A Lenten Prayer

During Lent, with our eyes on Jesus, we try to spend more time at prayer,

More time talking to God and listening to God,

During Lent, with our eyes on Jesus, we try to be more aware of the needs of others,

And to share our time and our money with the poor, the hungry and the homeless.

During Lent, with our eyes on Jesus, we try to grow stronger as people

By learning to say no to our sins, and our failings and by sometimes even saying no to the things we enjoy.

With our eyes on Jesus, we journey through Lent trying to understand and accept what God has in store for us.

Yesterday, Ash Wednesday, marked the start of the season of Lent. Lent is a time of fasting, prayer and penance, which leads us through the forty days to Jesus’ resurrection. Symbolically the forty days remind us of Jesus spending forty days in the desert praying and fasting. We want to change our lives during Lent and come closer to Jesus. These 40 days are used in preparation for the future joy of Easter bringing God’s blessings, mercy and forgiveness. To practice sincere repentance, God tells us to change our hearts. We are called to examine our most inner self. In order to do this we are called upon to pray, give alms and fast. Some ways to do this include:

Prayer– Mass attendance, spending time in the Church, reading the Bible or prayer book, extra prayer time, attending Stations of the Cross and praying the Rosary.

Fasting - giving up something we like or enjoy, limiting food and drinks that we have as treats and giving the extra money we have to the poor.

Almsgiving – helping people less fortunate than ourselves with money or time. In general, being kind to those we meet.

Caritas Project Compassion Launch

On Tuesday I travelled to St Benedict’s Catholic College, Oran Park with students from the Year 6 Social Justice committee to the launch of Project Compassion.

Project Compassion is Caritas Australia's annual Lenten fundraising and awareness-raising appeal. Millions of Australians come together in solidarity with the world's poor to help end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity. Through Project Compassion, we are asked to acknowledge that we are all members of the one human family, all equally worthy of love, mercy and respect. 

This year the Project Compassion 2020 theme is:

If you are able to, please give generously during lent to provide resources that will make major changes in the lives of whole communities. As the season progresses we will learn about each of the communities we are supporting.

Next week is Catholic Schools Week, a week where we celebrate the great things that are happening in our Catholic Schools across Australia and especially in our Diocese of Wollongong. The theme this year is "Embracing our Future Together". We will celebrate G Day (Grandparents’ Day) next Thursday, please don’t forget to invite your great people as we would love to share this day with as many people as possible.  Further details are below.

Children’s Liturgy:

Altar Servers:

Morning Mass During Lent

Lent is often known as a time for ‘giving up’ something . It is also about reflection, prayer  and acts of charity - Giving more!

A great opportunity for this is offered to us through attending Morning Mass. All students and families are welcome to attend Friday morning Mass at 8.00am.

I will supervise students and their safe return to school after Mass.

Why Lent?

In the early Church Lent originated as a time of repentance for those preparing for baptism. Having experienced the call to conversion, those seeking initiation into the Christian community resolved to turn away from sin and embrace a gospel life. They were baptized at the Easter Vigil.

Today, the six week period of Lent is a time of repentance and renewal for the whole Church.  It is a time when we prayerfully take stock of our lives, turn away from all lifestyle habits that contradict the Gospel and renew our commitment to Christ and each other.

Altar Server Training

All year 4 students are invited to become an altar server. Training will take place during lunch breaks for approximately 5 weeks. If your child is interested, please complete the note and return to school.

Let's Go Further, Together

Spanning through the six weeks of Lent each year, Project Compassion is an extraordinary, ongoing demonstration of the faith, love and generosity of Caritas Australia's caring supporters, all in the name of justice and peace. Millions of Australians come together in solidarity with the world's poor to help end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity.

Once again, ANZAC Day this year will be different. There will be no public march in Bowral but there will be an 11 am Memorial Service for 200 seated invited guests at the Bowral War Memorial. 

Over the years it has always given us great pride that our school has been represented at our local Anzac Day Ceremony.  This year, two Year 6 students + 1 staff member have been invited to represent STA at the service and to lay a wreath.

It is important that we try to continue with the ANZAC tradition as best we can to show our respect and appreciation for all those brave soldiers and people who have helped protect our nation.
Many Australians are preparing to mark ANZAC Day from their driveways on Sunday 25 April to participate in the ‘Light up the Dawn’ initiative at 6:00 am. We would like to encourage our STA community to be involved in what will be the second ‘driveway commemoration’ of the day.    The following link has some ideas and resources:  Light up the Dawn 2021

We would love you to share your ‘driveway commemoration’ photos or any other way your family acknowledges Anzac Day this year with our STA community. These photos will be shared on our school FB page & on the STA ANZAC Day Website.

Please email all photos to preddeyv01@dow.catholic.edu.au by Monday 26^th April.
 

Good luck to Jamie M and Riley C who will be taking part in MacKillop Tennis trials this Friday and to the students taking part in the netball & soccer trials next week.

Good luck also to all those students taking part in the Western Region Swimming Carnival next Tuesday.

Sport Gala Days

A permission note has been sent out via the Compass App.  Students in Years 3-6 are invited to take part in various Gala Days including: Rugby League, Rugby Union, Basketball, Netball, Soccer, Cricket, AFL. Teams will only be registered if there are enough players.  Please return the nomination forms by 2^nd March.

Cross Country

The Year 2-6 Cross Country will be taking place at Chevalier College on Friday 20^th March.  Students will be transported to Chevalier by bus.  Permission needs to be given via the Compass App.

The K – Yr 2 Cross Country will take place at Bradman Oval on a date TBA.  Permission will need to be given via the Compass App.

Hockey

All students in Year 3 – 5 will be taking part in a Hockey Program each Thursday in Weeks 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10 which is funded by the Sporting Schools Grant.  Students need to wear their sports uniform on Thursdays.

Students presenting at sick bay

This is located adjacent to the school office and we sell hats, bags, beanies, gloves and scarves.  At present we are out of stock of beanies but hope to have these shortly. EFTPOS is available for new stock.

The P & F 2nd hand Uniform Shop is open 2.30pm - 3pm each Monday for the sale of items @ $2 per item. The money raised from these sales will be donated to St Vincent de Paul at the end of the year. 

for 2nd hand items.  Donations gratefully accepted.

Consent for use of your child's work/image

If you have not completed this form, could you please do so and return as soon as possible, thank you.

The canteen is open Wednesday, Thursday & Friday (breakfast [8.30 - 9], recess & lunch) and the menu is attached.  

Just a reminder that we do our best to be a nut-free school and appreciate that you don't send any nut products to school with your child.