have passed the halfway point and Christmas is coming soon. the word Gaudete means “rejoice”, and at this point in our Advent journey, our hearts should be filled with joy as we ponder the magnitude of Christ birth.
We mark this joyful time by lighting the only pink candle on the wreath.
Throughout Advent, priests wear purple vestments except on Gaudete Sunday, when they wear pink vestments during the Mass.
Christmas is a special time for spiritual reflection. It is when we celebrate God’s love for the world through the birth of Christ child: Jesus.
God sent his son to atone for all our sins so that we will never be separated from God. It is because of Jesus, that we are saved and provides us with the true meaning of Christmas. We know that through our belief of Christ we are all daughters and sons of God. Heaven will one day be our home. This Christmas – take time – spend it with family, enjoy the moments we have together. Acknowledge those who we don’t see often or with whom we struggle, they too need our understanding and love.
Wishing you all a happy and safe Christmas and summer break, stay safe and I look forward to working with you in Religious Education in the New Year.
GOD BLESS
Mrs Helen Howden
Religious Education Leader
Wow!!!! What a year 2022 has been. We have been fortunate enough to have a whole year on site at school. This has been a great outcome for our children as they have reconnected with their peers, developed their social skills, and experienced a great year of engaging learning.
We have had performances about resilience, leaderships days for senior students, camps, incursions and excursions as well as engaging and authentic social emotional lessons. These experiences have all contributed to our students developing their own sense of positive wellbeing.
We are extremely proud of all our students and what they have achieved and we look forward to another fantastic and engaging year next year.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe holiday break.
Today we welcomed Banjo Cullen back to St Matthew’s to speak to our year 6 students about his experience of secondary school this year. Banjo was informative and reflective on his year and gave great insight to what to expect when our students head off to secondary school this year.
He answered their questions based on his experiences and I’m sure our students can add that to the great preparations they have been given by the year 6 staff. Thank you so much Banjo!!
The Parents and Friends Association would like to thank everyone who donated gifts to our christmas raffle, and who also purchased tickets. We would like to say a big thank you to Chemist Warehouse Monnee Ponds, Bunnings Coburg, Officeworks Coburg, Little Anderson Café, Northpark Café-Somerton, Pane E Pizza, Coffee Joint, Do Terra, Harry G & Me Balms, Nelson Alexander Coburg, and Olympic Martialarts.
We would like to congratulate the following children who won raffle prizes on the night.
1st - Sonia, 2nd - Temika 1B, 3rd - Mary J 2A, 4th - Isabella 5A, 5th - Sebastian 5B, 5th - Eloise 1B, 6th - Alessia 6B, 7th - Aarush 1B, 8th Ebru 3B, 9th - Harrison G 5B, 10th - Jayden 4A, 11th - Tyler 2B, 12th - Sebastion 5B, 12th Julian W-4A, 12th - Ryan 5B, 12th Luca - 1A, 12th - Meron 2A, 13th - Krishiv 2A, 14th - Milo 3B
When joining the Ritchies Card program you are given the option to nominate your favourite club school or charity (known as Recipients). Each time you scan your card (either physical card or electronic card in the App) when making a purchase at any of our participating stores, the total is recorded to your chosen club, school or charity. At the end of each month, Ritchies will pay your chosen club, school or charity .5% of the total accrued directly into the Recipient’s nominated bank account*.
