“He fasted forty days and forty nights.”

Matt 4: 2

(from the Gospel for the first Sunday of Lent, Year A)

Dear parents and carers

On Wednesday, the church entered the liturgical season of Lent commencing with Ash Wednesday. The children attended Mass and received ashes as is our Catholic tradition. Lent lasts for forty days, inspired by Jesus’ forty day retreat to the desert at the beginning of His public ministry. The word lent comes from the Latin word lente, to slow down. The Lenten season is a time to slow down and reconsidered our relationship with God, with our family and with our neighbours and community. The first words Jesus speaks in St Mark’s Gospel includes the word “repent!”. In the original Greek text, the word Jesus used that has been translated in English as “repent” was metanoia. Many biblical scholars argue that metanoia could be better translated as change your mind. Lent is a season in which we re-assess and re-align our lives in accordance with God’s will and with Jesus’ lived example. This may indeed mean that we will need to change our minds about how we live our lives in our families, communities and the world. In our Catholic tradition, Lent is characterised by the three spiritual disciplines of prayer, self denial and works of charity. I have included with this newsletter a letter from Bishop Brian outlining and explaining the church’s teaching regarding Lent. I would encourage you at the outset of this Lenten season to take a moment to read and reflect upon the contents of Bishop Brian’s message.

Last Friday, we conducted our Swimming Carnival for 2020. It was a very successful carnival. The children are to be commended on their positive and enthusiastic participation. A special vote of thanks to Mr Chris Boyd who coordinated the carnival and our hard working staff who ensured the day ran smoothly. Thank you to many parents and family members who came along to support the children. It was a great day!

At today’s assembly we presented the children their ribbons as well as announced the age champions and the winning colour house. They are

Junior girls champion: Minna Bowen

Junior boys champion: Lucas Holmes

Senior girls champion: Ayessa Cecilio

Senior boys champion: Riley Englefield

11 Year old girl: Brittany Wray

11 Year old boy: Anthony Pizzata

Winning colour house: Red

Western Region Carnival 3 March, Bradbury

Our swimming carnival selects the school swim team to participate in the western region carnival which will be held on Tuesday 3 March at Bradbury. Children who have qualified for this event have had event information and permission notes sent home earlier this week. Miss du Bois will be accompanying the children. From this event, a western region team will be selected to compete in the diocesan carnival on 9 March at Corrimal.

Sacramental Program- Reconciliation enrolment period now opened

All sacramental programs are parish lead and school supported in the Diocese of Wollongong. The reconciliation program for baptised children enrolled in Year 3 or older will open this weekend. Enrolment packages can be collected and subsequently returned from any weekend until 8 March. Alternatively, packages can be collected and returned from the parish office during the week. The parish office hours are 9:30am to 1:30pm Monday, Wednesday Thursday and Friday (closed on Tuesday). The first reconciliation class will be held on Sunday 15 March immediately after the 10am parish Mass. The sacrament of reconciliation will be celebrated with the candidates and their families on Friday 3 April.

MiniVinnies news- Bushfire raffle and pancakes for Caritas.

MiniVinnies are a group of children in the school who work to support social justice initiatives and St Vincent de Paul. They have been very busy supporting important initiatives and the children have done a great job. We should all be proud of their enthusiasm and dedication. Thank you to Mr Chris Boyd for coordinating Mini Vinnies at our school. Recently, Mini Vinnies have conducted a raffle in support of the St Vincent de Paul Bush fire appeal as well as cooking and selling pancakes to go towards the diocesan Caritas Lenten appeal. Both events were very successful. We presented a cheque for $270.20 to Mr Tony Ward, convener of the Moss Vale St Vincent de Paul chapter at assembly this morning. Mr Ward also drew the raffle, the major prize being a signed West Tigers jersey. Anthony Pizzata in Year 5 won the first prize. The other winners of the raffle were - Charlotte in Year 4, Brittany in Year 5, Riley Doherty in Year 6, Henry Holmes in Year 1, Maggie Year 2, Adelyn in Year 4, Shannon in Year 3, Hannah in Year 6, Noah in Year 4 and the Norman family.

