What beautiful rain! We had actually forgotten what it was like to have wet weather at school. It is a much needed weather event and we appreciate the welcome blessing that it is for all. Wet weather means a lot more jackets have come to school and it is always a challenge to make sure everyone leaves with the jacket that they came with. Having all uniform items marked with your child’s name is very important especially when everything looks the same. We still have a lot of unmarked items left over from the Athletics carnival last Friday. If you are missing items please send your child to check the front office. We return items with names back to the classrooms but still have a lot of items waiting for collection. On the topic of uniform a gentle reminder that the winter uniform does include the tie and it is expected that it is worn correctly. No one should be presenting in summer uniform so all students require the tie. We also expect our students to tuck in their shirts to look presentable and to keep warm. We have a wonderful transition of wearing our uniform with pride.

Unfortunately we had to cancel the reconciliation walk scheduled for today. The walk was to re-enact the walk that the First nations girls had to make from the train station to Bimbadeen when they were removed from their families. We are grateful to the local AECG for their initiative and passion in educating and supporting our young people as they learn and appreciate the important history of our town and the importance of Reconciliation.  It will be postponed until a later date.

The Athletics Carnival last week was a marvellous success. Thank you to Ms Van and Ms Withers for their efforts on such a big day. It was not O’Shaughnessy’s year…again. But our time must be coming soon. Congratulations to Mercy for their resounding win and to all our students who gave 100% in their events and helped and cheered all day. It was a great day for attendance and we thank the families who joined us on such a beautiful autumn day to cheer on our athletes.

Our lovely School Counsellor Mrs Laura Maxwell has taken maternity leave to await the impending birth of her first child. At this stage Catholic Care have been unable to source s replacement for a face-to-face counsellor and we may be allocated online session until a counsellor can be engaged. All clients have been contacted about the end of service for now and others will be contacted as soon as sessions are made available. If you would like to register for your child to speak with a counsellor, then please use the online link to apply. This helps Catholic Care catalogue the need in our school for the regular counsellor’s hours.

https://catholiccare.force.com/housing/s/school-referral-form

Next Monday we welcome Mr Ross Fox the Director of Catholic education in the Canberra Goulburn Diocese. He will be spending some time with us touring the school, meeting students and staff and listening to the achievements and ambitions of our students. We will also discuss with him the future development of our site and our school. We are very grateful for the effort he will make to come and visit with us. We will show him what a wonderful, resourceful and dynamic school we have.

The Confirmation Sacramental program has begun and we have 19 students who will begin this journey of affirmation of their Faith. Please keep them and their families in your prayers as they commit to learning more about their Faith and their relationship with Jesus. Thank you to Mrs Maxwell and the Stage 3 teachers, Sr Kathy and Fr Lolesio for their guidance.

A reminder that lunch orders must be ordered by 9.30am especially on Thursday and Fridays. The volume of orders on both these days is exceptionally high (which is a great thing) but it means that the canteen doesn’t have the time to process and provide a lunch at 11.05. Amanda does an amazing job in the canteen and the huge order numbers are a credit to the great service that she provides.

Our Infants student led a reverent and inspiring Liturgy today. The students led all the ministries and were extremely well prepared by their teachers. The maturity and confidence that our little people showed by reading in front of the entire school community was impressive.

Next Friday we will celebrate the Feast day of the Sacred Heart. We will come together in a Mass at 12noon followed by a sausage sizzle lunch. All families are most welcome to attend.