Dear Parents and Carers

“The Transfiguration of Jesus is no mountaintop light show. Borrowing heavily from similar stories in the Old Testament, it describes dramatically how loved Jesus was by God and how this experience was seen and known by his disciples.”

• Fr Richard Leonard SJ

Today, Sts Peter and Paul and Holy Trinity jointly celebrated our combined parish feast day, the feast of the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration describes a moment in Jesus’ life where he took Peter, James and John to the top of Mount Tabor. Once there, he was transfigured by God, in the presence of the three disciples. The Gospel writers describe the moment using imagery such as light, to try to convey the experience. Fr Leonard, quoted above, describes the experience of the disciples as one in which Jesus’ divinity (with his humanity) was made known to the disciples. He writes, “The Transfiguration holds both realities together. Mark, Matthew and Luke, who all recount this event, tell us that Jesus was changed before the eyes of the three disciples. On Tabor Jesus’ divine nature was seen directly and immediately by them, which is why this feast was once called the Manifestation of Divine Glory.”

This morning, the school travelled by bus to Holy Trinity and classes joined together with buddy classes from Holy Trinity. The children shared lunch together and both schools attended Mass together, led by Fr James, the parish priest for both schools. It was a wonderful day and an excellent way to celebrate the feast day of the parish to which both schools belong. My thanks to the schools’ RECs, Emily Capper and Catherine Joy from HT, and our own Andrea McQuirk, for doing such a wonderful job in organising the day; and to the staff of both schools for working together in providing a great day for all children. A special thanks from me to Prue Sheargold, Acting Principal, and to her staff, for their great hospitality.

Junior Playground

The installation of the junior playground is proceeding at a good pace and is already taking shape. It promises to be an excellent addition to the playground. It should be ready for use by the end of next week. The children are eagerly anticipating its availability.

100 Days and Zoo Excursion

On Monday, our wonderful Kindergarten students and teachers celebrated their first 100 days of school. Both classes had a big celebration to mark this wonderful achievement. My thanks to our excellent teachers and the equally wonderful Classroom Support Assistants for making this day so special for the children, and to the parents as well, for their great support. The celebrations continue this week for Kindergarten, when they are joined by our Year 1 students on an excursion to the National Zoo and Aquarium. This excursion is taking place in lieu of the excursion that was cancelled at the end of last term, due to inclement weather. My thanks to the teachers for coordinating the excursion.

Student Achievement

Finally, the school has learned that Audrey in Year 6 has performed extremely well in recent gymnastics competitions and will be representing the ACT in Perth in the coming weeks, at the Australian Championships. Congratulations Audrey, this is a mighty achievement, and we are very proud of you! Well done.

Have a wonderful week with your families.

Best wishes

Cameron Johns

Principal