TERM 3, 2019 (please click for more dates)
Dear Families and Friends of St Ambrose School
Well, here we are, not only at the end of another incredible term of learning, loving and growing but halfway through our school year. Time flies, and we’re always having fun!
Tomorrow is a Pupil Free Day and I will be working our staff through some modules from Bishop Greg which centre around Wellbeing and Personal Freedom. I think this is very timely, considering we are at the halfway point of the year. I know our students and staff are tired - they’ve been working industriously for 2 terms. I thought it would be useful to share some thinking around Wellbeing and how you can be mindful of ensuring you are best able to look after yourself and the people around you.
A good friend of mine, Martin Scroope writes that our personal wellbeing at any given time directly reflects our ability to live with and respond to three time frames: past, present and future. We all spend valuable time reflecting on the past. This can allow us, in the present, to feel joy, comfort, peace and strength - clearly shaping the future. These reflections can also lead us to feelings of regret and despair, clouding our lived reality of the present and impacting our future experiences. In my own life, I know that I have to be always attentive to and accepting of the reality that we constantly walk through various patterns of life. By the very nature of journeying through life, with it’s ups and downs, celebrations and times of despair, we are constantly growing in different ways, according to our time place and circumstance. Maybe, I reflect that I haven’t spent as much quality time with my family as I wanted to, perhaps its been far too long since I called that friend back, maybe the budget goal hasn’t quite reached it’s potential. These realities can lead us to a place of pressure - what St Ignatius called ‘desolation’. Alternatively, we can choose to make a renewed commitment to change those realities today ‘consolation’ so that we are able to move more productively and optimistically into the future.
As a staff tomorrow, we’ll talk about the benefits of being attentive to our personal wellbeing. When we are ‘well’, we grow in spiritual strength. When we are spiritually strong, we find it easier to overcome hardships, we make healthier life choices and we build and sustain loving, life-giving relationships with people, God and creation. So how do we get there?
For each person, I believe there are powerful tools to helps us become or remain spiritually strong. For many people, taking time to move is key: yoga, pilates, cycling, walks on the beach. These activities help us to reflect on the day just gone or the day ahead, centre our thoughts and enhance our motivation. For others, reflective and creative activities like journalling, painting, drawing, composing, playing can be useful tools setting our direction through these life patterns. At St Ambrose we teach our students (and adults) about the gifts of meditation and prayer as moments when we can, just for a moment, withdraw from the busyness of the world, reflect on our past, commit to our present and reenter the day with a renewed awareness of what gives and takes life from ourselves, others and creation, ultimately enriching our future.
Thank you for your support in the past few weeks. We are a very strong community, with gifts, talents and generosity to share in abundance. I am very excited to have Mr Laybutt back with us in Term 3. We have certainly missed him in our community and I know he has missed being with us too. As always, I’m immensely thankful for our St Ambrose staff for their work this term. Each of them are talented, compassionate and hope-filled people who strive each day to give our students the very best experience of school. If you are able to, please drop them a message of support for all they do.
However the awareness of Wellbeing and “taking stock” works for you and your family, I hope the winter break is a happy, exciting time spent together. For those families who are journeying over the holidays, travel safely and joyfully.
Omnia Christus Est Nobis
Nic
Kinder Religious Education Unit: Belonging To God’s People
Over the last 5 weeks the kinder students have been focusing on a unit of work connected to the Church and The Eucharist. This unit introduced the students to religious imagery, to the church building and its furnishings and to gestures used during a mass celebration. The unit then introduces the celebration of Eucharist through a focus on key liturgical actions and objects used. Below is an activity the students completed naming the objects used at our mass celebrations.
First Holy Communion dates and preparation for Term 3
If your child is in Years 4, 5 or 6, has been baptised Catholic and made their Reconciliation but have not yet made their First Holy Communion and you wish them to prepare for this Sacrament please forward a letter to the office requesting intention for this to Sue Falcke by the end of the term
Important dates to take note of:
Bishop Gregory Parish Visit
Bishop Gregory Homeming is our Bishop of the Lismore Diocese. He will be visiting our Parish on the weekend of the 3rd and 4th of August. During his visit he will be celebrating all with Father Paul. This will also be the weekend of our School Parish Mass – Holy Commitment Mass on the 4th at 7:30am. Bishop Gregory will be confirming our Confirmation candidates on Monday evening 5th August at 6:00pm in the St Anthony’s Church. We look forward to welcoming our Bishop Greg over this weekend.
On Sunday 23rd June, students from year 5 and 6 travelled to Murwillumbah to take part in the Group Drama section of the Performing Arts Festival. Their performance titled ‘The Great Kapok Tree’ was inspired by the book of the same title by Leanne Cherry. It is a cautionary tale of the affects of deforestation. The students performed with passion and confidence, earning themselves first place in the 12 years and under category. When announcing the results, the adjudicator described their performance as ‘outstanding’.
Our 2019 Public Speaking Finals have just concluded. I’m sure you will agree that our stage finalists set impressive benchmarks of excellence again this year. Congratulations to all of our students who prepared and presented speeches this term. I know how nervous I still get before assemblies each week or when I have to speak in front of people - and I’ve been doing it a long time. All of our amazing students have had to find a great deal of courage, whether they presented their speech in front of their class, or as part of the finals. I’m immensely proud of them all, as I know you are.
| Stage (Years) | Winner | Runner-Up |
| Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten) | Nicola Gray | Willow Wittingham |
| Stage 1 (Years 1 & 2) | Oscar Shaw | Ella Bressan |
| Stage 2 (Years 3 & 4) | Chelsea Kill | Madeline Morgan |
| Stage 3 (Years 5 & 6) | Lakota Sutcliffe | Isabella Tate |
