Term 3, Week 9 Friday 20th September 2024

What an amazing celebration we had on Wednesday, with the official Opening and Blessing of our buildings.  Although we have been using the facilities for over 2 years, it was great for our community to be acknowledged by Archbishop O’Regan, Dr Neil McGoran and Mr Steve Georganas.  The students were amazing and a huge thank you to our wonderful staff for their hard work and preparation for the event.  We will share photos on Facebook.

Congratulations to our Tournament of Minds Team who competed against other schools in the state last Sunday.  They wrote, prepared and performed a 10-minute response in the language literature section.  It was an independent presentation, all their own ideas….and they did the whole thing in rhyme!  It was creative and funny.  Thank you, Mr Parker, for your facilitation of the group.

Just a reminder that we are currently looking at class placements for next year.  I really encourage you to support your child in branching out with new friendships.  Their very best support may be someone they have not yet met!  Just because they may not be in the same class with their ‘bestie’, does not mean they cannot still be friends.  In fact, we would caution against continually keeping the same children together throughout their school life.

If there are considerations that you think we may need to keep in mind, please email me at Kelly.campbell@smms.catholic.edu.au.  Please do so by the end of this term, as once classes are allocated, we cannot make changes as one change affects the whole class and balance we have worked so hard to achieve. Teacher requests are not a part of our process.

Thank you for your continued support,

Kelly Campbell

Dear Parents/Caregivers

It’s hard to believe that the end of Term 3 is upon us. It has been another very busy term with so many wonderful learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom for our students – Book Week, STEM Brixpo, Festival Choir, Tournament of Minds, Liturgies & Masses, Cross Country, Camp, and excursions to the Adelaide Zoo, Museum and Botanic Gardens…just to name a few!  Across the term in these experiences, alongside their classroom learning, students have showcased their deep engagement and expressed the joy they find in being a member of the St Margaret Mary’s learning community. A perfect example of this was the special Opening and Blessing ceremony we held on Wednesday this week – and many of our special guests also expressed the joy they felt is seeing our students singing and participating in the ceremony. Thank you to all of our staff and students for their involvement in this event plus all other learning experiences in Term 3, and for their hard work across the term. Many thanks to our families too.

Multicultural Festival
Next term we will celebrate a Multicultural Festival on Friday 8 November. This festival will bring together special elements of Mid-Autumn Festival and Diwali, as well as recognising and celebrating the cultural diversity of families in our St Margaret Mary’s school community.

More information about the festival will be shared with families next term. We will also be looking for donations and volunteers to help with the event.

Wishing you all the best for the last week of Term 3, and a enjoy a wonderful school holiday break when it arrives.

I’ll look forward to seeing you in Term 4.

Belinda Elliott

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Although we have enjoyed our new facilities for a few years now, Archbishop Patrick O’Regan DD and Fr Charles our Parish Priest, officially opened and blessed the building of 1A, 1B and 2A on Wednesday 18 September. We gathered for a whole school liturgy, in our Friday morning Community Prayer area. As part of the liturgy, Thomas, Nimrat, Magdalene, Sheick, Valeria, Yugan, Emily, Ayet, Jaxon, Preslava, Katia, Jenni, Evanna, Javier, Yukti and Rose who brought forward crucifixes or holding crosses from each classroom. The Archbishop blessed each crucifix and then with the support of Fr Charles went into all the learning areas to bless every classroom, communal, meeting and office space with Holy Water.

We would especially like to thank the families of the class representatives for preparing the children in traditional cultural dress. Finally, special thanks to Fr Charles for his continuous support of our school, and to Dillen and Mai Ly, for representing all our students as Year 6 leaders. It was truly a wonderful celebration for our community, our children were amazing and so well prepared and supported throughout by our dedicated staff. So proud of our SMMS community. Well done everyone!

Primary Years Mass
On Thursday 12 September, our Year 3, Year 4/5 and Year 6 classes led a parish Mass in St Margaret Mary’s Church. The children listened to passage from Luke’s gospel where Jesus speaks about when the actions of others are hurtful.  Fr Charles asked the children about Jesus’ message and was heartened by the children’s understanding that even though it’s hard at times, it’s important to show love, compassion, forgiveness and empathy for each other.

Special thanks to Fr Charles for leading us in our celebration of the eucharist, to our class teachers for helping to prepare the children, the readers from each class, the PowerPoint operators and all of the students for their active participation alongside our parish community and for their joyous singing. Well done Primary Years!

First Holy Communion

Congratulations to Lani and Hannah who received their First Holy Communion on Sunday 15 September. We offer our prayers and best wishes Patrick, Alessandra, Tarja, Aryan, Phi Khoa, Thomas, Raymond, Kalista, Ngan and Tammy will also receive the Sacrament for the first time this weekend.

This will conclude the Croydon Park Parish Sacramental Program for 2024. I you would like to find out more about the program for 2025 and beyond, please contact Kirsty Power sacramental.coordinator@croydonparkparish.com.au or the Parish Office on 8346 0944.

Have a good weekend everyone.
Matthew Harrison