Open Day

We had a number of families take a tour of our school on last Tuesday 2 May. Many mentioned that they were looking at the school as it had been recommended to them by current families. My thanks to Tyler, Elsie, Willa & Amelie who gave time after school to take people around.

Kinder Readiness

Our READY SET GO Kinder Readiness program started this week and the children had a wonderful time with Mrs Yeo working on their fine motor skills. Thanks to all the staff who have volunteered to prepare and run these sessions as an extra job in their busy day.

Year 6 Camp

Year 6 Camp was a great success, and I received many positive reports about how well behaved our students were. Thanks to Mrs Harris, Mr Gerrard and Mrs Brushaber for doing a great job looking after them.

Sport

I was lucky enough to see our Rugby League tag & tackle teams play at the Gilbert/Croker Cup last week, and our 3/4 & 5/6 netball teams did very well at the Primary Schools Cup on Tuesday. Best of luck to all those students who are taking part in the Northern Region Cross Country in Crookwell on Friday. Thanks to Mrs McCarthy for all her great organising of these events and all the parents who help by being coaches/managers as well.

I also know our school soccer teams have started the season. I do hope they have a fun and successful season.

Congratulations to Esther MacGregor (4M) & Emma Huggett (KH) on being commissioned as a Catholic school teacher last week.

Happy Mothers Day for Sunday!

I offer this article as reflection on this important day:

Mother’s Day began with a simple domestic gesture that caught on. People were encouraged to give a present to their mothers to acknowledge their love and their service to their family. As is the case with similar celebrations it could easily be corrupted by commercial interests that focused on selling gifts and often offered a saccharine view of motherhood. It was a day when people could feel sentimental about their mothers without asking themselves whether what they expected of them was reasonable and how they themselves might share some of their mother’s burdens. The Mother’s Day present could become a cheap discharge of a heavy debt.

The last years of COVID pushed us to think more seriously about our relationships, including the part of mothers in families. The media have been full of images of mothers left to cope with difficult situations both for themselves and for their families. We have seen the long lines of women and children seeking safety outside of Ukraine. These mothers must feed and raise their children while dealing with their own anxieties and grief for their land, for the men whom they have left behind and for their future. We have also seen the images of mothers surveying their flooded homes in Queensland and New South Wales, facing the task of again making a home for their family. During the time of coronavirus, too, many of the health workers were mothers who had to cope with the loss of paid work and the threat of homelessness in addition to the other trials in an already precarious life.

In all these situations, however, the dominant images have not been of hopelessness but of great resilience, of people finding the necessary inner resources in times of anxiety and threat. They look to the future and not to the past.

The images of heroic mothers, like the images of women in responsible positions in employment and in public life, are a gift to our society. For those of us who are not mothers, however, they can prove sentimental and self-serving. They can distract us from the unacceptability of the burden we ask mothers to carry and offer us an excuse us or not asking what kind of society we want to build and what sacrifices that will ask of us.

Mother’s Day reminds us of the importance for any society of mothering – of giving priority and time to raising children and making a home in which all are valued and all are listened to compassionately. In modern societies in which mothers are also engaged in demanding work the gifts and the time involved in these forms of nurturing cannot be left to women who have borne children but must be encouraged and developed in men, women and children.

Mothering also crosses generations. Grandmothers are an integral part of the life of most families. They are honoured not simply because of their past role as mothers but for the way in which they continue to nurture people in the present.

If mothering is necessary in society, too, we must look at how we support mothers. Many women in the most important work for society such as working in nursing homes are kept in precarious and poorly remunerated work. Our society can be better than that in its treatment of all women including mothers

ENROL HERE

Project Compassion

Thank you to all our students and families who donated to Project Compassion. We raised $1450.25 which will all go to Cartias, they will use these funds for local and international programs, including vital education and advocacy programs in Australia. 

The class that raised the most money was 3A who raised $377 through their collection of cans. Great work 3A!!

Kindergarten Mothers Day Liturgy

Thank you to all our parents who attended our Mother's Day liturgy, it was so lovely to see so many parents joining us for this beautiful celebration of appreciation. Thank you again to Emma Huggett and Nyssa Wilcox for putting it all together and ensuring it was just the right amount of cuteness and reverence. 

