“I have a Baptism to be baptised with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished.”

Luke 12: 50

(from the Gospel for the twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C)

Dear Parents and Carers,

Today is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In our Catholic tradition this is a celebration of Mary departing our shared earthly existence and being united with God in eternal life. At Mass this morning we celebrated the passing of Rachel Neville who has worked in our school office since 2015. Rachel has been away from school for the majority of 2019 due to illness. She died peacefully on Wednesday with her husband by her side and surrounded by her parents and siblings. We grieve the loss of a friend and colleague. There will be a funeral in all likelihood next week at St Paul’s Camden. Obviously, most of the school staff would like to attend. We will work with the Catholic Education Office to make arrangements for the supervision of the children. It will not be a “normal” school day. We will keep you informed as further details come to hand.

Western Region Athletics carnival: was held last Friday in Campbelltown. The children represented our school with pride and dignity. We were very proud of the whole team. There were some outstanding individual results. Jessica Wray won the Senior Girls Champion award. Lilly Ragan was runner up age champion for 11 years girls.  Liam Bailey won first place in the 100 metre 8 years boys sprint. We have several children attending the Diocesan Athletics carnival to be held on Tuesday  20 August at Beaton Park, Gwynneville.  Notes have been sent home last Monday regarding this event. We wish all our representatives every success!

Wakakirri- wow!

Our Wakakirri performance at WIN Stadium last Friday night was fantastic!! Our children have been an absolute delight to work with. They have remained both committed and enthusiastic throughout the many months of preparation and rehearsal. The story dance piece they created was about the impact of mobile phones on our well being. The judges feedback for our performance was: 

“This is a delightfully fun but relevant issue that affects everyone in society now, but is approached in a lovely, tough & cheeky performance which worked so well and was very entertaining. A great soundtrack helped to drive the thought line of piece forward. A very committed performance from the whole ensemble. A fun piece with a very important message.” Wayne Scott Kermond & Katie Kermond.

The children won the award for Best Awareness Raising Story Award and the Best Use of the Token Item Award.

I would like to thank and acknowledge the hard work, out of hours work and creative vision for this opportunity by Chris Boyd, Alyssa Williamson, Jodie Illiani and Sara Bryant from our school staff. We are blessed to have such talented and creative people working with our children. I would also like to thank and acknowledge the families who supported the children and attended the performance. We had over one hundred tickets sold for the night. What a great showing from a small community. Great work everyone!

SHIPS Athletics tomorrow Friday 16 August at Tudor House: our school athletics team will participate in the SHIPS (Southern Highlands Independent Primary Schools) athletics carnival tomorrow. The team has been selected from the results of the school athletics carnival held in Term 2. We will bus the children in the team to Tudor House departing school at 9am. If you are at Tudor House at or before 9am, we could use some help setting up our school marquee. 

SHIPS is a social event and does not lead to further competition or competitive opportunities as provided for by our diocesan series of sporting fixtures events. If your child is attending SHIPS and you haven’t returned the permission note and $6, I ask that you do tomorrow.

“Activate the Fire” Southern Highlands Year 6  immersive spiritual experience- Monday 19 August

On Monday 19 August our Year 6 children will join with the Year 6 classes from St Thomas Aquinas, Bowral and St Michael’s Mittagong for a full day immersive spiritual experience. This opportunity is being offered by the Catholic Youth Ministry team from our diocesan Bishop’s office. The day will be centred around the Holy Spirit in support of the Confirmation  program. All children, irrespective of whether or not they are being Confirmed are expected to attend. The children will travel to Bowral by train. The school will provide Opal cards for each child.

Father’s Day Stall Friday 30 August: the annual P&F Fathers’ Day stall will be held on Friday 30 August. A note went home earlier this week advising the same. Gifts are $5 each. All money raised will go towards providing for additional resources for the children to use in their learning.

Confirmation: Our Year 6 students will continue their preparation to receive the sacrament of Confirmation this weekend with the next sacramental class to be held on Sunday 18 August after Mass. Please keep our Year 6 Confirmation candidates in your prayers . Confirmation will be held on Saturday 21 September with Bishop Brian.

Date claimers for Term 3:

Don O’Brien – Principal

Assumption Mass

On Thursday 15^th August, the school and parish community celebrated the Assumption of Mary with a whole school Mass. This mass was offered for the repose of the soul of Rachel Neville, a member of our school community who died after a long battle with cancer. We had a beautiful, solemn mass, and everyone participated with great reverence.

Confirmation Program

Students who are participating in the Confirmation Program will continue the classes this Sunday.

Session 1: Sunday 11^th August

Session 2: Sunday 18^th August 

Session 3: Sunday 25^th August

Session 4: Sunday 8^th September

Session 5: Sunday 15^th September

(No classes on Father’s Day – 1^st September)

Confirmation: Saturday 21^st September

Families are required to attend the 10:00 am Mass followed by class in the School Hall.

Activate the Fire

On Monday 19^th August, Year 6 students from the Highlands schools will get together for an Immersive Spiritual Experience called Activate Fire. This experience is based on the Year 6 Confirmation Unit: Celebrating the Gift of the Holy Spirit. St Thomas Aquinas is hosting the day with the Catholic Youth Ministry Wollongong assisting to facilitate the day. Year 6 students from all three schools will be attending the day, even those who are not making their Confirmation. A note will be sent home shortly with more information.

Thank you

Catherine du Bois

Religious Education Coordinator

*NBT – Not Before Time