Catholic Education Week and NAIDOC Week 2025

As a school community we came together to celebrate two important occasions this week—Catholic Education Week and NAIDOC Week 2025. Both inviting us to reflect on who we are, what we value, and how we walk alongside one another in community.

This year’s Catholic Education Week theme— “Communities of Faith, Hope and Love”, reminds us that Catholic education is not just about classrooms and textbooks, but about hearts and relationships. It’s where we grow in faith, support each other with hope, and live out love in all that we do. Here at school, we continually celebrate what it means to be Holy Cross, a Catholic school. We Live and Learn in the Way of the Cross, celebrating community, building positive relationships with each other and outside agencies, serving and being stewards of creation.

At the same time, we proudly honour 50 years of NAIDOC Week, a national celebration of the history, culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This year’s theme— “The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy”—calls us to recognise the wisdom of Elders, the spirit of young leaders, and the strength of communities who continue to shape this land.

This week has been a week full of joy, learning, reflection and celebration.

As a school community we gathered on Tuesday morning celebrate our Catholic Education Week and NAIDOC Week Mass. We were blessed to have many members from our community join us to listen to God’s word and share in the Eucharist. Father Dariusz shared with me how happy he was to leader our Mass, he truly enjoyed hearing our students, who were led by our choir singing so beautifully.

Our Year 3 students were gifted the opportunity to work with Shannon Shaw this week to talk and reflect on the theme of ‘The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy’. Shannon shared stories and discussed with the students the Next Generation’s vision for a strong future.  We are truly thankful to Shannon for sharing her time and the beauty of her artwork.

On Wednesday, Dolly McGaughey came to visit with our choir to share her story and workshop some new music with our students. The time Dolly spent with us was inspiring and we thank Dolly for joining us for the morning. Her gift of music and time gave the students the opportunity to deepen their understanding of music as a form of prayer and connect with the messages found in the lyrics.

As a part of our NAIDOC Week celebrations in Week 1, the Year Six students had the opportunity to connect with the Yirrganydji Land and Sea Rangers in On Country Engagement Activities. They learnt how to identify different plants and understand their traditional uses, explored traditional marine resource management practices and agreements and were immersed in traditional storytelling. The children walked to the beach and engaged in the activities enthusiastically, coming away with new learnings and connections. We thank the Traditional Owners and Rangers who spent the morning with us.

On Thursday we were invited to take ten Year Six students to the Queensland Catholic Education Week Mass, which was held at St Monica’s Cathedral. This was a fantastic experience, an opportunity for our school to share in prayer and communion with many members of the wider Catholic community. Our students represented themselves and their school beautifully.

We celebrated students, staff and parents with our Spirit of Catholic Education Awards at assembly today. This is always such a joyous occasion and today was no different. In reading many of the comments, it was clear that all our recipients embody the true spirit of Catholic Education— demonstrating faith, hope and love in their daily actions. Congratulations again to all the students, to Mrs Willcock, Ms Monck and Xena Reeves. Congratulations also to many of our staff, who received a nomination for the Diocesan Spirit of Catholic Education Award.

To conclude, I would like to share a reflection and prayer from Sr Kym Harris osb. It is a great reflection on the theme of Faith, Hope and Love.

Stephanie Travers
Assistant Principal
Catholic Identity & Wellbeing