Dear Families,

Christmas is one of my favorite times of year! I love the Christmas music that you hear playing everywhere you go, I love the sight of Christmas decorations and lights in the windows of houses. Like many, I love the family rituals of driving around to see the Christmas lights, the gathering of friends and family and the recalling of stories from Christmases past.

Beyond all of these surface signs and joys of Christmas there is a much more meaningful element to the season. It is something that is quickly brought back to the forefront of our minds as we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent in our school and in our parishes. Lighting the advent wreath for the first time each year is a moment that I most definitely look forward to. While it is easy to get wrapped up in the commercial side of Christmas, the time that we take to quiet our minds and hearts, dim the lights, and light the first purple candle on our wreath is the moment when the excitement for the coming of Jesus is reignited in our hearts.

We are now celebrating the first week of Advent. Here at school this season is being celebrated in many different ways. A beautiful advent wreath is displayed in our foyer. Our nativity scene will be making its appearance, and various other symbols of the season will make their way into our building. In the classrooms students will be learning more about the season of advent and they will be preparing for our weekly Advent celebrations. These celebrations will be hosted in each classroom, as a time for prayer and reflection. Our Year 5s have led each class in this preparation and through this, have demonstrated the fine leaders they will be next year.

During this season of advent I encourage you as families to set aside a special time each week to gather together and light a candle on an advent wreath in your home. Use this as a time to slow things down and remind one another about the special gift that was the birth of Jesus.

Like so many schools, we will have a full few weeks before the 2020 school year comes to an end. This Friday will be our Colour Run. The Colour Run will be our only school fundraiser for the year, so I encourage you to help your children to seek sponsorship for this event. It looks to be shaping up to be a fun-filled, and fortunately, sunny day - so remember to coat your children in sunscreen!

As restrictions ease towards the end of the year, it seems we are able to hold more events where a small number of parents can attend. I am pleased to say that we can open our Kinder Nativity play up to 2 guests per child. We hope that restrictions will continue to ease for schools so we can start to celebrate some of these end of year events as a community.

With the drawing of the year to a close, we also continue to see a number of staffing changes and some staff leaving. Mrs Stephanie Noack and Nikki will be leaving us at the end of the year, deciding to make a sea change. Stephanie has been a part of our community over so many years and I know many families here have formed a strong relationship with her, either through her work as a classroom teacher or more recently, in the library. I would like to express my own appreciation for Steph’s work in the library and particularly in developing a strong digital technologies program throughout the school. With Steph, also goes NIkki. Over the years, Nikki has become a feature of the school and has supported many children. We will miss you both and wish you all well.

Thank you for your continued support.

God Bless