Dear Families,
In the last newsletter I wrote about Cyber Safety and provided some links to support parents in keeping their children safe in an online world. One of these links was from the Carly Ryan Foundation and we have booked them to run a student session for our Year 4, 5 and 6 students on Thursday 1st July. On Monday of this week Sonya Ryan received an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for her work in creating this foundation. She was also a finalist in the 2017 Human Rights Awards and was South Australian of the Year in 2013. We are extremely fortunate to have secured Sonya to run a session for parents at 7pm on Thursday 1st July. This will be her last parent session, as she no longer offers them personally, so this really will be an opportunity not to be missed. Parenting in this digital age is not easy and I urge you to make this a priority. I have also invited some of our neighbouring schools to join us. You can register here and use the code ysv4n.
Also receiving an OAM this week was Mr John Mula the Deputy Director of Catholic Education SA. John received this award for his outstanding service to Catholic Education in Australia. I was privileged to sit and share a meal with John a couple of weeks ago and gain some wonderful insights about education and learning. He is certainly a very knowledgeable, wise and delightful man to chat with. I am pleased that he has been acknowledged in this way and would like to add my congratulations to the many he would have received this week. You can see information about Sonya, John and all the Order of Australia Medal recipients here.
A big thank you to our Parents and Friends for putting on Pasta Day again for our staff and students on Wednesday. Thank you to Vinny Maresca for cooking the pasta but also Jess, Jane, Jane and Angella for helping. Everyone loved the delicious hot pasta, especially on such a cold and damp day! Our P&F meet next Wednesday at 7pm in the Staff Room.
Thank you also to our teachers who have been busy working on Semester One Reports over the past few weeks. They will be sent home in the last week of term.
On Wednesday night of this week I held a Principal's Tour and had the pleasure of showing 15 people around our school. I asked them why they had come to Tenison Woods and most of them indicated that they had heard good things about our school from other people. They said they were looking for a smaller school with a real community feel but with lots of space. I know that I am biased but we do have a great community here and obviously many of you have been sprouting that to others. I just want to thank you for celebrating what we have and for promoting our school at every opportunity.
Every morning when I do duty or when I am on yard duty through the day I have a wonderful opportunity to observe children either meeting each other or at play. I am really impressed by the number of children who say hello to other children and greet them in a positive way, even if they are not in their own class or year level. This is an advantage of a smaller school. The children all get to know each other fairly quickly, and while they might not be close friends, they will still be friendly to each other. I encourage you, as parents, to continue to encourage your children to show kindness to everyone they meet. My observations also tell me that parents from our community clearly model 'kindness' behaviour.
Next week is Refugee Week. This is a real opportunity for us to consider those who have had to leave their homeland due to difficult or desperate circumstances. None of us can know the pain and suffering that others may have gone through in order to seek freedom. I am sure you would have seen the recent media reports of the Murugappan family. As an Australian and as a Catholic, I am saddened that it has taken a seriously ill child to bring about some sort of compassion and reason. Jesus calls every one of us to show kindness and compassion at all times. While I understand the need for borders and keeping everyone safe, I can't understand why we are unable to find a better way to welcome genuine refugees into our country. Interestingly, the media is also reporting that Australia's population growth has slowed dramatically and that the growth of infrastructure is now going to be a serious problem! The Gospel reading from this Sunday comes from Mark 4: 35-41 which talks about Jesus in a boat when an enormous storm arose and everyone thought they were going to perish. Jesus calmed the storm and everyone was safe. I pray for all those people who came to Australia on boats to seek refuge but did not make it. I pray for all those who are suffering in detention or being oppressed, either here in Australia, or in other parts of the world. There is a powerful statue of a 'refugee boat' that was installed in St Peter's Square at the Vatican a couple of years ago to highlight the plight of refugees. This is the Vatican's first new statue in over 400 years and sends an important message to all of us to be aware of and to speak out against injustice.
Kind regards
Peter Mercer
Principal
