APMI News
….experiencing FAITH in the Mercy Tradition
Dear families
Welcome back to Term 3! I hope you had a chance to recharge the batteries over the break. It’s been great to see the students again and those I’ve spoken to are happy to be back which is wonderful. Routine does set us up for meeting expectations and getting us into a positive mindset to achieve our goals.
Week 3 is Catholic Education Week (27th July – 2nd August)
Celebrating Catholic Education Week is a joyful reminder of the values that unite our school community—Compassion, Service & Excellence. It’s a time to reflect on the rich Mercy tradition of SSP Catholic education and the unique opportunities it offers our children to grow not only academically, but spiritually and morally. Through special events, prayer, and shared experiences, we celebrate the commitment of our teachers, students, and families to nurturing a culture of our Mercy values. Being part of these celebrations strengthens our sense of belonging and reminds us of the powerful role faith plays in shaping young hearts and minds.
During this week, we combine a number of celebrations, Grandparent’s Day and Mercy Day. Grandparent's Day (Wednesday 30th) – is a special day in our calendar where we acknowledge the very important role Grandparents have in our lives. We also celebrate Mercy day, a time for us to acknowledge our foundress, Catherine McAuley and the Sisters of Mercy, whose lives reflected their commitment to compassion and service stemming from the Gospel.
Please join us for our whole school Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral which begins at 9.30am on Wednesday 30th July - all welcome! Following Mass in the Cathedral, Morning Tea for Grandparents will be held back over in school grounds in the Mercy Centre, followed by open classrooms (focussing on STEM) from 11.30am, finishing at 12.45pm.
Whole school/community Service activities
Profession Schindler Primary School in PNG book donations:
To continue this whole school Service activity to our friends in PNG, we are accepting donations of reading books for the school – all types of reading books are gratefully accepted (fiction and non-fiction books for all ages, from toddler to young adult). They are in need of quality texts. If you’ve ANY readers at home that are no longer being used, please drop them into the Primary school office at any time. This will be an ongoing need and the donations will be transported to PNG in September. Thank you for your support.
Winter Shelter:
For the past two years, St Theresa’s Parish and St Thomas More’s Parish have been participating in the Toowoomba Winter Shelter program. Last year, they opened their doors, providing up to 10 guests an opportunity for a meal, a hot shower and a warm place to sleep for the night.
This year, they will be hosting guests every Friday night for 13 weeks, alternating between the two locations. This is an opportunity for adults only in the wider Catholic community to participate and provide support. Listed below are the various roles and times required for volunteering. Please consider offering your support by contacting Brendan Doherty directly on Bedoherty14@gmail.com
At this time these are the particular areas of need are:
*Set up for the night (2.30pm-3.30pm)
*Catering to be dropped at Church before 5pm (preparing the food and dropping to church)
*Serving food (5pm-7pm)
*Companionship (5pm-10pm) - socialising with guests, meals, games, chats
*Night duty (1st shift 10pm-2am, 2nd shift 2am - 6am) - staying awake through the night to provide help should guests need it.
*Breakfast (6am-8am)
*Clean up (7am-9am)
Thank you in advance for considering these opportunities.
TERM 3 DATE CLAIMERS
Week 3 - Catholic Education week including whole school Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral on Wednesday 30th July, including our Grandparent’s day Morning Tea in the Mercy Centre from 10.30am - 11.15am, then to open classrooms until 12.45pm.
Friday 1st August – Student free day while staff attend Bishop’s Inservice Day.
I hope you have a great week, find a chance to do something that fills your cup and give yourself some self care.
Thanks for reading,
Ann-Maree Ward (Assistant Principal – Mission & Identity)