"Our reflection on the mercy of God introduces us today to the Easter Triduum. We will live Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday as powerful moments that allow us to enter ever further into the great mystery of our faith: the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything in these three days speaks of mercy, because it makes visible the extent of God’s love. We will listen to the account of the final days of Jesus’ life. John the Evangelist offers us the key to understanding its profound meaning: “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1). The love of God has no bounds. As St Augustine often repeated, it is a love that goes “to the end without end”. God truly offers all of himself for each of us and holds nothing back. The Mystery which we adore in this Holy Week is a great history of love which knows no obstacles. The Passion of Jesus lasts until the end of the world, because it is a story of sharing in the suffering of all humanity and a permanent presence in the events of the private life of each of us. Indeed, the Easter Triduum is the commemoration of a drama of love which gives us the certainty that we will never be abandoned in life’s trials."

A good way by which we can experience the mercy of God is accompanying our Lady during these three days. If we stay close to her, she will help us to participate in these holy celebrations meaningfully. Mary invites us: come with me these three days and together we will look at Jesus, crucified and risen. We will discover the Love of God to the end without end.

On Tuesday 4 April, nominated children from Kindergarten and Year 1 were invited to attend the quarterly Teddy Bears’ Picnic. The Teddy Bears’ picnic celebrates the wonderful effort our students have given to school life throughout the term. Mrs. Dineen and one of our favourite teddy bears, ‘Winnie the Pooh’ joined the children for morning tea.

As one happy guest commented, "Wow! Did you see Winnie the Pooh. This is great fun and there is lots of delicious food".

Tapitas

Sometimes we wonder and question what one little person can do in this world when there are so many things that need ‘fixing’. Our water Tapitas droplet appeal highlighted what one little person in partnership with others can in fact do. Together we took part in an initiative by Caritas Australia and raised $630.50. This money will be donated to those communities who are without clean drinking water.

Lenten Colouring- in competition

And the winners are…

Prep Silver-Mikayla

Kindergarten Ava-Maria

Year 1 Oliva Kim

Thank you to all our artists who entered the Lenten colouring-in competition and to those who contributed to our water droplet appeal. You generously raised money for others who are in need. As Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40)

The students have been very generous in their giving to the Lenten Appeal. We raised a total of $1670 in the Junior School. An impressive effort! The children also bought many “droplets” and we hope this has a real impact on those who need it most.

Many thanks for all the support, gratitude and positive messages throughout the term. I wish you all a lovely Easter, surrounded by family and loved ones.

In Religion we begin each lesson by lighting a candle, a reminder that Christ, the light of the world, is with us. We revisited the sign of the Cross and the significance of the Trinity and have been introduced to new daily prayers and hymns to praise our Lord. We also remember to stop at midday each day to pray the Angelus, to show our devotion to Our Lady. This term we attended the first Friday Vigil and celebrated Saint Patrick and Saint Joseph Feasts days.

We enjoyed our Pancake Day and received the ashes at the whole school Ash Wednesday Mass in the MPH to mark the start of Lent. We have been trying very hard to observe our Lenten intentions, make sacrifices, pray for others and to be particularly kind and caring to our classmates.

Year 2 learnt about the stations of the Cross and the significance of each station. We are waiting to resurrect the “hallelujah’s” we buried outside our classroom and are looking forward to the resurrection of Christ and the joy of Easter celebrations.

Year 2 wishes everyone a very happy and holy Easter.

We are looking forward to next term and taking on new challenges.

How are the markers on the vertical axis grouped apart?

5 Navy students have had experiences reading and interpreting different forms of data representation. They have constructed and labeled a variety of graphs to represent information. The students discussed how a scale is used and have constructed and answered questions based on the observations and analysis of information provided in graph form.

The students also co- constructed their own open ended styled questions that looked further into the data collected and how this conveys new and informative information. Graphs and charts are effective visual tools because they present information quickly and easily. Sometimes, data can be better understood when presented by a graph than by a table because the graph can reveal a trend or comparison.

These images show some of the learning that was involved in our class data activities

Written by Mrs Jayne van Koeverden | Year 5 Navy Class Teacher

It has definitely been a busy first term in the Secondary School and hard to believe that it has now come to an end! Our last fortnight continued to be jam packed with a range of events and activities our girls were involved in!

