Dear Parents and Guardians
FOCUS: Feed the Wolf
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, stubbornness, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.” The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
The tale of the two wolves portrays the good and evil that lives within us, characterised by our conscious and unconscious want and desires. If we are not conscious of our thoughts, we are at the mercy of feeding the evil wolf.
We all have the power to influence outcomes – to choose to stop feeding the bad wolf and start offering all our time and energy to the good wolf so it can flourish instead. We can make a conscious effort to change our perspective and change our thoughts from those of anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, stubbornness, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego to those of joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.
We must be prepared to reach out, proactively, for the good wolf instead of reactively attending to the bad one and behave in each small moment focused on things that are positive, productive, and beneficial to ourselves – and others. This is how you feed the good wolf – this is how good triumphs.
Lord Jesus Christ,
You are a King who cares deeply for his
people. May we search out those in need, so that Love and
Justice will reign as the Kingdom of God is brought forth
within us. We ask our prayer in your name and in the power
of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Advent marks the commencement of the Church’s liturgical year.
In this time of preparation as we wish each other well and share cards and gifts with family and friends, it is good for us to remember, each day, just what we are preparing for – the greatest act of generosity by God to us is undoubtedly the gift of His son Jesus to the world.
He came to us as one of us, a human, humble and poor.
Yet, the divinity of Christ was made manifest to us in all he did.
Is our humanity ready to respond?
Are we prepared to follow in his path?
This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, the commencement of the Church’s new liturgical year (Year A) and a time of preparation and waiting. It is good for us to remember each day, as we wish each other well and share cards and gifts with family and friends, just what we are really preparing our hearts for and waiting for – the greatest act of generosity by God to us, the gift of His son, Jesus, to the world. He came to us as one of us, a human humble and poor. Yet, the divinity of Christ was made manifest to us in all He did. Are we prepared to follow in his path? As we celebrate Christmas this year, let us reflect on the most important reason for celebration, the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ!
Staffing 2023
Just as we know that the process of primary schooling encourages and supports our children as they stretch and grow towards transition to secondary schooling, so too, do the teachers and staff continue to develop in their profession and from time to time move on.
We say farewell to Chisato McArthur, Clare Stott and Melissa Fusari who have been shining lights in our school this year. We thank them for the contributions they have made to the lives of the students in such a short period of time at CtK. All three will be moving on at the end of the year. We say goodbye to Damian Albuquerque for 2023 as he is taking next year off to move to Canberra. We wish him well and we hope to see him back in 2024 as he is a wonderful teacher and person.
We wish Anna Fanning, Lily Hartley and Julie Gummer the very best six months of long service leave ever, and we look forward to seeing them back for semester two, 2023.
All parents have been sent the CtK Staffing 2023 YouTube link.
School Advisory Council and Parent & Friends Annual Community Meeting 2022
I wish to thank my wonderfully talented staff and lovely parents for attending last Wednesday night’s Annual Community Meeting. At this meeting we presented reports from the Chairperson, Mary-Rose Di Tullio, Board Treasurer, Alan Pecotic and my Principal Report. There is only one change to the Advisory Council for 2023 with Mary stepping down. We thank her for the wonderful contributions she has made to our school and for being a great support to me as Principal. The P&F held their meeting with Angela La Rosa stepping down as Secretary, however, Angela is staying on the P&F Exec as Vice President. The Secretary role does need to be filled for 2023. Research shows that when parents are positively involved in all aspects of their children’s lives, children develop into positive, well-balanced adults who realise their full potential. Thank you to everyone involved.
Fathering Group – Paper Planes and Pizza Event
We had 95 Attendees (39 Fathers and 56 Children). Following registrations, Mr Kelly welcomed all attendees and The Fathering Introduction Video was shown. Fathers and their children then got busy making and testing paper planes while feasting on Pizzas. The ‘runway’ was then cleared, and competitions began. After determining finalists from each year group, 3 final ‘flyoffs’ were held, and prizes awarded to the following winners
- Kindy to Yr2 – Kaiden Baddock – (Moster Jam Lego Techic Prize)
- Yr3 to Yr6 – Diego Naglieri – (Formula Porsche Lego Technic Prize)
- Dads – Jeremy Baddock – (Fermented Grape Juice Prize)
Thank you to Mr Geaney for being there too as he was a fantastic support and help on the night.
