Dear Parents and Carers

“Unfortunately, our natural instinct is trying to fix pain, to control it, or even, foolishly, attempting to understand it. The ego insists on understanding. That’s why Jesus praises a certain quality even more than love, and he calls it faith. It’s the ability to stand in liminal space, to stand on the threshold, to hold contraries, until we are moved by grace to a much deeper level and a much larger frame.”

• Richard Rohr, ‘Stay Where the Pain Is’

Fr Richard Rohr is describing a lifetime’s work, in the passage quoted above. Building on the back of our reflections last week about ‘distress coming to find us’, in this week’s reflection, Rohr writes about the ideal (but never easy) response, once distress does find us: stay with the pain. In this age of distraction, with multiple social media platforms and numerous opportunities to be taken away from where we are needed, Rohr’s advice sounds alien. Yet I am convinced of its truth. It is the only real path to depth, character, and ultimately, to healing. Our world is sorely in need of healing. Jesus’ life and death – and resurrection – shows that pain and distress never have the final word.

Feast of the Assumption

Last Monday, we celebrated a whole school Mass, in the school hall, for the Feast of the Assumption. This feast celebrates Mary being assumed into heaven, body and soul. It highlights and celebrates the gift of Mary in Jesus’ life, and the gift of Mary, and all mothers, in our lives. My thanks to our excellent REC, Steph Burns, for coordinating the Mass; to all staff for their support and coordination, to our Grade 1 students for helping to lead us in a hymn, and of course Fr John Woods, for celebrating the Mass.

PSSA Athletics

On Tuesday, Sts Peter and Paul participated in the Regional South Canberra Athletics Carnival. We had 32 students from Grades 2 – 6 participate on the day, with all of our students trying their absolute best, and a number of Under 12s students progressing to the ACT carnival, including: Zoe T, Ava T and Ethan N. Callum R aced Under 13s long jump. My thanks to Sarah Kennelly, who coordinated our involvement, and to Cathy Shepherd, with whom I worked on the day, in looking after our students.

Student Wellbeing

Our Annual Improvement Plan includes a focus on student wellbeing, especially, but not only, in light of the lockdowns we have experienced over the last two years. We have recently completed a survey with our students, which we are working through. At our recent Leadership Team meeting, we also looked at this website from renowned child psychologist Andrew Fuller, whom I was lucky enough to hear in person, some years ago. https://andrewfuller.com.au/

Fuller’s website contains a number of free resources that are suitable for homes and schools and we will be using his work as a support and a resource, as we continue to refine our understandings of the most pressing needs of our students. I have included a PDF article called, ‘Ten Hints for Creating Resilient Families’. https://andrewfuller.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/ten-resilience-hints.pdf

Staffing News

We welcome to our Sts Peter and Paul school community two new Classroom Support Assistants, both of whom will work fulltime in our school: Mrs. Maria Anthony, who started this week, and Mrs. Decki Wangmo, who will start next week. I welcome and congratulate both Maria and Decki and I am looking forward to the contribution they will both make to our school.

Book Week

Next week, we celebrate Book Week. The staff have a number of excellent activities and the week culminates with our Book Week parade on Thursday. My thanks to our librarian, Amanda Basedow, for her excellent work.

Morning Drop off

A reminder that morning duty begins at 8.30. Please refrain from dropping off your child before 8.30. There is no supervision until 8.30am.

Have a wonderful week with your families.

Best wishes

Cameron Johns

Principal