Dear Parents and Caregivers
Coming to faith is a journey for most of us as we discover God’s existence within the realities of our life experiences. This happens mainly through prayer and reflection. Just as the disciples gathered together to pray when they were anxious, it is important for us to gather with our faith community to share the highs and the lows of our journey. Regular time to pray alone, to pray in community and time to reflect, all enrich our spiritual journeys and more fully appreciate the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are alive within us and others around us. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are: Wisdom, Understanding, Right Judgement, Courage, Knowledge, Reverence and Wonder and Awe in God’s presence. Congratulations to those students who were confirmed last week.
This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity. Many of the great theologians of the Church have sought through the years to explain this great mystery. In the Old Testament, scriptures speak of God as more than one, as three.
Words are wholly inadequate to explain the mystery of the Trinity, yet our experience of God as Father, Son and Spirit has enabled us to have access to God in a personal way that would otherwise be denied us.
Our God is a God of relationships. The God of our experience is the God we meet in everyday life. Every time we make the Sign of the Cross and say the words “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” This Sunday we celebrate the facets of that relationship, a loving, but a wholly dependent relationship on our part.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells us through the disciples to preach, baptise and teach in the name of God. The God who loves us as intimately as a parent; whose own son Jesus shows us a love so great, he died on the cross and rose again to save us from the power of sin; whose spirit fills us with God’s own life and warms our hearts with the fire of God’s love living within us. Like the disciples we are sent to baptise, preach, spread the Good News of Jesus, to encourage, explain and show unexpected, unasked for, love for others.
National Sorry Day
Next Wednesday is National Sorry Day. National Sorry Day recognises the negative impact of Australian policies, practices and attitudes on Indigenous people.
The story of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples has a short, but important history in Australia. Many people feel that an integral step to reconcile these groups starts at the top – with the government recognising and apologising for policies, practices and attitudes that discriminated against, isolated and marginalised Indigenous people.
National Reconciliation Week
National Reconciliation Week (NRW) is celebrated across Australia each year between 27 May and 3 June. The dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey - the anniversaries of the successful 1967 Referendum and the High Court Mabo decision. The week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements and to explore how each of us can join the national reconciliation effort. As a school community, we recognise and celebrate this week. We have planned activities that will be carried out in individual classrooms.
Developing Master Plan
Over the past weeks Mrs Vassallo-Wakefield and I have led three sessions with students with the assistance of UniSA staff and a visiting Professor from the US to research play spaces. This session was viewed through two lenses:
How we model the practice of honouring student voice.
How we are reimagining learning spaces and practices.
Our group benefited greatly from UniSA’s Professors; wisdom and knowledge, which assisted students to develop a pragmatic view of what our school has the ability to become. In the coming weeks this group will continue to research playgrounds in Adelaide. Our Year 7 School Leaders will attend three Master Planning Sessions with Kon Michael from Swanbury Penglase to take forward the ideas from this student group.
Kon Michael will join our Master Planning Committee tomorrow for a second walkthrough of both campuses to feed him with the current concerns and potential visions to establish further dialogue. From this meeting a determination of outcomes will be developed which will form our Master Plan. We look forward to this unfolding exciting development in our school.
This morning a verdict was reached in Archbishop Philip Wilson’s trial and you may have noticed media interest in this matter. For your information, media statements from Archbishop Philip Wilson and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference can be found at this link.
Please be assured that our school community takes very seriously our role in keeping all students safe. If you have any concerns or questions about our child protection practices, please contact me.
God bless
Brady Stallard