Dear Parents,
This Sunday we are celebrating the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. We remember with gratitude the celebration of Jesus’ ultimate gift to us all of his Body and Blood through his suffering and death on the cross. Jesus’ giving of his body and blood for us all, encourages each of us as children of God to love others with ‘our heart, mind, soul and strength as St Mark’s identifies in his Gospel writing. This Sunday we focus on Jesus. He gave his body for us. He poured out his life for us. He gave himself, day in and day out, to teach and to heal, to comfort and to challenge, to forgive and to love. In many practical ways, he gave himself to us, showing us what it means for God to hold us in existence. This Sunday “as we receive our Lord’s body and blood in communion, let our hearts fill with gratitude for this amazing gift from the heart of the risen Jesus” [Fr Michel Fallon].
This weekend, the children from our parish community will make their First Holy Communion. This is a very special occasion in the lives of our First Communicants and their families. For the first time these young children will receive our Lord through the Eucharist as they are further initiated into our Catholic community. Thank you to all those from the Parish community who assisted in the preparation of these children over the last six weeks. A special thanks to the Parish Sacramental team - Di Campbell, Leslie Bosai, Cate Joseph, Ben Horne, Monica Burley and Fr Ian for the time and commitment they all put into preparing the children for the sacrament. Please continue to pray for these children as they grow in the love and image of God.
Each student this Friday will receive their first semester report. Your child’s report is a summary of your child’s learning acknowledging their achievements and highlighting their learning challenges for the second half of the year. It is encouraged that you sit down with your child over the weekend and celebrate their achievements and discuss the identified areas for improvement. These challenges for next semester can be best formulated into several short term goals that can be jointly constructed by yourselves and your children. I would like to thank the teachers for the many hours spent over recent weeks marking assessments and writing student reports. On Wednesday all families received an emailed letter explaining why an interim report has been issued today. If you seek further clarification on this matter, please contact me.
Over the next two weeks, teachers will be conducting parent teacher interviews. Thank you to those parents who booked an appointment online. If you have not already booked an appointment, please contact the school office on Monday morning as the online booking facility has already closed. It is important that parents are punctual for their designated interview time. Each interview is ten minutes in duration. If you require additional time to discuss your child’s studies, please make an appointment with your child’s teacher for a follow up meeting. Your co-operation in these matters will be greatly appreciated by staff and other parent.
Thank you to families who are continuing the high standard of uniform compliance during Winter. There are however several children wearing sneakers and joggers with their winter school uniform. Children are to wear black leather shoes with their school uniform not runners or black sneakers. Your cooperation in this matter will be greatly appreciated. Thank you
Next week [Wk9] I will be away at a professional development training course pertaining to PBL [Problem Based Learning which is a prominent inquiry pedagogy which has been implemented her at CTK over the last few years. Several teachers will be joining me at various stages throughout the week taking part in a variety of workshops. If you have any concerns that need to be addressed next week please see Mrs Walsh or you can contact me via email or via my mobile.
Cheers
Tony Hughes
Principal
