Dear Parents, Teachers and Students,

Parent-Teacher Interviews
Following on from the Interim Reports, we will hold parent-teacher interviews throughout the day on Friday 11 April; if you have not yet made a booking, all teachers still have time-slots available. 

Teachers always like to meet parents face-to-face, but we understand that it may be more convenient to attend this meeting via Teams. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to indicate a mode of preference in the bookings functions on Compass, so all parents will be sent a notification from their child's teacher on Thursday, with an invitation to a Teams meeting on Friday. To attend via Teams, please sign in a minute-or-so before your booked time and you will be admitted from the Lobby at your booked time. If you would prefer to attend your interview face-to-face, please just come to your child's classroom at the appropriate time, but to assist with planning, can you please email your child’s teacher so they know to expect you at school.


Stations of the Cross
Tomorrow, we will be having an early recess break, at 10am, so that we have enough time before our planned afternoon activities to hold our Stations of the Cross pilgrimage, which will commence at 11am in the Library Courtyard. As a whole school, we will journey across our grounds in a memorial pilgrimage of Jesus’ final week before his crucifixion. Parents are welcome to join us for this solemn memorial.


Colour Run Day
Lunch tomorrow will be held at 12:30pm, and all students will be provided with a sausage sandwich and an ice-block for lunch; all dietary needs will be catered for. The canteen will also be open for lunch orders, but with a limited menu. After lunch we will hold a series of fun (and colourfully messy) rotation activities. Students can wear mufti, preferably light colours, and certainly clothes that you are happy for them to get dirty. As all colour activities are being held outside in the afternoon, hats must also be worn. During some activities, colourfully dyed powders will be thrown over students. The powders are low-allergy, cornstarch-based, non-staining and made to be safe for contact. A material safety data sheet can be found later in the newsletter. Students who are catching a bus home in the afternoon will need to bring a change of clothes and a plastic bag to put their dirty clothes in. 

I told the students on Monday morning that if we reached a fundraising goal of $15000, the colour-run activities would culminate in Mr Green getting ‘Slimed’, and thanks to everyone’s fundraising efforts, it’s looking very much like I may need to be hosed-off before being allowed back into the office. The final fundraising tally will be announced after lunch tomorrow… fingers crossed!

Thank you for your continued support of Mt Carmel and we look forward to sharing this wonderful event with the students to celebrate the end of the term.


Holy Week and Easter
Holy Week commences this weekend with Palm Sunday. For those families interested in attending, Palm Sunday Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop Christopher Prowse in the Vigil Mass at the Catholic Church Hall in Murrumbateman at 6pm on Saturday and on Sunday at St Augustine’s Church at 10:15am. 

See the following timetable for all of the Holy Week Masses:
Monday Mass of the Chrism – 5.00 pm St Christopher’s Cathedral
Wednesday Mass – 5.30 pm St. Augustine’s Church; 6.00 pm 2nd Rite of Reconciliation
Holy Thursday (Mass of the Lord’s Supper) – 7.00 pm St Augustine’s Church, Yass (Replaces the 7.30 am Mass)
Good Friday (Stations of the Cross) – 10.30 am Murrumbateman
(Commemoration of the Passion) – 3.00 pm St Augustine’s Church, Yass
EASTER VIGIL MASS – 7.00 pm St Augustine’s Church, Yass
Easter Sunday (20th April) MASS – 10.15 am Catholic Church Hall, Murrumbateman.


Term Dates
The last day of Term 1 for students will be tomorrow, Thursday 10 April. Term 2 commences for students on Tuesday 29 April, following a pupil-free day for staff professional development and administration on Monday 28 April. 


School Uniform
The start of Term 2 means a change to the winter school uniform. Any online orders that have been placed since last week will be collated tomorrow morning to be sent home with students in the afternoon. Orders placed through the holidays will be collated on Monday 28 April and be available for collection from the office between 2pm-4pm. 

A reminder that our Uniform Policy has been updated to reflect current advice that the minimum standard of sun-protection measures, including the wearing of a broad-brimmed, bucket or legionnaire hat, should be applied from August through May (all year except June-July). Given that these are minimum standards, to avoid confusion and promote sun-safe habits, we will be enforcing the ‘No Hat, Play in the Shade’ rule all year.


Anzac Day Parade - Save the Date
As always, Mt Carmel School will be marching in the ANZAC Day parade on 25 April, in the second week of the school holidays, and I encourage as many students as possible to attend. The march commences at 10:45am, so Mt Carmel students (in winter uniform) need to assemble outside the Liberty Theatre in Lead Street at 10.30am. The ANZAC ceremony will conclude outside the Yass Memorial Hall at approximately 11:45am.


Happy Holidays
And finally, I would like to thank all students and teachers for their hard work this term and wish everyone the best for the coming school holidays — may you all have a safe, restful and joy-filled break. Take care, and I look forward to seeing everyone back at school next term.

Michael Green
Principal