Last Wednesday the school was a sea of pink for Uniform Free. After a sumptuous breakfast of muffins and fresh fruit students generously donated to the McGrath Foundation for the privilege of wearing pink. The staff joined together for a special morning tea to mark the occasion and nearly $600 was raised to support the provision of Breast Cancer nurses to those dealing with the disease. Thank you to our wonderful community for, once again, giving generously to help others.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Lent with the Ash Wednesday Mass at 10am. Our Stage 2 students will be leading the ministries. After Mass the students will partake in Rice Day where they experience the limited type of meal that many children, the world over, have as their only meal for the day. We are asking the students to bring in $2 to donate to Mercy Works programs in communities who live in poverty. This is another fine example of our students rising to the challenge to make the world a better place for all.

PASTORAL MESSAGE

Over the past week Catholic communities have been dealing with the fallout from Cardinal Pell’s conviction. We do not shy away from the reality of the court case nor are we ashamed of being Catholic. But we wait for justice to be done. We stand with the victims of any sort of abuse and realise that this has gone on for far too long to far too many. As Mr Ross Fox (Director of Canberra Goulburn Catholic Education) wrote yesterday; “The safety and welfare of our students remains our top priority. The child safety approaches administered by our dedicated teachers and leaders assure we are held to the highest professional and regulatory standards…It is a key responsibility for everyone who works or volunteers in Catholic education. Every support [is] offered to students, staff and members of our community whose suffering and distress may be heightened at this time. As Christian communities we are called to listen and tend to the needs of the wounded whatever may be the source of their suffering. We must have open hearts and open minds and address the needs before us.” I have also included the response from the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference;

STATEMENT FROM ARCHBISHOP MARK COLERIDGE, PRESIDENT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONFERENCE

“The news of Cardinal George Pell’s conviction on historical child sexual abuse charges has shocked many across Australia and around the world, including the Catholic Bishops of Australia. The Bishops agree that everyone should be equal under the law, and we respect the Australian legal system. The same legal system that delivered the verdict will consider the appeal that the Cardinal’s legal team has lodged. Our hope, at all times, is that through this process, justice will be served. In the meantime, we pray for all those who have been abused and their loved ones, and we commit ourselves anew to doing everything possible to ensure that the Church is a safe place for all, especially the young and the vulnerable.”

School Fees

All families will have received the 2019 Term 1 School Fees invoice over the last week. Included in the different levies and fees that make up our fee schedule is the School Building Fund levy of $55 per term. This fee is to help manage and offset our large insurance premiums that we are required to pay for all our buildings, facilities and liabilities. This payment is fully tax-deductible and allows us to use our budgets to continue to resource and maintain our school. Traditionally the money for insurances used to be paid from the planned-giving tithed by parishioners but with an aging Sacred Heart parish population and fewer families contributing to planned-giving the Parish can no longer meet these contributions. School Fees are due 19^th March (if you maintain a direct debit this does not apply).

P & F

The P & F will be holding the AGM on Wednesday 13^th March at 5pm to elect new office bearers. Our current P & F executive have been tireless workers for our school and have raised an impressive amount of funds. It is time for "new blood” to step up and take over the fine tradition set in recent years. We thank, especially, Mrs Melissa Finnigan who has served as a devoted and generous president. Please give some consideration to being involved in a very influential and obvious way by taking on a position on the P & F. We are so blessed to have so many workers who give up their time, skills and resources to help our school raise valuable funds. Melissa would be very happy to talk to you about what is involved in any of the positions that will be decided on the 13th March. We need to have people assume these roles to ensure the continued viability of our P & F committee structure, otherwise we will have to look at alternative, less autonomous options.

A big thank you to those who attended the Bingo night at the S & C Club last Saturday. We raised over $1500 due to the large number of aspiring Bingo players. The atmosphere was intense but a fantastic night was had by all.

Don’t forget to keep the afternoon/night of Friday 29 March free to join us on the secondary school grounds for the biannual Fete. Lots of goodies on offer and lots of ways to be involved and to help out. Hamper items for each secondary year group are now due (Year 7 – Bathroom items, Year 8 – pet supplies, Year 9 – gardening items and Year 10 - sports and games paraphernalia). Primary classes are responsible for donating drinks and Infants families are to donate lollies if possible. All goods may be brought to the Front Office or handed in to their classroom teacher. This is our major fundraiser for the year and we hope to generate funds for some big ticket items for the school in 2019.  Don’t forget to sell your raffle tickets to all your neighbours, family and friends. These are due back (preferably sold) asap.

STUDENT DISCOS

The very busy Student Leadership Team are planning the Term One discos. The Primary Disco will be held from 5.30 – 7pm and the Secondary students will hold their Disco from 7pm until 9pm on 21 March at the S & C Club, upstairs in the Wattle Room. The respective themes are: Primary – the 80s and Secondary – When I Grow Up! Tickets must be bought in advance and they are available from the leadership team at lunchtime and recess for $2.

