Dear Parents and Carers

Ten Commandments for Mature Living – Ronald Rolheiser

1. Live in gratitude and thank your creator by enjoying your life.
2. Be willing to carry more and more of life’s complexities with empathy.
3. Transform jealousy, anger, bitterness and hatred, rather than giving them back in kind.
4. Let suffering soften your heart rather than harden your heart.
5. Forgive – those who hurt you, your own sins, the unfairness of your life and God for not rescuing you.
6. Bless more and curse less!
7. Live in a more radical sobriety.
8. Pray, affectively and liturgically.
9. Be wide in your embrace.
10. Stand where you are supposed to be and let God provide the rest.

The American priest Ronald Rolheiser has a great gift of being able to write about immense spiritual truths in an everyday, accessible language. In his ‘Ten Commandments for Mature Living’, he has tried to think through what type of commandments might make sense to people today. Rolheiser thinks that most people have learnt, over the centuries, that murder is wrong, theft is wrong, slander is not good, and so on. He suggests that in these times, for most people, a more sophisticated moral commandment is called for. 2020 has been a very difficult year, for many reasons – bushfires, COVID-19, social isolation, the threat of economic difficulty. Perhaps more than ever, it is important, to the best of our ability, to live in gratitude and thank God by enjoying our lives. There is still a great deal we can be grateful for.

https://ronrolheiser.com/en/#.XxbU7Z4zbD4

COVID-19

Yesterday, I sent home a letter to the parent community, reiterating the school’s operating procedures during this trying time. I won’t summarise the entire letter here, but would request the support of the parent community around self-isolating if and when families have been physically present in geographically vulnerable locations, and/or if they are experiencing any cold or flu conditions. Parents will be rung to collect children if a child exhibits any symptoms that are cold or flu like. I acknowledge the inconvenience of this and I agree it is difficult. I would ask, however, that we all keep in mind that these are unusual times and call for a response that is relatively extensive, in terms of trying to cover all bases. The staff discussed yesterday the importance of hope. Hope is not in itself a strategy, but without hope, life would lose much of its richness and colour. While we all have procedures and strategies in place, we keep alive at the same time the flame of hope, knowing that this too will pass, and we will be stronger for it.

Soccer Clinics

For the next few Mondays, the school is running a soccer clinic for all classes. Each class has 30 minutes with a soccer coach practising soccer skills and playing games and it provides the children with a wonderful opportunity to hone their skills, increase their exercise and have fun. My thanks to our Sports Coordinator, Mary de Smet, for coordinating the clinic.

Maths Olympiad

In week 3, our students in Years 5 and 6 will have their third Maths Olympiad competition. Some students in Year 4 are also sitting the competition. Each competition poses 5 questions and the children are given 30 minutes to complete the questions. Probably unsurprisingly, the Maths itself is not terribly difficult, but the difficulty comes in the wording of the questions and the fact that the real testing is around the students’ abilities to reason. A Maths educator I admire greatly is Jo Boaler, who has written a number of books on Maths teaching and education. https://ed.stanford.edu/faculty/joboaler

Jo Boaler has stated that two things are needed to be a good learner in Maths: number sense and the ability to reason. Both of these things can be learned and it is never too late to learn them. Part of our challenge at Sts Peter and Paul is to teach children how to reason, using their Maths knowledge and number sense. My thanks to Sean Rutledge for coordinating the competition and to all teachers for their support.

Have a wonderful week with your families.

 Best wishes

Cameron Johns

Principal

Sunday Gospel: Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Mt 13:44-52

The twin parables of today’s gospel – the treasure in the field and the pearl of great value – reveal a paradoxical truth about the kingdom of Heaven. Throughout the gospels, Jesus presents the kingdom as ‘now but not yet’; as ‘present but future’. This paradox is captured in these twin parables. In both cases, the kingdom is likened to something of great value that is discovered but cannot be immediately grasped. In both parables, the finder must go away and sell everything so that they can eventually come to possess the treasure they have discovered.

By comparing this experience with the kingdom of Heaven, Jesus suggests that most of us can only ever catch glimpses of what it means to live in the kingdom. For most of us, only in the future reality of heaven will we ever fully come to understand the kingdom. However, those glimpses that we catch – those moments of inspiration and connection with God and with one another – are like the treasures of the parables. They are enough to inspire us to do what it takes to make sure that we will one day enter into that kingdom reality.

The third parable of this gospel passage reveals yet another truth about the kingdom. The dragnet thrown into the sea is like the message of Jesus – it is flung far and wide and does not discriminate about where it falls or on whom it falls. This parable rounds out the chapter that began with the parable of the sower and the image of casting the net is a neat parallel to the indiscriminate casting of seed. It is not up to the one who casts the net, the seed or the Word. Rather it is up to each individual to determine how they will respond to receiving the Word.

(Gospel Reflection by Greg Sunter)

Sacrament of Confirmation

The Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated in our Parish this term. As you can imagine, the restrictions being placed on gatherings due to COVID-19 have meant that there have been some necessary changes to the way the parish would normally run the Sacrament. Fr John is hosting a Parent Information Night (PIN) Next Tuesday, 28^th July from 6:00pm via Zoom. All parents of eligible Year 6 students will be sent the link. All information regarding how the Sacrament will run, and changes that have been made will be relayed on that evening. Please email me if you require any further information regarding the Sacrament.

