Last Wednesday the school was a sea of pink for Uniform Free. After a sumptuous breakfast of muffins and fresh fruit students generously donated to the McGrath Foundation for the privilege of wearing pink. The staff joined together for a special morning tea to mark the occasion and nearly $600 was raised to support the provision of Breast Cancer nurses to those dealing with the disease. Thank you to our wonderful community for, once again, giving generously to help others.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Lent with the Ash Wednesday Mass at 10am. Our Stage 2 students will be leading the ministries. After Mass the students will partake in Rice Day where they experience the limited type of meal that many children, the world over, have as their only meal for the day. We are asking the students to bring in $2 to donate to Mercy Works programs in communities who live in poverty. This is another fine example of our students rising to the challenge to make the world a better place for all.

PASTORAL MESSAGE

Over the past week Catholic communities have been dealing with the fallout from Cardinal Pell’s conviction. We do not shy away from the reality of the court case nor are we ashamed of being Catholic. But we wait for justice to be done. We stand with the victims of any sort of abuse and realise that this has gone on for far too long to far too many. As Mr Ross Fox (Director of Canberra Goulburn Catholic Education) wrote yesterday; “The safety and welfare of our students remains our top priority. The child safety approaches administered by our dedicated teachers and leaders assure we are held to the highest professional and regulatory standards…It is a key responsibility for everyone who works or volunteers in Catholic education. Every support [is] offered to students, staff and members of our community whose suffering and distress may be heightened at this time. As Christian communities we are called to listen and tend to the needs of the wounded whatever may be the source of their suffering. We must have open hearts and open minds and address the needs before us.” I have also included the response from the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference;

STATEMENT FROM ARCHBISHOP MARK COLERIDGE, PRESIDENT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONFERENCE

“The news of Cardinal George Pell’s conviction on historical child sexual abuse charges has shocked many across Australia and around the world, including the Catholic Bishops of Australia. The Bishops agree that everyone should be equal under the law, and we respect the Australian legal system. The same legal system that delivered the verdict will consider the appeal that the Cardinal’s legal team has lodged. Our hope, at all times, is that through this process, justice will be served. In the meantime, we pray for all those who have been abused and their loved ones, and we commit ourselves anew to doing everything possible to ensure that the Church is a safe place for all, especially the young and the vulnerable.”

School Fees

All families will have received the 2019 Term 1 School Fees invoice over the last week. Included in the different levies and fees that make up our fee schedule is the School Building Fund levy of $55 per term. This fee is to help manage and offset our large insurance premiums that we are required to pay for all our buildings, facilities and liabilities. This payment is fully tax-deductible and allows us to use our budgets to continue to resource and maintain our school. Traditionally the money for insurances used to be paid from the planned-giving tithed by parishioners but with an aging Sacred Heart parish population and fewer families contributing to planned-giving the Parish can no longer meet these contributions. School Fees are due 19^th March (if you maintain a direct debit this does not apply).

P & F

The P & F will be holding the AGM on Wednesday 13^th March at 5pm to elect new office bearers. Our current P & F executive have been tireless workers for our school and have raised an impressive amount of funds. It is time for "new blood” to step up and take over the fine tradition set in recent years. We thank, especially, Mrs Melissa Finnigan who has served as a devoted and generous president. Please give some consideration to being involved in a very influential and obvious way by taking on a position on the P & F. We are so blessed to have so many workers who give up their time, skills and resources to help our school raise valuable funds. Melissa would be very happy to talk to you about what is involved in any of the positions that will be decided on the 13th March. We need to have people assume these roles to ensure the continued viability of our P & F committee structure, otherwise we will have to look at alternative, less autonomous options.

A big thank you to those who attended the Bingo night at the S & C Club last Saturday. We raised over $1500 due to the large number of aspiring Bingo players. The atmosphere was intense but a fantastic night was had by all.

Don’t forget to keep the afternoon/night of Friday 29 March free to join us on the secondary school grounds for the biannual Fete. Lots of goodies on offer and lots of ways to be involved and to help out. Hamper items for each secondary year group are now due (Year 7 – Bathroom items, Year 8 – pet supplies, Year 9 – gardening items and Year 10 - sports and games paraphernalia). Primary classes are responsible for donating drinks and Infants families are to donate lollies if possible. All goods may be brought to the Front Office or handed in to their classroom teacher. This is our major fundraiser for the year and we hope to generate funds for some big ticket items for the school in 2019.  Don’t forget to sell your raffle tickets to all your neighbours, family and friends. These are due back (preferably sold) asap.

STUDENT DISCOS

The very busy Student Leadership Team are planning the Term One discos. The Primary Disco will be held from 5.30 – 7pm and the Secondary students will hold their Disco from 7pm until 9pm on 21 March at the S & C Club, upstairs in the Wattle Room. The respective themes are: Primary – the 80s and Secondary – When I Grow Up! Tickets must be bought in advance and they are available from the leadership team at lunchtime and recess for $2.

Last week we joined with the parish in celebrating the Vigil mass where the ministries were led by our littlest students. It was lovely to see so many families at Mass and to have a large cohort of our senior (Year 10) students attend to support their little peers.

Congratulations to all our Primary Swimmers who competed in Narooma at the Archdiocesan Swimming Carnival on Monday.

Our senior boys; Archie Blackman, Joshua Harris, Caleb Jones, Jake Winsor made it away for the relay and Lucy Smirl and Jake Winsor qualified for individual events.

God bless

Mrs Nicky Trinder

Principal