Dear Parents and Caregivers, 

While doing some research during the last week, before purchasing a household appliance I was struck by the negatively of some of the comments on a consumer review site. Our consumer world seems to place more and more focus on a deficit model. So much energy seems to be expended on encouraging us to speak out and express our concerns and our dislikes and our opinions when things go wrong. But we are seldom encouraged to use the same amount of energy or take the time to express our gratitude or our pleasure when things go right.

As gratitude has been our whole school focus during the second part of this term, I thought I would focus the contents of this newsletter by elaborating a little further on the concept and reflecting the theme of gratitude. The word gratitude is derived from the Latin word gratia, which means grace, graciousness, or gratefulness (depending on the context). In some ways, gratitude encompasses all of these meanings. Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives. In the process, they often recognise that the source of this goodness lies at least partially, outside of themselves. As a result, gratitude helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals.

Gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people see positives more readily, feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity and build strong relationships. People feel and express gratitude in multiple ways. They can apply it to the past (retrieving positive memories and being thankful for elements of childhood or past blessings), the present (not taking good fortune for granted as it comes), and the future (maintaining a hopeful and optimistic attitude).

As we approach the end of Term 3, strangely our very first full term of 2020, I wanted to take the opportunity to express my gratitude for the term that was.

Each day brings many and varied reasons for sharing a simple 'thank you' and I want to take the opportunity to conclude the term by letting you know how grateful I am for:

• the privilege of contributing to the education of the beautiful, friendly and spirited students that make Mary Immaculate the wonderful community it is;
• the strong and constant interest of our parents who have responded with unfailing support despite the challenges of changing circumstances and not being able to be on the school site;
• access to the wisdom and counsel of our parish clergy who value the commitment of staff as partners in the evangelising mission of the Church;
• the powerful commitment of all our staff ~ teaching, support and admin ~ who go beyond the call of duty for our students and their families ~ this can be evidenced each and every day in many and varied ways across our school;
• the comfort of belonging to a system of schools that values the uniqueness of individual school communities and provides the guidance and resources necessary to allow us to function effectively;
• the opportunity to be part of a community that not only reaches out to others with compassion and support, but also challenges all its members to strive to be the best they can be.

Thank you for your support! Enjoy the holidays with your children and we very much look forward to continuing to work with you in partnership in Term 4.

May Christ be at the centre of your life in the coming weeks.

Tina Murray

Principal

We wish to acknowledge the following staff appointments;

Mr Joshua Holmes who will be joining Mary Immaculate in Term 4 and will be delivering the PE Curriculum to all classes. We are very grateful to Mrs Tracy New for her support during Term 3 in the delivery of PE Lessons.

Our staff will be enriched in 2021 by the appointments of Mr Alister Marshall (classroom teacher) and Mr Andrew Astill (classroom teacher/ML2).

Today father Casimir was here because he was teaching us about creation and how one Little thing can make a difference.

 Mia P and Ema R

Congratulations to the only class to earn a Gold Star last week – well done 6 Gold! They now have two in a row, which is great! Many other classes did well with their borrowing too, a great effort. Please try to return all books this week, before the holidays. We also ask that any outstanding loans are returned. We do encourage all to read during the holidays, it’s a great time to catch up on our reading. Don’t forget the local Library, the staff at Eagle Vale Library are always willing to help you find what you are after.

We would like to ask everyone to have a look at home for the loan Library Bags we keep in the Library to lend to students who might have forgotten theirs – ALL of our loan bags are out at the moment, so there are none available. Please just see if there are any at your place. Thank you to those families who have donated some extra Library bags for us to have on hand, your generosity is appreciated.

This week in Library lessons  Years 3 and 4 are creating a Poetry Anthology – students are selecting a poem they have enjoyed and recording it to be published in a collection for each class. While choosing their poems they are aiming to identify some of the techniques poets use to make their poems more interesting, and fun to read aloud. Poetry is a great way to express our interests and emotions, and is good to share.

Next term Lunchtimes will see our annual Chess Tournament – students in Years 3 - 6 are invited to register their interest in participating by coming to the Library at Lunch 2 to put their names on the list.

Enjoy the break, take time to read and relax.

"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world.

Love of books is the best of all."

Jacqueline Kennedy

Happy reading!

Mrs Sue Bryant

Teacher-Librarian

STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY - MONDAY 12 OCTOBER 2020

CHILDREN RETURN TO SCHOOL FOR TERM 4, TUESDAY 13 OCTOBER 2020 IN FULL SUMMER UNIFORM