Dear Parents, Students, Staff and all associated with St Catherine’s Community

There is a well known Chinese Proverb which goes something like this….“We count our miseries carefully and accept our blessings without much thought.” Now, proverbs are supposed to contain a message that is helpful for us to better understand life; could this proverb be suggesting that our lives are shaped by the way we perceive ourselves?

There is a story about a person who came upon an unbroken eagle’s egg that had fallen from its nest. Unable to climb to the top of the tall tree, the person put the egg into the nest of a scrub turkey, where eventually it hatched. The fledgling eagle looked at the other scrub turkeys and did as they did; he accepted and imitated their daily routine. One day, an eagle flew over and the now ageing eagle looked up in awed admiration, as the great eagle soared through the sky. “What is that?” he gasped in astonishment. An old scrub turkey replied, “I’ve seen one of those before. It’s an eagle, the strongest and most magnificent of all the birds. But don’t get ideas that you could be like that. You’re like the rest of us, a scrub turkey.” So, shackled with this belief, the eagle lived and died thinking he was a scrub turkey.

Human beings are blessed with being able to break from the shackles of inappropriate beliefs and alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. Our attitudes not only determine how we choose to regard ourselves, but how other human beings will treat us. Our attitudes and the choices that we make today will be our lives tomorrow, for our reactions can take us forward or take us down.

A wise person, probably a gardener, tells us that, “Some people grumble because roses have thorns; I am thankful that the thorns have roses.” This wise person, still probably a gardener, might go on to point out to us that, if our attitude towards ourselves is negative, then, our capacity to love is greatly diminished. If we have a poor self-image, all our attention is directed to self-pity and leaves us little freedom to reach out to others with love and affection. If we have poor self-image, we are no longer able to recognise and appreciate the gifts that God has given us that enable us to be our unique self. And if we as parents have poor self-image, and as a consequence, grumble about how hard life is and blame our circumstance on the doings of others, then, how will this assist our children and their chances of having a positive self-image? Children are natural mimics; they learn much about life from watching their parents.

“When I saw you hang up my first painting on the refrigerator, I wanted to paint you another one.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you feed a stray cat and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I felt you kiss me good night and I knew I was loved.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw that you cared and I wanted to be everything that I could be.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I heard you say a prayer and I believed there was a God that I could always talk to.” Author unknown

Staff Update for the start of Term 3
As we look to the start of Term 3, staff matters to be aware of include:

• Daina Balnionis returns from having been on personal leave for the duration of Term 2.  We certainly look forward to Daina's return.
  
  
• Kirsten Cox and Gabrielle Mifsud will return from a period of parental leave on a part-time basis in Term 3.  Both will be returning to 2-days a week, with Gabrielle returning to a classroom position currently being finalised and Kirsten to work as a tutor as part of Tutor in Schools Program.

• Yveie Tonks will be teaching the class of 3S6 full time commencing Monday, 12 July 2021.  Yveie is relinquishing her role as Positive Behaviour Support (1 day a week) to focus on work primarily in the classroom.
  
  
• Peggy Harvey has made the difficult decision to resign from her ongoing position here at St Catherine's. Peggy has been teaching at the school for almost 24 years and is one of the first staff to work at St Catherine's. This is indeed a huge step for Peggy who is deeply connected to the school. Peggy has accepted a position as a member of the Pastoral Associate Team at St Michael's Parish. Peggy's final day will be Friday, 16 July 2021. Peggy has also given a commitment to the Learning Conversations to be held early Term 3.
  
  
• Vindy Gunasekera will take up the position of replacing Peggy Harvey in 3S5 full time commencing Monday, 19 July 2021.  The days that Vindy shares with Daniel Thatcher in 3S1 (Tuesday) and Jason Lester 3S2 (Thursday), will be backfilled with a suitable replacement yet to be finalised.

Final Day of Term
Please note that the final day of term will be this Friday, 25 June with students finishing up at the usual time of 3:10pm.  Term 3 will resume on Monday, 12 July, 2021.