Newsletter Week 8, Term 2 2025

Principal's Messages

90th Anniversary Celebration on the Feast of Corpus Christi

Today we gathered as a school community to celebrate 90 years of Corpus Christi! Fittingly, we celebrated this milestone on the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ — the Feast of Corpus Christi. This special feast reminds us that as a faith community, we are united through the Eucharist — the body of Christ — and called to live in truth, love, and service to others.

Our day began with a joyful celebration of the Eucharist, followed by a morning tea. We were delighted to welcome so many past parents, students, staff, parishioners, and special guests including Dominican Sisters, Sister Jenny, Sister Pat and Sister Moira. It was heartening to see familiar faces and hear fond memories of Corpus Christi across the decades including three past principals Mr Paul Dangerfield, Mr Phil Marsh and Mrs Karen Forbes. 

We were blessed with live music during the Mass, thanks to Mr Michael Punch (Acting Principal 2023) and Mrs Jeanette Chapman. Our students sang beautifully, especially during We Are the Body of Christ and our own school song Together in Truth and Love, written by Mrs Chapman. Many visitors commented on the reverent and joyful way our students participated in the Mass — we are so very proud of them.

Our history display will remain in the school hall for the next two assemblies (Week 9 and 10). If you haven’t yet had a chance, we warmly invite you to take a few moments before or after assembly to explore the display. It is a beautiful reflection of our rich history and the ongoing legacy of the Sisters of St Dominic.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and supported this special celebration of 90 years of Corpus Christi.

Prayer Life at CCW

Corpus Christi has undertaken a new strategic goal to support the faith life of our community. In 2025, CCW aims to nurture the faith life of our community through prayer as a way of encountering God.

Pope Francis wrote;  "Prayer belongs to everyone: to men and women of every religion, and probably also to those who profess none. Prayer arises in our innermost self, in that interior place that spiritual authors call heart”​

Prayer is always an act of faith and hope. It is not meant to clash with our everyday lives, but be a source of peace and meaning from which our everyday actions come from. 

What is prayer?   

There are many ways Christians pray to God. It involves communicating with God and being aware of God’s presence in everyday life. 

Pope Francis beautifully stated; “Prayer is a kind of musical score, where we put the melody of our lives."

Over the next few terms, Corpus Christi will explore different ways of praying that provide opportunities to respond to the wonder and mystery of life. 

Our Year 4 class have been investigating prayer in their RE lessons. Below are some of their responses to the question; What is prayer?

Prayer Life

Pyjama Day Thursday 26 June

Save the Date - Corpus Christi Musical

Preparations have begun! All Corpus Christi students (k-6) will be part of the performance in our biennial school musical. Please mark in your calendars Wednesday September 24th.

All students will be required for a matinee (during normal school time) and an evening performance on this day. The musical will be performed in the school hall.

It will be a fantastic experience for all our students!

Family and Community Engagement (FACE)

We have now transitioned to a FACE (Family and Community Engagement) Forum model at our school, replacing our previous parent engagement structure. A survey has been sent to all families to gather feedback, gauge interest, and invite ideas to help shape the direction and focus of the FACE Forum moving forward.

The FACE Forum is designed to strengthen engagement between families, the school, parish, and wider community, with a shared goal of supporting students’ education and their growth in faith. It aims to:

• Promote Catholic identity and education

• Build a welcoming, inclusive school community

• Foster collaboration between families, staff, clergy, and parishioners

• Provide an educative and consultative space for families to engage with the school on spiritual, social, and academic matters

• Support family involvement in school life through events, discussions, and fundraising initiatives

Each year, the school will consult with families and the Parish Priest to shape FACE activities and priorities. This may include input on meeting formats, topics of interest, community events, and school improvement matters.

We are ready to to circulate a survey about the types of events parents and carers would like to be part of and how we can best share information about our strategic goals. The survey will be circulated by Compass. We appreciate your feedback and will share results with the community.

Positive Behaviour for Learning - PB4L

Kinder Highway Heroes: The Playground Highway

Our Kindergarten class have been engaging with the Little Highway Heroes Program this term to learn about The Playground Highway.   Kinder has been learning about people and how to get along with them cooperatively. This entails developing not only greater self-awareness, but also awareness of others, their responses, their wishes and their demands. Play involves many rules, boundaries and expectations – and learning these takes time and support from adults.

Play relationships and situations also involve many BUMPS – situations that are not necessarily fair, where there’s conflict, or unkindness occurs. Being able to learn to deal with BUMPS in ways that doesn’t involve repetitive and escalating conflict, is one of the outcomes of social and emotional learning. The opportunity to learn these TOOLS early – at this developmental stage – through explicit instruction, helps to lay down patterns of emotionally healthy behaviour and builds resilience.

This ability to find solutions to problems creates emotionally healthy patterns of dealing with adversity. It gives the child options – both in a practical sense of how to solve a situation with specific TOOLS – and also in generating self-awareness of their own emotions – and then being able to engage in healthy ways of dealing with those emotions.

Mrs Ayres has been working with Kinder through activities, puppets, stories and songs illustrating the TOOLS they have to deal with the many interpersonal situations that are part and parcel of the Playground Highway.

Uniform Shop

Uniform Shop is open every Friday from 8:30am-9am.

Online orders via Qkr! close at 8:00am each Friday and will be sent home with your child.

To keep costs low and provide this service to Corpus Christi families, all items are sold close to cost price. If you are available to volunteer on a casual or regular basis, please reach out to admin@waratah.catholic.edu.au.

Dates and Reminders