Dear Parents, Teachers and Students,

Ash Wednesday
Today is Ash Wednesday, the day that marks the start of the season of Lent – a time of prayer, almsgiving and fasting in preparation for the celebration of Easter. Ash Wednesday comes from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting. The practice includes the wearing of ashes on the forehead. The ashes symbolise the dust from which God made us. We began our school day today with a prayer assembly, led by 5/6GZ, and students have received ashes on their foreheads as a symbol of humility and penance.

There is an old Catholic tradition of not eating meat on Fridays during Lent, so our canteen will be serving fish cocktails and fish burgers on Fridays for the rest of this term. Pies, sausage rolls and ham sandwiches, wraps and rolls will still be available on Thursdays.

Another Lenten tradition that Mt Carmel School supports is Project Compassion, Caritas Australia's annual fundraising and awareness-raising appeal. Millions of Australians come together in solidarity with the world's poor to help end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity. Students will be bringing home a Project Compassion Box as usual and there will be a donation box in every classroom. The theme of this year’s Project Compassion is Be More, taken from a quote attributed to Saint Oscar Romero: "Aspire not to have more but to be more.” You can read about Project Compassion and hear personal stories about how Caritas has helped people in need around the world by clicking here. 

Open Classrooms and Book Fair
Thank you to those families who have booked a place to visit our Open Classrooms this afternoon. If you haven’t booked, it’s still okay to drop in, but if the classroom is already at its capacity of four families you will need to wait. Priority will be given to families who have booked. You are also welcome to visit the Japanese Room and the Library if your child would like to show you these special places in our school. The Book Fair is up and running in the Library as well, so you are welcome to browse and make a purchase. The Library has a capacity of 50 people at one time so, again, to avoid unnecessary waiting, you can pre-book a visit.


Road Safety
Each year, at the start of the year, I remind parents about the importance of road safety around our school, especially at congested morning and afternoon drop-off and pick-up times. Next week is Transport NSW Bus Safety Week, so it is timely to remind all families about safety in our Bus Zone. Please observe the marked No Parking zone and Disabled Parking spaces along Dutton Street; do not perform U-Turns across the double lines in front of the school; do not cross the road in front of or between buses; and do not call children across the road to your car—please walk with them. Bus drivers have reported several safety concerns since the start of the school year and police have been asked to conduct additional patrols. If you need to drive around the block or park in Rossi or Meehan Street and walk to the front gate, the minor inconvenience is a small price to pay for the safety of all of our children.

Sickness
Please remember that, under our current COVID-19 restrictions, students must not attend school with symptoms of respiratory illness. Viral pandemics aside, bugs, colds, stomach upsets and the like spread easily in the classroom, so it is important that if your child is unwell they are given the time they need to recover in order that other students and their teachers do not become sick themselves.


Mt Carmel Playgroup
A reminder that playgroup will start tomorrow with Mrs Hodges in the Playgroup Room off the Dutton Street entrance to the Performing Arts Centre from 9-11am. Cost is $3 for the first child, then $1 for any additional children and includes morning tea. We are very excited to have playgroup back after a long hiatus last year. All are welcome; spread the word!


Northern Region Swimming Carnival
Mt Carmel was represented by 35 students at last Friday’s Northern Region Swimming Carnival in Queanbeyan. My sincere congratulations to all students who participated so well; I am extremely proud of you all. From this event, 17 Mt Carmel students have been selected to represent the Northern Region at the Archdiocesan Swimming Carnival in Narooma on Monday 1 March. Congratulations and best of luck to Alexander Donaldson, Skye Edwards, Zali Lenon, Neve Luckie, Sid Luckie, Imogen Maher, Jed Newman, Stella Pack, Brooke Reardon, Hayley Reardon, Emily Ryan, Grace Ryan, Jack Ryan, Jack Shannon, Milly Shannon, Flynn Wullaert and Jake Wullaert. 


May God’s peace be in your families, 


Michael Green
Principal