Dear Parents and Caregivers

This will be the final newsletter of the year where I give you the usual updates. The very last one will have dates for 2026 as well as the staffing list. Everyone keeps asking where the year has gone, but as we know, life in schools can be hectic, and time passes quickly. With Christmas less than a month away, we are now about to enter the season of Advent where we focus on the birth of Jesus. If possible, please make an effort to engage with our parish this Advent. I know Fr Vinh would love to see you there.

Scripture Reflection Luke 2: 15-20  “When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying, and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them”.

Christmas Concert and Mass I know this is one of the major highlights of the year and I’m sure that this year’s Mass and concert will be another great occasion for our community to come together and celebrate another successful year. The Mass is scheduled to start at 6pm on Thursday 4 December on the oval and the concert will start straight after it. More details will be sent home soon.

Reports We are in the process of finalising them and they will be available online for you to access from 4pm on Monday 8 December. If you have any questions, you have a few days in that last week to make an appointment and meet the teachers. I have finished reading all the comments and once again, I was very impressed with what I saw. Reports take a huge amount of time and effort to put together and I would like to thank all the teachers for their input as I know this was mainly done in their own time.

Transition The students will get to meet their new classmates and teachers on Wednesday 10 December from 9.00am to 9.30am. As usual, the students will be asked to name five friends they would like to have in their class next year, and we guarantee that they will get one. We use a programme called Class Solver to help us with the monumental task of organising classes for next year as there are so many factors that need to be taken into account. Just moving one student can throw the whole lists out and it takes a lot of time to get the balance right. For this reason, once the classes have been announced, I ask that you don’t contact the school requesting a change as we won’t be making any further changes. The lists are compiled with the information we have at hand, and it is done in good faith and in the best interests of everyone.

Talent Show This is another wonderful highlight for our students in the final days of the year, where some of them get up on the stage and showcase their amazing talents in front of the whole school. It starts at 1.30pm on Wednesday 10 December and parents and grandparents are most welcome to attend.

Graduation Mass This is the last Mass our Year 6 students will celebrate with the whole community and it is an incredibly special and sad time for them. It will commence with a guard of honour stretching from the school all the way to the Church. Please note that this year, due to renovations in the parish kitchen, the morning tea will take place in our hall straight after Mass. I’m sure we will get another bumper crowd there. Mass starts at 8.45am on Thursday 11 December. I look forward to seeing you there! The Year 6 students will get to spend their last day of primary school at Outback Splash in Bullsbrook on Friday 12 December as a way of celebrating their time together one last time. They then have their graduation dinner on Saturday night 13 December at a function totally organised by their parents.

As you can see, it will be a hectic final couple of weeks here and it is fair to say that we all will well and truly deserve a big holiday after all this!

Laurie Bechelli
Principal