Please remember Father Sean in your prayers today, 4th August, Feast of St John Vianney, as it is the 36-year Anniversary of his Ordination.

REMEMBERING ST MARY OF THE CROSS MACKILLOP

In leading the Sisters, Mary was very conscious of the need for them to be aware of God’s presence and power working within them. She encouraged them to “take time to nurture this love and enable it to overflow into compassion, forgiveness, courage and resilience.” Mary often reminded her Sisters about being united with their God so closely that they could become their best selves.

The exemplary manner in which Mary lived among the people captured the values at the heart of her ministry: Respect, hospitality, perseverance, generosity and forgiveness. Gospel values were at the heart of Mary’s Spirituality.

At school, we encourage the children to follow the words of Mary MacKillop by “never seeing a need without doing something about it”- something they do very well indeed.

On Friday we will be having a special day to celebrate St Mary of the Cross MacKillop’s Feast day. Mrs Mitchell has highlighted the events in her RE news section. A reminder that the children are asked to come to school on Friday, dressed in “olden day” clothes. Year Six are very excited to prepare some “olden day” activities for the children. Thank you to Mrs Mitchell, Mr Tuckwell and Year 6 for organising this special day.

CONGRATULATIONS

Isabelle recently obtained her first black belt in karate. Isabelle has been consistently training in karate since she was 4 years old and is now one of the youngest in Australia to achieve this title in her style.  What a wonderful achievement!

Congratulations to Emily Putland for her selection in the Under 11s National Oztag team.  Emily will also compete for the Wolverines rep side in Coffs Harbour this October.

BOOK WEEK
Due to COVID 19 restrictions, the Children’s Book Council of Australia are postponing the official announcement of Book Week winners until later this year. We have decided though, to still hold our Book Week activities for the students in Week 7 this term. The staff and I are at present planning the activities for Book Week, however, I wanted to let you know in advance, that we will have a special day during Week 7, where the children can dress up according to the theme of Book Week 2020.

The theme this year is “CURIOUS CREATURES WILD MINDS”. This is not meant to be anything over the top- just items they may have a home that they can add to their dress up. Some ideas or books that the children might get inspiration from are:

Curious Creatures:–
Monsters; The Gruffalo; Unicorns; Dragons; Pokemon; Dinosaurs; Bilbo Baggins – The Hobbit; Under the sea characters; The Cat in the Hat; The BFG; Matilda; Alice in Wonderland; any animal or creature; imaginary or mythological animals.

Wild Minds:–
Dora the Explorer; Go, Diego, Go; Where the Wild Things Are book; Harry Potter and friends; scientists, explorers and adventurers- Just to name a few!!

The aim is for the children to find things at home, that they can create their character costume out of. I am sure the children will have a lot of fun thinking of some great ideas. Please do not go to any great expense or stress about the costume- it is just a fun way to celebrate books and the children’s love of reading. Unfortunately, due to COVID 19 restrictions, we are unable to have any parents onsite to see the children dressed up, however we will take lots of photos and share them via our school seesaw pages. Thank you for your support of this activity.

Have a wonderful week everyone,
Take care and God Bless
Katrina West