I am a great believer in the power of the Holy Spirit and am regularly astounded by the way the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives. While struggling to find inspiration for this week’s newsletter I was sent the following inspirational message via email from one of the websites I subscribe to. I hope you can find some inspiration from this story too. 

Spiritual teacher Jack Kornfield tells one of my favourite stories about a new English colony in India that wanted to construct a golf course in Calcutta.

The biggest challenge was that the area was populated with monkeys who were interested in golf, too.

Their way of joining the game was to run out onto the course and take the balls that the golfers were hitting and toss them in all directions. Of course, the golfers weren’t happy about this, so they tried to 'manage' the monkeys.

First, they built high fences around the fairway. But, of course, it wasn’t long before the golfers learned that monkeys climb. As you might have guessed, this solution failed.

The next thing the golfers tried was to lure the monkeys away from the course by waving bananas. But for every monkey that would go for the bananas, another ten would race onto the golf course to join the fun.

In desperation, the golfers tried trapping and relocating the monkeys, but that strategy didn’t work either. The monkeys just had too many relatives who liked to play with golf balls!

So finally, the club’s golf committee wrote a novel policy into their course rule book:

“Players must play the ball where the monkey drops it.”

Those golfers were wiser than they knew!

Sometimes in life, it feels like monkeys are dropping golf balls everywhere but where we’d like them to. Often when this happens, we react poorly. We complain, shake our fists at God, throw a tantrum, or feel resentful. But these reactions only increase our suffering! What can we do?

When life refuses to cooperate with my plans, I’ve learned to say to myself, “Like it or not, this is where the monkey has dropped the ball. I’m going to surrender to what is and adapt rather than resist.”

Paradoxically, when I let go and accept life on life’s terms, I discover 'a peace that passes all understanding,' and I find the power and wisdom to deal with whatever challenge or unforeseen turn of events life throws at me.

This week when you find yourself faced with an unwanted difficulty or challenge, say to yourself, “I have to play the ball where the monkey drops it,” and see if you don’t experience the peace and power of acceptance.

Within this process, let Christ be your way and life.

Tina Murray

Principal

 REMOTE LEARNING

Our fourth week of remote learning has certainly come upon us very quickly. Each day of remote learning brings a new success along with a new challenge. The meaning of the word ‘remote’ can mean operating from a distance or having very little connection or relationship. Our Mary Immaculate Community is blessed to have teachers who are working extremely hard to ensure that the learning of our students stays as connected to the planned Term 3 learning experiences as possible. This has occurred through videos, zoom sessions, phone calls to families and detailed daily learning plans.

Our students have also broken through the idea of being remote. They are joining in zoom sessions with a sense of excitement and commitment. They connect with each other, share experiences, ask questions to clarify their understanding and submit work to their teachers that is of a very pleasing standard.  

Last week a video created by our student leadership team was shared with the aim of connecting our community to the positives that can be found in our present situation.

I am extremely proud of our student leaders as they are a wonderful example of young people who demonstrate commitment to their school, their peers and to learning. 

Whilst we are engaging in remote learning, we are striving to ensure that students and families remain connected and that the learning provided is as manageable as possible during this lockdown period. We are extremely grateful to the parents who have taken the time to respond to the Grade Remote Learning Surveys that were shared via Compass last Friday. Please be assured this feedback is very much valued and that staff are committed to reflecting upon the input when planning for the delivery of learning in the coming weeks of the lockdown period. 

We want to stress the importance of the need to register your child’s attendance at school each week via the link sent via Compass at the end of each week. 

The students attending school each day should only be those whose parents / carers are essential workers working outside of the home or those who may at times need learning support (these individual circumstances need to be discussed with Mrs Murray).

Please be aware that supervision commences at 8am each morning. For safety reasons students should not be left unattended outside the school gates prior to this time.