Advent – Hope, love, joy and peace.

This week, Mrs B, our Student Welfare Officer, has been challenging us to embrace the message of Advent to prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus again this Christmas. This week we have been filled with hope.

I include here a story of love which I have heard twice this year, the latest from my Tuggeranong Parish Priest. It’s a powerful challenge to us all.

A boy asked the father: “What’s the size of God?” Then the father looked up to the sky and seeing an airplane asked the son: What’s the size of that airplane? The boy answered: It’s very small. I can barely see it. So, the father took him to the airport and as they approached an airplane he asked: And now, what is the size of this one? The boy answered: Wow daddy, this is huge!

Then the father told him: God, is like this. His size depends on the distance between you and Him. The closer you are to Him, the greater He will be in your life! ‘The more we come closer to God the bigger God gets,’ is an invitation to each one of us to measure the strength of the bond that we have with God.

Our Christian belief and our faith help us to understand this most incredible thing about the Creator, ‘that he cares about us’, the people he created, you and me. God didn’t craft the universe in order to make us feel insignificant. He did it to display his power and show us his infinite and unconditional love. Advent is a period to strengthen our love for God and others. (Thanks Fr James)

Yours faithfully,

Every year the Sacred Heart community support the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal with donations of food for Christmas Hampers. This year we want to continue to play an important part in renewing hope for the thousands of people who face an uncertain Christmas. Together, we can continue to bring smiles of love and laughter to the people who need it most this season.

The appeal collection will run from Thursday 19th November (Week 6) through to Friday 4th December (Week 8).  Donations will be collected in classrooms.

The Stages have been allocated the following items:

Kindergarten – sweet biscuits, tinned fruit

Stage 1 – Chips, sweets, Christmas cakes

Stage 2 – Soft drinks, cordials, plum puddings

Stage 3 – Tinned Hams, tinned vegetables, Christmas slices

Thank you in advance for your generosity in making others in our community Christmas feel special period this holiday season.

School holiday vacation care will be operating from Monday 4^th January 2021 until Term One of the 2021 school year.

Leadership & Catholic Women 

This event will be hosted by the ACU Brisbane on Wed 9^th Dec 5.30-8.00pm.

Information available HERE

Community Council

Come join us in 2021!

The Community Council would like to invite all families to join us for our AGM on Tuesday 16 February (Week 3) at 6pm at the school. In case you haven’t been to a Council meeting before – or it’s been a while – we have included some information on the role of the Council and what we do at meetings.

What do you do at Community Council meetings?

At a regular Community Council meeting, we will look at:

• the school budget and approve expenditure
• discuss priority projects for the school
• discuss progress on school projects like the 50+1 anniversary celebrations or the K-6 Complete work
• hear updates about Be You program and student wellbeing
• Hear updates from the Parent Representative co-ordinator
• From time to time, we will also look at other things like the school survey or updates from the Catholic Education Office. At the AGM, we also elect a new Executive team.

Why should I come along?

Community Council meetings are a great way to understand what is happening at the school now and what is planned for the future. Meetings are also a lovely way to meet other parents and carers and form connections across the our community.  This is the key forum that parents and carers can give feedback on the school, what you would like more or less of and what you think the school should prioritise going forward. 

Who is the Community Council?

The Community Council is made up of parents and carers from our community and a representative of the teaching staff. Meetings are also attended by Mrs Staines and Mrs Wode so the Council can hear from the school executive. Other teachers and Father Richard are also welcome to attend.

Each year, we elect parent and carer representatives to the 5 Executive positions of President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and Parent Representative. This year, we also had the co-ordinator of the 50^TH Anniversary celebrations join as an executive role. Next year, this role will be replaced by a “Community Engagement Lead” . This role will be a co-ordinating and liaising position between sub committees for community events or fundraisers. All the positions are made vacant at the AGM each year. In the first newsletter of 2021, we will include role descriptions so you know what each role does throughout the year.

Okay I’m interested but what is the time commitment?

We have four open meetings a year – our AGM at the start of the year and a meeting in week 2 or 3 of each term. Everyone is welcome to attend these meetings. In addition to the open meetings, the Executive team meets once in the latter part of each term to keep momentum on decisions and new business. Traditionally, we have these meetings in person, but during COVID-19 we successfully transitioned online to Zoom meetings. In 2021, we will plan to have the AGM in person for the purposes of voting in the new Executive, and then determine face-to-face versus Zoom for the remainder of the year. Meetings usually take about 1-1.5 hours depending on how full the agenda is.

The Executive roles all have different levels of time commitment required – for example, the Secretary sends out minutes after a meeting, whereas the Treasurer will prep the financial report with the school before the meeting. We’ll tell you more about the time commitment for each position in the role descriptions we will publish in the first newsletter of 2021, so you can have a think about the positions ahead of the AGM.

I have more questions!

Not a problem - You can send an email to the front office and they will pass it on to the current Executive Team to answer or you can post on the wall or send us a message on the Sacred Heart Parents and Carers Facebook page. We are always happy to help.

If you have any questions, please contact wodensouth.sacraments@cg.catholic.org.au

Ukulele

Stage 2 and 3 have been enjoying ukulele in the courtyard, practising christmas tunes.

Young Music Society