POPE FRANCIS

As you will be aware through the news, our Pope Francis died last week. Pope Francis was a leader who truly led by example and worked hard to unite people across the world and address the ways in which the universal church can be more welcoming and inclusive of all, just like Jesus. I share with you a beautiful reflection from our Bishop Gregory Homeming.

“At the news of Pope Francis’ death, we are left with an inner emptiness. The death is not unexpected. In fact, there is a sadness and a joy. After much suffering he has gone to God. What remains for us is a memory of a great man, a wonderful shepherd. Emptiness invites us to ponder Francis the man and what he has done. Pope Francis impressed us with his simple humility, openness to God and the people of our world. Listening deeply, he was able to hear with his heart and see Jesus in others. He did not judge, rather he loved by touching hearts. He did much for world peace and the care of the abandoned and suffering. He reached out to people regardless of their religious belief. In particular, he worked for Christian unity. He also led the way in dialogue with Jews and Muslims. Finally, he was a man of prayer. It is our turn to pray for him. Eternal rest grant unto him and let perpetual light shine upon him.” 

Bishop Greg Homeming OCD, Bishop of Lismore. 

ANZAC DAY

It was wonderful once again for our school to be part of the Port Macquarie ANZAC Day March and Service for ANZAC Day. Our students who attended were wonderful ambassadors for our school and joined together with our other local schools to show respect and gratitude to those who have served to keep our country safe. Thank you to those families, students and staff who supported this important event.

GLOW

Proclaim Lismore aims to provide a comprehensive continuum of intentional Student Discipleship Programs across the Diocese of Lismore for students from Year 4 to Year 12. These gatherings aim to bring Catholic students together to meet like-minded peers and to celebrate and meet with other young people who practice their faith.

In 2025, the Diocese of Lismore Catholic Schools (DLCS) School Evangelisation Team is offering a new pilot program to replace the current Incitare Retreat. This new initiative, named GLOW, will gather all Year 6 students within each region of the Lismore Diocese for fun activities, live praise and worship and immersive prayer experiences. The program aims to provide a whole-school evangelisation opportunity, aligning with the Student Discipleship Continuum.

GLOW will be held in the Hastings Region on Tuesday, 27 May at St Joseph’s Regional College. Students in Year 6 will travel to and from the college by bus and are asked to wear their sports uniform. They will need a packed lunch, a hat and a water bottle for the day. There is no cost involved in this activity. Further information and consent has been sent out in Compass.

YEAR 6 STORY TELLING - RESURRECTION

This week, Year 6 had the opportunity to share with other grades the story of the Resurrection. This story talks about themes of new life and hope. Many ideas were created and some enjoyable slideshows were made to give a descriptive idea of how it happened. Students engaged in various activities such as colouring sheets, wondering questions and reflective meditation. Year 6 would like to thank the classes for their participation, thoughtful responses and spiritual manners. 

By Oliver McNeil and Georgia Hayes

MOTHER'S DAY STALL HELPERS NEEDED

MONDAY 5TH MAY

 + PRE PURCHASE GIFTS THROUGH FLEXISCHOOLS

Please email kateroods@gmail.com if you are able to assist with the Mother’s Day stall on Monday 5th May between 11:30am and 1:30pm.

Gifts can be prepurchased via Flexischools OR bring in $6.00 cash on the day. Flexischools will close Sunday 4th May at 10.00am.

MOTHER'S DAY @ ST PETER'S

For this years Mother’s Day event, we will host a breakfast with an acai cup provided for all the mums/mum figures. The ingredients include: coconut cream, chia seeds, yoghurt, frozen raspberries, frozen banana, frozen acai, coconut flakes, fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, fresh grapes. To assist with catering please indicate how many mums or mum figures will be attending from your family in the google form here: Mother's Day Breakfast RSVP CLOSES 5th May

EXCITING DEVELOPMENTS IN OUR MUSIC PROGRAM

We’re thrilled to share the wonderful things happening in our music program this Term! Across all year levels, students are developing musical skills, boosting their confidence and learning to work together through rhythm, voice and movement.

Kindergarten to Year 2 are getting hands-on with bucket drumming, which is a fun and energetic way to explore rhythm and coordination. These activities support fine and gross motor development, listening skills and the ability to follow patterns and structure, all within an engaging and active environment.

Years 3 to 6 are exploring the vibrant world of African drumming, where they are learning traditional rhythms and ensemble techniques. This not only builds musical ability but also fosters cultural awareness, teamwork and deep listening skills.

All students are also participating in group singing, which improves pitch recognition, memory, language development and emotional expression. 