Congratulations to Kaitryel P in Year 12, who was awarded a double gold medal for competing in Karate - Kumite (sparring) and Kata (detailed pattern movements) against different NSW regions. This is a fantastic achievement Kaitryel, we are very proud of you!

Congratulations to our Mock Trial team who were victorious against The Ponds High School in their first round last week. We look forward to hearing about the results of your future Trials. Thank you to Mr Diab, Mrs Sahni and Mrs Milicevic for preparing our girls so well!

Well done to all of our Secondary girls who competed in the Tangara Cross Country last week. It was great to see your team spirit in action! Thank you to Miss Sunner, Miss Healey, Mrs Troup and all the staff for making this Carnival such a success!

Congratulations to the following girls who were invited to have Uber Eats with Mrs Sakr yesterday, as a reward for receiving the most amount of Merits Awards this term for their year group. Well done girls! The recipients were: Lucia F, Madeline H, Margot B, Taylor-Jane H, Prakuthi N, Clare S, Hannah C, Ava-Maria N, Ruby V, Jaime S, Lilliana S, Giann M, Olivia V, Juliet L, Evelyn C, Emma C and Hannah L.

Good Luck to Olivia S from Year 9 and Amelie A from Year 8, who have qualified for Nationals in Swimming and will be competing on the Gold Coast during the holidays. We wish you both all the best!

Many thanks to all of our staff, students and parents for a wonderful first term. We wish everyone a blessed Easter and a restful break! We look forward to welcoming the girls back to school in their full winter uniform on Wednesday 26 April.

Something to keep in mind is hope is not just wishful thinking it involves making that hope a reality through planning, action and perseverance. Although you can wish for anything you can only hope for what is possible. A quote we looked at in class was “Hope is the only thing stronger than fear”. This quote helps us understand that fear is built into us through our nervous system and we have an instinct for danger that provokes it. But hope and love can overcome fear because you have a sense of trust and a hope that you can make a difference. You can see the light at the end of the tunnel and with practice when we experience fear we are not paralyzed because we can turn it into hope.

Written by Gabrielle James

Hope is an essential virtue in our lives and in the world around us. When living this virtue we open up new goals and aspirations for ourselves and people around us.

Hope can be shown in some of the smallest acts eg. looking for meaning in the most challenging moments or remembering the essential goodness in any situation. In a more everyday situation you can show hope through setting up reasonable expectations and goals for yourself that make the most out of your situation. For example, to hope for good scores in a test sets a goal that involves studying and planning. Being hopeful can make huge impacts on our lives and the lives around us. We can also show hope by focusing on the positive side of life. To show hope we can stop complaining about our lives and start doing something to change them for the better. When showing hope we are looking at the glass half full and this mindset can really benefit us. Hoping isn't just wishing for good things but embracing that positive mindset that looks for those good things in our everyday life. To embrace this there are many things that we can do including:

-Thinking about positive things that will come in the future

-Remembering what we are grateful for

-Limiting our intake of negative thoughts, news and words

These are just a few of the many ways we can embrace hope in our lives.

Try and set yourself a goal today to show a hopeful attitude to those around you.

Written by Charlotte Perrottet

The new K-2 Mathematics Syllabus has outcomes and content that are evidence-based, and identify critical skills needed by all students to develop competence in Mathematics. The way Mathematics is taught in Infants using the Gradual Release of Responsibility teaching strategyI do, We do, You doallows for a better understanding for students, and the provisions for valuable hands-on practical experiences which lead to better engagement and achievement of the outcomes.

This term students across K-6 have thoroughly enjoyed participating in a Mathematics incursion facilitated by Professor Maths and Inquisitive Minds. The students were given the opportunity to meet the Working Mathematically outcomes in which there are four key processes: communicating, understanding and fluency, reasoning, and problem-solving. As studies have shown, Working Mathematically is integral to the learning process in Mathematics. It provides students with the opportunity to engage in genuine mathematical activities and develop the skills to become flexible, critical and creative users of mathematics. A special thanks to the Year 9 and Year 10 girls who assisted during the Inquisitive Minds Incursion. Their assistance in marking and guiding the Primary students through each tasks helped make a great workshop run smoothly.

It has been a very productive term for all!