Last Saturday, Laurissa Knowles, our school Chaplain, attended the South West Compassionate Communities ‘Lets Build a Compassionate and Connected WA’ Forum in Bunbury, along with Miss Flic and Year Six student Sophie Lane.

Many of our classes are getting behind our Australian athletes as they compete for gold at the Tokyo Olympics. Some students are researching about some of the athletes, others have been finding more out about Japan and Tokyo and on Tuesday, many dressed in the Australian colours of green and gold to show support for the athletes and in particular Aran Zalewski who is the captain of the men’s hockey team, the Kookaburras, and also an ex-student of St Thomas More. A video of our students showing their support was sent to Aran to cheer him on as they play for a Gold medal tonight.

This week, Mr Wylie is attending the Catholic Primary Principals Association WA Conference in Perth, along with over 100 other Principals representing the four Dioceses in Western Australia.

Welcome back to Term Three! I hope all families managed to have a relaxing and restful holiday period, following the busyness of Term Two.

It was wonderful to see the way the children interacted in our Wellness Week and Feast Day celebrations last week. We were particularly impressed with our Year 6 students who lead groups over the course of the day on Friday. A special thank you to the teachers for organising such fun and engaging activities for the children to participate in and to our Year 5 students for leading us in a reverent and reflective Mass on Friday morning. We are so grateful many members of our community so generously donated their time to lead the students through activities and workshops to assist with our students’ wellbeing throughout the week. We hope this week was able to provide everyone with an opportunity to reflect on their own wellness and if needed, to take some steps to make adjustments in this area.

This week, the students have been participating in many different activities and sessions focused on their wellbeing. This includes spiritual, mental, physical and emotional wellbeing. The students have been lucky to have had many guest speakers share information and strategies with them, that will hopefully assist in them leading healthy lives.

Our Year 6 students have been developing their understanding of the Gifts and the Fruits of the Holy Spirit in preparation to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, which will take place this Sunday. They have also been researching about a saint who they have found to be inspirational.

Tonight, commencing at 5:30pm, our school Chaplain Laurissa Knowles will be hosting a workshop designed to help have conversations with children and teenagers about death and suicide and how to deal with grief. This workshop is open to all adult community members and will be held in our school library. Drinks and nibbles are available on arrival.

Last Friday I attended an Interschool Carnival, where our students competed against 3 other schools in Netball and Football.

On Monday 24th May, the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, the Patroness of Australia, 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia was celebrated with a Mass, marking the bicentenary of the first Catholic school established in Paramatta in October 1820.