Why is music so powerful for learning?
Engaging in music uses both sides of the brain, helping to strengthen the connection between the left (logical) and right (creative) hemispheres. This supports the development of important skills such as problem-solving, memory, emotional regulation and spatial reasoning. Music-making also enhances concentration, boosts mood and builds self-discipline, benefits that extend well beyond the music room.

Our program is grounded in the NSW Creative Arts K–6 Syllabus, which encourages creativity, cultural appreciation, and musical exploration. We are so proud of the joy and energy our students bring to music each week and look forward to sharing their progress with you throughout the term.

This term we have many fun and exciting events happening in our school library, including the addition of storytime on Mondays during Lunch 2. Each week during storytime, our wonderful staff members will be sharing some of their favourite stories with our students in the Peter’s library space. I am very excited to announce that our first storyteller in Week 2 will be our amazing Principal, Mrs Koning. Please keep posted to hear more details about our future storytime events!

NATIONAL FAMILY READING MONTH

LET THE READING BEGIN !!

Thursday 1st May marked the beginning of this year’s National Family Reading Month (NFRM) which encourages families to read together on a regular basis to create positive, long lasting reading habits and lifelong readers by inspiring families to read together for a minimum of 10 minutes each day throughout the month of May.

To celebrate the start of the reading challenge, students at St Peter’s were invited to attend a live-streamed reading of the book, “Guess What We Are Doing Today?” written by this year’s NFRM ambassador, Luke Springer (also known as “Mr Luke”), in our school library. Colouring and other activities were also available for the children to enjoy during the special lunchtime session.

Good luck to all the families participating in this year’s NFRM challenge!! Please remember to mark off your reading log each day throughout May after completing your daily reading session and submit your completed (and signed) reading log to Mrs Ayres at the school library at the end of the challenge, between the 2nd-5th June to redeem your exclusive reward.

ASHTON SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUB

Issue 3 brochures have now been distributed to students. Any cash payment orders will need to be returned to school by 9.00am Wednesday 14th May. Please ensure cash payments include your child’s name, class and correct payment. Online L.O.O.P. orders will close at 9.00pm.

Families who placed orders online through L.O.O.P. for Issue 2 should have received a $5 promotional code with their order confirmation that can be used towards online purchases of $19.50 or more for Issue 3. More details about this offer are available via the following link:

Promotional Offers Issue 2

This issue, families who place orders online through L.O.O.P. have the opportunity to receive a $5 credit that can be used towards Issue 4 purchases of $19.50 or more. The terms and conditions of this offer is available via the following link: 

Promotional Offers Issue 3

PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE UPDATE

Deadline Extension

The Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) team has advised that there have been a number of technical issues affecting students of non-government schools’ access to the PRC website. For this reason, the PRC team has decided to extend the PRC completion deadline until Friday 19th September 2025.

For families of participating students that have not been able to log into the PRC website, could you please email Mrs Amanda Ayres at amanda.ayres@lism.catholic.edu.au so that any issues can be resolved. If you have not yet logged onto the website using the login details provided, please do so as soon as practicable to ensure that any access issues can be resolved in a timely manner.

If your child would like to participate in the PRC, there is still time to sign up to the challenge by contacting Mrs Ayres via the email address provided above, to organise login details. A summary of information relating to the PRC is provided below:

2025 NSW Premier's Reading Challenge

AUTHOR VISIT - KATE AND JOL TEMPLE

Last term it was announced that we will be having the extremely popular and entertaining acclaimed authors, Kate and Jol Temple visit our school on Tuesday 1st July, all the way from Sydney!!

Kate and Jol are internationally awarded children’s authors of well over 30 books for kids, including the extremely popular smash hit “Bin Chicken” picture book series as well as the best-selling graphic novel series, “The Underdogs” and “Frog Squad” plus many, many more. Kate also writes the middle grade fiction series, “The Dangerous Business of Being Trilby Moffatt” which is perfect for students who love stories with a historical element.

During the day, each student at St Peter’s will be able to attend one of three interactive sessions where they will get to meet the authors; hear about their stories and the characters; the inspiration behind their stories and also receive some tips and guidance about how our students can create their very own characters and stories.

Many of the books written by Kate and Jol will be on display in the school library next term and available for students to read and borrow in preparation for their much-anticipated arrival.

In the coming weeks, I will also be sharing details about an opportunity to pre-order some of Kate and Jol’s books for collection at our school author event. These books will be personally signed by the authors themselves!

WEEKLY BORROWING

A timetable for class borrowing sessions is included here to assist parents with preparing their children for their allocated library borrowing session. 

Please ensure that your child has a sturdy waterproof bag or zippered folder when transporting books to/from school to help keep our precious library books safe from damage and loss. 

Children are also welcome to borrow on any day Mon-Thurs if they are avid readers, or were away on their usual day/time.

Amanda Ayres