With last week being Catholic Education Week, what better way to culminate the festivities than to celebrate Grandparents Day at Siena Primary.
It was a beautiful day with the Grandparents arriving to school being entertained by our Concert band. Waiting for them in the Daintree was a lovely morning tea supplied by Meals on Wheels and served by staff members and some of our parent representatives.
Our string band played followed by our senior choir singing some of their favourite songs whilst the grandparents enjoyed the spoils of morning tea.
The school children then arrived, and we celebrated a liturgy asking God to bless and thank our grandparents for the love and constant care they give even if they couldn’t be there in person. We also prayed for those of our grandparents who now share eternal life in heaven.
Thank you to Fr Isaac for leading our prayer celebration and for the school children and staff for making the liturgy a truly blessed experience for all.
Classroom visits then followed with the children delighting in showing their grandparents their work and classroom.
All students and grandparents added a link to ta chin to symbolise the incredible bond that is family and school here at Siena.
God Bless

Stella Maris Primary School 

The culmination of last week’s Catholic Education Week celebrations for Stella Maris school, was the biannual Stella Fair, held at Aussie World on Saturday evening.  It was a wonderful event that brought students, staff and families together and was organised by the fabulous band of hardworking volunteers in our Community Engagement Group.  This year’s theme, ‘Where heroes come to life!’ provided lots of scope for those brave enough to wear costumes and there was great delight as attendees were greeted by Batman, Robin and Bat Girl at the entry.  Rides, raffles, a silent art auction, delicious snacks and lots of socialising provided lots of activities to keep all ages entertained.  Huge thanks to our organisers and to our sponsors for helping to spread such joy.

Siena Catholic College  

We have taken a breath this week – to recover from the busyness of last week’s Catholic Education Week and to prepare for our Year 8 Camp and Siena Day celebrations. That doesn’t mean, however, that it has been a quiet week!

Our Year 7 and 10 Geography students were out-and-about on excursions, the Debating season began, our SRC members participated in a ‘Festival of Ideas’ brainstorming session, our 1sts Netball Team competed in the Vicki Wilson Cup finals series, a significant number of teachers were involved in In-service and, of course, staff and students continued to engage with the curriculum across all subject areas.

On Wednesday morning, our Year 7 students attended the Community Mass at St Catherine’s. During his homily, Fr Isaac challenged us to reflect on what it is that we do that might inspire others and, to think about how our encounter with God might change us. Wednesday afternoon saw our Year 11 students participating in the Worthy Siena Women and Worthy Siena Men program. This event always a fantastic opportunity for students to explore and discuss the big issues that are currently impacting their lives.

Thursday afternoon saw the staff gather with Br Damien Price to consider the topic of Service-Learning. During what was a very thought-provoking afternoon, we explored the idea of service as an other-centred encounter that creates a more just and loving world that is respectful of the innate dignity of all.