St John’s account of the raising of Lazarus is the last of the Sunday Gospels before we enter Holy Week. Mary and Martha sent a message to Jesus to inform him that Lazarus was unwell. Jesus waited two days before traveling, by foot, to Judea. When he arrived, He found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. Martha said “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus assured Martha that her brother would rise again and stated: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" Martha was sure in her belief and said, "Yes, Lord. I believe.” This was a very important part of the passage because a full and explicit profession of faith in Jesus was made. Jesus was greatly distressed over Lazarus and he looked to heaven and spoke to God. He then called Lazarus out of the tomb and he came out bound with bands of stuff and a cloth around his face. Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen this, believed in Him. 

This Gospel prepares us well as we enter our most holy and sacred week, Holy Week.

NAPLAN

The Naplan testing period concluded on Monday, March 27th. Every enrolled student in Years 3 and 5 at Holy Family completed all assigned tests and we were very pleased with the calm and determined way the students conducted themselves during the assessments. Results are expected in July.

Cakes for Quake Stall

Our Cakes for Quake stall last Friday was a huge success! The cake stall was led ably by our Mini Vinnies Team and Mr Dodds, and supported by our whole community. We raised much needed funds to support those impacted by the Syria-Türkiye Earthquake. With your support, we had so many donations of cakes to sell and we raised approximately $800! It is heartening to see what an impact we can make when we all work together and we thank you all for your support!

Car park and pick up

Thank you for your support of our revised afternoon procedures. For those of you who may have missed Mrs Rolfe’s Compass message earlier this week, here is a summary:

There have been a large number of students left after school until quite late. They are, without meaning to at all, creating a trip hazard along the path. In addition, they don't all fit in the office and increasing teacher duty time is not an option. So we have made some changes.

Firstly, the end of the school day bell goes at 2.55pm. Please get to school to pick up your children promptly. We know that having a few hundred people moving around the car park and pathways will take some time so not every parent is going to be walking through the gate at 2.55pm! Please keep doing this calmly as you do now. Students are to be picked up from the classrooms where you can have contact with their teacher to facilitate communication. During the Covid restriction period, we offered supervision until 3.15pm to reduce crowds. We no longer need to do that and OOSH is available in the hall should you need after school supervision for your children. Many parents pay for this and it is not fair that they do while others leave their children at the school.

Also, a reminder that the drop off section of the car park is only to be used in the mornings, it becomes a safety issue if used in the afternoon. Similarly, the carpark spots marked as ‘bus stops’ (the car park spots closest to the school hall) are only to be used by After School Care vehicles. 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the office.

First Reconciliation

 Last Friday evening many of our Year 3 students and other parishioners who had undertaken the Sacrament of Penance program at the Parish, came together for their First Reconciliation. The Second Rite of Reconciliation included a beautiful liturgy celebrated by Father Henry and 4 visiting priests. We pray for each of the children and young people who received this Sacrament of Healing and continue to keep each of them in our prayers as they take the next steps towards First Holy Communion next term.

 Holy Week

As you know, our Lenten season is drawing to a close as we begin to prepare for our most sacred week in the Church year. Palm Sunday is this Sunday and we invite you to attend Mass at our Parish at either 9am or 5pm. Holy Week continues with the Easter Triduum at the following times: 

Reconciliation is also offered at the following times:

Next week, as a school, we also celebrate Holy Week. It is a time to celebrate the life and death of our saviour Jesus Christ. Each morning at 9am we will focus on a different part of Holy Week with different classes leading the reflections in our school hall. More details can be found in Mrs Thompson’s report within this newsletter.

On behalf of Mrs Rolfe and the Holy Family School staff, we thank you for your ongoing support and for the wonderful term of learning we have had as a community. We also thank our staff members for their hard work throughout Term 1.

Please stay safe over Easter and the School Holidays and see you all in Term 2!