Dear Families,

Here we are in Week 10 of our second term – nearly half way through the year.
Last week was a busy week, we had our Foundation to Year three students attend a show in Traralgon at the Gippsland Performing Arts Centre, which I hear went very well and the children enjoyed.

We also farewelled Heather Moir, who has started her retirement last week. As I write this, I hope she is enjoying her first week in retirement.

This week, we have visitors from DOSCEL coming in to run my Principal Appraisal. All principals go through this process in our Diocese which aims to recognise my strengths and opportunities for growth in my leadership and management of the school.

We also have students participating in The Big Sing on Thursday which Mrs Szkwarek has kindly coordinated for the children. It was a huge success last year and a wonderful opportunity for our children to take part in. Rehearsals are during the day on Thursday and the Big Sing event takes place on Thursday evening.

We also have our soccer teams going off to the next stage of the competitions so we wish them the best of luck and know they represent our school well. We are really proud they have made it to this stage in the competition.

Part of our role as a Catholic School is to ensure that we have a focus on Catholic Social Teaching (CST). CST teaches us that as a community underpinned by the values of Catholicism and the Gospel,that we have a responsibility to others. One part of Catholic Social Teaching is the Preferential Option for the Poor” which is why we run so many Social Justice Initiatives at the school in order to look after those in our community who don’t have enough. There is information on Catholic Social Teaching on the Caritas Website: https://www.caritas.org.au/learn/cst-toolkit/

At the end of the term, Mrs Szkwarek our Religious Education Leader is running a “Give a Can if you can” day – and we will be having a “Giving Mass” for our end of term mass celebration. Our families always give so generously and I know this initiative will be a huge success to help those in our community who don’t have enough this winter.

I will be taking some leave next week and the first week of term. In my absence, Miss Kristie Smith will be Acting Principal. Please contact Kristie on ksmith@churchill.catholic.edu.au if there are any serious matters that need urgent attention.
Have a wonderful week,
Sally