Welcome back to Term 3. I sincerely hope you all had quality time with family and friends and the opportunity to recharge and to connect with each other. During holidays or times during the school year when life becomes somewhat hectic it becomes challenging to find reasons to express gratitude. There are many benefits to expressing gratitude. Not only does expressing gratitude build on our positive emotions, it strengthens relationships between various people within a community. As a school community we are all incredibly grateful for the work of the students, our staff and parents/carers in ensuring continuity of learning and extra curricular activities for our students.

This term we hit the ground running with our NAIDOC celebrations and the wonderful Athletics Carnival last Friday. Important events that we acknowledge add to the business of school life but at the same time allow us to be truly grateful to participate in as a collective school community.

Our NAIDOC Celebrations in Week One was a wonderful expression of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, story, tradition and dance. To commence the day with a smoking celebration, followed by a range of activities led by Greg from Yama 2 You Bush Tucker Nursery. We are truly blessed to have Mrs Stradmann and Miss Benson as a part of our community. They, along with our dedicated teachers,  shared their gifts and talents and supported all students to understand, celebrate and acknowledge the significant impact and inspiring influence of Aboriginal culture.

The Athletics carnival was a great day to come together as a community to compete and celebrate the athletic talents of our students. The venue at Narellan allowed for the students to experience a proper athletics track and for the day to run smoothly. A big acknowledgement to the students for their positive attitude, to the parents who came along to support the children, especially those who gave so generously of their time to volunteer and to the staff who provide the guidance and support for all students. I would especially like to acknowledge the work of Mrs Spiteri, Miss Gaviglia and Miss Paroz for the professional manner in which they coordinated the carnival.