Welcome back to Term 2.  I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful weather and had a safe and happy Easter. Over the term break we had some internal renovations done. The wall between the staffroom and performing arts rooms was removed. The cabinetry in the office area was extended and the wall and small staging was removed upstairs to create a larger collaborative space for our senior students.

The second basketball court has been laid with landscaping still to be decided upon with the northwest area of the basketball court, as the drop is over 2 meters. Architects are working on a solution to either orientate the oval & goal posts and slope it off or put retaining walls in. In the meantime, we have opened up other parts of the yard and relocated the soccer goals to gives students more play areas.

Weather permitting, the roof will be installed on the existing basketball court on Monday next week. The steel for Stage 3 is scheduled to be starting by the end of next week. We have continual changes occurring to the yard as different projects are being overlapped to ensure the project is completed by the start of next year. It is important to note that student safety is always paramount, we may not get areas back for students to use until they are deemed safe by builders and school. At times, we may need to temporarily change things to ensure this safety but we will endeavour to keep families informed as information comes to hand.

POPE FRANCIS
On Monday, our Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio) passed away on the April 21. Pope Francis was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2013 until his death. He was the first pope from the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside of Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Pope Francis was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958 after recovering from severe illness. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969; from 1973 to 1979, he was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II.

Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, a papal conclave elected Bergoglio as his successor on 13 March. He chose Francis as his papal name in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi. Throughout his public life, Francis was noted for his humility, emphasis on God's mercy, international visibility as pope, concern for the poor, and commitment to interreligious dialogue.

We ask that all in the St Angela of the Cross community pray for and celebrate a beautiful life. As a sign of our respect, our flags flew at half half-mast to honour Pope Francis.

PARENTS AND FRIENDS
Our Parents and Friends meeting will take place on Wednesday 30 April at 9.00am. During this meeting we will need to vote for our new president. I would also like to introduce some protocols for P&F members to help create clarity for members coordinating P&F events. Due to the current building works restricting the yard, we are looking at buying some undercover activities such as giant connect four games that can be wheeled out for recess and lunch time play. We will look at what initiatives the P&F can be working towards as a bigger target during the meeting. Some ideas that have been floated are some colourful line markings, a Gaga Pit and an additional concrete play areas with a rebound wall for games such as downball.

EASTER RAFFLE
Thank you to all the families for support our school with our annual Easter Raffle. The P&F created over 100 different hampers. Congratulations to all the students and families who won a prize. The fundraiser raised over $3800 which is a fantastic effort. A big thank you to all the P&F helpers who coordinated the event.

BOARD MEETING
Our next Board Meeting will be held on Wednesday April 30 at 6.00pm in the current staffroom.

MOTHER’S DAY AFTERNOON
We invite all mothers and mother figures in our school community in for an afternoon of activities and fun on Thursday May 8th at 2.30pm. Students will create an activity with their mother and mother figures in their classrooms. Mothers are free to jump from room to room throughout the afternoon if they have multiple children or just bring all the children together in one room. Our plan was to meet on the basketball courts but plans might change if these are still fenced off. 

CROSS COUNTRY
Our school cross country will be on Friday May 9 between 9.00am and 11.00am. We will endeavour to create a track around our school and loop back over it to create 2km for our 9–10 year olds and 3km for our 11 and 12 year olds.

MOTHER’S DAY STALL
Our Mother’s Day stall will operate on Friday May 9 between recess and lunch. Parents can order/pay for a gift through Flexischools and then on the day students will choose a gift to bring home. We ask students to bring a bag to wrap their gift in so it stays hidden away until Mother’s Day.

ASSEMBLY FRIDAY
We will continue running assemblies outside in the under cover area when weather is fine. If the weather does become inclement, we will cancel it. Our next scheduled assembly is on Friday May 2. Our grade 2E classroom will be presenting.

DIVISION ATHLETICS
Division Athletics will be held on Monday May 5 – Further information will come home to the children involved in the near future.

Warm Regards,
Stephen Pitt | Principal