On Tuesday the pancake stall raised $259.60. This will go towards the annual Caritas Project Compassion appeal. Thank you everybody for your generous support of both Mini Vinnies events.

Clean Up Australia Day- Friday 28 February

Tomorrow we will participate in Clean Up Australia Day with a school clean up. If you would like to send gardening gloves with your child, that would helpful but not essential. The children will spend about half an hour after the second break cleaning up class designated parts of our school.

School Fees via COMPASS and setting up payment installments

Our diocesan system of schools now centrally manages school fees on behalf of all our schools. Your school fee accounts are now distributed electronically from CEDoW via COMPASS. Our diocesan system of schools no longer distributes paper accounts. Your school fees account for 2020 is now available in COMPASS for you to review.

If you had an fee payment by installment arrangement with the school in 2019, this arrangement should still be in place. If you are a new family to the school or you wish to vary your fee arrangements, you can set up installment payments to manage your fees by completing a “Diocesan Request to Pay School Fees by Instalment”. This is available on the school website under the “Fee Information” link on the home page. Once you have completed this form please email it to: instalments@dow.catholic.edu.au . We ask that you do this as a priority. Please be aware that the new diocesan system automatically generates reminder emails. Having the payment plan in place and being adhered to will avoid this happening.

If you require further information regarding fees, all details are available on the school website home page. Please follow the “Fee Information” link to access these documents. 

If you are having difficulty meeting your fees obligations, please make contact with me through the school office. We can discuss options together.

Photograph Permission- thank you for returning them asap

You have recently received the photo permission form for your children. We are required to seek this permission from you annually. The consent form allows for your child’s image to be used in the school newsletter, our school facebook page or by the diocese in their publications (print and digital). Thank you to the many families who have returned this permission form. If you haven’t yet returned the form, we ask that you do so at your earliest convenience.

Responsible User Agreements - thank you for returning them asap

Responsible User Agreement sets out the school’s expectation for the use of technology at school. The Responsible User Agreements are signed annually and placed on your child’s file. Thank you everyone who has already signed and returned your child’s Responsible User Agreement. We ask that you return these as a priority if you haven’t already done so.

All children have commenced a digital citizenship program with Mrs Cassidy. This will continue throughout Term 1.  These programs and lessons are developed for each of the stages within the school and are age appropriate. If there are any problems with technology, please let us know.

Assembly on Thursdays fortnightly

Due to Gym classes on Fridays, we have moved our fortnightly assembly to Thursday afternoons in odd weeks (Wk5, Wk7, Wk9). 

Please note that in Week 11, we will conduct a Holy Week liturgy in place of the assembly.

Environment Interest Group- gardening gloves required

If your child is part of the Environment Interest group, we ask that you send some gardening gloves to school for your child’s use during the Thursday afternoon interest group. Gardening gloves are available at most supermarkets or variety stores. They are inexpensive but very helpful for the children who will be doing some gardening.

Sacramental Programme

First Reconciliation

Enrolment forms are now available for those who wish to participate in the Reconciliation Programme (students in Year 3 or older). These can be picked up and returned to the Parish office or at any of the weekend Masses.

• Enrolment period: 2nd February – 9th March
• Reconciliation Classes: 15th, 22nd and 29th March
• First Reconciliation: Friday 3rd April

Ash Wednesday Mass

Yesterday we held a lovely Ash Wednesday Mass to mark the beginning of Lent. A big thank you to Fr Richard for celebrating Mass, and to staff, parishioners and students who participated with such reverence and enthusiasm. The choir and solo singers did an amazing job, taking us to heaven and back with their beautiful music and singing.

 Thank you

Catherine du Bois

Religious Education Coordinator

HIGHLANDS FOOTBALL ACADEMY 2020