Last week we joined with the parish in celebrating the Vigil mass where the ministries were led by our littlest students. It was lovely to see so many families at Mass and to have a large cohort of our senior (Year 10) students attend to support their little peers.

Congratulations to all our Primary Swimmers who competed in Narooma at the Archdiocesan Swimming Carnival on Monday.

Our senior boys; Archie Blackman, Joshua Harris, Caleb Jones, Jake Winsor made it away for the relay and Lucy Smirl and Jake Winsor qualified for individual events.

God bless

Mrs Nicky Trinder

Principal

Rice Day Lunch:

Ash Wednesday tomorrow at lunch time we will be holding our annual Rice Day lunch. This lunch serves a twofold purpose. Ash Wednesday is traditionally a day of penance where we do an act of self-denial and offer this up to God. We are asking our students to forgo their usual lunch and buy a bowl of rice. The money from this day is given to the Mercy Works Foundation who support the needs of children in some of the poorest parts of our world. The lunch also provides the students with a sense of walking in the shoes of a child from a developing country who only gets one bowl of rice to eat for a day. This exercise in empathy also allows our students to recognise how blessed we are to have what we do – plenty of food, an education, freedom and safety. In 2017 Sr Frances Fitzpatrick and Sr Angela Jordan came and spoke to the students about what Mercy Works does around the world. They spoke about how through “Ordinary Means, Extraordinary Results” can happen. That even our small donations can make a difference.

Please support our Rice Day – a bowl of rice for $2. The canteen will be closed at lunchtime and no lunch orders will be available. Drinks however, will be available. If your child is unable to eat rice, please notify his/her teacher in writing. If your child has particular nutritional needs, please follow their usual program. For our younger students – parents can use their discretion for their food intake.

School Fees Term 1 2019

School fees have been emailed or posted out to all families. Fees are due to be paid in full by Tuesday 19th March 2019.

If you have a regular payment plan in place the due date does not apply to you.

FETE_Contributions.pdf

Young_Soccer_Carnival.pdf (Stage 1- Stage 3)

McTaggart_Cup.pdf Primary Schools 10s

PRIMARY SPORT Week 6 – Triathlon

Students in Years 3-6 have their Triathlon this week for Sport. Please ensure that your child comes to school with their swimming gear (including a rash top), a hat, $2.50 entry money, a bike and helmet (if participating in the ride). Students will be leaving school at 1pm to participate in the event.

Primary Archdiocesan Swimming Carnival

Yesterday, the following students competed in Narooma at the Archdiocesan Swimming Carnival.

Lucy Smirl, Evie Leahy, Sarah Lake, Ellie Lake, Joshua Harris, Jake Harris, Archer Blackman, Caleb Jones, Jake Winsor.

Congratulations to the Senior Boys Relay team (Jake Winsor, Archer Blackman, Joshua Harris and Caleb Jones) who came 2^nd in the relay and will go on to the MacKillop Trials/Championships. Lucy Smirl and Jake Winsor will also compete in the Trials/Championships in individual events.

Archdiocesan Touch Trials

Primary and Secondary Archdiocesan Touch Trials will be held this Friday 8^th March in Cootamundra at Nicholson Park, 10am-2 pm.

All the best to the following students participating in the trials on Friday.

Primary: Bridget Sharman, Lily McLeod, Lucy Smirl, Lucy Paterson, Dominic Shepherd, Jake Winsor, Joshua Harris, Mackenzie Gale.

REMINDER: Archdiocesan Representative Pathways

Starting from this year all nominations for sporting representative pathways, except for Swimming, Cross country and Athletics will be carried out online through the CE, MacKillop (Primary) and CCC (Secondary) sports websites. If you and your child are interested in trialling for any of sports, please take the time to visit these sites for further information on dates, location and nominations. Please see below regarding the two steps that need to be taken to complete a nomination

https://www.sport.cg.catholic.edu.au (Archdiocesan Sports)

https://www.csss.nsw.edu.au/nswcps-home.aspx (Primary)

https://www.csss.nsw.edu.au/nswccc-home.aspx (Secondary)

Primary Dates:

TERM 1

Primary Triathlon, 7/3/19

Archdiocesan Touch Trials, Cootamundra 8/3/19

Archdiocesan Netball Trials, Lyneham 12/3/19

Archdiocesan Rugby League (11’s and Opens), Lyneham Trials 12/3/19

Archdiocesan Soccer Trials, Lyneham 12/3/19

McTaggart Rugby Cup, Wagga 3/4/19

Young Soccer Carnival, Young 5/4/19

NSWCCC Swimming, Homebush 5/4/19

Secondary Dates:

TERM 1

Secondary Archdiocesan swimming Goulburn 26/2/19

Archdiocesan Touch Trials Cootamundra 8/3/19

Secondary Rugby League 15’s and Opens Trials Forbes 2/4/19

CCC Touch Championships Nelsons Bay 9/4/19