LENTEN SEASON

Ash Wednesday

Last Wednesday the students from Years Three to Six joined with Fr Jacob,  the students from St James College and our church community to celebrate Ash Wednesday Mass. It was a wonderful way for us to begin our Lenten Journey as we prepare for Easter. 

Project Compassion

On Friday the eldest child in each family brought home a Project Compassion box. The idea being that families who choose to give up something for lent could place the money they were going to spend on that item into the Project Compassion box. The money raised is donated to Caritas Australia whose goal is threefold “End Poverty, Promote Justice, Uphold Dignity” The boxes can be returned to school or the Church after Easter.

Lenten Promise

We begin our staff meetings with prayer. Last week the Year Five Team led our prayer and shared with us a slideshow sharing what students in their class had promised. The students used their promises to create a movie that I share for your reflection.

Lent Movie.mp4

REMINDERS

Front Car Park

To ensure the safety of our children please remember to park as close as you can to the blue line providing ample space for cars to move through. The lane closest to the buildings is for driving along and is not a drop off point. Finally and the most important point is that the speed limit is walking pace. If a child is ever struck by a car that is going faster than walking pace the driver will not be able to claim it was an accident as they were not doing what they were supposed to do.

Dogs on School Site

We have a Dog Policy at St Peter's that does not allow for any dogs, apart from service dogs, to be on the school site. Dogs also need to be kept clear of entrance points on Florence Street. Please make sure any extended family member who is responsible for picking up your child is aware of our policy.

SWIM TEAM SUPPORT

On behalf of our school community I would like to thank the fourteen staff who supported our Swim Team by either assisting with training or the organisation and cooking of breakfast for the swim team members when they came to school after training. I would also particularly like to acknowledge the work of Justin McCarthy for his organisation of the swimming team preparation and competition.

P&F FAMILY NIGHT

Friday evening the 21st of February was Family Fun Night. This was our first, whole school event for 2020 and we had a wonderful attendance. The P&F host the night to build on our sense of community. It was wonderful to see so many families catching up, making new connections and being part of our fantastic school community!

We hope the children enjoyed all the activities and catching up with their friends! 

The Jumping Castle is always a hit. The P&F would also like to thank Justin from Sport Star Academy for running the soccer drills on Casey. Justin donates his time and we are most grateful to him. 

The night would not be such a success without our many volunteers who assisted at the BBQ and Canteen. To these families and those who offered their assistance, a huge THANK YOU. Also, to the most amazing staff, thank you for your continued support and sharing your Friday evening with us. We couldn’t do all we do without your assistance!

Mel DeLuca

LOST PROPERTY

The lost property was sorted through on the weekend. Please have a look at the film clip and if you are missing uniform items send your child or come yourself to check the lost property by this Friday, 6th March.

Lost Property.MOV

PREPS CONGRATULATIONS

As we begin the month of March I want to take the chance to congratulate our Prep Students for the way they have so quickly settled in to being school kids. It is a very demanding time as they settle in to longer days and school routines. The way they have approached this has been wonderful. I thank their parents for their support in making the transition as smooth as possible.

SICK CHILDREN

At a time when the world is becoming very aware of particulars around the coronavirus, I wanted to bring your attention to the Department of Health and Human services guidelines for School and Child Services detailing the amount of time children should be excluded from school if they have contracted an illness. The full list is available via this link. Minimum period of exclusion for infectious diseases cases and contacts .pdf 

I am bringing this to your attention as there are specific guidelines around vomiting and diarrhea. Children who have vomited either at home or at school or have diarrhea are to be excluded from school until there has been a 24 hour period where the child has not vomited or had a loose bowel movement. To prevent the spreading of any communicable diseases all families are required to abide by these guidelines. Thank you for your co-operation in ensuring all our children stay healthy.

PRIVILEGE OF PRINCIPALSHIP

Last Wednesday night I accepted an invitation from the Principal of Star of the Sea College, Mary O’Connor, to attend their Music Fest. It is the second time I have attended this event and I was again very impressed with the spirit and talent of the students who participated. This event is driven by the senior students who bring the members of their house together to perform an amazing dance item and then each house presents two songs from their choir. The dance item is supported by a visual display on a large screen as a backdrop and the choir accompanied by student accompanists.There are hundreds of girls in each house and they all participate with enthusiasm and smiles on their faces. It was an amazing event and a  joy to watch. The students, the staff and the school community are to be congratulated for all their hard work.

PROUD PRINCIPAL

Following the Swimming Sports last Tuesday, I received an email from one of the parents who was present. I share some of it with you so that you can be as proud of our students as I am.

I meant to mention to you when I saw you how impressed I was yesterday  by the general spirit of fairness and sportsmanship on display by the whole squad throughout the day. 

But I was particularly taken by a specific example of that spirit - one of your young boys - was leading his event all the way until he was just pipped out into second,  right at the end by the boy in the lane next to him. 

