PENTECOST

The Gospel last Sunday told us that on the day of Pentecost, Jesus' followers were all gathered together in one place and God sent the Holy Spirit to give them the power to teach others about Jesus. Now, they couldn't see the Holy Spirit, so how did they know the Holy Spirit was there?

The Gospel says that they knew the Holy Spirit was there because they could hear the sound of a mighty rushing wind coming from heaven. They couldn't see the Holy Spirit, but they could hear the sound of the wind and they could see the flaming tongues of fire. When they were filled with the Holy Spirit, he gave them the ability to speak in languages that they didn't even know, so that they could tell everyone about Jesus. They couldn't see the Holy Spirit, but they could feel his power in their life.

The Holy Spirit is still with us today. We can't see him, but we can hear him as he speaks to our hearts, we can see his movement in our life, and we can feel the power of his presence as he guides us through each day and spreads hope amongst our communities, especially in times of need.

May the Holy Spirit bring you the strength, love and hope to guide you through your day today and give you peace to embrace the world, we are very lucky to live in.

SCHOOL ORGANISATION

CAR DROP OFF AND PICK- UP AREA
Just a couple of reminders about our afternoon pick up. Last week I had a visit from the police, to discuss any concerns they or we may have, with the afternoon pick up. Each day the police are doing a drive-by of all school areas. Our school community has been doing a great job with parking and collecting students and adults social distancing. We do have a couple of reminders though, that I need to refer to.

• There is to be no double-parking whilst collecting students. This is not only a safety issue, it is a traffic offence.
• No child should be walking around to the driver’s side of a car to get into the back seat of the car, whilst the car is parked near a busy road area. The potential for another driver to not see the child, is very high, especially if there are a lot of cars moving in the area.
• No child is to walk across a road near our school unaccompanied by an adult.
• If you are parked and stopped for a period of time in our drop-off/pick-up area near the Alice Street gates, and you are not following the road signs there, you can potentially get booked. It is a no parking area from 8:00am-9:30am and 2:30pm- 4:00pm. A few cars have been parking there for 20 minutes before the bell rings. The police or parking rangers have issued fines there in the past.

SCHOOL LUNCHTIMES
As mentioned previously, our school is having extra cleaning of all classrooms and toilets during our first lunch break, as a COVID 19 response. Therefore, our lunchtimes have changed by half an hour. The first lunch is at 10:30am and the second lunch is at 1:10pm. The children have been reminded that they can eat either their main meal or snack at Lunch 1 and either their main meal or snack at lunch 2. It is their choice, depending on how hungry they are at Lunch 1. Our school has duty bells for teachers, during the lunch breaks. These bells are not for children to stop eating. If a child wants to continue eating their food after the 10 mins eating time, then that is definitely ok. The bell is for the second group of teachers to come onto duty and take the children who are ready to play, out to the field and quiet area. This has always been the case, even before our changed times for lunch. The children also have an opportunity in class to have a fruit/vegetable break. It is called “munch and crunch” and each class has a time that they participate in this, that works the best for their morning schedules. Most classes are now having their “munch and crunch” around 12pm. All children K-6 are able to participate in munch and crunch if they want to. We ask that they only bring fruit and/or vegetables for this snack.

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL
Unfortunately, due to COVID 19 restrictions, our Athletics carnival planned for this term, will not be held. We had a tentative booking for Week 5, however council are not taking new bookings until government recommendations have changed. This term, we will incorporate the athletics activities into our PE program. I appreciate your understanding with this.

UNIFORM POOL
If you have any uniforms that your child is no longer needing, can you please consider donating them to our uniform pool. We are especially needing larger sizes.

Thanking you for your continued support of our school community.

Have a lovely week,

Best wishes and God Bless,
Mrs Katrina West
Principal