Mass Has Returned!

Due to the recent easing of restrictions, Fr John has now begun celebrating Sunday Masses once again. All Mass times will remain the same, but due to social distancing measures, all Masses will be celebrated at Holy Trinity, Curtin for the time being. There is a limit of 100 people that can attend each Mass, and the Parish will accept booking online, or via a phone call to the office.

God bless,

Stephanie Burns

Religious Education Coordinator

In our Seasons for Growth program, our small groups have just finished the Season of ‘Spring’, which focusses on growth within ourselves.

Spring is a time of new birth and new beginnings; buds begin to open, there is more daylight, many animals bear their young and the world is coloured with new growth. Spring can bring freshness and hope to our life, it can also be a changeable season with remnants of winter still being experienced.

During our sessions on Spring, students have had the opportunity to recognise how important their feelings are and ways in which they can care for their feelings. An important element of understanding their feelings is knowing that it is normal to have feelings and that everyone experiences situations and feelings differently.

 “Feelings are neither good nor bad, right or wrong, they just ARE!”

 Some feelings are big and aren’t always easy to recognise or name; one example of this is resentment around the changes that have been experienced. It is important to consider the idea of forgiveness as offering one way forward in helping to heal hurt. Forgiveness is often a hard concept to put into action, especially when there is not always an apology, but it is important to think of forgiveness as a gift to themselves, the opportunity to let go of the resentment and heal.

We have also explored the concept of memories and the way they provide us with a connection to something or someone significant and the way that our feelings about a particular memory can change over time. Students had the opportunity to share memories with their special group and acknowledge the way that memories can make us feel loved, cared for and can provide us with hope and strength in challenging times.

Being able to recognise big feelings and identify things in which can help with de-escalating those feelings is a sign of growth within ourselves.

- Melissa Neit, School Chaplain.

The Sts Peter and Paul Reading Club is open to all students and will begin in Week 3.

Reading Club is an opportunity for students to have some quiet time to read and talk about their favourite books with friends.

 Mrs Armstrong

It was exciting to see the latest Book Club catalogues in circulation last week. Hopefully you received your copy. If you haven't received a copy, or would like to order from the catalogue, please use the following link to access the Parent's page of Scholastic Book Club: 

https://www.scholastic.com.au/book-club/book-club-parents/

Librarian

Principal's Awards: Audrey I, 1M; Callum R, 3/4M

Soccer Clinics

For the first 5 Mondays this term we are lucky enough to have Capital Football running soccer clinics for all students in Kindergarten and Years Three to Six. Unfortunately we were unable to include the children in Stage One due to restrictions on the number of students able to attend each session. Thank you for your understanding in regards to this.

Tomorrow students who are playing Netball this term will be called up during the day to try on their uniforms.

We will begin with the youngest teams at lunchtime tomorrow in the hall.

CANTEEN IS CASHLESS

 Families can make contactless payment via Qkr! 

Purchase over-the-counter sale items (snacks & treats) for your child/children in a lunch order via Qkr!

or

you can purchase a “daily counter sales voucher” for your child/children to go to the canteen to collect something at lunchtime.

PLEASE NOTE: The whole canteen menu is back!!!

Canteen roster - Week 2, Term 3

Fruit incentive ticket WINNER for week 10 was Laura V, 1W.  Congratulations Laura, you have won a $2.00 voucher, to spend at the canteen.

Please see Mrs R at the canteen to collect your voucher.

 

Lauretta Raccosta,

Canteen

Lauretta.Raccosta@cg.catholic.edu.au

Healthy Kids, Healthy Bodies, Healthy Canteens

OPEN TUESDAY MORNINGS

8.30 – 9.30AM

The Uniform Shop is a service for the parents and children.  

We sell New & Quality Second-hand school clothing, and all money raised goes back to the school to provide resources for the children.

You can place an order via Qkr! Order on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and the item/s will be delivered to your child’s classroom. Orders need to be placed before 8.45am.

Please see SZapp for the Winter Uniform price list.

It is usual practice for most schools to offer second-hand clothing at the uniform shop to families at a discounted price. Quality second-hand clothing can only be purchased during uniform hours.  We do understand that this may not be convenient for some families so please feel free to send me an email if you are unable to get to the uniform shop during its’ hours and I will do my best to attend your needs.

The uniform shop is limited with space, so as a guide, clothes should only be donated if washed and in perfect resalable order. The uniform shop is asking for no more donations of white sports tops please.

Please give any used second-hand uniform to Mrs R in the canteen, Thank you.

Lauretta Raccosta

Uniform Shop

Lauretta.raccosta@cg.catholic.edu.au

DAMPER

Ingredients

3c self raising flour

Pinch salt

1/2tsp mixed herbs (optional)

Extra plain flour

3/4c water

1/4c milk

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees and grease a large baking tray

Sift flour and salt into bowl, add herbs (if using) and make a well in the centre.

Add the water, mix through to form a large ball. Tip onto a floured board or bench and shape to size then place on the prepared tray.

Brush dough with milk and cook for either 30 minutes for large size or 15 minutes for individual sizes.

This delicious and easy recipe is on page 119 of our Anniversary Cookbook.

The cookbook can be purchased for $20 via Qkr! or eftpos (No cash please). Books can be collected from the front office. 

Cooking with your children is educational, sometimes a little messy, but lots of fun!