No doubt he was disappointed - but his first reaction was to his great credit - he leaned over, and shook the hand of the winner in congratulations. 

Makes him a winner in my book.

MOUTHS OF BABES

I was about to head to the Junior School Ash Wednesday Liturgy on Wednesday afternoon when a prep student returned from her music lesson and needed to be escorted over. As we walked over she asked me if we were late. I replied that we were a couple of minutes late. She then told me she was late because she had a music lesson and I was late because I was the Principal and Principals are always very busy. How can one so young be so insightful?

ST. PETER'S FOODBANK

Welcome back to another year of families helping families!

St. Peter’s Primary School Food Bank was established in 2013 with families volunteering to cook meals for other families in the school community during a time of need. Whether there is illness, hospitalisation of a family member, bereavement, the arrival of a new baby, moving house or even if someone is in need of a little extra TLC, the Food Bank can help.

We would like to invite parents to consider becoming one of our volunteer cooks. We anticipate each volunteer would only be required  to cook 2-3 times per year.  Of course, you are welcome to cook more often if you like.

We also encourage you to think about your friends and classmates at the school and keep the Food Bank in mind if they are going through a tough time.  It is a completely confidential service and you can access it through us or through a staff member at St. Peter’s. If you would like more information about the service or volunteering, please download our electronic brochure by clicking on the following link 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gvRjFtuDmEtJ9HVFrvgAeHGoxbLP7iho/view?usp=sharing

Thank you to all the volunteers that have cooked for us in the past. With the new school year, that means we have volunteers that are no longer at the school. We are now looking for some new parents to sign up as volunteers, to start cooking for our Food Bank in 2020. We love to have as many volunteers in our Food Bank pool as possible.

If you have not cooked for our Food Bank before, please ensure you email us prior to cooking, at sppsfoodbank@spbentleigheast.catholic.edu.au, and ask us for a Food Bank information pack.

If you become aware of someone in the school community needing a little help or TLC, please contact us. 

You can contact us confidentially at: sppsfoodbank@spbentleigheast.catholic.edu.au or call Katrina Chapman 0488 386 088 (Program Co-ordinator) or your class teacher, school office or Michael Hanney directly.

MELBOURNE DEMONS

On Tuesday people from the Melbourne Football Club came to St. Peter's, their names were Max, Jay, Tom and Jack. Firstly they introduced themselves and then they split us into  four groups. Then we practised our skills. We did handballing first. They would handball to us and we would handball back to them and run to the back of the line. Then we had  a competition and if you did the less you got a punishment like 5 push-ups, star jumps or burpees. We did that with kicking and marking. After  that we got to ask questions, then they asked us questions to see if we were listening, and if we answered them correctly we got a prize like a squishy football or a poster.

We had a really fun time !

Paige S and Millie N 4KS

On Tuesday, 25th February, the Melbourne Football Club came to school for a Footy Clinic. The players that came were Max Gawn, Michael Hibberd, Tom Sparrow and Jay Lockhart. The activities they did with us were handballing, kicking and marking. In handballing we were doing a competition and Michael Hibberd’s group won and Jay Lockhart’s group lost so they had to do a punishment. In kicking we did another competition Max Gawn’s group won and punished Hibberd’s group. In marking Lachie took two ripper marks off Jay Lockhart’s highest kicks, Archie took three rippers off Jay Lockhart’s really high kicks but Tom took three rippers off Max Gawn including an amazing ripper. Everybody did really well. We also did a competition and Jay Lockhart’s group won and punished Max and Tom’s  groups. At the end we asked some questions and took a photo. They were really nice and we loved it. 

Archie F and Tom F 4KS

CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY

On Friday the 28th of February, St Peter's students took part in Clean Up Australia Day. We all walked around the school picking up rubbish. We were disappointed to find rubbish on the ground. We found drink containers, plastic food packaging and pizza boxes. We would like to remind everyone that we should not have rubbish outside because we should be bringing Nude Food lunches to school. If we are buying some of the yummy food from the Canteen we should be sitting near the Canteen and putting our rubbish in the bins there. We are not allowed to walk around and eat our food. We are helping our environment and the animals by cleaning up our school.

SCHOOL CLOSURE DAYS

This year we have scheduled six School Closure Days for staff Professional Learning, including our Staff Conference, and for the undertaking of our School Review. There will be no school for students on the following days: 

Thursday, 26th March

Friday, 27th March

Friday, 5th June

Monday, 17th August

Monday, 2nd November

Friday, 20th November

OSHClub will be providing programs for students on these days.

ENROLMENTS FOR PREP 2021

Our Open Morning for Prep 2021 Enrolments will be held on Tuesday, 10th March - 9.30am - 11.00am. Other tours are advertised on our Website and also in the Information Pack.

