Last Sunday’s Gospel…

The mystery of the Trinity was the focus of last Sunday’s gospel. We recognize only one God but God in human form was Jesus and the constant Presence with us now is the Holy Spirit. It is a little hard to comprehend which is why we call it a mystery! St Patrick explained it with a shamrock or three leaf clover. A way of explaining it to our students is them the student, them the son or daughter and them the friend. Now imagine being able to do all those things at the same time. We can’t but God can because he’s God.

From the Principal...

It probably comes as no surprise, with all the media coverage that I am going to write about the flu. We are experiencing more illness at school. I know it can be extremely difficult to care for sick children and try to go to work yourselves as well – being a parent of three myself! We are having more children come to school who clearly have heavy colds. Please keep them at home. We have to try to keep students and staff safe and restrict the spread of the flu so if they do have obvious symptoms, please don’t send them to school. Our increased cleaning remains in place daily so we are doing all we can. We also have plenty of RAT kits at school so if you require more, please let the office staff know and they will send more home with your children. Thank you for your help with this and I hope as few of us as possible get sick.

I am beginning to read some of the student academic reports as teachers finalise them. They coincide with the parent teacher interviews coming up in Week 10. We are very pleased with the learning gains made this semester across the board despite the significant amounts of sickness and hope to increase learning as students come to school more regularly. Attendance and better performance go together when students are well!

We are trying something new with the students on the playgrounds. After looking at our data with regards to incidents, the committee decided to trial allowing the students to play on any playground within the grounds, according to the activity they want to play. For example, if the handball courts on the basketball court are all full, there are courts at the shelter area of the netball court. Years 1-6 can also choose to play on Koala Park. Kinder have a grassed area for their exclusive use near the hall. We have adjusted duties accordingly and staff are working with the students to teach them about what they can do on different playgrounds and how to find their friends. This is only a trial for a few weeks and we will see how it affects the data - hopefully less incidents, and also how well the students like it through the SRC and our Captain’s Team. We will make adjustments according to student feedback and please feel free to let us know what the students think after they have given it a try.

Can you please be mindful of pedestrians in the carpark? We are lucky to have such a big carpark and to be able to park off the street but need to keep everyone safe when we have hundreds of people in the one place especially after school. I thank the vast majority of you who are vigilant – reversing into the spaces, driving slowly and walking on the pedestrian pathways. So keep up the great work and if you do need to slow down, or a staff member asks you to park out of the OOSH bus zone, please do so with good grace. 

We are looking forward to our 40th year celebrations! Mrs David and the RE team are preparing Mass with Fr Henry, we are organizing a beautiful high tea for all the adults from the school and parish community and the P&F are cooking a sausage sizzle for the students to energise them for all the fun activities that will be on offer for them for the afternoon. I hope you are all able to join us! We have also started to plan for Book Week and Grandparent’s Day. It is exciting to be able to hold these very important community events again!

We had a large number of parents at the last P&F Meeting – lots of new faces as well as the familiar ones. It helps us make great decisions for our students when we all work on things together so please feel most welcome to join us. You won’t be the only new one! The P&F have supported our purchase of new bibles and religion text books for the students. It amounts to nearly $10,000 which means each grade will have a class set of bibles to share and we start on a strategic replacement of texts over the next couple of years. I am very grateful to you all for your ongoing support. I had another occasion to feel it today. I received my Principal Appraisal report and found that the panel had 106 parent surveys returned, though I don’t see the actual surveys myself. I was very touched that so many of you found time to respond and while I haven’t yet had time to go through all 20 pages of the report – yes it is very thorough, I will try my very best to keep doing the things you like and get better at the areas needing improvement. I am very glad to be part of the Holy Family community.

God Bless

Michelle Rolfe

Principal

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION REPORT with 

Mrs Deanna  David

Greetings and many blessings to you all. The month of June is a special month in the life of the Church. I invite you all to talk to your children about how they are celebrating the special liturgical celebrations at school.

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (From LiturgyHelp)

On Sunday we celebrated the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. 

Every time we come to Mass, we receive the Body and Blood of Christ. Jesus made a promise that no matter what, we are always called to eat and drink and to take part in this meal. He told the apostles that he would have to die so that he could rise again. A sign that Jesus could overcome death. The promise of Jesus is that he is always with us and will always be our friend.

When we go to communion, we are saying that we agree with the promises of Christ. When we say ‘Amen’ we are saying ‘Yes’ to God. We try to follow the promise of God – to love ourselves and to love other people.

Discuss with your child/ren… 

• Think of all the wonderful things that God has made.
• How can we praise God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit for all that we have been given?

