Dear Parents,
During the month of November, we remember those members of our families, friends and parish who have passed away. Last Friday our senior students gathered to celebrate the Feast of All Saints. During the liturgy we were reminded of the multitude of men and women who throughout their lives gave of themselves for others thus being recognised and canonised by the Church as Saints of Heaven who intercede for us when we pray to them. The following day we celebrate the Feast of All Souls where we as a Christian community are encouraged to pray to the Saints in Heaven for the souls of the faithful departed. During this month, let’s spend some time thinking of those who have passed away and the memories that we have of them and the role they played in our lives.
0n Wednesday week, [20th November 5:30 PM and 7:30 PM] approximately 50 children from our parish community will be celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time. These children and their families having been preparing for this sacrament of healing for the last month and awaiting to receive God’s unconditional love and forgiveness in a very special way. Friends and families of these children are welcome to join us next Wednesday evening as we celebrate as a parish community through prayer sorry and song.
The annual Christmas “concert” scheduled for Wednesday evening 11th December will be facilitated by the well known Australian Liturgist and song writer John Burland. John has been writing and performing for the last two decades in many of our schools across the country. At CTK we use his music in many of our liturgies and masses. This year’s celebration will take the form of a “liturgy” that tells the story of Advent and Christmas through scripture and music and will be held in the church. John Burland will work with each grade throughout the day putting the finishing touches to the songs and movements the children are currently working on to reflect on our advent journey as we prepare for Christmas. As the liturgy will be held in the church there will be no need to bring food or drink, blankets or chairs as has been the case in previous years. This year’s event is a “different” approach to our previous Christmas celebrations providing the children with a more traditional scriptural approach to celebrating the Christmas story.
Over the last few days, our year five students have been on camp up at Vison Valley in Arcadia. The students and their teachers, have participated in a programme of activities promoting teamwork, co-operation and collaboration. I had the opportunity to spend the day yesterday with next year’ senior students. The students though a little weary were in good spirits having a great time in a very different environment to school. Our regular skoolbag alerts in recent days have kept you abreast of the camp. Our potential 2020 school leaders have enjoyed each others company establishing new relationships and strengthening existing ones as well as developing some new skills during their stay. Thank you to Mr Debrincat, Mr Barbaro and Miss Hartley who have given of their time over the last three days to accompany our students whilst they were away. We look forward to more photographs and the many yarns that will evolve over the coming weeks.
It would be greatly appreciated that parents utilizing the drop off area under the top COLA of a morning, remember the importance of dropping off their children without getting out of the car. Parents alighting from their vehicles slow down the drop off process [especially between 8:30-8:45am] resulting in other parents becoming impatient resulting in drivers reversing etc to drive around a stationary vehicle. This has the potential to cause an accident compromising the safety of our students. If you need to step out of your car, please refrain from using the drop off and find a parking space and park. This will allow you to safely attend to your children needs. Your co-operation in this matter will be greatly appreciated by all members of our school community who use the drop off of a morning.
Have a great week
Tony Hughes
Principal