Parents at St. Peter's who have a child starting in Prep 2021 can pick up an Enrolment Information Pack from the School Office. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Friday, 6th March - School Photos - All Students to Wear their full Summer Uniform

Monday, 9th March - Labour Day Public Holiday

Tuesday, 10th March - OPEN MORNING FOR 2021 ENROLMENTS - 9.30am - 11.00am

Friday, 13th March - National Walk/Ride2 School Day

Monday, 16th March - Wednesday, 25th March - Year 3 - 5 Swimming Program @ GESAC

Monday, 16th March - Friday, 20th March - Year 6 Canberra Camp

Wednesday, 18th March - Reconciliation Family Workshop - 6.30pm @ St. Catherine's Church - Year 3

Saturday, 21st & Sunday, 22nd March - Presentation of Year 3 Reconciliation Candidates at Parish Masses

Monday, 23rd March - P & F Sausage Sizzle

Monday, 23rd March - School Tour for 2021 Enrolments - 12.30pm - 1.30pm

Wednesday, 25th March - TERM 1 ENDS FOR ALL STUDENTS @ 3.25pm

Thursday, 26th & Friday, 27th March - Federated Schools Staff Conference

Friday, 10th April - GOOD FRIDAY

Saturday, 11th April - EASTER SATURDAY

Sunday, 12th April - EASTER SUNDAY

Monday, 13th April - EASTER MONDAY

Tuesday, 14th April - TERM 2 COMMENCES FOR ALL STUDENTS

Learning To Open The Heart

To close ourselves off from the wisdom of the world around us in the name of God is a kind of spiritual arrogance exceeded by little else in the human lexicon of errors. It makes of life a kind of prison where, in the name of holiness, thought is chained and vision is condemned. It makes us our own gods. It is a sorry excuse for spirituality.
 
The sin of religion is to pronounce every other religion empty and unknowing, deficient and unblessed. It is to ignore the call of God to us through the life and wisdom and spiritual vision of the other. The implications of that kind of closing out the multiple revelations of the mind of God are weighty: once we shut our hearts to the other, we have shut our hearts to God. It is a matter of great spiritual import, of deep spiritual summons. Openness to the presence of God, the Word of God in others, is of the essence of contemplation.
 
Learning to open the heart requires first that we open our lives. The home of whites that has never had a person of color at the supper table is a home that has missed an opportunity to grow. The man who has never worked with a woman as a peer, better yet as an executive, has deprived himself of the revelation of the other half of the world. The comfortable contemplative who has never served soup at a soup kitchen, or clerked in a thrift shop, or spent time in inner-city programs, lives in an insulated bubble. The adult who has never asked a child a question and really listened to the answer is doomed to go through life out of touch and essentially unlearned. The world they know cannot possibly give them the answer that they seek. “When someone comes to the gate,” the Rule of Benedict instructs, “say ‘Thanks be to God.’” Say, in other words, ‘Thanks be to God,’ that someone has come to add to our awareness of the world, to show us another way to think and be and live beyond our own small slice of the universe.
 
Openness is the door through which wisdom travels and contemplation begins. It is the pinnacle from which we learn that the world is much bigger, much broader than ourselves, that there is truth out there that is different from our own. The voice of God within us is not the only voice of God.
 
Openness is not gentility in the social arena. It is not polite listening to people with whom we inherently disagree. It is not political or civil or “nice.” It is not even simple hospitality. It is the munificent abandonment of the mind to new ideas, to new possibilities. Without an essential posture of openness, contemplation is not possible. God comes in every voice, behind every face, in every memory, deep in every struggle. To close off any of them is to close off the possibility of becoming new again ourselves.
 
To be a contemplative it is necessary to throw open the arms of our lives, to take in daily one experience, one person, one new idea with which we have no familiarity and ask what it is saying to us and about us. Then God, the Ultimate Reality, the Life beyond life can come to us in deep, in rending, new ways.

 —from Illuminated Life: Monastic Wisdom for Seekers of Light, by Joan Chittister (Orbis Books)

WALK/RIDE2SCHOOL CLASS WINNERS FOR 20th FEBRUARY 2020

PREP - YEAR 2 - 1BR

YEAR 3 - YEAR 6 - 6VCT

Our next Walk/Ride2 School Day will be the NATIONAL RIDE/WALK TO SCHOOL DAY ON FRIDAY, 13TH MARCH.

BUCKET FILLER - WEEK 4

Fun Fresh Foods - Is very thrilled to be offering the children of St Peter's a fresh and varied Recess and Lunch Tuckshop Service.

We are open for Recess and Lunch Orders and Over the counter sales every Thursday and Friday. 

 Check out the NEW scrumptious value for money Recess Combo Packs!  We will be adding new menu items regularly. 

 Ordering is done via www.flexischools.com.au .  Orders close 8.30am the day of service.  Sushi orders close off 10.00pm the night before service.

 Please contact Liz Martin via email liz@funfreshfoods.com.au or mobile 0418 577 120 if you have any queries or questions!

Fun Fresh Foods       

Funfreshfoodstuckshop

Liz Martin

Ph: 0418 577 120

www.funfreshfoods.com.au