On Sunday it was lovely to once again attend Mass in person and celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ. Jesus offers a life giving, eternal and personal relationship with himself: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him.” At our celebration of Eucharist, which means ‘thanksgiving’, we remember the meal which Jesus shared with his friends the night before He died and we share in His death and resurrection. We come together at Mass as one body united in Christ, a Christian community challenged to share Jesus’ message with others through our actions.

This week at Holy Spirit Catholic School, we value respect. Having respect for someone means you think good things about who a person is or how he or she acts. Respect also means that you accept somebody for who they are, even when they are different from you or you don’t agree with them. We often use the value of respect in schools when we are speaking with children and how they treat others. We reinforce that showing respect to someone means they act in a way that shows they care about their feelings and well-being. This week we pray that our students show respect for others by thinking and acting in a way that shows others they care about their feelings and their well-being, not calling others names, treating each other with courtesy and caring about themselves.

God bless.

Caroline Fuller

The theme for this year’s National Refugee Week is ‘Celebrating the Year of Welcome’. Townsville Catholic Education’s Advisory Visiting Specialist EAL/D Rebecca Rowan spoke with Antoinette and her son Espoir about their family’s experiences of being welcome in our Catholic schools. Antoinette has two sons at Holy Spirit School and two daughters at St Margaret Mary’s School. Their experiences of welcome include the boy’s school friends inviting them to birthday parties and bringing them gifts and cards to celebrate their own birthdays and neighbours who have now become friends after dropping over tools to help fix bikes, bread and eggs. We recognise and value the positive contributions made by refugees to our school community and broader Australian society. Happy Refugee Week!

All Dodger prize winners have been contacted.  Please collect your prizes from the office and thank you for your support.

Dodger Prize Winners 2020

Holy Spirit Parish Church has reopened for Public Masses and prayers from Saturday 13 June. We will have all the weekday and weekend masses at the usual time.

However, since we can have only 100 people at one time to attend a Mass, please ring the parish office on 4779 1404 to register for a weekend Mass.

Please make  use of this opportunity to attend a Holy Mass and receive Holy Communion after a long time. Kindly pass on this message to your friends as well. Please comply with the regulations in place and the directives of the Supervisors when you come to attend a Mass."

Thank you.

Holy Spirit Catholic School uses Flexischools ordering system.  To register, login or to place orders, please click this link:  

Flexischools

DCO events: Doing things differently

Like many other businesses and organisations, we have been reviewing how we deliver our events post COVID. You will notice some minor changes; specifically around food. Because your health & wellbeing is important to us and in the interest of safety and hygiene, we will be asking you to bring picnics or purchase your own food rather than providing grazing tables and shared plates of food. We thank you for your understanding and support around this.  Stay tuned for some fantastic events that we have planned over the next few months - some virtual and some face to face.

Assistance for Defence families in Townsville

The Disaster Relief Australia (formerly Team Rubicon Australia) team here in Townsville would like to assist families who have been affected by the COVID 19 restrictions.

Comprised of mainly ADF Veteran volunteers, the team would like to offer free practical assistance to any families who have lost household support or have been experiencing an extended absence of their ADF member. 

                             They are offering to do tasks such as:

• • • • Lawn mowing
      • Yard clean-up & green waste removal
      • Minor fence repairs
      • Gutter cleaning (for low set homes)

If you, or someone you know, has been struggling with MWDU absences, deployments or cancellation of their usual services, please get in touch with Chandell from DFA so that Disaster Relief Australia can take something off your long to do list!

Defence Family Helpline

For advice, support or local community information, contact our all-hours Defence Family Helpline. Run by the Defence Community Organisation, the Helpline is the best way to access the programs and services that we offer to help Defence families manage the military way of life.

The helpline is available 24-7 and is staffed by qualified human services professionals including social workers and psychologists.

The ability to solve your own problems is usually developed in childhood. This proactive approach to life is immensely rewarding in terms of personal effectiveness and independence.

With repetition and practice, problem-solving becomes a valuable life-pattern used in the workplace, in the community and in family relationships.  Here Michael Grose shares his approach that he outlined in his book Spoonfed Generation: How to raise independent children.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Book: Spoonfed Generation

Widely acknowledged as the definitive guide to independence-building, Spoonfed Generation is essential reading for parents and teachers who want to develop real self-sufficiency in kids.
 
Spoonfed Generation will explain the importance of children’s independence and the vital stages to letting go.

VIEW BOOK DETAILS

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All uniform supplies are available at The School Locker, Domain Central (close to Bunnings).

Phone 1800 826 155

The School Locker

Uniform days for students:

Monday and Wednesday - Formal uniform
Tuesday and Thursday - Sports uniform
Friday - own choice
Senior shirts may be worn on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

If your child is going to be absent, please enter the details through Compass, as this is the most efficient way to inform the school.