This coming Saturday, children from our School and the Mary Immaculate Parish Community will be confirmed by Bishop Brian. The Sacrament of Confirmation makes firm the gifts of the Spirit we first received at Baptism.  We can’t really see the Spirit, anymore than we can see the air around us. But we can feel the air, the wind blowing, and we can see its effects as it stirs the limbs of trees and moves loose leaves across the ground. So, too, we can feel the Spirit in our lives as we are moved to love God and others, to care for our family, friends and neighbours, to offer forgiveness genuinely and sincerely whether or not forgiveness is sought. On behalf of our School Community I wish the Confirmation candidates a very happy and holy day for what is a most important day in their Catholic faith journey.

A Confirmation Prayer

Breathe in me O Holy Spirit that my thoughts may all be holy;

 Act in me O Holy Spirit that my works, too, may be holy;

Draw my heart O Holy Spirit that I love but what is holy;

Strengthen me O Holy Spirit to defend all that is holy;

 Guard me then O Holy Spirit that I always may be holy.

  St. Augustine

GRANDPARENTS, GREAT PEOPLE DAY - Thank you to all grandparents, parents and friends who attended our Grandparents / G-Day Mass and celebrations last Friday. Celebrating the mass together was such a lovely way of recognising and thanking the Grandparents and Great People in our lives. This celebration has become one of the main highlights of our school year. I again had many grandparents and parents thank me for the day and more importantly thank the staff for their work and efforts in making our school such a welcoming place and an enjoyable place for the children. I sincerely thank the members of the Parents and Friends for organising the absolutely beautiful morning tea. I thank the staff of Mary Immaculate for their support and I thank the students of our school for their co-operation and responsiveness to the occasion.

BEST OF LUCK - On behalf of our School Community I wish Parker C, Year 5 student, all the best as he represents MacKillop at the NSWPSSA Softball during this week. I know Parker will do himself, our school, our Diocese and Mackillop proud.

UNIFORM - As the days are becoming warmer, children may wear their summer uniform. We ask that either the full summer or full winter uniform be worn, not a combination of both. Tab ties for girls and ties for boys are part of our winter uniform. All children will be expected to wear their summer uniform after the Term 3 pupil vacation.

THANKYOU - As this is my final newsletter as Principal, I take this opportunity to thank all of the Mary Immaculate School and Parish Community for your support and friendship over the past seven and a half years. I am writing this Newsletter having just read the words of children and parents who have given farewell cards to me. The words written are very humbling and it is very difficult to hide the emotion. The enormity of retiring is really starting to sink in. I have been reflecting on my time at Mary Immaculate and my teaching career in general, and I truly cherish every moment of the experience. I feel most privileged to have been part of the Catholic Education System over the past 39 years. I have seen many changes in education and I am very proud of my achievements, but more importantly I am proud of the standing our School, Mary Immaculate, has within the Community. I am not going to thank individuals because there are too many to list and I am worried that I may miss someone. I do, however, thank Father Slawek for his support and friendship over the past five years. As a Principal in a Catholic School it is wonderful to have such positive support of the Parish Priest and for this I am truly grateful. I thank the Leadership Team at Mary Immaculate, especially Mrs Lillian Del Giudice and I thank them for their work and for supporting me in my role. Our school is blessed to have a very committed, friendly and supportive staff, which I appreciate very much. To the parents, I thank you most sincerely for your support and friendship. To the hundreds of children I have taught throughout my career and especially the children of our great school, seeing their smiles and their love and exuberance of life, makes teaching or leading a school, such a rewarding vocation. Finally I would like to thank my wife Geraldine and my children for supporting me and being so understanding, when school life, quite often took precedence in my life. Thank you again for your well wishes and parting gifts. I am looking forward to the next phase of my life journey, however, I am certainly going to miss the wonderful people who have made my teaching career so rewarding.

Have a great week and let Christ be our way and life.

Don Spencer

Principal

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

At Mary Immaculate the staff has an ongoing commitment to professional learning. The staff benefit from attending inservices, in curriculum areas, that assists them in providing quality learning opportunities for the students in their class. The following staff have or will attend professional learning and hence will be away from school.

PEER SUPPORT - This week in Peer Support the children will be introduced to a 3 step model to encourage resilient responses; Pause, Plan, Proceed. The children take part in an activity to identify their feelings and the immediate effects on their bodies ie butterflies in their stomachs. The normalcy of feelings is acknowledged and the importance of being proactive is stressed. The children learn that pausing when they are emotional is helpful. They can do this by being still, taking a deep breath or counting to ten. Pausing gives children space to see a situation more accurately before planning a response. Ask your child to describe the 3 steps of the model and what is involved in each one.