Newsletter 12/6/2023 Term 2 Week 8

Body and Blood of Christ

From the Principal

Dear parents, carers and community members,

We are in the second last week of, what is a short nine week term. Teachers have been working very hard over the last few weeks to complete our assessment tasks and gather data to accurately write our individual student reports that will be released on the last day of the term. Our parent/teacher interviews will be in week one of next term and the timetable for these have been released today. 

Parent Teacher Interviews

Our Parent teacher interviews will take place in Week 1 of Term 3.

The interviews are now open on PAM for you to log in to choose a suitable time to meet with your child's teacher. 

All Grade 5/6 class interviews are to be held on Tuesday the 11th July from 11.00am till 3.00pm and Wednesday the 12th July from 3.30pm till 4.30pm.

Foundation DF & SB, Grades 1 M & 1WF & Grade 2 DS class interviews are to be held on Wednesday the 12th July from 11.00am till 3.00pm and 3.30pm till 4.30pm.

All Grade 3/4 classes & Grade 2B  class interviews are to be held on Thursday the 13th July from 11.00am till 3.00pm and Wednesday the 12th of July from 3.30pm till 4.30pm.

Please log onto your PAM account to book a suitable interview time with your child's classroom teacher. Please note that if your child has more than one teacher, the teacher that is in the classroom on that certain day will be the only teacher available to book your interview with.

Division Winter Sports

Our mixed netball and  soccer teams played very well at the division winter sports in Warrnambool last Friday. The netballers were successful on the day and will now play at the next level this Friday the 16th in Colac. 

Wellbeing News

Catholic School Culture -

Mini Vinnies

This is the last week for donations to the Mini Vinnies Winter Appeal. They will be collected on Thursday 15th of June by Andrew O’Flynn from St. Vincent de Paul, who will speak to the Mini Vinnie group about the role of the organisation and the benefits of the work our children do at school.

Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ

With First Communion coming up we have the opportunity to reflect on last Sunday’s Feast Day, the Body and Blood of Christ also called Corpus Christi. Veronica Lawson RSM writes: As I watch the birds foraging for food in my front yard, I am transported back to the poetry of Gerard Manly Hopkins who began his famous work, The Wreck of the Deutschland, with the prayer: “Thou mastering me God! giver of breath and bread.” Every creature needs bread and every creature needs breath. “I can’t breathe”, that cry of African American George Floyd has echoed across the globe for over three years now, making of both Pentecost and Trinity strange reminders of the right of all to the breath of life. It will haunt us until we effect the conversion of heart that eliminates white supremacy and every form of violence.

As we celebrate Corpus Christi, we remember the two billion or more across the globe who yearn for “bread” in order to remain physically alive. We cannot appreciate this feast and what it signifies unless we have some appreciation and some satisfying experience of the material reality that underpins the symbolism of bread and wine. At the most basic level, this Feast is about bread broken and shared. It calls us to share our daily bread. The gospel passage belongs within a section of John’s gospel generally called the Bread of Life Discourse. Some scholars suggest that the discourse as a whole is cast in the form of a synagogue homily. In this view, it is a rabbinic type exposition of Exodus 16:4 and Psalm 78:4-5 on the manna/bread that God rains from heaven. In John 6:51-58, there are allusions to Eucharist as both meal and sacrifice. Jesus is the manna or bread from heaven. Life comes from eating his flesh/body. It also comes from drinking his blood. For the ancient Israelites, the life was in the blood.  Blood poured out is life poured out. To drink the wine/blood is to participate in the life of Christ poured out.

An analogy from my own context might help us to grasp something of the mystery that we call Eucharist. My home town, Ballarat, is the site of the Eureka rebellion. The Eureka flag is housed in a place of honour in the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka. At one level, this flag is fabric and thread. At another, it far transcends the materials from which it is crafted. These materials were transformed, possibly by women from our own parish, into a symbol of freedom for the Eureka rebels. In the process, they changed their purpose and meaning; so too with the bread and wine of our Eucharistic celebrations. They have become, in a very real though mysterious sense, the body and blood of Christ. While we reflect on this mystery, we ground our faith in action designed to address the issue of global hunger and the circumstances that inhibit access to “bread” for all. The feast of the Body and Blood of Christ invites us to careful consumption of the world’s resources so that all God’s people and all God’s creatures may have life.

Kind regards,  Mr. S. 😃

First Communion Workshop

Our First Communion candidates participated in an intensive four hour workshop last Friday with Mr. S, in preparation for their First Communion Mass on Sunday 16th of July at 11.00 am at St. Patrick’s Camperdown. The Workshop covered all aspects of the sacrament as well as tasks to be completed in the lead up to First Communion.

School Bus Safety

After the tragic news over the weekend of another bus crash, this would be an ideal time to have a conversation with your children about bus safety and the importance of wearing seatbelts while travelling to and from school. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those involved in this latest incident.

School Advisory Council

Our next School Advisory Council meeting will be on Tuesday 13th of June at 7pm. Among many other things, this meeting will be focusing on the data gathered from our uniform survey.

Parish Bulletin

The Week Ahead

Student of the Week

Birthdays

Happy Birthday to the following students who celebrate their birthday this week.

Rhys S, Lily V, Evelyn B, Emma L, Elliot O'C & Henry B

Known Dates for Term 2 and Term 3

COMMUNITY EVENTS

The Wizard of Oz

Let's Go Lego

Cobden Rotary in conjunction with Anglicare and the Camperdown BRICKs Club are running a holiday program as per the flyer below.

Terang Tornadoes Basketball

Community Meal

Netfit Clinic