Issue 2, 17 February 2023

I look forward to celebrating our Opening School Liturgy next Tuesday.  I know that staff have gone to great lengths to make strong connections with this year's theme 'Called to Community' and the day-to-day life of our students.  I am excited that we will see this in practice next week at our first whole school gathering for the year.

The Student Representative Council and School Leaders will be presented to the school community and receive their badges to acknowledge the important role they will fulfil within our school community this year.

The Opening School Liturgy is a beautiful way to gather together as a community and ask for God's blessings upon our students, staff and families.  We will have good reason to pause, reflect and renew our commitment to excellence in all areas of our school life. 

Our Year 12 Student Leaders are currently in Sydney attending the JJAMM Conference.  JJAMM stands for Julian, Joseph and Mary MacKillop.  It is an annual conference that brings students together from over 25 Josephite schools around Australia.

The students deepen their faith and work together to develop their leadership skills.  They will make commitments to their current leadership role and those they will take on in the future.  This experience will support Kimjoline and Hunter to recognise their gifts and use them in ways to inspire others to make a positive difference in our school and broader community.  We look forward to them sharing their learning with the rest of the College community in the days and weeks to come.

We kindly ask families to liaise with the front office if your child is unwell or needing to leave school during the day.  It can be problematic if parents/caregivers communicate directly with students (and vice versa) because the school can miss important information in supporting your child if they are unwell.  It is also important for the school to know exactly what is happening in relation to picking up a child from school in order to manage the process for when a student leaves school grounds.  Furthermore, students are not meant to be using their mobile phones at school, so it is unhelpful if parents/caregivers are contacting students directly during school hours.  Thank you for your assistance in these matters. 

Child safety and wellbeing is our first and foremost priority.  Therefore, our College emphasises the importance of teaching all of our children and young pepole how to be safe.  The Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum is mandated to be taught in all schools in South Australia.  It is designed to provide students with age-appropriate information about how to stay safe now and into the future.

The Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum is taught in all classes across the whole year.  It focuses on explicitly teaching child safety and respectful relationships.  Teachers are busy preparing this learning to begin in Week 5 across our school.  If you have any questions about the content or way in which this is taught, please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher.

We encourage families to discuss the importance of child protection with their children and to reinforce the learning from the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum at home.  By working together, we can create a safe and supportive environment for all of our students.

Our annual R-12 Sports Day between Tenison, MacKillop and Joseph will be held on Friday 3 March.  We look forward to this event being another big feature of the way our College celebrates and engages with the broader school community.  Sports Day is a fun-filled opportunity for students to showcase their athletic abilities, demonstrate teamwork and enjoy a day of friendly competition.  The day is always made better with families and friends cheering on the students and adding to the atmosphere.  Please put this date in your diaries.  More information will be provided in upcoming newsletters.

I am honoured to introduce myself as the Leader of Catholic Identity at Caritas College this year.  I am thoroughly enjoying getting to know this wonderful community and all it has to offer, after making the move from Mount Gambier.  After having spent 14 years at Tenison Woods College, I have been immersed in the Josephite ethos and I am looking forward to exploring the Port Augusta connection with the Mary MacKillop story.  From my few weeks in this community, it is clear that our students and staff have a strong understanding of what it means to be 'Called to Community'.  I have experienced the warmth, hospitality, and sense of belonging that lies at the heart of the Josephite charism and that St Paul writes about in his letter to the Colossians that we will hear about on Tuesday in our Opening Liturgy

Shrove Tuesday, commonly known as Pancake Day, is a day traditionally celebrated by Christians as a way to use up rich ingredients such as sugar, eggs, milk and butter before the start of Lent.  Shrove Tuesday serves as our first major fundraiser for Project Compassion.  Project Compassion is a fundraising and awareness campaign run by Caritas Australia, a Catholic humanitarian aid and development organisation.  This campaign is held annually during Lent and the funds raised are used to support various projects such as providing access to clean water, education and healthcare to those most in need.

On Tuesday 21 February, students are encouraged to bring along a gold coin donation for a pancake.  Students in Reception to Year 6 will come along with their class teacher before lunch, with students in Years 7-12 being able to purchase their pancakes at lunch time.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent this coming Wednesday, 22 February.  Lent is a season that lasts 40 days and it is a time for us to think about our lives and try to make changes for the better and how closely we are walking with God.  It is also a time for spiritual reflection and growth, during which Catholics are encouraged to focus on the themes of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

Throughout the day, students will attend a liturgy where each person will be marked with ashes on their forehead in the shape of a cross.  The ashes are an outward symbol of the inward change that we will make during Lent.  We believe that participating in these liturgies is a meaningful way for us to begin the Lenten season together as a community.

The ashes used on Ash Wednesday come from Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter.  We celebrate the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on a donkey, after spending 40 days in the desert in prayer.  In the Catholic tradition, we receive palm leaves, which have been blessed, to hold onto during Mass and bring home after.  The leftover palms from Palm Sunday are burned and saved for the next Lenten season.