Think back to the days when you might have read the story of ‘Peter Pan’ or have seen a film (or even a pantomime!) of the story. In one scene the children have seen Peter fly, and they try to lift themselves into the air, but they can’t manage to do what he does. They ask Peter, “How do you do fly?” Peter tells them, “Think lovely thoughts.” They do, and then they achieve what they thought was impossible - they fly!

The story leaves us with the idea that we can do many things if only we “think lovely thoughts”, if only we “think positively” about things, “filling our minds” with good things.

In the Bible we find this passage from Saint Paul about filling our minds with good things.

“I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord. I repeat, what I want is your happiness. Let your tolerance be evident to everyone:  the Lord is very near. There is no need to worry: but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. Finally, fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise… Then the God of peace will be with you.”

Take some time for silent prayer, asking that our minds be filled with all that is good…

Week 4

New format trial for our School Newsletter

Today, we are sending our newsletter via a new system, which we hope will provide a more user friendly version for our readers. We are using Schoolzine and the newsletter will be emailed as a live document rather than as a PDF as in the past. This should mean that on any device, the formatting should adjust for you to make it easier to read. We would love to hear your feedback and whether you think it is a better system, etc. Eventually we will also stop using Skoolbag and all messages will come through the same system. We are hoping to start this next week and you will receive an email message instead. The plan is for all communications to come through the one platform. Links to the website and calendar are at the top of the newsletter page.

We will continue to print a copy for those families who do not have access for an electronic copy. If you need to update your email address to ensure we are sending it to the correct one, please contact the front office as all communication will be through the email on our system.

Student Leadership Morning Tea with Fr Joshy

Today our Year 6 and Year 10 Leadership Teams and House Captains joined Fr Joshy at the Presbytery for morning tea. In this all important Year of Youth, it is important that the Church also hears from our youth – what is important to them, how they view the world, religion, spiritualty and big picture concepts which impact upon their lives. Teachers involved with the student leaders also attended and it was wonderful to hear our students’ views – they have much to offer and always rise to the occasion! I would like to thank the staff who work with our student leaders to help them develop their leadership skills, be prepared for the many events they are involved with and encourage our students to learn and do their best in what can be, at times, daunting roles. Thanks to Mr Andrew Alderman (Year 10 Mentor), Mrs Nicky Trinder (Student Wellbeing & Secondary House Points), Mrs Natalee Litchfield (Junior House Captains), Mr Brad Winsor (Primary SLT organisation) and Mrs Katie Thompson (REC). We are so blessed to have a wealth of knowledge available and generous staff willing to share their time and expertise.

Thanks to Fr Joshy for hosting morning tea for our Student Leaders today! Our students enjoyed a grand tour through the Presbytery, a delicious morning tea, and some very interesting stories from Fr Joshy about his life in India and time he spent working in an orphanage. Fr Joshy encouraged all our leaders to remember that they won't stop being leaders at the end of the year, but to carry on with what they learn and to think about the type of leader they want to be.

Opening School Mass

Please come along to our Opening School Mass on Friday 23 February from 12noon. Our Student Leadership Teams, including House Captains will be inducted and all students new to the school either throughout 2017 or at the beginning of 2018 will be welcomed into our community and presented with a Sacred Heart candle. The Mass will be a lovely opportunity to welcome in the new school year and celebrate everything that is wonderful about Sacred Heart.

All are invited to enjoy some delicious fruit after our Mass. We will be moving recess to the 30 minutes directly after mass on Friday. This should be at approximately 1.15pm. Given that students will have had lunch just prior to mass and that we are in Lent, we hope that you can join us for some refreshing fruit and a chat.

Harmony Day and National Day Against Bullying

We will be celebrating both Harmony Day and National Day Against Bullying on Friday 16 March. During lunch time, our student leaders will be running activities for all students and promoting important Anti-bullying messages. We are also inviting all students to enter our Poster Design competition – see below for full details. We will be selecting one winner from K to 2, Stages 2 to 3 and Years 7 to 10. Winners will receive a book, especially selected to reflect the theme. Posters will be displayed throughout the school and entries close at the start of lunch on Monday 12 March. 

Click here to download Poster Design competition details

Each student, staff member and parents are also invited to decorate rocks which will be placed into a rock path on Friday 16 March to celebrate both Harmony Day and National Day against bullying. Mrs Aileen Maher supplied the rocks to each class room/year group yesterday. Parents can either ask their child/ren to bring home a rock for them to paint or they are available from the front office. We would love everyone to paint at least one rock to celebrate and acknowledge ALL in our school community. Students will be painting their rocks at school.

During Pastoral on 16 March, we will come together as a whole school to place our rocks into the path. These will be permanently “glued” into position.

I have copied below some examples of what we hope to achieve.

Year 10 RoSA Evening and BBQ

Thank you to all our Year 10 parents and students who came along to enjoy a wonderful community evening with past students who now attend Hennessy. It was lovely to see our Year 12 and 11 students come back, along with their parents, and to enjoy a meal together on Monday evening. Thanks to Ms Erryn Marsay and Mr Andrew Alderman who held an informative session about RoSA and how important Year 10 is educationally for all our students.

Building strong self esteem

Every person possesses his or her unique beauty. So how do we as parents assist our children to discover their “unique beauty”?

Building strong self-esteem is an excellent starting point. Having rules of behaviour and achievement expectations that are realistic, and that set children up for success and not failure, are essential.

Keeping a spiritual dimension to our guidance is most important and the observation of the English Poet, Robert Browning is most practical: “My business is not to remake myself but to make the absolute best of what God has made.”

God, through Jesus, promises that He looks at the heart and not the outward appearances. The majority of today’s magazines do not call us to live a life like this. They place in front of us false and life-draining images which, unfortunately, many of us accept as necessary for us and almost become slaves to.

We don’t live life on the outside of our body, our real life comes from within; it is our inner beauty to which we should be directing our attention and energy.

School TV

If you haven’t yet checked out School TV, I encourage all parents to take a look at the diverse range of advice and information that is provided.

Date for the diary

All Primary students and their families are invited to our Fun Family Maths Night on Tuesday 6 March. Start time is 5.30pm. Invitations and further information is being sent home with the youngest in the family. Learn how to play fun games which help your children learn Maths!

With blessings,

Mrs Janet Cartwright
Principal