As we head towards the penultimate week of Term 3, we need to look back on the many things  we have achieved in the last 9 weeks. As I sat and wrote the Principal’s Report for our C.A.F.E. meeting this week, I was astounded at the many commitments made.

First we welcomed new staff members and their babies to the Spirit community, participated in National Tree Day and finished the week with hugging a tree. We had Catholic Education Week, Spirit Awards, and the Nalgaray group presented the winners of the T shirt competition with their award winning shirts. We purchased books from the Book Fair, continued to educate ourselves in Road Safety and Child Safety. Father John made his class visits and we had a number of students celebrate the Sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist recently. We ran, jumped, threw and competed in the Athletics Carnival ( Covid style), had Matty Bowen visit for Adopt a Cowboy and celebrated with our Dads for Father’s Day. Phillip Thompson visited and presented the school with new flags and we are nearly prepared for the next round of building to happen in our school. All this and we still have a week and a half to go.

Recently, I was reading an article from  Brené Brown around challenges and how we approach them. She wrote,

“Purpose is an essential element of you. It is the reason you are on the planet at this particular time in history. Your very existence is wrapped up in the things you are here to fulfill. Whatever you choose for a career path, remember, the struggles along the way are only meant to shape you for your purpose.”

I feel we have all had our struggles this year and they are here to challenge us. It is a fantastic opportunity for us, as adults, to model resilience and persistence in these challenging times to our children. My son begins his exams for Year 12 and it is admirable how he continues to handle the pressure he puts on himself for his exams while dealing with the many opportunities missed this year. Yet, he  gets up everyday with a positive attitude. Our students at Holy Spirit continue to amaze me with their ability to meet the ‘Spirit Way’ everyday.  I asked a student, who had received a Spirit Slip for ‘working extremely well in class’,  what he did to receive such praise and his response was tremendous. He said, ‘ I am not sure. It is what we always do here at Holy Spirit’. Fantastic attitude!

Last Friday, during the Pupil Free Day, our staff engaged in many different professional development options. Some of our school officers were participating in the MAPA course offered by TCE. Others heard from Laurie Kelly around wellbeing especially during these Covid times. Librarians met at TCE for their annual network day and the teachers were involved in 2 parts. The morning session was around the Learning and Teaching cycle and the use of PAT data. The second part was RE and we focused on assessment. The staff ensured the assessment task matched the achievement standard for their year level. I would like to congratulate our staff for their continued professional commitment to learning how to improve for our students. We even have some staff on a course this Saturday to learn more around student learning.

Happy Days

Paul Martin