Kindy and Year Four Buddies on CtK Day
The Year Four children wrote their own storybook, and the Kindy children designed a new cover for the book. Awesome learning!
Christ the King Day
What a fabulous day we had yesterday with our prayer service, buddy activities and then to finish off we had our CtK stalls. A huge thank you to Mrs Gummer and her team for coordinating the day. It was a wonderful feast day celebration. I hope all the children enjoyed the day as much as I did! Thank you to my brilliant staff for being such awesome people; they are sensational gang.
Move-Up Morning Monday, 9 December will be an opportunity for the children to visit their new classroom, meet with their new teacher and any new classmates for 2023. The morning will involve some schoolwork, or art, social mixing games and informal discussions about expectations for next year.
A reminder, we have our Christmas Carols next Wednesday, 30 November, which is now starting at 6:30pm in the Quad. Each class will sing Christmas Carols. The focus will be on the Spirit of Christmas as I have changed award presentations to Tuesday, 6 December. There will be a sausage sizzle available with all money going to the P&F.
Here are the Events for the last week (Week 9) of 2022:
Monday, 5 December – Move Up Morning for Kindy-Year Five children. The children will meet and work with their new teacher for 2023 from 9:00am until 10:30am.
Tuesday, 6 December – at 9:00am in the Hall, we will be having our Year Six Graduation Awards, Head Boy and Head Girl announcement for 2023 and the Cheryl Babich Scholarship Award. This will be attended by the whole school and we would love to see parents attend this very special and important ceremony.
Wednesday, 7 December – At 9.15am at CtK Church, we celebrate the 2022 Graduation and Thanksgiving Mass. This year, our Year 6 students have been outstanding leaders of our student community and have led various ministries and roles that assist in setting the tone of our school. We take this opportunity to thank them for their dedication to our school and for the way they have conducted themselves this year. I hope all the Year Six families will make the effort to attend this celebration and give thanks for the blessings of this school year. When we look back over the year, and as our Year Six students reflect on their years at Christ the King, we realise that there is so much to be thankful for. Please help to make this a time when our Year Six students remember with pride, that they were part of a caring and supportive faith community who came together to honour and farewell them.
After Mass, we will have a morning tea for the Year Six parents in the Hall followed by a Graduation lunch and disco for the Year Six students in the Hall.
Thursday, 8 December – Year Six to attend King’s Park. Reports will be available via SEQTA Engage. Parents are most welcome to make a time to meet with their child’s teacher to discuss any aspect of the report on Tuesday, 13 December between 8:30am and 10:30am. Please make the booking with your child’s class teacher and not through the Office.
Friday, 9 December – Christ the King Fun Day. Last day of the 2022 school year.
Pupil Free Days (Staff Professional Development), Public Holidays
School Start and End Dates for 2023:
TERM 1
Teachers Return – Monday, 30 January and Tuesday, 31 January
Students return – Wednesday, 1 February
Labour Day Public Holiday – Monday, 6 March
Staff PD Day – Tuesday 7 March
Last day of term for staff and students – Holy Thursday, 6 April
Good Friday – Friday, 7 April
Easter Sunday – Sunday, 9 April
TERM 2
Staff PD Day – Monday 24 April
ANZAC Day – Tuesday, 25 April
Students return – Wednesday, 26 April
WA Day – Monday, 5 June
Friday 30 June – Last day of term
TERM 3
Staff and Students return – Monday, 17 July
Staff PD Day – Friday, 18 August
Last day of term for staff and students – Thursday, 21 September
Catholic Day for all staff and students – Friday, 22 September
TERM 4
Staff and Students return – Monday, 9 October
Staff PD Day – Monday, 6 November
Last day of the 2023 school year – Friday, 8 December
Last day for staff 2023 school year – Friday, 15 December
This is a hectic time of the year and there are many events, tasks and dates in our minds. Despite all this, we need to ensure that we take the time to do the important things with patience and with the right attention to detail. The most important of these is how we treat each other. Students are tired, parents and staff are very busy and, in this time, we can help each other immensely by being kind and being thankful for having each other in our lives. A happy supportive community is one where children feel safe to grow.
Andrew Kelly
Principal