Dear Parents and Caregivers
Easter
The past week our students participated in Holy Week and Easter Reflections. These presentations were a fantastic way for our younger students to visualise the Easter story. The Easter message is paradoxically as simple as it is profound.
The prophet Micah eloquently explains the simplicity of what it means to be a follower of Christ. A Christian is one who acts justly, loves tenderly and walks humbly with God. It is a call to social justice, a call to deep respect for women, for Indigenous people across the globe and for our Earth. The profoundness of Easter lies in the incomprehensible mystery of our God who loves us individually, unconditionally and eternally.
Last Thursday was ‘Thursday of the Lord's Supper’. This is the story of the supper preceding Christ’s departure. This casts its own special light because of the Lord's example in washing the feet of his disciples, who were followers of Christ.
Last Friday, ‘The Passion of the Lord’, according to John's narrative; ‘The Passion’ Jesus who was portrayed as the servant of Yahweh, offering himself to the Father.
On Saturday the ‘Easter Vigil of the Resurrection of the Lord’ there are seven Old Testament readings recalling the wonderful works of God in the history of salvation.
While ‘Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord’ is a story of wonder that occurred within the empty tomb, it is one that remains with the followers of Christ today.
Most of us would know that Lent is forty days long – but I wonder how many of us are aware that Easter lasts for fifty days? The celebration of Easter lasts until the feast of Pentecost (a clue as it means fifty) which this year falls on the 20th May. For all this time the Church is celebrating and reflecting on the resurrection. As we go through the Sundays of Easter, the readings bring to our attention different aspects of what it means to say that Jesus is risen. Often I feel that we live in a world that is always far too eager to rush on to the next thing and is always trying to anticipate events. The Church is wiser, it invites us to pause and reflect. We now have fifty days to ponder the resurrection and to imbibe its meaning, just as these disciples did.
Term 2
As this is the last newsletter for the Term, in Term Two the children will be returning to school in their Winter Uniform. Now is a good time to make sure that everything regarding your child’s uniform is ready for the return to school after the holiday. A copy of the St Joseph’s Memorial School Uniform Policy is available here to assist parents in ensuring that the children are dressed correctly. Families are asked to show their support for the standards set at the school by fully supporting this policy. Should your child tell you that something contrary to the policy is permitted, please check with us! This will avoid ‘incorrect uniform’ notifications being sent home. Please note that Year 7 students are permitted to wear their leaders tops at all times upon receiving them, should they so wish.
Please be conscious of your child’s PE day/s this term, to ensure they are wearing the correct uniform at all times. A reminder that the School Uniform Policy also incorporates grooming, in particular;
NAPLAN
NAPLAN testing will be conducted on the 15th, 16th, and 17th of May. Tests of this nature give us valuable data as a school and more importantly feedback about individual student progress. You are also no doubt aware that the data forms part of the MySchool website. They are however, by their nature, a snap-shot of how a child performs on a particular day, at a particular time, in a given test situation. My experience has shown that some children may become anxious on the week or eve of the tests; this anxiety often reflects itself in results where they underperform. I believe in the ‘normalisation’ of the process. Key to this is treating the day, like any other and not fuelling the fire by ‘talking the tests up’. NAPLAN is one of a number of ways that allows teachers to assess, measure and track student individual attainment and achievement, it provides another piece of the learning jigsaw not the finished picture.
Have a safe and wonderful holiday.
God Bless
Brady