Dear Parents and Carers

“By contrast, another word, ‘community’, when it is being used with some care, implies a sharing of strengths, and even a mutual fostering of individuality, in that the communing persons become more themselves, not less, by cooperating as they do.”

Peter Steele SJ, Bread for the Journey

On Sunday, we celebrated Pentecost, one of the great feast days of the Church, which celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples. This experience was utterly transformative. As Steele writes, the disciples were transformed from a crowd into a community, a community formed for a common purpose, which allowed them to flourish as their different and individual gifts were put to a common purpose. This is part of the mission of Sts Peter and Paul: that we continue to grow as a community, not as a crowd or simply a group of people who work under the same roofline. It is as a community that our students can flourish and grow as individuals, and thereby grow the community at the same time. This term, we celebrate with our Year 6 students as they prepare for their own Pentecost, when they receive the Sacrament of Confirmation in week 9. My thanks to Fr John Woods, Sarah Kennelly, Paul Jenkins, Fron Garrett-Rumba and the parents of our students, for all of their work in preparing our students for this beautiful Sacrament.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Next week, information will be sent home to parents regarding parent/teacher interviews in week 9 of this term. This information will be sent home via Compass. I encourage all parents to book a time to meet with their teacher/s. Interviews will be for 15 minutes per student and provide a good opportunity to discuss with your child or children’s teachers the strengths, gifts, and areas of growth, that are applicable to your child or children. As I have written in previous newsletters, for this semester’s reports, for all Catholic systemic schools, there will be no comments. This is a decision taken by CE. The reason for this is that the report will be delivered to parents on a new platform (Compass), and as things currently stand, this platform does not allow for comments. My understanding is that this is being rectified, and while I cannot guarantee comments for the Semester 2 reports, they are more likely to be present.

Compass Parent Portal

Hopefully you have found the new Compass Parent Portal useful and communication more streamlined since its introduction earlier this term. Semester reports will be distributed and available anytime from the Parent Portal once they are published.

Some parents have had issues with the email they are using to login. We have found if this is the case, in many instances, using your individual username which is located on the email that was sent by Compass with login details has fixed the issue for many people. Another error we seem to have is using the browser on a mobile device to access the portal. If you are using a mobile device the best user experience is through the Compass mobile app which is found in the app store and play store.

If you are having issues logging in or using the Compass portal please contact the front office or email sean.rutledge@cg.catholic.edu.au

School Disco

A reminder that this Friday night, from 6.30pm, there is a school disco for all students. The disco is in two parts. K – 2 students have their disco from 6.30 - 7.15pm and Years 3 – 6 from 7.30 - 8.30pm. My thanks to the Community Council and Sean Rutledge for organising the disco and to Jungle Jerry, father of Kenzo in 3/4B who will be the DJ on the night. My thanks too to OSH Club, who are providing a food platter for parents.

Athletics Carnival

A reminder that Friday next week sees Sts Peter and Paul hold the Athletics Carnival. It promises to be a wonderful day. My thanks to Mary de Smet for coordinating the day. Please email Mary or the front office if you are able to volunteer for the carnival.

Have a wonderful week with your families and enjoy the long weekend this weekend.

Best wishes

Cameron Johns

Principal