Dear Families,

What a wonderful morning we had with Andrew Chinn last Friday. Thank you to the families who came along, it looked like everyone was enjoying themselves – I had sore cheeks from smiling watching all of the children joining in and singing along. Thank you to Mrs Szkwarek for organising this wonderful event, it was a fabulous end to another great week here at school.

Please remember that Friday is District Swimming for the children who have been chosen to participate. Parents are responsible for transporting and supervising their children at the event. Good luck to those participating!

In the Catholic Church, 2025 is a year of Jubilee. This means, it is a time of renewal in the church. On Friday and Saturday, many people in our Diocese gathered at the Diocesan Assembly to work together to build a new vision for our Diocese over the next 25 years. Lumen Christi was blessed to host mass for over 200 people on Friday evening with Bishop Greg saying the mass. Pope Francis has given us a Jubilee Prayer to prey together that as a Church we might be “Pilgrims of Hope” for the future.

The Jubilee Prayer

Father in heaven,

may the faith you have given us

in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother,

and the flame of charity enkindled

in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,

reawaken in us the blessed hope

for the coming of your Kingdom.

May your grace transform us

into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.

May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos

in the sure expectation

of a new heaven and a new earth,

when, with the powers of Evil vanquished,

your glory will shine eternally.

May the grace of the Jubilee

reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,

a yearning for the treasures of heaven.

May that same grace spread

the joy and peace of our Redeemer

throughout the earth.

To you our God, eternally blessed,

be glory and praise for ever.

Amen

Have a wonderful week ahead,

Sally

Please take note of these dates for your family calendar

Term 1 2025

Week 4: 18th February - School photos 

              19th February- Foundation Rest Day

              21st February - District Swimming (for selected children only)

Week 5: 26th February-Foundation Rest Day

Week 6: 5th March- Foundation Rest Day

              3rd - 5th March - Grade 5/6 Camp to Melbourne

              6th March - Whole School Mass

              7th March - Whole School Sports Day

              8/9 March - Eucharist Commitment Mass 1

Week 7: Foundation First Full week

              12th - 14th March - NAPLAN Window Open

              15th/16th March - Eucharist Commitment Mass 2

Week 8: 17-21st March - Australian Smile Group

              17th - 21st March - NAPLAN

Week 9: 24th March - NAPLAN Last Day

              30th March - First Eucharist Celebration 9:30am at Lumen Christi Church

Week 10: 3rd April - End of Term Mass 9:30am

                4th April: Grade 5/6 Passion Play and Easter Raffle (Time TBA)

On Friday we had a wonderful visit from one of our favourite artists - Andrew Chinn! Andrew hasn't been to Lumen Christi for nearly 6 years and our students were so excited to meet him and spend time singing so many of our favourite songs! We were also very lucky to be able to have him at school as it is his farewell tour this year. Andrew is an Australian religious singer and songwriter and we use his music and website nearly every week in classrooms, music sessions, prayer and masses. He performs all over Australia, New Zealand, America, Canada and Ireland and he certainly did not disappoint on Friday! Our students were singing along, doing actions and really engaging with the concert and I'm sure they took away lots of special memories of his visit, as did our teachers. Thankyou to all those parents and younger siblings who joined us for the concert, we hope you enjoyed it. 

Religious Education - Important News

A note went home last week for this event but a reminder that next week we have a parent meeting for all parents who have a child making a sacrament this year (reconciliation, eucharist and confirmation). This is a compulsory meeting for any parent who has a child who will be doing one of these sacraments this year and will be held at Sacred Heart Church on Tuesday 25th at 5:30pm. Sacrament parents please contact our Religious Education Leader (Janelle Szkwarek) if you have any questions or need to know anything about our Sacraments or the meeting next week. 

At Lumen Christi we have our first sacrament coming up, 

FIrst Eucharist - 30th March 2025

As a school community we prayer for:

Joshua Sheary

Thomas Breheny

Esmae Fairbrother

Nils Schelfhout

Emmanuel Ryan

Erin Robinson

These students are beginning the process of preparing for their First Eucharist with commitment masses on:

8/9 March

15/16 March

22/23 March

Also coming up soon we have our GRADE 4 EUCHARIST NIGHT which is a night for ALL GRADE 4 students to attend. It includes the  children re-enacting the events of the last supper and sharing a meal together of pizza with their special family member. This will be held at school on Wednesday 19^th March from 5:30 - 6:30pm. This is something that we have done for the last couple of years to replace the sacrament workshops that we had and it was a really well attended event and our students really enjoyed it.  The idea is for students to demonstrate this Sacrament in action and will be a whole Year 4 celebration so that the children receiving the sacrament are supported by their peers and the wider community in their preparation for their First Eucharist. Details about this event will come home shortly.

Please dont hesitate to contact the school if you have any questions about the Sacraments this year. (jszkwarek@churchill.catholic.edu.au)