Term 2 has commenced with a liturgy to mark the passing of Pope Francis, ANZAC Day and the annual Granite Belt Cross Country Trials.  That's a lot for the first three days of a term, which is the time of writing this article.

We felt very grateful to be a part of the community ANZAC Day march on Friday, recognising those service men and women who have fallen whilst serving their country.  At this event and also our school service, the reverence of the students was very clear and they were all a credit to the school and their parents.   This was the same as Mr Kendall led the liturgy for Pope Francis.

Parents and carers will know that Service is one of our Mercy values.  We feel that it is important that students understand the need to think of others before themselves and act in a way that supports the needs of others.  There are many examples around the campus of service being shown each day including the Breakfast Club and the organisation of the Sports Shed.  This week, we have elected three Yr 6 students to act as Student Council representatives for the whole campus.  The elected students are Matthew Stefanon, Riley Pfeiffer and Patrick Moxham.  A larger group of Yr 6 students have volunteered to assist with activities associated with the St Vincent de Paul society.  Such a commitment is commendable and we look forward to the work that these students will do for our school and the wider community.

From a learning perspective, there is much happening on the Primary Campus.  I thank the teachers and school officers for the work they do each day to support all the students in their learning as, without their guiding hands, many children would not experience the success that they do.  This term, we will be involving ourselves in a Readers' Cup competition, a chess competition, sporting events, the Border District Eisteddfod and the Crisps' Art Show to name just a few things.  Our focus on literacy continues, through the work carried out in the Literacy Block as well as across the curriculum.  In Maths, we are continuing to implement a new program called 'Learning through Doing' which promotes the need for active learning with manipulatives.  We are seeing some great engagement and learning from the students since we started this program at the start of Term 1.

It has been wonderful to welcome three new students to our school this term.  Lachlan and Oliver are brothers and are in Year 4 and Year 6 respectively.  Tristen is in Year 6 also.  All three of the boys have settled well into their environment and have been welcomed by the students in their cohorts.  It is never easy to enter a new environment but the students here are very welcoming, which is something that makes the transition easier.

Finally, a reminder that we will be hosting our Arts Festival in a couple of weeks and encourage parents and friends to join us for the concert on 13 May at 1:30pm in the Bathersby Centre.  We are so fortunate to have an excellent music program at our school and this is one way that we can showcase it. We are hoping to include a drama day later the year.

As always, we value the partnership that we build with families and encourage you to make contact with us if something is concerning you.  Of course, we always love to hear the positive stories as well!

With God's blessings

Sarah Yates
Assistant Principal Primary & Teaching & Learning