Dear Parents and Carers

Resilience is really a secular word for what religion was trying to say with the word faith. Without a certain ability to let go, to trust, to allow, we won’t get to any new place.
—Richard Rohr

Welcome back to another school year. I hope and trust that all families had a wonderful Christmas holiday and a very good start to 2024. It was wonderful today to see the children return, and in the case of our Kindergarten students, start their school journey from the beginning. Aside from our new Kinder students, we have 19 new students in Grades 1 – 6. The staff have spent the last 4 days in professional learning days, and many days prior to that were spent in getting ready for the school year. We are all excited to see the children return.

The quote above comes from the America Franciscan priest Richard Rohr. I thought it an apt quote to start the year. Every year all of us start with some hopes for the year, even if expressed only to ourselves. It seems that many of the hopes involve some change and change always involves some degree of trust and letting go. Today, many kinder parents ‘let go’ of their children, as their sons and daughters took their first steps into formal education. I think of last year’s Year 6 parents, whose children are starting High School this year. Or perhaps we have older children, who may be starting university, careers or getting married. For the people we love in our lives, and for own selves, change is inevitable. My hope for all of our community members is that when dark clouds gather around the change, we have the courage and faith to stay the course, knowing that we don’t have to have all the answers or solutions.

2024 School Theme

Last week, our Acting Religious Education Coordinator Amanda Basedow skilfully led the staff in a spirituality day, at the parish centre at Curtin. Part of the day was spent with the parish community in Eucharistic celebration. During the day, we explored our theme for the year, which is to ‘flourish’. Specifically, our scripture text for the year comes from Psalm 92:13 Planted in the House of the Lord; they will flourish. To flourish is more than doing very well. It is more than achieving excellent test results. A person could do those things, but at great cost to themselves or those around them. To flourish is to see one’s whole self grow and bear fruit for others – it is about using one’s intellectual, physical, emotional and spiritual gifts to make the world a better place. Sts Peter and Paul’s mission, as a school, is to contribute strongly to the lifelong flourishing of all of students.

New Families

Today we welcomed 31 Kindergarten students, and 21 new students from Grades 1 – 6. I would like to welcome the following families who are new to our school: Cabangal, Bainbridge, Bravo,Tomas Lele, Williamson, Raichura, Dulla, Khanna, Adhami, Alotaibi, Gomez Velez, McIntosh, Villavincencio, Bruce, Benedet, Cooper, Cockburn, Perkins, Wang, Pollock, Walter, Acharya, Montiel, Alsharif, Khadka, Hopkins and Yangden. My hope is that all of our students, returning or beginning, flourish through 2024.

New Staff

We welcome a number of new staff to Sts Peter and Paul this year:

• Samantha Mance, Acting Assistant Principal and 4M teacher;
• Natasha Kapantais, Year 1 teacher;
• Maddi Mertz, Year 1 teacher;
• Rebecca Wright, Kindergarten teacher;
• Samantha Stinziani, Year 5 teacher;
• Sarah Adam, Classroom Support Assistant;
• Liz Spiteri, Classroom Support Assistant;
• Molly Marsham, Classroom Support Assistant.

I welcome all of our new staff and ask our parent community to welcome and support them too, as you do so beautifully for all of our staff.

Week 2 Events

A reminder that our Year 5 teachers, and Samantha Mance, are joining our Year 5 students on their camp at Berry, from Monday – Wednesday next week. My thanks to Luke, Sam and Sam, for their commitment to the students. Our Meet and Greet night is next Thursday, February 8^th, at 6pm, starting in the school hall before proceeding outside. It would be wonderful to see all parents on the night.

Have a wonderful week with your families. I look forward to seeing you all over the coming days and weeks.

Best wishes

Cameron Johns

Principal