Welcome back to school for our final term. Over the holidays, we had a number of our teachers attend the Google Summit here in Townsville. It was the first time a conference of this calibre was held in Townsville and it was an amazing learning experience for all involved. We had a wealth of experienced keynote presenters who inspired us with their innovative approaches to teaching and learning. We were further affirmed in our own approach to teaching and learning here at St Benedict’s to see how integrated, project based learning is still being promoted as a positive way to engage kids in learning. We can be very proud of the school we are creating together and look forward to fulfilling our mission and vision.

It was really lovely to see the kids arrive at school on Monday morning so eager to see their friends and their teachers, with everyone looking quite relaxed and refreshed. The kids have generally settled back in to the routine of school again though a few do seem a little tired by today.

This morning Mr Christie and I attended the Bishop’s Business Breakfast which was largely about inviting the community to engage with an upcoming opportunity to provide valuable feedback to the Church. It was a wonderful opportunity to highlight the number of community services the Catholic Church undertakes including education, Health (the Mater Hospital), Pastoral support eg. Centrecare, welfare eg. St Vincent De Paul, youth services eg. National Evangelisation Team and the religious eg. our priests, sisters, nuns. With all these services that support not just the catholic community but the wider community as well, comes an extensive amount of employment that generally supports the wider community too. Bishop Tim acknowledged that the Church has some work to do in restoring people’s trust in the church and their faith in its leaders, but was also incredibly proud of the work of the Church in this diocese. We will be invited to have our say on key issues facing us today, not just from a church perspective but in response to the question ‘What is God asking of us today?’ through a Plenary Council. I look forward to creating some opportunities for these discussion for our own community perspective.

Please note that I will be away at the end of next week for the Principals Conference which will also include a day at the Schools Law Conference. I’ll let you know about both of those when I get back. In Week 3 we have a Student Free day on Monday 22 October and Day for Daniel on Friday 26 October (kids can wear red shirts). Friday 26 October is also when we also celebrate World Teachers Day so feel free to show your kids teachers some love- some beautiful words go along way :).

Cheers

Penny

Firstly a big welcome back to Term 4, it is sure to be a very busy term here at St Benedict’s, with lots of exciting events coming up.  I’d like to highlight some of these upcoming events below, as well as which classes are on assembly during certain weeks:

Upcoming Events:

Week 2: 15/10 - Assembly 8:45am- Prep Platypus

Week 3: 26/10 - Day for Daniel - Students invited to wear a red shirt

Week 4: 29/10 - Assembly 8:45am - 2 Curlews, 01/11 - Mission Markets 12:10pm - ALL WELCOME

Week 5: 05/11 - Assembly 8:45am - Prep Bilbies

Week 6: 12/11 - Assembly 8:45am - 3 Kookaburras

Week 7: 19/11 - Assembly 8:45am - 1 Possums

Week 8: 26/11 - Assembly 8:45am - Prep Koalas

Week 9: 03/12 - End of Year Liturgy 9:00am - ALL WELCOME

Wed - Fri 8:45am - ADVENT LITURGY - run by 4/5/6 Turtles

07/12 - LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

October - World Mission Month

World Mission Day (part of World Mission Month here in Australia) is celebrated every year in every country wherever there are Christians committed to building a better world for all of God's people, a world where everyone has all they need to live a dignified and fulfilling life. It is the day on which we reflect on the urgency to proclaim the Gospel in our times.

Missionary activity is, fundamentally, a going out of oneself in love, a reaching out to see God in everyone and to share God’s love with each person we meet – especially our poor and marginalised.

Jesus’ mission of creating a world where all can live a fully dignified life is still far from completion. Therefore, the whole month of October has been dedicated to reflecting on the central mission of the Church to help all Christians in their commitment to Christ’s mission of love, mercy, forgiveness, peace and justice for the world.

As a school, we will be holding a ‘Mission Market’ on November 1st from 12:10pm.  Each class will set up a stall or activity which students will be invited to bring in a small amount of money and participate in.  All money raised from this event will go to ‘Catholic Mission Australia’, to support the work of missions around the world. Students will also be looking at missions in class, with this years theme being, ‘Healing a Nation through Education’, focussing on a community on Myanmar.  It’s a great opportunity to recognise how lucky we are, and how we can live out Jesus’ message of love, mercy, forgiveness and peace. More information will be circulated about our Mission Markets in the coming weeks.

Have a great week, and God bless, 

Nick