Dear St John's families,

This week is Harmony Week and our classes have spent a little time learning about the various cultures that are an important part of each person's story.

Nearly 25% of our students have a Language Background Other Than English (LBOTE). This means that either they or their parents speak another langauge as their first language. There are even more students who have a parent that comes from an English speaking culture elsewhere in the world.

All of these families bring a great deal of insight to enrich our community. Their stories, their faith backgrounds, their lived experiences are all welcome.

Being a Catholic school, founded on the msc charism 'Be on earth the heart of God', we need to know God's love before we can be God's love. That means listening to all of the ways that people experience life in our world. If our Catholic tradition recognises that we are all 'made in the image and likeness of God' then we can understand God's love by listening to, learning from and celebrating the backgrounds and experiences of everyone in our community.

Finance Officer Update

Thank you for your patience as we try again to recruit a suitable person for our Finance Officer position. Our recruitment round closes this week and we hope to make an appointment to the position very soon, with the successful applicant starting as soon as they are able.

Holy Week

Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the most significant and important week in the Catholic Church calendar. This Sunday, known as Passion or Palm Sunday, we commemorate Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem, on Holy Thursday we celebrate the Last Supper Jesus had with his disciples and on Good Friday we reflect profoundly on Jesus’ death by crucifixion. The week can serve as a spiritual pilgrimage that deepens our faith, as we anticipate the joyous hope of Jesus’ Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Our parish holds beautiful liturgies and celebrations for each of these special days. Please look at the Parish Compact below for the dates and times.

Thank you for working together to support your child's learning.

Matthew Garton

Principal