Welcome to Wk 7.  It is with great sadness that we farewelled Monsignor Father Kevin Barry-Cotter today here in St James Parish Adelong.  Our 4/5/6 students formed a guard of honour together which was a beautiful tribute from our little school.  Fr Kevin had a beautiful gentle nature with the children and his infinite knowledge and understanding of the scriptures will be sadly missed.

Last week I had the privilege of attending the Principles Retreat in Bowral.  The theme of the retreat was ‘The Inner work of leadership’.  There were many great themes and messages that I took from my time away, however the message that resonated with me was on choosing light and dark.

“We can make choices about what we are going to project, and with those choices we help grow the world that is”  Palmer, Parker J

As adults we have the power to project either shadow or light upon some part of the world, and upon the lives of people who dwell there- especially for our own children. 

It means that we can choose light – to display appreciation of small things, gratitude for what we have, inclusion, generosity to name a few.  Reflecting dark means we can sometimes give in to fear mongering and lies, become disconnected from others and be caught up in our own ‘busyness’.

It is so much nicer for our communities and all within it, if we choose to shed light rather than dark.

Have a great week.

Kirsty Beavan

Principal

It was wonderful to have Bernadette Scott visit our school today. Bernadette is part of the Faith Formation Team at Catholic Education and is our school advisor on both the Religious Life of our school and curriculum development.

The staff have developed Inquiry units from the Brisbane syllabus that are based around concepts that can be integrated across other areas of the curriculum.

The focus for each class is written as a statement:

Kindergarten and Year 1: Positive identity and relationships are formed through a sense of belonging.

Years 2 & 3: Choices impact our relationships with others.

Years 4/5/6: As leaders, our actions impact our communities.

The programs consist of four strands: Sacred Texts, Beliefs, Church and Christian Life. There are also core scripture texts and prayers that are covered in each year level.

Bernadette praised the commitment of the staff in developing these new units and provided valuable feedback with further resources that will aid staff in planning future units of work.

Easter Egg Raffle:

Our Year 6 leaders will hold an Easter Egg raffle to raise funds for Project Compassion – Caritas. Caritas Australia is the international aid and development organisation of the Catholic Church in Australia.

In class we have been learning how our donations can help people gain skills, education and basic needs such as food, water and health care in vulnerable communities. The Project Compassion stories highlight the Catholic Social Teaching principles and how to live the Gospel values.

Year 6 will sell tickets on Wednesday and Thursday at recess time. Tickets will be 50c each. There will be a range of prizes that will be drawn in the last week of school.