Sacrament Information

Sacrament of Confirmation

A compass message was posted last week alerting parents to information available on the parish website. Please see the message below from Fr Henry:

The Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated in our parish on Friday 5 August 2022 at 6pm & 7.30pm.

If your child is in Year 6 or above, has been Baptised and has received the Sacraments of Reconciliation and First Holy Communion, they are eligible to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.

To enrol your child, the Candidate, for the Sacrament of Confirmation, please return the completed form & a copy of your child’s Baptism certificate (if required) to the Parish office via email or in person by 26 June 2022. (Please do not return to the school).

Please go to the Parish website at www.hfi.org.au to download the form (you do not need to print this form; it can be completed online), complete the form and return it to the parish office.

To ensure that the Candidate is prepared to receive the Sacrament there will be four preparation sessions.

Attendance by the candidate and an accompanying parent/carer at all sessions is required. Please be on time for each session. Payment of $30.00 will cover any expenses including the workbook, certificate and pin and must be made at the first Information Night (cash only and please have the correct amount).

27 June 2022 7pm-8.30pm    Information Night/Session 1

18 July 2022 7pm-8pm    Session 2

25 July 2022 7pm-8pm    Session 3

1 August 2022 7pm-8pm    Session 4

I look forward to meeting you and your children for our Sacramental Programme,

Yours in Divine Word,

Fr Henry Adler, SVD

Mass

Parents and carers are warmly invited to attend the up and coming Masses below:

14 June - Year 2 & Year 3 Mass 9am

21 June - Year 6 & Year 5 Mass 9am

St Benedict Feast Day

During Week 10 of this term, we will celebrate St Benedict Feast Day at school. Please keep an eye out for the activities as they are advertised. We will have a whole school Mass on the last day of school. 

Podcast: Ripples

Ripples is a PODCAST developed for staff and parents on-going spiritual formation. It seeks to offer a space where people can draw on the wisdom of a series of guest speakers and can experience some treasured stillness through meditation. See the link - you can either download the files as podcasts or listen to them directly from the website.

Catholic Diocese of Wollongong - Home - Don’t forget to check out the Diocese of Wollongong Facebook page!

                    The sign of the Cross

Over the last few weeks students have been looking at ways they can be kind to one another. Teachers have spent time with students each afternoon discussing acts of kindness. Students have been trying to look at different ways they can express kindness, for example  

-Smiling at someone 

-Holding the door for someone

-Helping  parents with chores around the house

-Saying “Please” and “Thank you”.

Teachers have reported that they have seen a change in behaviour in their students which has been great to hear. We encourage you to continue having these conversations with your children at home. 

Just a reminder:

1. School sport shoes are to be predominately white with white shoelaces.

   This week teachers awarded stickers to students who were wearing the correct uniform including school bags, raincoats and hair cuts. 

   I would like to thank you for all your support with ensuring your child is wearing the correct school uniform.

   If you have any questions regarding your child’s school uniform please speak to your child’s classroom teacher. 

   
   

 Regards, 

Miss Alana Stroligo

The Athletics Carnival

The Athletics Carnival was an event in which all students got to experience fun activities and sports. Right from the bus ride you could tell that everyone was feeling excited and curious about Holy Family’s first annual Athletics Carnival that has happened since 2019. As soon as we got there everyone got to sit in their house colours and cheer for their representatives running in the first race, the 800m race. After the 800m and 200m races everyone had their recess. Once everyone had finished recess it was time for the rotation. We were split into our age groups and started. The fun rotations were discus, shot put, long jump, high jump, relays and finally the 100m race which everyone got to participate in.  After lunch it was time for the finals to begin. After the finals it was time for everyone to go home, either from the carnival or the school. We would all like to thank Mrs Maxfield and Mrs Macintosh for organising and preparing this event. We would also like to thank the teachers, staff and Mount Carmel students for helping us with the rotations. We can’t forget to thank the parents, carers and spectators for attending the carnival.

 By Eliana, Ben and Cameron.

TUBS FOR TONGA APPEAL - THANK YOU

The Holy Family Mini Vinnies group would like to thank the Holy Family School community for your generosity in contributing to our donation drive, in partnership with St John's Parish Campbelltown, for the Tongan community. 

We received many generous donations, including non-perishable food items, toiletries, kitchen supplies, clothing and bedding.  In total we have received 315 donations for the Tongan community.  These donations were taken to a central collection point and will be sent directly to the Tongan community.  

The support and generosity from the Holy Family School community is greatly appreciated and will make a huge difference to the Tongan people as they continue to rebuild, recover and thrive after the natural disasters. 

Thank you again for your generous donations - they will make a world of difference where it is needed most!

Mini Vinnies Secretary

2022