First Holy Communion

This week we start our First Holy Communion lessons for Year 4 and we ask you to keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they study together on the importance of the Eucharist. 

SPP Athletics Carnival

Our school Athletics Carnival will be held on Friday 26th May for Yrs 1-6 at Hudson Park. Information about the day will be communicated via Compass next week. We will be looking for lots of volunteers to assist teachers in running the day. Please keep the date free if you are able to help.

SPP Cross Country Presentation Assembly

Congratulations to O'Brien who are this year's Cross Country Champion House!

O'Brien Captains Taavi Kearns & Ella Webster

MacKillop Rugby League Trials

Tyler represented the Archdiocese at the NSWCPS MacKillop trials in Canberra last Friday.

2023 SPORT TRIALS

Information and registration for individual trials is through the following website >> https://www.sport.cg.catholic.edu.au/

The dates of the trials will be publicised on the webpage and the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn FaceBook Page. 

These trials are for Yr 5 & 6 students or outstanding Yr 4 students.

We had a wonderful day at last week's NRL Gilbert Croker Cup held at North Park Goulburn. SPP entered a 3/4 tackle, 3/4 tag and a Yr 5 tag team and competed against St Joseph's, St Mary's, Wollondilly and Macgregor, Canberra.

A big thank you to our coaches Mr Smith, Mr Hogan, Mr Harris, Mrs Hallam & Mrs Simmons!

Congratulations to all teams for their great start to season 2023. It's wonderful to see your photo's pop up in the page each Saturday. Remember the 'Best Picture of the Week' competition to be judged in even rounds (2, 4, 6, etc) by SPP Principal Kathy Neely and Assistant Principal Brad Brown.

The winners of the round 2 2Fore Golf Studio photo comp are:

Thank you again to our sponsors Superb Excavations, 2Fore Golf Studio & Trappers Bakery!

Remember that we will not be posting game times each week. Please follow this link to see the draw for the season... STFA Soccer Draw

There are still some backpacks and beanies with pom poms available to purchase via the school QKR app.

We are excited to report that Trappers Bakery has come on board for the Player of the Match Sponsor. Every week 1 Player from each team will receive a Trappers award from their coach, which means they get a visit to the Bakery for a sausage roll and small juice.

On behalf of everyone in the Club, thank you Trappers.

Thank you to Corbie Yeo Brick and Block Laying

Recent upgrades have been made to improve the safety and appearance of the block work around the school. Corbie Yeo (who is Mrs Yeo's husband) laid a new block bin area for our school, as well as laying new caps on the existing block work around our library area. Thanks Corbie (and Poppy)! If you have a small to medium brickwork project contact Corbie Yeo Brick and Block laying on 0478 735 331.

My name is Madi and I have been a part of the Catholiccare Student and Family Counselling team since 2022. I am available at Ss Peter and Paul’s every Monday.

If your child was seen by the School Counsellor last year and you would like them to receive support in 2023, we require you to complete a new counselling registration form. New referrals will also require you to complete the counselling registration form. Questions or requests can be directed to the office, your child’s class teacher or School Counsellor (madelyn.burns@catholiccare.cg.org.au).

Referral Link: https://catholiccare.force.com/housing/s/school-referral-form

Parent consent for counselling continues to be required for all primary school students and will be sought and provided via email or phone call. Where parents are separated, we require the consent of both parents. Once the referral has been received by myself - School Counsellor - I will make contact with parents on my next day at Ss Peter and Paul’s to further discuss the referral.

Now in its 24th year, National Walk Safely to School Day (WSTSD) is an annual event when all Primary School children will be encouraged to walk and commute safely to school. It is a Community Event seeking to promote Road Safety, Health, Public Transport and the Environment.

• Children up to eight years old should hold an adult's hand on the footpath, in the car park, or when crossing the road; an adult is defined as a parent, caregiver, grandparent, sibling in high school or older, other relative or neighbour, or other adult as advised by the child's parents/carers
• Children up to ten years old should be actively supervised in the traffic environment and should hold an adult's hand when crossing the road